Shloka 47
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
खद्योताविर्मुखी च प्राग्द्वारावेकत्र निर्मिते । विभ्राजितं जनपदं याति ताभ्यां द्युमत्सख: ॥ ४७ ॥
khadyotāvirmukhī ca prāg dvārāv ekatra nirmite vibhrājitaṁ janapadaṁ yāti tābhyāṁ dyumat-sakhaḥ
The two gates named Khadyotā and Āvirmukhī faced the east and were built together in one place. Through them the King would go to the province of Vibhrājita, accompanied by his friend Dyumān.
The two names Khadyotā and Āvirmukhī mean “glowworm” and “torchlight.” This indicates that of the two eyes, the left eye is less powerful in its ability to see. Although both eyes are constructed in one place, one is stronger than the other in the power to see. The king, or the living entity, uses these two gates to see things properly, but he cannot see unless accompanied by a friend whose name is Dyumān. This friend is the sun. Although the two eyes are situated in one place, they have no power to see without the sunlight. Vibhrājitaṁ janapadam. If one wants to see something very clearly ( vibhrājitam ), he must see it with two eyes and the assistance of his friend the sunlight. Within this body everyone is a king because he uses his different gates according to his own will. Although he is very much proud of his power to see or hear, he is nonetheless dependent on the assistance of nature.
FAQs
In the allegory of the city (the body), the “two eastern gates” indicate paired openings connected with outward perception; through them the living being (Purañjana, as the conditioned soul) goes toward attractive, “shining” sense-objects.
He uses symbolic names for the body’s gateways to teach how the conditioned soul moves through sense perception and becomes absorbed in external experience, which binds one to material life.
It encourages mindful regulation of the senses—recognizing how “shining” attractions pull consciousness outward—and redirecting attention toward bhakti practices like hearing and chanting to purify perception.