Only those who have Vairāgya toward this world of manifold forms become settled in ananya Bhakti, and that itself bestows Ātma-jñāna. To teach Vairāgya to the citta attached to saṃsāra, the world has been described as an aśvattha. It can also be said that only one who has understood this is a true Vedāntin. In the world people ordinarily take ‘ūrdhva’ to mean the upper part. But for the cosmic tree of which the Lord speaks here, the ūrdhva is Brahman itself. Brahman, with Māyā as its upādhi, is the root of this world; Brahman itself is the adhiṣṭhāna of all. It is of this that the Paramātma next tells Arjuna.