Chapter 5, Verse 9
प्रलपन्विसृजन्गृह्णन्नुन्मिषन्निमिषन्नपि | इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेषु वर्तन्त इति धारयन् ||५-९||
pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi . indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan ||5-9||
Meaning
5.9 Speaking, letting go, seizing, opening and closing the eyes convinced that the senses move among the sense-objects.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
This verse completes the thought begun in the previous one. Krishna lists yet more activities — speaking, giving, taking, even the involuntary blinking of the eyes — and shows that the enlightened person performs them all while holding firm one conviction: indriyani indriyartheshu vartante, 'it is merely the senses moving among their objects.'
The insight is subtle but transformative. Nature operates through the body and senses; the Self simply illumines this play without being entangled in it. By steadily holding (dharayan) this understanding, the seeker dis-identifies from the mechanical activity of the senses. Notice that even involuntary acts like blinking are included — underscoring that no bodily function belongs to the true Self. To live with this awareness is to act fully in the world while remaining the untouched witness behind every deed.
💡 Key Takeaway
Even your smallest reflexes are nature at work, not the true Self — hold that awareness and remain free amid all activity.
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.
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||
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.
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.