The 15th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is known as Purushottama Yoga. Here, Krishna describes the world as an inverted Ashvattha tree whose roots are above (in the Absolute) and whose branches are below (manifesting as the worlds). In Advaita Vedanta, this imagery represents Maya’s projection — the one Absolute Consciousness appears as the many. The teaching to cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment symbolizes the seeker’s journey to go beyond appearances and return to the root, the Supreme Reality.

The individual self (jiva) and the Supreme Self (Brahman) are not truly separate, but ignorance (avidya) makes the jiva feel limited and bound. Krishna explains the concepts of kshara (the perishable, material universe) and akshara (the imperishable Self). Advaita interprets these as two levels of reality, with both ultimately dependent on the higher Truth — the Purushottama, which transcends both change and permanence.

This chapter also points to the path of Self-realization. Krishna states that all the Vedas, sacrifices, and disciplines ultimately aim at knowing the Supreme. In Advaita, these practices are seen as preparatory means. They purify the mind and lead one toward knowledge (jnana), but liberation (moksha) is attained only through the direct realization, “I am Brahman,” which dissolves all duality.

Krishna identifies Himself as the Purushottama. From an Advaitic standpoint, Purushottama is not a separate deity but pure Consciousness — the substratum of all existence. The distinctions between individual soul, universe, and God are only apparent due to Maya. When ignorance is removed, the seeker recognizes that all three are none other than the one non-dual Brahman.

It demonstrates the impermanence of the material world and guides seekers to realize the unchanging Absolute beyond it. The verse “He who knows Me as Purushottama, the Supreme Being, without delusion, is the knower of all” points directly to the Advaitic truth — liberation comes through the realization of oneness, beyond all duality and illusion.