“I am the son of my father, my father is the son of such-and-such a person, etc.” By searching in this way, one comes to Brahmā, who is generated by the Garbhodaka-śāyī Viṣṇu. When entangled with the material expansions of the tree, one cannot see how far the tree extends, nor can one see the beginning of this tree. Since the root is upwards, the extension of the real tree is at the other end. It is now clearly stated that the real form of this banyan tree cannot be understood in this material world. The purpose of the Vedas, as disclosed by the Personality of Godhead Himself, is to cut down this reflected tree and attain the real tree of the spiritual world. He does not exactly know the purpose of the Vedas. One who is attracted by the ritualistic formulas of the Vedas is attracted by the beautiful green leaves of the tree. If one knows that process, he actually knows the Vedas. When it is said that a person knows the Vedas, it is assumed that he knows how to cut off attachment to this material world. The material reflection of the real tree has to be cut off. But the origin from whence the reflection is reflected is eternal. A reflection is temporary, for it is sometimes seen and sometimes not seen. Since this manifestation is material, it is temporary. The prakṛti is the external energy of the Supreme Lord, and the puruṣa is the Supreme Lord Himself, and that is explained in Bhagavad-gītā. The material world is the perverted reflection, so the spiritual world must have the same variegatedness, but in reality. If Brahman is the center of all manifestations, then this material world is a manifestation of the center by 180 degrees, and the other 180 degrees constitute the spiritual world. In this way they divide up the whole material world into twenty-four elements. The impersonalists take Brahman to be the root of this material tree, and from the root, according to Sāṅkhya philosophy, come prakṛti, puruṣa, then the three guṇas, then the five gross elements ( pañca-mahā-bhūta), then the ten senses ( daśendriya), mind, etc. Everything is there in the spiritual world. This tree, being the reflection of the real tree, is an exact replica.
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