Sanskrit
अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखाः गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवालाः । अधश्च मूलान्यनुसन्ततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके ॥
adhaś cordhvaṃ prasṛtās tasya śākhāḥ guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥ adhaś ca mūlāny anusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke
Translation
Downwards and upwards spread the branches of it, nourished by the qualities; the objects of the senses its buds; and its roots grow downwards, the bonds of action in the world of men.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
This verse thickens the tree image before it gets felled: branches run both up and down, nourished by the gunas — the three qualities of nature from chapter 14’s taxonomy — and tipped with sense-objects as their new shoots, while the roots reach downward into the human world as karmānubandhīni, “action-bound.” That compound is the verse’s real payload: it names the roots as karma itself, the accumulated momentum of action that keeps regrowing the whole structure. Coming right after chapter 14, this reads as a synthesis move — gunas explain what feeds the tree, karma explains what anchors it, and together they explain why the tree, though “avyayam” in verse 1, still needs cutting rather than merely observing. The tree grows by the guṇas; its fresh shoots are sense-objects, and it sends down secondary roots — the actions that bind, in “the world of men.” Saṃsāra propagates itself: engagement with objects generates action, which roots one deeper.
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Word by word
- adhaś cordhvaṃ prasṛtās tasya śākhāḥअधश् चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास् तस्य शाखाः
- its branches spread below and above (adhaḥ + ca + ūrdhvam + prasṛtāḥ + tasya + śākhāḥ)
- guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥगुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवालाः
- nourished by the guṇas, their twigs the sense-objects (guṇa-pravṛddhāḥ + viṣaya-pravālāḥ)
- adhaś ca mūlāny anusantatāniअधश् च मूलान्य् अनुसन्ततानि
- and below, roots stretch down (adhaḥ + ca + mūlāni + anusantatāni)
- karmānubandhīni manuṣyalokeकर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके
- binding to action, in the world of men (karma-anubandhīni + manuṣya-loke)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse assigns each part of the tree a distinct job: the gunas explain the growth spreading up and down, but karmānubandhīni names the roots specifically as accumulated action, not appetite or nature. That’s a precise diagnosis — the tree persists not primarily because it’s fed, but because it’s anchored, which means starving its inputs alone won’t fell it. Coming right after chapter 14’s guna taxonomy, this verse quietly redirects the reader’s attention from what feeds a pattern to what actually roots it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- A habit that keeps regrowing usually isn't sustained mainly by the temptation feeding it in the moment — it's anchored by the accumulated pattern of past choices that keep drawing you back. Reducing exposure to triggers helps, but the root you need to address is the pattern itself.
Professional
- A recurring operational problem often isn't caused by whatever is currently triggering it — it's anchored in an old process decision or precedent nobody has revisited. Patching the trigger buys time; tracing and changing the anchoring decision is what actually fells the problem.
Family & Social
- A recurring argument in a family usually isn't really about today's specific trigger — it's rooted in an accumulated pattern built over years of similar moments. Address the pattern directly instead of re-litigating today's version of it every time.
Ask yourself
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