By Swami Kamalananda
From “The Forest of Forever”
We know
of course that
“Only God can make a tree,”
the miracle and colorful fount of vitality,
the living symbol of the cooperative
and holistic existence
of life on earth!
Now turn that symbol upside down.
Yes, UPSIDE DOWN,
And you will have a symbol of unmatched,
unique
and yet characteristically sublime
meaning from India's spiritual heritage:
“Ashvattha”
“What, visualize a tree upside down?” you ask.
Precisely.
Now that gets our attention!
That will remain an unforgettable image.
Forever.
Why would one imagine a tree with its roots
above the branches,
and the branches extending below them?
“Why on earth?” indeed:
Because while we live on earth
we must learn to see trees
(as all living beings)
in another way:
As coming from above,
from beyond creation.
From an unseen source
beyond
heaven itself
and extending
downwards
into the realm of
Creation and, finally, to Earth—
bringing the unmanifest Soul
into
all our surroundings.
“With its roots, the original source,
established above in the Supreme Self,
and its branches spreading below as creation,
stands the everlasting Ashvattha,
the symbolic tree of the ever changing world.
The hymns of the Vedas form its leaves.
He who knows this is truly enlightened
in the wisdom of the Vedas.”
—Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, Ch. 15, V.1