Shloka
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी |
नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ||५-१३||Transliteration
sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṃnyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī .
navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan ||5-13||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
5.13. Having renounced all actions by mind, a man of self-control, dwells happily in his body, a nine-win-dowed mansion, neither performing, nor causing others to perform [actions].
Shri Purohit Swami
5.13 Mentally renouncing all actions, the self-controlled soul enjoys bliss in this body, the city of the nine gates, neither doing anything himself nor causing anything to be done.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
5.13 Sarva - etc. [He would view as] : ‘Just as for a person within a house there is no connection with dilapidation etc., that are found in the house, in the same way for me too residing in the body-house beautified with nine windows in the form of openings like the eyes etc., there is no connection with its attributes.’ For -
Sri Ramanuja
5.13 The embodied self who is self-controlled, renounces all actions to the city of nine gates, i.e., the body with its sensory and motor functions which are nine in number. He discriminates that all actions are due to conjunction of the self with the body which is rooted in previous Karmas, and is not by Its own nature. [It means that the self merely rests in the body, without any identification with bodily activities.]
Sri Krsna now teaches the natural condition of the self as It is:
Sri Shankaracharya
5.13 Aste, he continues; sukham, happily; sannyasya, having given up; sarva-karmani, all actions-nitya, naimittika, kamya and nisiddha (prohibited actions); [See note on p. 128.-Tr.] manasa, mentally, through discriminating wisdom-i.e. having given up (all actions) by seeing inaction in action, etc. Freed from the activities of speech, mind and body, effortles, placid in mind, and devoid of all external wants which are different from the Self, he continues happily. This is what has been said. Where and how does the vasi, man of self-control, i.e. one who has his organs under control, remain? This is being answered: Nava-dvare pure, in the town with nine gates, of which seven [Two ears, two eyes nostrils, and mouth.] are in the head for one’s own experiences, and two are below for urination and defecation. As possessed of those gates, it is called the ’town with nine gates’. Being like a town, the body is called a town with the Self as its only master. And it is inhabited by the organs, mind, intellect and objects, like citizens, as it were, which serve its needs and which are productive of many results and experience. Renouncing all actions, the dehi, embodied one, resides in that town with nine gates. Objection: What is the need of this specification? For all embodied beings, be they monks or not, reside in bodies to be sure! That being so, the specification is needless. The answer is: The embodied one, however, who is unenlightened, who perceives merely the aggregate of the body and organs as the Self, he, in his totality, thinks, ‘I am in a house, on the ground, or on the seat.’ For one who experiences the body alone as the Self, there can certainly be no such conviction as, ‘I am in the body, like one’s being in a house.’ But, for one who realizes the Self as distinct from the aggregate of body etc. it becomes reasonable to have the conviction, ‘I am in the bdoy. It is reasonable that as a result of knowledge in the form of discriminating wisdom, there can be a mental renunciation of the actions of others, which have been ignorantly superimposed on the supreme Self. Even in the case of one in whom has arisen discriminating wisdom and who has renounced all actions, there can be, like staying in a house, the continuance in the body itself-the town with nine gates-as a conseence of the persistence of the remnants of the results of past actions which have started bearing fruit, because the awareness of being distinct (from the body) arises while one is in the body itself. Form the point of veiw of the difference between the convictions of the enlightened and the unenlightened persons, the alifying words, ‘He continues in the body itself’, do have a purpose to serve. Although it has been stated that one continues (in the body) by relinishing actions of the body and organs ignorantly superimposed on the Self, still there may be the apprehesion that direct or indirect agentship inheres in the Self. Anticipating this, the Lord says: na eva kurvan, without himself doing anything at all; and na karayan, not causing (others) to do, (not) inducing the body and organs to activity. Objection: Is it that the direct or indirect agentship of the embodied one inheres in the Self and ceases to be after renunciation, as the movement of a traveller ceases with the stoppage of his movement? Or, is it that they do not exist owing to the very nature of the Self? As to this, the answer is: The Self by Its nature has neither direct nor indirect agentship. For it was stated, ‘It is said that৷৷.This (Self) is unchangeable’ (2.25). ‘O son of Kunti, although existing in the body, It does not act, nor is It affected’ (13.31). And it is also stated in the Upanisad, ‘It seems to meditate, as it were; It seems to move, as it were’ (Br. 4.3.7).
Swami Adidevananda
5.13 The embodied self, mentally resigning all actions as belonging to the city of nine gates (i.e., the body) and becoming self-controlled, dwells happily, neither himself acting nor causing the body to act.
Swami Gambirananda
5.13 The embodied man of self-control, having given up all actions mentally, continues happily in the town of nine gates, without doing or causing (others) to do anything at all.
Swami Sivananda
5.13 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.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
5.13 सर्वकर्माणि all actions? मनसा by the mind? संन्यस्य having renounced? आस्ते rests? सुखम् happily? वशी the selfcontrolled? नवद्वारे in the ninegated? पुरे in the city? देही the embodied? न not? एव even? कुर्वन् acting? न not? कारयन् causing to act.Commentary All actions – (1) Nitya Karmas These are obligatory duties. Their performance does not produce any merit but their nonperformance 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 liour? 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 ninegated city)? because he is free from cares? worries? anxieties and fear and his mind is ite calm and he enjoys the supreme peace of the Eternal. In this ninegated city the Self is the king. The senses? the mind? the subconscious mind? and the intellect are the inhabitants or subjects.The ignorant wordly man says? I am resting in the easychair. 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)