The Bhagavad Gita

Chapter Fifteen

YOGA OF THE ABSOLUTE

PURUSHOTTAMA YOGA

By

Dr. R. J. Kalpana Ph.D

Visvaayudha December 2025

vasudevasutaḿ devaḿ kaḿsa-cāṇūra-mardanam

devakī-paramānandaḿ kṛṣṇaḿ vande jagadgurum

I bow down to Sri Krishna, who is the Master of the Universe, beloved son of Vasudeva, who vanquished Kamsa and Chanura, who brings immense joy to his mother, Devaki.

Pranams from Dr. R J Kalpana, Welcome to the study of The Bhagavad Gita.

In the previous chapter Gunatrayavibhaga yoga Shri Bhagvan detailed the essential character of the three Gunas, their evolutes and their binding nature and the destinies of those bound by the Gunas. He describes how to transcend the Gunas, how to transcend human nature to make it Divine and thus, become eligible for divinity itself. And the chapter ends with the declaration that I am the immutable, infinite eternal Dharma!

So we come to the fifteenth chapter, the summum bonum of the Gita. All ideas put forth in the Gita attain their consummation in this chapter; the elaboration of the principles of life and the revelation of the spiritual wisdom is complete here. The essence of the Vedas, the very function of the Vedas, to make man aware of the scope of spirituality, is achieved in this chapter. The other two chapters 16 and 17 are but appendices and the chapter 18 is the summary of the entire Gita.

The chapter opens beautifully with the eternal sloka,

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

ūrdhva-mūlam adhaḥ-śākham

aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam

chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni

yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit

There is an imperishable banyan tree with its roots upwards and its branches facing downwards and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is a knower of the Vedas.

Herein lies the greatest spiritual secret, invertendo. As long as we remain in the material world, bound to the senses, our roots will face downwards because we get our sustenance from the material, physical world. This tree should be cut down then with the axe of detachment and dispassion. The secret of invertendo principle is when the roots face upwards, we derive our sustenance from the Divine and our senses are purified and refined by the spiritual knowledge in the Vedas.

There are three brothers in the Ramayana, Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Vibhishana and each one represents one Guna. Ravana represents Rajas. Kumbhakarna represents Tamas and Vibhishana represents Sattva. The drama of these three brothers in the form of Trigunas is constantly being enacted by us. It is only when we like Vibhishana surrender to the Supreme Lord and seek refuge that we will be able to let go of the lower tendencies and attachments.

They who are able to go beyond pleasure and pain will attain the immortal state, that supreme self-effulgent state which having attained there is no rebirth anymore. The eternal soul in the human body is but a fragment of the Divine Oversoul which draws to itself the senses and the mind that abide in Prakriti. The ignorant unable to distinguish this difference are forever trapped in the world of the senses. Striving Yogis realise the Self enshrined in their heart.

Here, the Divine Lord says that the radiance in the sun is His, the vital energy which nourishes all of nature is His, Vaisvanara that unites Prana and Apana which digests four kinds of foods is His and finally, He says, I am the Vedas and the knower of the Vedas as well.

The Vedas are not somewhere else. We are the living embodiment of the Vedas. We are the consummation of a long tradition. We are the fruit of the tree that has sprouted from the Veda-seed. The essence of the Vedas is in our hands. It means that life has to be built on the foundation of service, love and knowledge.

Therefore, the Divine Lord reiterates that I am Purushottama, the essence of all the Vedas. How wonderful it would be to assimilate Purushottamayoga in our lives!

yogeśaṁ(m) saccidānandaṁ(v̐), vāsudevaṁ(v̐) vrajapriyam,

dharmasaṁsthāpakaṁ(v̐) vīraṁ(ṅ), kṛṣṇaṁ(v̐) vande jagadgurum

I bow to the Master of Yoga, who is the beloved son of Vasudeva, the brave warrior who established Dharma, the spiritual guru of the world.

                                             OM ŚRĪKṚṢṆĀRPAṆAMASTU

Note: The talks can be accessed on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@kalpanarj