Branches stretch adhah and urdhvam — both downward and upward. Guna-pravriddhah — fattened by the gunas. Vishaya-pravalah — sense-objects as their tender shoots. And below, mulani — secondary roots — anusantatani — tangled — karma-anubandhini — bound to karma — in manushya-loke, the human world. The tree's growth-pattern is now named: gunas water it, sense-objects bud on it, and in the human realm karma-bound roots tie everything to its rebirth-driving cycle.
Shankara reads the branches stretching downward through animal births and upward through Brahmaloka, fattened by the three gunas which are the upadana-karana — material cause — of all embodiment, with vishaya as the tender shoots. These are not independent realities but superimpositions on the one Brahman. The karma-anubandhini secondary roots in manushya-loka name the most operative locus: human action is what continually generates the rebirth-conditions of the entire tree.
Madhusudana reads the verse as adding avayava-sambandha — limb-relation — to the samsara-tree. The kapuya-charana, dushkritinah, descend into animal births; the ramaniya-charana, sukritinah, ascend through deva-yoni. Both are branches of the one tree, thickened by the gunas as by irrigation water, with vishaya as their shoots. The chapter is naming the tree's mechanics so the disciple can understand what is actually grown when he acts.
Ramanuja reads upward to the realm of Brahma and downward to the human threshold the branches spread — all jivas who are the body of Bhagavan, diversified by gunas into their respective births. In the human world the subsidiary roots take hold — and these roots are nothing other than karma itself, karma-anubandhin, meaning that karmas performed in the human birth bind the jiva to further births. The human world is the karma-generating site; other worlds are reaping-sites.
Madhva reads the tree extending both down and up because Bhagavan Hari, the true root, pervades both vyakta and avyakta realms. The Bhallaveya-shakha confirms: 'Brahma is its distinct root, prakriti its co-root, the sattva-adi are its intermediate root.' The gunas produce the appearance of enjoyment in vishaya-pravalas, but the underlying svatantra is Hari. The bheda-tree is real: real branches, real fruits, real bondage, real release through Hari's grace.
Vallabha reads the branches extending above and below as representing the sukritinah and the dushkritinah — virtuous and sinful — among souls. They are nourished by the gunas as water nourishes a tree; vishaya-pleasures are their blossoms — alluring but ephemeral. All this is Krishna's lila-prasada: the subsidiary roots, vasanas, proliferating in the human world are themselves Krishna's lila-shakti operating through karma-bondage. The pushti-marga reading: even the bondage is Krishna's lila, awaiting the prasada that releases.
Shridhara reads the branches stretching above to deva-yoni for the sukritinah and below to pashu-yoni for the dushkritinah, all nourished by the gunas as water feeds a tree, with vishaya as shoots and the operations of the senses as sub-branches. The mukhya-mula is upward in Brahman; the gauna-mulas are downward in the karma-bound human field. The bhakta sees the tree's structure and recognizes which root he is currently watering.