Chapter 5, Verse 13
सर्वकर्माणि मनसा संन्यस्यास्ते सुखं वशी | नवद्वारे पुरे देही नैव कुर्वन्न कारयन् ||५-१३||
sarvakarmāṇi manasā saṃnyasyāste sukhaṃ vaśī . navadvāre pure dehī naiva kurvanna kārayan ||5-13||
Meaning
5.13 Mentally renouncing all actions and self-controlled, the embodied one rests happily in the nine-gated city, neither acting nor causing others (body and senses) to act.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna gives a vivid metaphor for the body: nava-dvare pure, the city of nine gates (the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and the two lower openings). Within this city dwells the dehi, the embodied Self. The self-controlled one (vashi), having mentally renounced (manasa sannyasya) all sense of doership, rests there happily — neither acting nor causing the body and senses to act.
The renunciation here is purely inward and mental. The body continues its functions; the senses continue their work. What is renounced is the false identification 'I am the one doing all this.' The Self is the resident, not the machinery of the city. When you cease to claim the body's activity as your own essential nature, a serene happiness arises within. You become the peaceful dweller, watching the city operate of its own accord.
💡 Key Takeaway
Dwell in your body like a calm resident in a city — let it function while you rest in the peace of non-doership.
Related Verses
नैव किञ्चित्करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित् | पश्यञ्शृण्वन्स्पृशञ्जिघ्रन्नश्नन्गच्छन्स्वपञ्श्वसन् ||५-८||
naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit . paśyañśruṇvanspṛśañjighrannaśnangacchansvapañśvasan ||5-8||
5.8 "I do nothing at all," thus would the harmonised knower of Truth think seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing.
प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि | इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ||५-९||
pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi . indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan ||5-9||
5.9 Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.
न कर्तृत्वं न कर्माणि लोकस्य सृजति प्रभुः | न कर्मफलसंयोगं स्वभावस्तु प्रवर्तते ||५-१४||
na kartṛtvaṃ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ . na karmaphalasaṃyogaṃ svabhāvastu pravartate ||5-14||
5.14 Neither agency nor actions does the Lord create for the world, nor union with the fruits of actions. But it is Nature that acts.