1 Gita Sloka Every Day - Chapter 15 - Purushottama Yoga - Sloka 2

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 2

Adhah cha oordhvam prasrutah tasya shakhah guna pravruddhah vishaya pravalah I

Adhah cha  moolani anu samtan tani karma anubandhini manushya loke II sloka 2

अधः च ऊर्ध्वं प्रसृतः तस्य शाखः गुण प्रवृद्धः विषय प्रवालाः I 

अधः च मूलानि अणु संतान तानि कर्म  अनुबन्धानि मनुष्य लोके II श्लोक 2

Below and above spread its branches, nourished by the gunas; sense objects are its buds; and below in the world of men stretch forth the roots, engendering action.

The analogy between the peepul tree and the samsara comprising the phenomenal existence continues to be kept up. The branches of the three spread profusely above and below. To the tree of the samsara, brahmaloka and such like regions are the branches growing above and the regions of the men and other inferior beings are the branches coming down. The enlightened ones assume the superior births  and those others devoid of understanding take inferior births. Buds and twigs are put forth only by those branches which are full of sap. The functioning of the three gunas supplies the required sap and the feasting of the senses on the sense objects put forth the buds and twigs. The sprouting, leafing and thriving of the tree of samsara is inevitable as long as the gunas supply the sap.

The tap root and the subsidiary roots are the two types of roots functioning in a tree.  The tap root along with the trunk is the seat of life to the tree. Since Iswara is teh source of the jagat, which has materialised from him, he is regarded as the tap root sustaining it from above. The multifarious activities on the earth are the branching subsidiary roots nourishing this tree of samsara. By pruning and treating the slender branch roots occasionally, the growth of the tree is augmented. Parallel to this, man improves his lot by reforming  and readjusting his activities Karma aids him reconstitute his nature. It is karma again that binds man to varying tendencies  and provides momentum to prolong the wheel of birth. Made of karma as the jivatmas are, the root that represents it is said to be all pervading in the universe. In other words, karma and prakriti are inseparable.