(39) 1 have told you before, out of what Power the Tree is grown; viz. that it grew out of the Earth, and has wholly had Might. the Nature of the Earth in it, as at this Day all earthly Trees are [so,] (and no otherwise, neither better nor worse,) wherein Corruptibility stands, as the Earth is corruptible, and shall pass away in the End, when all shall go into its Ether, and nothing else shall remain of it besides the Figure. Now this was the Tree which stood in the Midst of the Garden in Eden, whereby Adam must be tempted in all Essences; for this Spirit should rule powerfully over all Essences, as the holy Angels, and God himself does.

As long as their [insides] are hidden, [most] beings in the world are alive and well. [If their insides] are exposed, they die, as is clear by the example of the visible part of a person. [As long as] a person’s intestines are hidden, the person is alive. If the intestines are exposed and come out, the person dies. Likewise, while its root is hidden, a tree sprouts and grows. If its root is exposed, the tree withers. So it is with all things produced in the world, not only the visible but also the hidden. As long as the root of evil is hidden, it is strong. When it is recognized, it is undone, and if it is brought to light, it dies. For this reason the word says, “Already the ax is laid at the root of the trees.” It will not merely cut them down, for what is cut down sprouts up again. Rather, the ax will dig down until it cuts out the root. Jesus pulled out the root of the whole place, but others did so only in part.

(3) Then he [i.e. Yajnavalkya] questioned them with these verses: — As a tree of the forest, Just so, surely, is man. His hairs are leaves. His skin the outer bark. From his skin blood, Sap from the bark flows forth. From him when pierced there comes forth A stream, as from the tree when struck. His pieces of flesh are under-layers of wood. The fibre is muscle-like, strong. The bones are the wood within. The marrow is made resembling pith. A tree, when it is felled, grows up From the root, more new again; A mortal, when cut down by death — From what root does he grow up? Say not 'from semen/ For that is produced from the living, As the tree, forsooth, springing from seed, Clearly arises without having died. If with its roots they should pull up The tree, it would not come into being again. A mortal, when cut down by death — From what root does he grow up? When born, indeed, he is not born [again]. Who would again beget him? Brahma is knowledge, is bliss, The final goal of the giver of offerings, Of him, too, who stands still and knows It. J For a similar comparison in Hebrew literature see Job 14, 7-10.

(1) 'If some one were to strike at the root of this large tree here, it would bleed, but live. If he were to strike at its stem, it would bleed, but live. If he were to strike at its top, it would bleed, but live. Pervaded by the living Self that tree stands firm, drinking in its nourishment and rejoicing;

(26) And thirdly, you find in all Things a glorious Power and Virtue, which is the Life, Growing and Springing of every Thing, and you find that therein lies its Beauty and pleasant Welfare, from whence it stirs. Now look upon an Herb or Plant, and consider it, what is its Life which makes it grow? And you shall find in the Original, Harshness, Bitterness, Fire, and Water, and if you should separate these four Things one from another, and put them together again, yet you shall neither see nor find any Growing; but if it were severed from its own Mother that generated it at the Beginning, then it remains dead; much less can you bring the pleasant Smell, or Colours into it.

(40) Now, dear Soul, see all over round about you, in yourself, and in all Things: What find you therein? You find nothing else but the Anguish, and in the Anguish the Quality, and in the Quality the Mind, and in the Mind the Will to grow and generate, and in the Will the Virtue [or Power,] and in the Virtue the Light, and in the Light its forth-driving Spirit; which makes again a Will to generate a Twig [Bud or Branch] out of the Tree like itself; and this I call in my Book the Centrum, [the Center,] where the generated Will becomes an Essence [or Substance,] and generates now again such [another] Essence; for thus is the Mother of the Genetrix.

(21) Now the Tree of the strong [Tartness or Wrath,] (which is in the Midst of Nature,) grew also in the Midst of the Garden of Eden; and was (according to the Ability of its own Form which it has from the eternal Quality in the Originality) the greatest and the mightiest [Tree.] And here it may be seen very clearly, that God would have preserved and had Man to be in Paradise, for he forbade him this Tree, and caused other Fruit enough [besides] to grow in the Forms and Essences. The Gate of the Tempting.

(2) I think he thought that I perhaps might think So many voices issued through those trunks From people who concealed themselves from us; Therefore the Master said: "If thou break off Some little spray from any of these trees, The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain." Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward, And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn; And the trunk cried, "Why dost thou mangle me?" After it had become embrowned with blood, It recommenced its cry: "Why dost thou rend me? Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever? Men once we were, and now are changed to trees; Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful, Even if the souls of serpents we had been." As out of a green brand, that is on fire At one of the ends, and from the other drips And hisses with the wind that is escaping; So from that splinter issued forth together Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. "Had he been able sooner to believe," My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul, What only in my verses he has seen,

(3) It is said to thee, that the Wood [or Fuel] of thy Soul shall burn in the last Fire, and that thy Soul shall remain to be Ashes in the Fire, and thy Body shall appear like black Soot. Why wilt thou then stand in a Wilderness, yea in a Rock where there is no Water? How then will thy Tree grow again? O! Or Saints and holy People. what great Misery it is that we are ignorant in what P Soil we grow, and what Kind of Essences we draw to us, seeing our Fruit shall appear and be tasted, and that which is pleasant shall stand upon God's Table; and the other shall be cast to the Devil's Swine. Therefore let it move you; to look that you grow in the Ground or Soil of Christ, and bring forth Fruit that may be set upon God's Table, which Fruit never perishes, but continually springs, and the more it is eaten of, the pleasanter it is. How wilt thou rejoice in the Lord!

(2) Therefore, O Man! consider thyself here in this World, in which thou standest in the Birth, thou art sown as a Seed or Grain, and a Tree grows out of thee; therefore now see in what Ground thou standest, that thou mayest be found to be Timber for the great Building of God in his Love, and not for a Threshold [or Footstool] to be trodden under-foot, or that is fit for nothing but for the Fire, whereof nothing will remain but Dust and Ashes.

(34) Here the Tree of Pearl stands hidden; behold, my beloved Reason, the Tree of Pearl is not sown into the outward Man, he is not. worthy of it, he belongs to the Earth, and the Man of Sin sticks in him, and the Devil often makes his Seat therein, who heaps together Anger and Malice therein, and brings the poor Soul often into i Lusts, to which it does not consent, so that the Body meddles with that which the Soul is against; and now when this is so, it is not always the Soul that does it, but the Spirit of the Stars and Elements in Man; the Soul says it is not right, nor well; but the [outward] Body says, we must have it, that we may live and have enough; and so it is one Time after another. So that a true Christian knows not himself, how then should he be known by others? Also the Devil can cover him sufficiently, that he may not be known; and that is his Master-piece, when he can bring a true Christian into Wickedness, to fall into Sins, so that outwardly nothing, is discerned by him, but that he reproves the Sins of others, and yet sins outwardly himself.