The Blessed Lord said: They speak of an imperishable ashvattha tree with roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree knows the Vedas.

Its branches spread below and above, nourished by the gunas, with sense objects as shoots. Below, in the human world, roots extend bound by actions.

Its form is not perceived here as such—neither its end, nor its beginning, nor its foundation. Having cut this firmly rooted ashvattha tree with the strong sword of non-attachment—

Then one must seek that place from which, having gone, they never return—'I surrender to that primeval Person from whom this ancient activity has streamed forth.'

Free from pride and delusion, having conquered the evil of attachment, ever devoted to the Self, with desires turned away, liberated from the dualities of pleasure and pain—the undeluded reach that imperishable goal.

Neither the sun illumines that, nor the moon, nor fire. Having reached that, they do not return—that is My supreme abode.

An eternal fragment of Myself becomes the living entity in this world of life, drawing to itself the six senses including the mind, which rest in nature.

When the lord of the body acquires a body and when he leaves it, he takes these along and goes, as the wind carries fragrances from their source.

Presiding over hearing, sight, touch, taste, smell, and also the mind, he experiences the sense objects.

The deluded do not perceive him departing, staying, or enjoying, connected with the gunas. Those with the eye of knowledge see.

Striving yogis see this Self established in themselves. But the unrefined, whose minds are not prepared, do not see It even though striving.

That splendor of the sun which illumines the entire world, that which is in the moon, and that which is in fire—know that splendor to be Mine.

Entering the earth, I sustain all beings with My energy. Becoming the watery moon, I nourish all plants.

Becoming the digestive fire in the bodies of all living beings, united with the outgoing and incoming breath, I digest the four kinds of food.

I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me come memory, knowledge, and their removal. By all the Vedas, I alone am to be known. I am the author of Vedanta and the knower of the Vedas.

There are two persons in this world—the perishable and the imperishable. All beings are perishable; the unchanging is called imperishable.

But there is another, the Supreme Person, called the Supreme Self, who, entering the three worlds, sustains them—the imperishable Lord.

Because I transcend the perishable and am higher than the imperishable, I am celebrated in the world and in the Vedas as the Supreme Person (Purushottama).

One who, undeluded, thus knows Me as the Supreme Person, he, knowing all, worships Me with his whole being, O Bharata.

Thus this most secret teaching has been revealed by Me, O sinless one. Understanding this, one becomes wise and has accomplished all duties, O Bharata.