With roots upward and branches downward, they say it is the indestructible aśvattha (fig tree), whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows it knows the Vedas.

Kṛṣṇa presents one of the most powerful metaphors of the Gītā: the aśvattha, the tree of cosmic existence (saṃsāra). What we normally know as the fig tree (Ficus religiosa) has roots in the earth and branches in the sky. Here it is inverted: the roots (mūla) are upward (ūrdhva), in the transcendent, while the branches (śākha) grow downward (adhaḥ), toward the material manifestation.

This tree is avyaya — indestructible, perpetual, without diminution. Its leaves (parṇa) are the chandāṃsi, the Vedic hymns. This verse establishes that knowing the structure of this tree is knowing the essence of the Vedas (veda-vit). It is a tree that grows inverted, illusory, that must be cut.