Lord Krishna, responding to Uddhava's question uses the tree as a metaphor with even more detailed correlations between its parts and the worldly existence.
- Here the objects indicated are:
Two seeds - Paapam(Evil) and Punyam(Good)
innumerable roots - Innumerable desires - three lower trunks – the three modes (goodness,passion and ignorance) of material nature
- Five upper trunks - gross elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether)
- Five kind of saps - Objects of five senses( sound, form, touch, taste and aroma )
two birds - Paramatma and Jivatma - Three layers of bark – vatam (wind), pittham (bile) and kapham (mucus)
- Two fruits - happiness and sorrow
- Eleven branches - Manas(Mind) and
Pancha Jnanendriyas
Jnanendriya comes from the roots jnana (wisdom). These are the 5 lower sense organs — those which allows one to perceive the world around them. They are:
- Shotra — ears
- Chakshu — eyes
- Grahna — nose
- Jivha — tongue
- Tvak — skin
Pancha Karmendriyas
Literally translated, karmendriya means ‘organ of action’ – that which facilitates our sensory contact with the outer world — or that which enables us to interact with the material objects of the world. These 5 organs of action are:
- Pada (feet) — for locomotion
- Pani (hands) — for dexterity
- Payu (rectum) — for excretion
- Upastha (genitals) — for reproduction
- Vak (mouth) — for speech
Thus the metaphor ties together all the important concepts of Vedanta in a coherent manner.
Source
http://vedabase.net/sb/11/12/22-23/en1
