THE HOLY GITA, CHAPTER 5, SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION, VERSE NUMBER 13

THE HOLY GITA

CHAPTER 5

SANYASA YOGA OR THE RENUNCIATION

VERSE NUMBER 13

Text in Transliteration:

sarvakarmaanee manasaa samnyasyaa ‘ste sukham vase

navadvaare pure dehee nai ‘va kurvan na kaarayan

Text in English:

Having mentally renounced all actions, the self-disciplined indweller rests happily in the city of nine gates, neither acting nor causing to act.

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA:

Karma varies in pattern according to the temperamental difference. There are also forms of karma distinct in themselves. The indispensable one among them is the obligatory work, ‘nitya karma’, such as eating, sleeping, bathing and praying. By doing these acts no new merit is acquired but by falling in them there is a sure set back. Naimitya karma are special activities that are performed on occasions such as Sivaraatri, Ekadasi and eclipse. ‘Kamya karma’ or desire-impelled activities are those  performed for certain earthly ends. Again, there are the ‘nishiddha karma’, the prohibited acts that run counter to ethics. While the obligatory works alone go on automatically by sheer force of habit, the yogi does not engage himself in any of the other forms of karma. This is possible because he is completely rid of egoism and agency.

The body with its openings is aptly compared to a city of nine gates. Like a monarch, Atman stays enthroned in this citadel the administration of which is carried on by the ministry of egoism, min, intellect, life-energy and the senses. The reign over the region of the body lasts until the momentum of the ‘praarabdha karma’ gets exhausted. Even while residing in the body, the consciousness of it and domination over its activities is entirely absent in the yogi. Self revelling in Its own glory is the gain that the yogis has.

COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:

Cp. Katha Upanishad., V.I

The nine gates are the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils, and the mouth and the two organce of excretion and generation.

See Svetaasvatara Upanishad., III. 18

COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:

All actions:--

1)        Nitya Karmas: There are obligatory duties. Their performance does not produce any merit; but their non-performance produces demerit. Sandhyavandana, etc., belong to this category.

2)      Naimittika karmas: These Karmas are performed on the occurrence of some special events such as the birth of a son, eclipse, etc.

3)      Kamya karmas: These are optional. They are intended for the attainment of some special ends (for getting rain, son, etc.)

4)      Nishiddha Karmas: These are forbidden actions such as theft, drinking liquor, etc.

5)      Prayaschitta Karmas; Actions performed to neutralise the effects of evil actions or sins.

The man who has controlled the senses renounces all actions by discrimination, by seeing inaction in action and rests happily in this body of nine openings (the nine-gated city), because he is free from cares, worries, anxieties and fear and his mind is quite calm and he enjoys the supreme peace of the Eternal. In this nine-gated city the Self is the king. The senses, the mind, the subconscious mind andthe intellect are inhabitants or subjects.

The ignorant worldly man says, “I am resting in the easy-chair”. The man of wisdom who has realised that the Self is distinct from the body which is a product of the five elements, says, “I am resting in this body”. Cf. XVIII. 17, 50)

Comments of the blogger:

The nine gates have already been enumerated by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. He has referred to Katha Upanishad. The Tamil poet Manikkavasagar in his monumental work, Thiruvasasagam refers to the body as a house with nine gates through which dirt is expelled always!

Whether we like it or condemn it, it is a healthy way to see this body as dirt producing mechanism.  Because senses enslaves us to the bodies of the opposite sex! It would do a wealth of good to see our body in its true light. Then only we can see the bodies of the opposite sex in the same light. It would help us to stick to our wife or husband. But for the senses our discrimination is enough to throw us, toss our own bodies off a mountain top or cliff. The healthy association with filth and acknowledgment that we stink if we do not take very great care of our body by daily bathing and other methods of ablutions. The pores of our skin expel sweat. The process starts the moment the bathing is over!

But for the presence of our Atman, which is pure and holy as the first rays of the sun we are nothing. It is the presence of the Atman that makes us holy. Tatvamasi is one of the maha vakyas or great sentences. That means thou art that. Thou art the Lord!

The Atman is not in the habit of consuming anything. It rests in the body in its own glory.

Apart from that, we should not forget that Man alone has Atman. The Lord of the Gita wants us to see Him alone in everyone and everything, sentient and insentient. The whole Universe is scintillating with the Universal Soul.