138 - Evolution of the Karma Ideal in Gita | Swami Tattwamayananda

15th Chapter: Verses 8, 9, 10<br /><br />In the 15th chapter, the whole world is compared to the <i>Ashvattha</i> tree – the tree of life. Its roots are above and the branches are below. Roots represent the origin or the source which is the <i>Atman</i>. From this <i>Atman</i>, the empirical world, which is represented by the branches and leaves, evolves and moves downward. Only the <i>Atman</i> is eternal – the empirical world is non-eternal.<br /><br />The branches and leaves represent the continuous flow of <i>samsara</i> (empirical world) through human desires, actions and results. One can get out of the entanglement of <i>samsara</i> with the strong weapon of non-attachment.<br /><br />The <i>Atman</i>, as the source, is the root. Without it, the tree collapses. So, in the midst of our daily activities, we should remember the <i>Atman</i>, the source of everything.<br /><br />The purpose of this metaphor is to emphasize that the phenomenal world is unreal in the absolute sense. It is real only in the relative sense. <i>Vedanta</i> defines something as real if (1) it remains without change in the past, present and future (2) It is beyond time, space and causation and (3) it remains without change in waking, dream and deep sleep states.<br /><br />In an ocean, waves come and go, but the ocean remains the same. The waves are not unreal, but they are not permanent. They go back to the ocean and they are non-different from the ocean. <i>Atman</i> is like the ocean (permanent) and the phenomenal world is like the wave (impermanent and non-different from <i>Atman</i>).<br /><br />The idea that everything in the empirical world is impermanent translates into a matured outlook and level-headedness. We don’t have to get anxious when bad news comes our way because we won’t assign permanence to that impermanent event. The 15th chapter attempts to translate what we intellectually know into spiritual common sense.<br /><i></i><br /><i>Gita</i> ends with the verse: “Wherever the ideals of action and contemplation are prese