न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च संप्रतिष्ठा।अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूल मसङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा॥
na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyatenānto na cādir na ca sampratiṣṭhāaśvattham enaṃ su-virūḍha-mūlamasaṅga-śastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā
Word by word
The verse says
Its form is not to be found here - no end, no beginning, no ground it stands on. Cut this deep-rooted fig tree down with the firm axe of not-clinging.
In plain words
You cannot see the shape of the tree, because you are standing inside it.
No beginning you can point to. No end. No floor underneath it that you can check. Krishna does not solve that puzzle. He hands you a tool instead.
The axe is asaṅga - not-clinging. Not anger at the tree. Not working the tree out. Just loosening the grip, which turns out to be the only thing that cuts.
Where you've felt this · in family life
You and your younger brother have been needling each other for about a year. You try one evening to work out where it started. A comment at a cousin's wedding, something about money before that, something before that. There is no first move to find, and he can produce a longer list than you can. What ends it is not winning the argument about who began it. It ends the evening one of you decides not to answer back.
Going deeper
Not-clinging is being handed over as a tool, not a mood, and the difference matters more than it sounds.
An axe is a thing you pick up and swing. It is not a feeling you wait around for. Asaṅga is called firm, and firm is what you say about a blade, not about an emotion. You can use it on a day when you feel nothing of the kind.
It is also worth noticing what is not being recommended. Not cutting the tree out of disgust with the world. Not fighting it. The grip is the only part of this you have hold of, so the grip is the only part you can release. The tree is not your enemy and is not being asked to change.
Which means the move is always available to you. Whatever the tangle is, the end of it in your hand is the end you can let go of.