Bhagavad Gita 15.2 Meaning: Adhashchordhvam prasritastasya

Bhagavad Gita 15.2

अधश्चोर्ध्वं प्रसृतास्तस्य शाखाः गुणप्रवृद्धा विषयप्रवालाः ।अधश्च मूलान्यनुसन्ततानि कर्मानुबन्धीनि मनुष्यलोके ॥

Adhashchordhvam prasritastasya shakhah gunapravriddha vishayapravalahAdhashcha mulanyanusantatani karmanubandhini manushyaloke

adhaścordhvaṃ prasṛtāstasya śākhāḥ guṇapravṛddhā viṣayapravālāḥ |adhaśca mūlānyanusantatāni karmānubandhīni manuṣyaloke ||

How to read these English letters (IAST)

Our explanation Its branches spread below and above, Krishna says, fed by the guṇas, with the objects of the senses as their young shoots. Below, in the human world, its roots stretch out and bind people to action.

हिंदी अर्थ कृष्ण कहते हैं कि इसकी शाखाएँ नीचे और ऊपर फैली हैं, गुणों से पोषित हैं, और इंद्रियों के विषय इसकी कोंपलें हैं। नीचे, मनुष्य-लोक में, इसकी जड़ें फैली हैं, जो मनुष्य को कर्म से बाँधती हैं।

Word by word

Every word, with its dictionary page

Word by word

अधः adhaḥ · below (indeclinable) Dictionary: adhas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 20, col. 1 “below, down; in the lower region; beneath, under”
च ca · and (indeclinable) Dictionary: 2. ca, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 380, col. 1 “and, both, also, moreover, as well as”
ऊर्ध्वम् ūrdhvam · above (adverb) Dictionary: ūrdhva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 222, col. 1 “rising or tending upwards, raised, elevated, erected, erect, upright, high, above”
प्रसृताः prasṛtāḥ · spread out (past participle, nominative plural) Dictionary: pra-sṛta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 698, col. 2 “wide-spreading”
तस्य tasya · its (pronoun, genitive singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
शाखाः śākhāḥ · branches (nominative plural) Dictionary: śākhā, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1062, col. 3 “a branch (lit. and fig.)”
गुणप्रवृद्धाः guṇapravṛddhāḥ · grown by the guṇas (compound, nominative plural) Dictionary: guṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 357, col. 1 “a quality, peculiarity, attribute or property”; pra-vṛddha, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 694, col. 1 “grown up, fully developed, increased, augmented”
विषयप्रवालाः viṣayapravālāḥ · with sense objects as shoots (compound, nominative plural) Dictionary: viṣaya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 997, col. 1 “an object of sense”; pra-vāla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 691, col. 3 “a young shoot, sprout, new leaf or branch”
अधः adhaḥ · below (indeclinable) Dictionary: adhas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 20, col. 1 “below, down; in the lower region; beneath, under”
च ca · and (indeclinable) Dictionary: 2. ca, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 380, col. 1 “and, both, also, moreover, as well as”
मूलानि mūlāni · roots (nominative plural) Dictionary: mūla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 826, col. 2 “a root (of any plant or tree)”
अनुसन्ततानि anusantatāni · stretched out, spread along (past participle, nominative plural) Dictionary: anu-saṃ-tan, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 40, col. 3 “to overspread, diffuse, extend everywhere; to join on, continue”
कर्मानुबन्धीनि karmānubandhīni · binding to action (compound, nominative plural) Dictionary: karman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 258, col. 2 “act, action, performance, business”; anu-bandhin, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 36, col. 2 “connected with, attached; having in its train or as a consequence, resulting”
मनुष्यलोके manuṣyaloke · in the world of humans (compound, locative singular) Dictionary: manuṣya-loka, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 785, col. 1 “the world of men”

1 printing differs

Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.

Spelling A digital text reads Same words. The 1922 edition prints the visarga at the end of the first quarter (शाखाः, at the end of the printed line); the e-text, and another digital text, write शाखा in sandhi with गुण….

Bhagavad Gita 15.2: meaning and translation

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