Shloka 35
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
एते सखाय: सख्यो मे नरा नार्यश्च मानद । सुप्तायां मयि जागर्ति नागोऽयं पालयन् पुरीम् ॥ ३५ ॥
ete sakhāyaḥ sakhyo me narā nāryaś ca mānada suptāyāṁ mayi jāgarti nāgo ’yaṁ pālayan purīm
Mi querido caballero, todos estos hombres y mujeres conmigo son conocidos como mis amigos, y la serpiente, que siempre permanece despierta, protege esta ciudad incluso durante mis horas de sueño. Eso es todo lo que sé. No sé nada más allá de esto.
Purañjana inquired from the woman about those eleven men and their wives and the snake. The woman gave a brief description of them. She was obviously without full knowledge of her surrounding men and women and the snake. As stated before, the snake is the vital force of the living being. This vital force always remains awake even when the body and the senses become fatigued and do no work. Even in the state of unconsciousness, when we sleep, the snake, or the life force, remains intact and awake. Consequently we dream when we sleep. When the living entity gives up this material body, the vital force still remains intact and is carried to another material body. That is called transmigration, or change of the body, and we have come to know this process as death. Actually, there is no death. The vital force always exists with the soul, and when the soul is awakened from so-called sleep, he can see his eleven friends, or the active senses and the mind with their various desires (wives). The vital life force remains. Even during our sleeping hours we can understand by virtue of our breathing process that the snake lives by eating the air that passes within this body. Air is exhibited in the form of breathing, and as long as breath is there, one can understand that a sleeping man is alive. Even when the gross body is asleep the vital force remains active and alive to protect the body. Thus the snake is described as living and eating air to keep the body fit for life.
FAQs
In the Purañjana allegory, the “city” represents the body, and the serpent guardian points to the vital force (prāṇa) and alertness that preserves bodily life and functions even when one is asleep.
She is describing the inner arrangement of the “city” (the embodied condition): companions (social and sensory engagements) surround them, and an ever-wakeful guardian (vital force) continues protecting the body even when the person is unconscious in sleep.
Recognize that the body runs on a subtle system of vigilance (life-airs, nervous alertness), so cultivate conscious spiritual vigilance while awake—through regulated habits, mindful sense-control, and remembrance of the Lord—rather than living only on “automatic mode.”