A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c7.17

c7.17

told that the Aśvattha tree is the Brahman itself, and that it is imperishable. On the other hand, the Bhagavadgītā, at the opening of its 15th Chapter, tells us that " the Aśvattha tree has its root upwards and branches downwards. Its leaves are the Vedas. It sends out its branches both downwards and upwards, which are nourished by the Guṇas. The sensual objects are its foliage. Yet again, its infinite roots spread downwards in the form of action in the human world. It is not possible to have a glimpse of that tree here in this fashion. It has neither end, nor beginning, nor any stationariness whatsoever. After having cut off this Aśvattha tree, which has very strong roots, by the forceful weapon of unattachment, we should then seek after that celestial abode from which there is no return, and reach the primeval Person, from whom all existence has sprung of old " (XV. 1-4). We are not concerned here to discuss the merits or demerits of this description of the Aśvattha tree in the Bhagavadgītā. We shall not consider the contradictions that are introduced in this description, but we are concerned here only to find how far this description from the Bhagavadgītā agrees with the description in the Kaṭhopanishad. It may be noted at once that there is an agreement between the Upanishad and the Bhagavadgītā so far as the Aśvattha tree is regarded as having its root upwards and its branches downwards. But, while the Upanishad teaches that the Aśvattha tree is real, and identical with Brahman, and therefore impossible of being cut off, the Bhagavadgītā teaches that the Aśvattha tree must be regarded as unreal, and as identical with existence, and therefore that it is necessary to cut off this tree of existence by the potent weapon of non-attachment. The two descriptions seem to be almost at daggers drawn. It may be noticed by students of comparative mythology that the descriptions of the Aśvattha tree in the Upanishad and in the Bhagavadgītā have an analogue in the description of the tree Igdrasil in Scandinavian mythology. It is important to notice also that the description of the Igdrasil agrees with that of the Upanishads in making the tree identical with Reality, and therefore having a real concrete existence. On the other hand, it agrees with the Bhagavadgītā in making the actions, the motives, and the histories of mankind the boughs and branches of this tree of existence. We cannot do better than quote in this place Carlyle’s famous description of the tree Igdrasil: “All Life is figured by them as a Tree. Igdrasil, the Ash-tree of Existence, has its roots deep down in the kingdoms of Hela or Death; its trunk reaches up heaven-high, spreads its boughs over the whole Universe; it is the Tree of Existence. At the foot of it, in the Death-kingdom, sit Three nornas Fates,—the Past, Present, Future; watering its root from the Sacred Well. Its ‘boughs,’ with their buddings and disleafings,—events, things suffered, things done, catastrophes,—stretch through all lands and times. Is not every leaf of it a biography, every fibre there an act or word? Its boughs are Histories of Nations. The rustle of it is the noise of Human Existence, onwards from of old. It grows there, the breath of Human Passion rustling through it;—or storm-tost, the stormwind howling through it like the voice of all the gods. It is Igdrasil, the Tree of Existence. It is the past, the present and the future; what was done, what is doing, what will be done; the infinite conjugation of the verb To do.” It is unfortunate that the Scandinavian description should have placed the roots of the Ash tree deep down in the kingdoms of Hela or Death, and even though its trunk is described as reaching up heaven-high, it were much to be wished that its roots had come from the region of the life eternal. In that respect, both the Bhagavadgītā and the Upanishads have a distinct advantage over the Scandinavian mythology.