V: 13

[Krishna Jaya]

Chapter 5, Verse 13

 

"Happy is the embodied Self

Dwelling at ease

As Lord of the nine-gated city,

Not acting, nor causing action."

 

Sri Aurobindo:

 

There are seven gates in the upper body: the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils and the mouth, and the two gates in the lower body are for evacuation.  These are the nine gates.

 

Sri Krishna Prem:

 

"The center within is a window.  Just as a window, empty in itself, is yet a focus through which sunlight illumines objects on the other side of the window, so is this center within a focus through which can shine the light of the one consciousness illumining the world."

 

Sri Eknath Easwaran:

 

"The ego does not want to be renounced.  No amount of trying to throw it away, no amount of resolving to be completely selfless from this moment forward, will rid us of the unwanted ego-burden.  On the other hand, by gradually learning to think of others, by serving them rather than our own self-interest, we can finally be rid of the ego.  By some strange magic, the more we love others, the more we work for them, the wider we extend the circle of our love, and the less the ego seems to like us.  One day, when we forget ourselves entirely, it will dissolve."

 

Paramahansa Yogananda:

 

"It is very difficult for an ordinary person to picture the state of the Yogi as described in this verse.  It cannot be over-emphasized that a Yogi united to God does not act like an automaton.  As the retiring king of a city delegates its regency to a virtuous successor, to live there himself in peaceful retirement, so do Yogis master the bodily city and then turn over its government to their Beloved.  They themselves remain quietly within, rooted in joy."

 

[And in this verse it is made clear that even though the government of the bodily city has been turned over to the Beloved, that embodied Self neither acts nor causes action, for it is within the realm of Prakriti that action results and the power (Shakti) of the Supreme Self that causes action. Ultimately, though, the Supreme Self pervades Prakriti, and the Shakti of the universe is one with the Beloved; there is no separation. Confusion about this point sometimes arises because words, a manifestation of dualistic thinking, are unable to accurately describe this unitive state of Reality, which is why Sri Krishna Prem and Paramahansa Yogananda employ the use of analogy to get at the gist of it.]