Shloka 27
The Lord’s Advent: Yoga-māyā’s Mission, Saṅkarṣaṇa’s Transfer, and the Demigods’ Prayers
एकायनोऽसौ द्विफलस्त्रिमूल-श्चतूरस: पञ्चविध: षडात्मा । सप्तत्वगष्टविटपो नवाक्षोदशच्छदी द्विखगो ह्यादिवृक्ष: ॥ २७ ॥
ekāyano ’sau dvi-phalas tri-mūlaś catū-rasaḥ pañca-vidhaḥ ṣaḍ-ātmā sapta-tvag aṣṭa-viṭapo navākṣo daśa-cchadī dvi-khago hy ādi-vṛkṣaḥ
This body may be likened to the “original tree”: one trunk, two fruits (enjoyment of happiness and suffering of distress), three roots (association with the three guṇas), four tastes (dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa), five kinds (the knowledge-acquiring senses), six conditions (lamentation, illusion, old age, death, hunger, thirst), seven layers of bark (skin, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, semen), eight branches (five elements plus mind, intelligence, false ego), nine hollows (eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, anus, genitals), and ten leaves (the ten vital airs). In this tree dwell two birds: the individual soul and the Supersoul.
This material world is composed of five principal elements — earth, water, fire, air and ether — all of which are emanations from Kṛṣṇa. Although materialistic scientists may accept these five primary elements as the cause of the material manifestation, these elements in their gross and subtle states are produced by Kṛṣṇa, whose marginal potency also produces the living entities working within this material world. The Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā clearly states that the entire cosmic manifestation is a combination of two of Kṛṣṇa’s energies — the superior energy and the inferior energy. The living entities are the superior energy, and the inanimate material elements are His inferior energy. In the dormant stage, everything rests in Kṛṣṇa.
FAQs
This verse describes the material world as an original tree with symbolic parts—roots, branches, bark, leaves, and two birds—indicating the structured, entangling nature of saṁsāra and the presence of both the individual soul and the Supreme within it.
They use a well-known Vedic metaphor to show that the Lord is the ultimate basis and overseer of the entire material arrangement, and that only by taking shelter of Him can one cut through entanglement.
See worldly pleasures as ‘two fruits’ that bind the mind, and consciously choose devotion—hearing, chanting, and remembering Krishna—as the way to rise above repeated anxiety and attachment.