1 Gita Sloka Every Day - Chapter 15 - Purushottama Yoga - Sloka 1

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Adidevananda's translation of Ramanuja's  Gita  Bhashya and Swami Chidbhavananda's Bhagavad Gita, both published by Ramakrishna Mission

Is Bhakti the only means to go beyond the gunas? The elucidation comes :

The Tree of Life 1-3

1 Gita Sloka  Every Day - Chapter 15 - Purushottama Yoga - Sloka 1

The Banyan tree of creation

Shri Bhagavan Uvacha

Urdhva mulam adha shakam ashwattam prahuh avyayam I

Chandamsi yasya parnani yah tam veda sah vedavit II sloka 1

 श्री भगवान उवाच 

ऊर्ध्व मूलं अध शाकं अश्वत्थम्  प्रहुः अव्ययम् I 

छन्दांसि यस्य पर्णानि यः तं वेद सः वेदवित् II  श्लोक 1

The Blessed Lord said

They speak of an imperishable Ashwattha tree with its root above and branches below. Its leaves are the vedas; He who knows it is the knower of the vedas. 

 The word Aswattha means that which is not today as it was yesterday. This word refers to the samsara or phenomenal existence. It is imperishable but not constant and steady. This samsara has its origin in Brahman and as it branches down, it gets more and more materialised. Ashwattha also menas the peepul tree which belongs to the banyan family. The speciality of the banyan tree is that it supplies sap from above  and sends the branches down into the earth. In this respect, the functioning of the samsara resembles this tree. Both of these receive their sustenance from above  and come down to earthly existence. 

The tree is both a symbol and entity revealing life. It aids the study of life in all its aspects all over the prakriti. That life is self-expressive is made known to us by the leaves of the tree. The varieties of life are also indicated by the leaves;  They enable us to distinguish one tree from another. Parallel to this are the chandamsi  or the hymns in the vedas. Through these hymns the expression of life all over nature is suggested to the seeker of knowledge. Hymns in the vedas are the general terms used for all branches of knowledge. Organic chemistry, biology, botany, physiology, natural science, human history - all these and more are all revelations of life at various levels. The positive expression of life is upheld as virtue and the negative expression discarded as vice. The vedas show the ways of employing life both for good and bad. This transitory life transforms itself into the Life Absolute when Brahma jnana is obtained. Short of that enlightenment, this mundane existence drags on painfully without beginning or end. It is therefore called ananyam - the imperishable. 

He who reads and understands the compiled books called the vedas is not the real vedavit - the knower of the vedas. These books are mere aids and guides. He alone is a vedavit  who truly sees into the marvellous working of nature. Prakriti is the true imperishable veda projected by the maker. The vedas also set forth the means of felling this tree of samsara which lies in the knowledge of the nature of this tree.

A man standing outside a market place hears a general buzz; nothing distinct. But his perspective changes as soon as he enters into the market. The transactions are all clearly heard and understood. Similarly when a man is away from Iswara, his inquiry is all in confusion. There s no end to his search into the cause and effect, to his cogitating over the why  and  how of things, to his debates, to his arguments and counter arguments and  to his theorising. But on realization of Iswara all these speculations and conjectures come to an end. The mystery of nature becomes an open book to him.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

That the prakriti is constituted of the three gunas and that the paramatman is supremely above the prakriti was presented in chapter 14. This chapter deals with the fact that the prakriti branches down from its source which is paramatman. 

How the earthly life is to be enriched is explained in the next stanza.