THE ETERNAL FIG TREE
In accordance with the interpretation of a parna as a leaf, the Vedic seers compared the infinite crystalline lattice of cosmic eggs to an eternal fig tree known as the Ashvattha.
This is actually the name of a certain type of tree that grows on the Indian subcontinent and whose wood was often used to kindle sacrificial fires.In this way, the cosmic eggs are compared to the fruits of the tree, or figs, because a fig is spherical and contains many spherical seeds. Similarly, the spherical cosmic egg contains many universal, galactic, and solar spheres, each of which represent the embodiment of a celestial being capable of growing to become the very embodiment of the divine tree itself.
In the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the eternal Ashvattha tree is described as the living embodiment of the Veda (or Logos):
They say the eternal Ashvattha tree has its root above and its branch below, such that its leaves (parnani) are the (Vedic) hymns. He who knows this is a knower of the Veda. Its form is not perceptible here in this world, nor its end, nor its beginning, nor its staying. This Ashvattha tree, with its well-grown root, should be cut by the strong ax of nonattachment. Then that place is to be sought, from which having gone, they do not return, saying, “In that primordial soul I take refuge, from whence the primeval activity anciently streamed forth.”
In this cosmic metaphor, the crystalline layers of the metaphysical Logos are compared to the branches of an eternal tree. These support the fruits of the tree, which correspond to the cosmic eggs, and the leaves of the tree, which correspond to the cosmic whirlwinds that connect the eggs. These leaves are compared specifically to the Vedic hymns or Vedic texts. In this regard, the ancient seers placed a great deal of importance on the organization of the Vedic literature into different sets of texts.
In a series of lectures given to several thousand Vedic pandits during the 1980s, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi outlined this ancient organization as involving 26 + 1 = 27 different types of texts. First he showed that twenty-six types of texts are organized in pairs:| ORGANIZATION OF VEDIC TEXTS | |
| Primary Texts | Subordinate Texts |
| Four Vedas | Four Upavedas |
| Upanishads, Aranyakas, Brahmanas | Itihasas, Puranas, Smritis |
| Six Vedangas | Six Upangas |
It turns out that the twenty-six cosmic whirlwinds, which correspond to the leaves of the eternal tree, are also organized in pairs along each of the thirteen symmetry axes. The thirteen axes in turn are organized into three groups, which correspond to the four octahedral axes, the three cubic axes, and the six rhombic axes. We find, therefore, that there is a direct correspondence between the 8 + 6 + 12 = 26 sets of Vedic texts and the 8 + 6 + 12 = 26 whirlwinds.
Maharishi, however, pointed out that there is an additional twenty-seventh set of texts, which stands alone (26 + 1). These texts are called the pratishakhyas, and they deal with the science of pronunciation within the mouth. This twenty-seventh aspect of the Vedic literature corresponds to the cosmic egg at the center of the cube whose outermost shell may be compared to the mouth of the unborn Creator. It is there that all twenty-six aspects of divine speech are pronounced, thus giving rise to the appearance of creation, which is literally spoken into existence. The idea that the leaves of the divine tree correspond to the hymns of the Veda or to the various sets of Vedic texts is therefore quite precise.
After establishing the correspondence between the leaves of the tree and the Vedic texts, the passage then exhorts the soul to cut the root of the eternal tree with the “strong ax of nonattachment,” and to seek that place from which there is no return.
If the eternal tree is likened to the Veda, then this amounts to seeking the “end of the Veda,” otherwise known as Vedanta. To be admitted into the immortal realms, the soul must first sever its attachment to the fruit of the tree, which corresponds to the cosmic egg from which it has hatched. Yet it still remains attached to the root of the tree, which exists above. This well-grown root is none other than the imperishable crystalline body of Logos cognized above and beyond the scale of the thirty-ninth layer.In order to transcend the discrete crystalline structure of consciousness and realize the infinite continuum of the self, the well-grown root of the tree must be severed by the “strong ax of nonattachment.” This is accomplished by ascending beyond the fortieth layer into the higher immortal realms. In doing so, the distinction between the crystalline body of Logos and the infinite continuum of the self is eventually obliterated.