Chapter 5 Sanyasa Yoga Verse 13
Shloka
Sarvakarmaani manasaa sannyasyaaste sukham vashee;
Navadwaare pure dehee naiva kurvan na kaarayan.
Translation
Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city,
neither acting nor causing others body and senses to act.
Interpretation
After talking about the person who is bound to the results of all his actions, Lord Krishna in this sloka talks about the person who has a control on himself and is not bound by his actions. This sloka talks about the progress that such kind of person makes in life. He says that a person who is not bound, will mentally renounce all his actions and will be controlled.
Mentally renouncing means, he doesnt take credit for any of the actions. Such kind of person lives happily in the body that has nine gates in it. Those nine gates are vital for survival. Such kind of a person neither acts with his senses nor allows anyone around him to act according to their senses. His actions are not bound by senses.
Extending Interpretation to Mankind’s Life!
The nine gated city is the crux of this sloka. We are living in the body that has nine gates in it. Knowing about it is important because it gives insights on how to control senses and move towards renunciation.
Out of the nine gates located in our body seven are linked to our senses and remaining two to discard the wastage. Two of them are the gates through which we take sound inside and make sense out of it. These are called as ears. Two of them are the gates that captures images and transfer them to brain and that gives us insight to do many things. These we call them as eyes. Two of them are used to breathe and smell, which is critical for life because without air we can’t survive even for a minute. Breathing and smelling is done with nose.
The 7th gate is the mouth through which we take food which is critical for getting energy which is linked to our survival.
The remaining two gates are located in the lower half of the body in front and back through which we discard the liquid and solid wastes from our body. These are very important for the survival of the body. Because of these 9 gates our body is able to survive and sustain. If we know the secret of these 9 gates we understand that the senses which are linked to them are only meant for body not for the soul.
Once a person gets that knowledge he will automatically rises above the senses and merges himself with his soul through meditation. Such a person can happily live in this 9 gated body by neither forcing himself to act or forcing others to act if the action is not desired by the soul.
This brings us to an important point of how the action desired by the body is different from the action desired by soul?
Actions desired by body are for the pleasure of body and actions desired by soul are for acquiring knowledge by the soul. Suppose if you feel like eating chicken biryani or any other spicy food it is only for the pleasure of your body.
Having said that sweets and other delicacies are also for the pleasure of the body. But if you feel like reading Bhagavad Gita it is for enriching your soul. If a person can understand the difference between the both he can live very happily in his body, enriching his soul.
