Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 11 Chapter 12:22-24

Book 11: Chapter 12

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 12: Verses 22-24 (Virtue and sin-) two are its seeds, innumerable are its roots (in the shape of cravings); (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas-) three are its stalks; five (viz., the five elements) are its main boughs; it yields five (kinds of) saps (in the shape of the five objects of senses); ten and one are its secondary branches (in the shape of the ten Indriyas and the mind); it bears (on it) the nest of two birds (viz., God and the diva, the individual soul); three are the layers of its bark (in the shape of the three humours of the body, viz., wind, bile and phlegm); it bears two (varieties of) fruits (viz., joy and sorrow) and spreads as far as (the sphere of) the sun (there being no metempsychosis for those who have penetrated beyond the sphere of the sun). Full of carnal desires (the vulture-like) men of the world partake of its one fruit (viz., misery, even heavenly enjoyment being ultimately productive of sorrow); while (the swan-like) men of wisdom dwelling in the woods (cut off from the world) eat the other (viz., the bliss of immortality). He (alone) knows (the true import of) the Vedas, who comes to realize through (his) preceptors (worthy of respect) the one God (Myself) appearing in multitudinous forms by dint of His Maya (in the shape of His will to become many). Having thus subdued yourself and remaining alert (all the while), cut at the root of your astral body (the distinguishing appurtenance of a Jiva) with exclusive devotion (to Me) acquired by sitting at the feet of a preceptor or by means of the keen-edged axe of wisdom (in the form of Self-Realization); and, having (thereby) realized the Self, cast off forthwith (even) the weapon (with which you have rent the veil of ignorance in the form of your Jivahood). Thus ends the twelfth discourse in Book Eleven of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramaharhsa-Samhita.