Chapter Fourteen - The Tree and the Self

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Tree and the Self

KRISHNA PAINTS A picture:

“There is a tree.
With roots above.
And branches below.”

It’s the tree of the world.
The tree of illusion.

Its leaves are the Vedas.
Its branches reach toward desire.
Its roots twist into ego and craving.

This tree must be cut down with the axe of detachment.

Only then can you see clearly.
Only then can you search for the root above.
The eternal source.

He explains the true Self:

“It is eternal.
Unchanging.
It enters bodies and leaves them.
Like changing clothes.”

The senses, the mind, the body, they are just vehicles.

The Self moves through them.
But the Self is not them.

He says:

“Some see it.
Some do not.
Some worship.
Some ignore.”

But the wise see the difference between the world of forms and the light behind it.

That light is Krishna.

He ends:

“This is the supreme wisdom.
To know the difference between the Self and the not-Self.
To know Me as the root and the fruit.”