PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna compares the material world to a tree of illusion from which one must cut oneself free:

na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyate
nanto na cadir na ca sampratistha
asvattham enam suvirudha-mulam
asaṅga-sastrena drdhena chittva

tatah padam tat parimargitavyam
yasmin gata na nivartanti bhuyah
tam eva cadyam purusam prapadye
yatah pravrttih prasrta purani

"The real form of this tree cannot be perceived in this world. No one can understand where it ends, where it begins, or where its foundation is. But with determination, one must cut down this tree with the weapon of detachment. So doing, one must seek that place from which, having once gone, one never returns, and there surrender to that Supreme Personality of Godhead from whom everything has begun and in whom everything is abiding since time immemorial." (Bg. 15.3-4)