Verse 145

बीजं संसृतिभूमिजस्य तु तमो देहात्मधीरङ्कुरो
रागः पल्लवमम्बु कर्म तु वपुः स्कन्धोओऽसवः शाखिकाः ।
अग्राणीन्द्रियसंहतिश्च विषयाः पुष्पाणि दुःखं फलं
नानाकर्मसमुद्भवं बहुविधं भोक्तात्र जीवः खगः ॥ १४५ ॥

bījaṃ saṃsṛtibhūmijasya tu tamo dehātmadhīraṅkuro
rāgaḥ pallavamambu karma tu vapuḥ skandhoo'savaḥ śākhikāḥ |
agrāṇīndriyasaṃhatiśca viṣayāḥ puṣpāṇi duḥkhaṃ phalaṃ
nānākarmasamudbhavaṃ bahuvidhaṃ bhoktātra jīvaḥ khagaḥ || 145 ||

145. Of the tree of Samsara ignorance is the seed, the identification with the body is its sprout, attachment its tender leaves, work its water, the body its trunk, the vital forces its branches, the organs its twigs, the sense-objects its flowers, various miseries due to diverse works are its fruits, and the individual soul is the bird on it.

Notes:

[In this stanza Samsara or relative existence is likened to a tree, and the simile is brought out in detail. The appropriateness of the comparisons will be patent on reflection. It is this kind of Composition which shows Sankara not only to be a great philosopher but a true poet also. And such Slokas, as the reader will perceive, abound in this masterpiece of Vedantic literature.

Soul is the bird &c.—Compare the beautiful

Slokas of the Mundaka Upanishad (III. i. 1-2)—^ílV” &C. With the ripening of

Knowledge the two birds coalesce into one, the Self alone remains, and life is known to be a dream. ]