Chapter 5. Karma yoga--Action in Krsna Consciousness

TEXT 13

sarva-karmani manasa
sannyasyaste sukham vasi
nava-dvare pure dehi
naiva kurvan na karayan

SYNONYMS

sarva--all; karmani--activities; manasa--by the mind; sannyasya--giving up; aste--remains; sukham--in happiness; vasi--one who is controlled; nava-dvare--in the place where there are nine gates; pure--in the city; dehi--the embodied soul; na--never; eva--certainly; kurvan--doing anything; na--not; karayan--causing to be done.

TRANSLATION

When the embodied living being controls his nature and mentally renounces all actions, he resides happily in the city of nine gates [the material body], neither working nor causing work to be done.

PURPORT

The embodied soul lives in the city of nine gates. The activities of the body, or the figurative city of body, are conducted automatically by the particular modes of nature. The soul, although subjecting himself to the conditions of the body, can be beyond those conditions, if he so desires. Owing only to forgetfulness of his superior nature, he identifies with the material body, and therefore suffers. By Krsna consciousness, he can revive his real position and thus come out of his embodiment. Therefore, when one takes to Krsna consciousness, one at once becomes completely aloof from bodily activities. In such a controlled life, in which his deliberations are changed, he lives happily within the city of nine gates. The nine gates are described as follows:

nava-dvare pure dehi hamso lelayate bahih
vasi sarvasya lokasya sthavarasya carasya ca

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is living within the body of a living entity, is the controller of all living entities all over the universe. The body consists of nine gates: two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, the anus and the genital. The living entity in his conditioned stage identifies himself with the body, but when he identifies himself with the Lord within himself, he becomes just as free as the Lord, even while in the body." (Svet. 3.18)
Therefore, a Krsna conscious person is free from both the outer and inner activities of the material body.