Shloka 45
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
सप्तोपरि कृता द्वार: पुरस्तस्यास्तु द्वे अध: । पृथग्विषयगत्यर्थं तस्यां य: कश्चनेश्वर: ॥ ४५ ॥
saptopari kṛtā dvāraḥ puras tasyās tu dve adhaḥ pṛthag-viṣaya-gaty-arthaṁ tasyāṁ yaḥ kaścaneśvaraḥ
In that city there were nine gates—seven on the surface and two below, subterranean. Built for passage to different destinations, all of them were used by the city’s ruler.
The seven gates of the body that are situated upward are the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears and one mouth. The two subterranean gates are the rectum and the genitals. The king, or the ruler of the body, who is the living entity, uses all these doors to enjoy different types of material pleasures. The system of opening different gates to different places is still evident in old Indian cities. Formerly a capital was surrounded by walls, and one passed through various gates to go to various cities or toward specific directions. In Old Delhi there are still remnants of surrounding walls and various gates known as the Kashmiri Gate, the Lahori Gate, etc. Similarly, in Ahmedabad there is a Delhi Gate. The point of this simile is that the living entity wants to enjoy different types of material opulences, and to this end nature has given him various holes in his body that he can utilize for sense enjoyment.
FAQs
This verse describes the body allegorically as a city with multiple gates (sense-openings) through which the embodied soul goes out toward different sense-objects.
He is mapping the human body’s openings as ‘gates’ to show how the jīva, thinking himself a controller, engages the senses and becomes entangled in material experience.
Treat the senses as “gates” that need mindful regulation—choose what you see, hear, and consume—so the mind turns from scattered sense pursuit toward bhakti and self-discipline.