V: 13

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. 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 illuminates 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 illuminating the world."

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 overemphasized 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.]