BG 15.1: The Lord said: They speak of an immutable Ashvattha tree with its roots above and branches below. Its leaves are the Vedas. He who knows it knows the Vedas.

BG 15.2: Its branches extend both above and below, nourished by the Gunas. Their shoots are sense objects and their secondary roots extend downwards, resulting in acts which bind in the world of men.

BG 15.3: Its form as such is not perceived here, nor its end, nor its beginning, nor its support. Having cut off this firm-rooted Ashvattha with the strong axe of detachment...

BG 15.4: Then, one should seek that goal attaining which one never returns. One should seek refuge with that Primal Person from whom streamed forth this ancient activity.

BG 15.5: Without the delusion of perverse notions (concerning the self), victorious over the evil of attachment, ever devoted to the self, turned away from desires and liberated from dualities called pleasure and pain, the undeluded go to that imperishable status.

BG 15.6: That supreme light (i.e. the individual self), reaching which they do not return any more, is Mine; the sun does not illumine It, nor moon, nor the fire.

BG 15.7: An everlasting part of Myself, having become the bound self in the world of life, attracts the senses, of which the mind is the sixth, and which abide in Prakrti.

BG 15.8: Whatever body Its lord acquires and from whatever body It departs, It goes on Its way, taking these senses as the wind carrying scents from their places.

BG 15.9: Presiding over the ear, the eye, the sense of touch, the tongue and the nose, and the mind, It experiences these objects of senses.

BG 15.10: The deluded do not perceive It (i.e., the self) conjoined with the Gunas when departing or staying or experiencing. They who have the eye of knowledge see It.

BG 15.11: The striving Yogins see It established in themselves. But, though striving, those of unrefined minds, devoid of intelligence, perceive It not.

BG 15.12: That brilliance in the sun which illumines the whole universe, that in the moon and that in fire, know that brilliance as Mine.

BG 15.13: And entering the earth I uphold all beings by My strength. I nourish all herbs, becoming the juicy Soma.

BG 15.14: Becoming the digestive fire, I function within the bodies of all living beings. In union with inward and outward breaths, I digest the four kinds of food.

BG 15.15: And I am seated in the hearts of all. From Me are memory, knowledge and their removal also. Indeed I alone am to be known from all the Vedas. I bring about the fruition of the rituals of Vedas; I alone am the knower of the Vedas.

BG 15.16: There are two kinds of Persons (Purushas) spoken of in the Shastra—the perishable (Kshara) and the imperishable (Akshara). The perishable is all beings and the imperishable is called the unchanging (Kutastha).

BG 15.17: There is the Supreme Person other than these. He is named the Supreme Self (Paramatma) in all the Vedas. He who, as the Immutable One and the Lord, entering the threefold world, supports it.

BG 15.18: Because I transcend the perishable Person and am also higher than the imperishable Person, therefore I am styled in the Smrti and the Veda as the Supreme Person (Purushottama).

BG 15.19: He who, witnout delusion thus knows Me as the Supreme Self, knows all, O Arjuna, and worships Me in every way.

BG 15.20: Thus, O sinless one, has this most mysterious doctrine been imparted by Me. By understanding this, a man will become truly wise and will have fulfilled his duty.