Bhagavad Gītā Chapter XV — Attaining the Supreme Person (Puruṣottama-Yoga)

N=1 distillation. Source: Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885), Gutenberg #2388. Quotes pending Phase 7. Tags: ../00-methodology.md. Citation Gītā 15.

Chapter role

Opens with the famous image of the inverted cosmic tree — the aśvattha (banyan) "Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above," whose leaves are the Vedas and whose downward-seeking rootlets are the binding actions of men; it is to be felled "with the axe of sharp Detachment." It then teaches that the soul carries its senses from body to body "as the wind gathers scents"; that the Lord is the indwelling vital force in sun, moon, fire, plant-sap, and the digestive warmth that feeds every body; and finally names the Supreme Person (Puruṣottama) who transcends both "the Divided" (perishable beings) and "the Undivided" (the imperishable) — "Life Supreme." To know Him thus is to know all and be "quit of works in bliss."

Atomic statements

G15-C1: The world of saṃsāra is an inverted tree (aśvattha) — roots above, branches below — whose sense-binding roots are to be cut "with the axe of sharp Detachment." (FOUNDATIONAL / KARMA-SAMSARA+DESIRE)

• Gītā 15: "Men call the Aswattha,—the Banyan-tree,—/ Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above… / As actions wrought amid this world of men / Bind them by ever-tightening bonds again… / The axe of sharp Detachment ye would whet, / And cleave the clinging snaky roots."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: saṃsāra

G15-C2: Those who break the bonds, freed from passion and dreams and worshipping the Highest, reach the changeless world "Which they who once behold return no more." (FOUNDATIONAL / MOKSHA)

• Gītā 15: "to Him come they / From passion and from dreams who break away… / Another Sun gleams there! another Moon!… / Which they who once behold return no more; / They have attained My rest, life's Utmost boon!"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: mokṣa

G15-C3: The embodied soul carries the senses and mind from body to body — "as the wind gathers scents, / Blowing above the flower-beds"; the unenlightened do not perceive this, but those with "eyes to see" do. (FOUNDATIONAL / ATMAN-BRAHMAN+KARMA-SAMSARA)

• Gītā 15: "The Sovereign Soul / Thus entering the flesh, or quitting it, / Gathers these up, as the wind gathers scents… / The unenlightened ones / Mark not that Spirit when he goes or comes… but those see plain / Who have the eyes to see."
• Stance: assert · Importance: core

G15-C4: The Lord is the indwelling vital power — the light of suns and moons, the sap in plants, the warmth that digests food in living frames. (FOUNDATIONAL / ATMAN-BRAHMAN)

• Gītā 15: "from Me the moons / Draw silvery beams… I glide into the plant— / Root, leaf, and bloom… Becoming vital warmth, / I glow in glad, respiring frames… to feed / The body by all meats."
• Stance: assert · Importance: supporting

G15-C5: Beyond "the Divided" (perishable beings) and "the Undivided" (the imperishable) is the Supreme Person (Puruṣottama), "Life Supreme"; who knows Him "knoweth all" and is "quit of works in bliss." (FOUNDATIONAL / ATMAN-BRAHMAN+MOKSHA)

• Gītā 15: "Higher still is He, / The Highest… / Am called of men and Vedas, Life Supreme, / The PURUSHOTTAMA. / Who knows Me thus… knoweth all… / He is quit of works in bliss!"
• Stance: assert · Importance: core · Untranslatable: puruṣottama

Step 4 — Clusters

Cluster	Atomic statements	Intent
The tree of saṃsāra and its felling	C1, C2	Bondage as a tree to be cut by detachment; the freed do not return
The transmigrating soul	C3	The Self carries the senses from life to life
The Lord as vital power	C4	The indwelling energy of all living things
The Supreme Person	C5	Puruṣottama beyond perishable and imperishable

Step 5 — Internal tensions

None genuine. The inverted-tree image and the Puruṣottama doctrine are complementary: cut the tree of bondage, reach the Person beyond both poles of being.

Step 6 — Synthesized chapter principles

G15-P1: Saṃsāra is a tree of bondage to be felled by detachment

The world-process is an inverted tree whose binding roots are sense-driven action; the axe of detachment cuts it, and the freed "return no more."

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: KARMA-SAMSARA+MOKSHA · Covers: C1, C2 · Evidence: Gītā 15 · Untranslatable: saṃsāra, mokṣa

G15-P2: The soul transmigrates, carrying the senses from body to body

The Self, entering and quitting bodies, gathers up the senses and mind "as the wind gathers scents" — a process only the awakened perceive.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: ATMAN-BRAHMAN+KARMA-SAMSARA · Covers: C3 · Evidence: Gītā 15 · Untranslatable: ātman

G15-P3: The Lord is the indwelling vital power of all life

The light of sun and moon, the sap of plants, the warmth that digests food — the Lord is the living energy sustaining every body.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: ATMAN-BRAHMAN · Covers: C4 · Evidence: Gītā 15

G15-P4: The Supreme Person (Puruṣottama) is beyond perishable and imperishable

Higher than both transient beings and the changeless absolute is the Supreme Person; to know Him is to know all and be free.

• Tier: FOUNDATIONAL · Domain: ATMAN-BRAHMAN+MOKSHA · Covers: C5 · Evidence: Gītā 15 · Untranslatable: puruṣottama

Step 7 — Traceability

Principle	Atomic statements	Citation
G15-P1	C1, C2	Gītā 15
G15-P2	C3	Gītā 15
G15-P3	C4	Gītā 15
G15-P4	C5	Gītā 15

Step 8 — Quality

• Coverage: high. Orphaned: <10%. Principles: 4. Traceability: 100%.

Step 9 — Validation

• Claim-vs-warrant: G15-P1 (the world as a tree of entangling bondage to be cut by detachment) converges in claim with renunciant traditions' "the world is a snare," but the warrant (sense-action literally re-rooting one in rebirth) is saṃsāra-specific and directly opposes any "the world is good and to be embraced" theology even where the surface counsel (non-attachment) overlaps. G15-P2 (transmigration of the sense-carrying soul) is a deep-divergence node vs. single-life eschatologies and vs. Buddhist anattā (which denies a soul that carries over). G15-P4 (Puruṣottama beyond both being and the absolute) is the Gītā's distinctive theistic move beyond impersonal Advaita — a within-tradition tension as much as a cross-tradition one.