Shloka 48
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
नलिनी नालिनी च प्राग्द्वारावेकत्र निर्मिते । अवधूतसखस्ताभ्यां विषयं याति सौरभम् ॥ ४८ ॥
nalinī nālinī ca prāg dvārāv ekatra nirmite avadhūta-sakhas tābhyāṁ viṣayaṁ yāti saurabham
وكذلك في الشرق كان هناك بابان يُدعيان نليني وناليني، وقد أُقيما في موضع واحد. ومن خلالهما كان الملك يذهب إلى إقليم سورَبها مصحوبًا بصديق اسمه أودھوتا.
The two gates named Nalinī and Nālinī are the two nostrils. The living entity enjoys these two gates with the help of different avadhūtas, or airs, which constitute the breathing process. Through these gates the living entity goes to the town of Saurabha, or aroma. In other words, the nostrils, with the help of their friend the air, enjoy various aromas in the material world. Nalinī and Nālinī are the pipes of the nostrils, through which one inhales and exhales, enjoying the aroma of sense pleasure.
FAQs
In the allegory of the body as a city, Nalinī and Nālinī are the paired eastern gates associated with going out toward sense experience—here specifically linked with fragrance (smell) and enjoyment of sense-objects.
It refers to the jīva’s associate—commonly understood as the mind/inner prompting faculty—by which one moves through the bodily ‘gates’ to contact sense-objects and seek enjoyment.
It teaches awareness of how the senses, especially attraction to pleasurable stimuli, lead the mind outward; practicing restraint, mindful living, and bhakti redirects attention from temporary sense-objects to devotional remembrance of the Lord.