Srimad Bhagavatam — Chaturtha Skandha, Shloka 37
Nārada Instructs Prācīnabarhiṣat: The Purañjana Narrative Begins
City of Nine Gates
इमां त्वमधितिष्ठस्व पुरीं नवमुखीं विभो । मयोपनीतान् गृह्णान: कामभोगान् शतं समा: ॥ ३७ ॥
imāṁ tvam adhitiṣṭhasva purīṁ nava-mukhīṁ vibho mayopanītān gṛhṇānaḥ kāma-bhogān śataṁ samāḥ
我亲爱的主人，我刚刚为你安排了这座九门之城，以便你能享受各种感官满足。你可以在这里居住一百年，一切为了你感官满足所需的东西都会被提供。
Dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣānāṁ dārāḥ samprāpti-hetavaḥ: the wife is the cause of all kinds of success in religion, economic development, sense gratification and ultimately salvation. When one accepts a wife, it is to be understood that he is being helped in his progressive march toward liberation. In the beginning of life a person is trained as a brahmacārī and is then allowed to marry a suitable girl and become a householder. If one is thoroughly trained in household life, he finds all facilities for human life — eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Everything is there if it is executed according to regulative principles.
FAQs
In the Purañjana allegory, the “city of nine gates” refers to the human body with nine openings, through which the living being engages the world and becomes entangled in sense experience.
It symbolizes a full human lifespan devoted to kāma-bhoga—showing how one may spend life absorbed in enjoyment and thus remain bound to material existence.
Recognize how the body and its “gates” pull the mind outward; redirect the same senses toward devotion—hearing, chanting, and serving—so life is not wasted only in consumption and pleasure-seeking.