Topsy-turvy (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"topsy-turvied" |"topsy-turvy"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

So whatever we are seeing in this material world, the origin is in Kṛṣṇa. But here it is perverted. Just like a tree. The original tree is standing erect. But when you see the perverted reflection of the tree, everything is topsy-turvied. The upside has gone downside.

Lecture on BG 1.26-27 -- London, July 21, 1973:

So whatever we are seeing in this material world, the origin is in Kṛṣṇa. But here it is perverted. That is the only difference. Just like a tree. The original tree is standing erect. But when you see the perverted reflection of the tree, everything is topsy-turvied. The upside has gone downside. You have seen the reflection of the tree. So the upside, downside. When the upside of the tree becomes downside, that is called perverted reflection. So this material world is perverted reflection of the spiritual world. It is false in this sense because it is reflection. Otherwise, exactly the same things are there in the spiritual world. Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). There is. In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find in the Fifteenth Chapter. Ūrdhva-mūlam. Here, this material world, the origin—mūlam means root—is upside, upside. Because it is reflection. This tree is erect, and this is reflection. So the root has gone upside. So here is the problem.