Public domain translation by Sir Edwin Arnold (1885), via Project Gutenberg. Presented unabridged.
Krishna.<br/> Men call the Aswattha,--the Banyan-tree,--<br/> Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above,--<br/> The ever-holy tree. Yea! for its leaves<br/> Are green and waving hymns which whisper Truth!<br/> Who knows the Aswattha, knows Veds, and all.
Its branches shoot to heaven and sink to earth,[FN#30]<br/> Even as the deeds of men, which take their birth<br/> From qualities: its silver sprays and blooms,<br/> And all the eager verdure of its girth,<br/> Leap to quick life at kiss of sun and air,<br/> As men's lives quicken to the temptings fair<br/> Of wooing sense: its hanging rootlets seek<br/> The soil beneath, helping to hold it there,
As actions wrought amid this world of men<br/> Bind them by ever-tightening bonds again.<br/> If ye knew well the teaching of the Tree,<br/> What its shape saith; and whence it springs; and, then
How it must end, and all the ills of it,<br/> The axe of sharp Detachment ye would whet,<br/> And cleave the clinging snaky roots, and lay<br/> This Aswattha of sense-life low,--to set
New growths upspringing to that happier sky,--<br/> Which they who reach shall have no day to die,<br/> Nor fade away, nor fall--to Him, I mean,<br/> FATHER and FIRST, Who made the mystery
Of old Creation; for to Him come they<br/> From passion and from dreams who break away;<br/> Who part the bonds constraining them to flesh,<br/> And,--Him, the Highest, worshipping alway--
No longer grow at mercy of what breeze<br/> Of summer pleasure stirs the sleeping trees,<br/> What blast of tempest tears them, bough and stem<br/> To the eternal world pass such as these!
Another Sun gleams there! another Moon!<br/> Another Light,--not Dusk, nor Dawn, nor Noon--<br/> Which they who once behold return no more;<br/> They have attained My rest, life's Utmost boon!
When, in this world of manifested life,<br/> The undying Spirit, setting forth from Me,<br/> Taketh on form, it draweth to itself<br/> From Being's storehouse,--which containeth all,--<br/> Senses and intellect. The Sovereign Soul<br/> Thus entering the flesh, or quitting it,<br/> Gathers these up, as the wind gathers scents,<br/> Blowing above the flower-beds. Ear and Eye,<br/> And Touch and Taste, and Smelling, these it takes,--<br/> Yea, and a sentient mind;--linking itself<br/> To sense-things so.
The unenlightened ones<br/> Mark not that Spirit when he goes or comes,<br/> Nor when he takes his pleasure in the form,<br/> Conjoined with qualities; but those see plain<br/> Who have the eyes to see. Holy souls see<br/> Which strive thereto. Enlightened, they perceive<br/> That Spirit in themselves; but foolish ones,<br/> Even though they strive, discern not, having hearts<br/> Unkindled, ill-informed!
Know, too, from Me<br/> Shineth the gathered glory of the suns<br/> Which lighten all the world: from Me the moons<br/> Draw silvery beams, and fire fierce loveliness.<br/> I penetrate the clay, and lend all shapes<br/> Their living force; I glide into the plant--<br/> Root, leaf, and bloom--to make the woodlands green<br/> With springing sap. Becoming vital warmth,<br/> I glow in glad, respiring frames, and pass,<br/> With outward and with inward breath, to feed<br/> The body by all meats.[FN#31]
For in this world<br/> Being is twofold: the Divided, one;<br/> The Undivided, one. All things that live<br/> Are "the Divided." That which sits apart,<br/> "The Undivided."
Higher still is He,<br/> The Highest, holding all, whose Name is LORD,<br/> The Eternal, Sovereign, First! Who fills all worlds,<br/> Sustaining them. And--dwelling thus beyond<br/> Divided Being and Undivided--I<br/> Am called of men and Vedas, Life Supreme,<br/> The PURUSHOTTAMA.
Who knows Me thus,<br/> With mind unclouded, knoweth all, dear Prince!<br/> And with his whole soul ever worshippeth Me.
Now is the sacred, secret Mystery<br/> Declared to thee! Who comprehendeth this<br/> Hath wisdom! He is quit of works in bliss!
HERE ENDS CHAPTER XV. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA<br/> Entitled "Purushottamapraptiyog,"<br/> Or "The Book of Religion by attaining the Supreme."