5.13 The city of nine gates Krishna speaks
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन्
sarva-karmāṇi manasā sannyasyāste sukhaṁ vaśhī
nava-dvāre pure dehī naiva kurvan na kārayan
Having renounced all actions with the mind, the self-governed one dwells at ease. The embodied one in this city of nine gates neither acts nor causes action.
Explanation
The body as a walled town with nine gates.
Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, and the two lower openings. The embodied one dwells there and neither acts nor causes action.
A strikingly unsentimental image. Not a temple, not a vessel — a fortified settlement with a countable number of ways in and out, which is a very practical way to think about the senses.
Going further
Word by word
- sarva
- all
- karmāṇi
- activities
- manasā
- by the mind
- sannyasya
- having renounced
- āste
- remains
- sukham
- happily
- vaśhī
- the self-controlled
- nava-dvāre
- of nine gates
- pure
- in the city
- dehī
- the embodied being
- na
- never
- eva
- certainly
- kurvan
- doing anything
- na
- not
- kārayan
- causing to be done
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The city of nine gates — two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, and the two lower openings.
The body as a walled town with a fixed number of ways in and out. It is a strikingly unsentimental image, and it puts the senses where the chapter wants them: not as enemies, but as the gates of a place someone is living in.