Detachment cuts deep bondage.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यतेनान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा |अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलंअसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा ||१५-३||
na rūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādirna ca sampratiṣṭhā . aśvatthamenaṃ suvirūḍhamūlaṃ asaṅgaśastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā ||15-3||
Use this verse when attachment feels deeply rooted.
Meaning
Its true form is not perceived here, nor its end, beginning, or foundation. Having cut down this deeply rooted ashvattha tree with the strong sword of detachment.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
The world-tree must be cut with the sword of detachment.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna teaches that intellectual analysis alone cannot free the seeker. The world-tree is too deeply rooted. A firm weapon is needed: asanga, detachment from false ownership and compulsive attachment.
Read the traditional commentary
The world-tree cannot be grasped by ordinary perception. While we are inside it, immersed in our experiences, we cannot see its true form — its beginning, its end, or what truly upholds it remain hidden from a mind caught in sense-objects. This is precisely why the tree seems so solid and inescapable: we mistake the passing for the permanent.
Krishna's remedy is decisive. This tree, however suviruḍha-mūla — firmly and deeply rooted — can be felled with one instrument: asaṅga-śastra, the axe of non-attachment. Not by hating the world, nor by fleeing it, but by cutting the inner cords of clinging that keep us bound.
Detachment here is not coldness; it is the clear strength that loosens our grip on what cannot last, so that we are free to seek what does. The verse leaves the action incomplete deliberately — the next verse reveals what awaits beyond the felled tree.
In daily life
Use detachment as a practical tool, not an escape from duty.
A person attached to outcomes can cut anxiety by doing the work and releasing control.
Try this today
Write one attachment and one way to loosen it.
I cut bondage with firm detachment.Reflect
What attachment needs the sword of detachment?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘दृढेन छित्त्वा’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on freedom, in other chapters
- Verse 18.12Clinging to results binds you to their consequences; releasing them sets you free.
- Verse 3.9Turn your work into an offering greater than yourself, and the same action that would bind you instead sets you free.
- Verse 4.14It is not action that binds us but craving for its fruits; act fully while letting go of the outcome, and you stay free.
- Verse 5.3True renunciation is freedom from craving and aversion within — not the outer abandonment of work.
Swipe left for 15.4 · Detachment should lead to surrender.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 15.3
Who says Bhagavad Gita 15.3, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 15.3, in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga (Purushottama Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 15.3 mean?
Its true form is not perceived here, nor its end, beginning, or foundation. Having cut down this deeply rooted ashvattha tree with the strong sword of detachment. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 15.3 for daily life?
Use detachment as a practical tool, not an escape from duty. A person attached to outcomes can cut anxiety by doing the work and releasing control.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 15.3 mean?
न रूपम् अस्य — its form is not; इह उपलभ्यते — perceived here; न अन्तः न आदिः — neither end nor beginning; न सम्प्रतिष्ठा — nor foundation; अश्वत्थम् एनम् — this peepul tree.
Where does verse 15.3 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 3 of 20 in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga. The next verse is 15.4.