Chapter 5, Verses 13-21

The block

Nine verses at the heart of Chapter 5 — the fullest portrait of the jnani’s lived reality. 5.13 places the atman in the “nine-gated city” of the body; 5.14–5.15 clarify that Brahman does not cause action or bondage; 5.16–5.17 describe jnana as the sun dispelling ignorance; 5.18 is the definitive samadarshana verse; 5.19–5.21 show the results — samsara conquered, unshaken through dualities, delighting in the inner Self.

Translation (compressed)

• 13. The embodied one, restraining all action mentally, sits happily in the nine-gated city — neither acting nor causing action.
• 14. The Lord creates neither agency nor actions in this world, nor the conjunction of action with fruit. Nature (svabhāva) acts.
• 15. The All-pervading accepts neither sin nor virtue of anyone. Knowledge is veiled by ignorance; beings are deluded by this.
• 16. But in those in whom ignorance is destroyed by knowledge of the self — in them knowledge shines like the sun, revealing That Supreme.
• 17. Intellect absorbed in That, self identified with That, devoted to That, made whole by That — they go the way from which there is no return, their sins shaken off by knowledge.
• 18. (SAMADARSHANA) vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṇe gavi hastini; śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. The wise see with equal vision a learned-humble brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and an outcaste.
• 19. Those whose minds are established in this sameness conquer samsara right here; Brahman alone is equal and flawless — therefore they are established in Brahman.
• 20. Firm in intellect, undeluded, knowing Brahman, established in Brahman — that knower of Brahman neither rejoices in the pleasant nor grieves at the unpleasant.
• 21. With self unattached to external contacts, finding happiness in the self, with self joined in yoga of Brahman — one attains undecaying joy.

Concepts discussed

• samadarshana — 5.18’s definitive statement; full treatment on concept page
• nava-dvara-pura — “nine-gated city”; 5.13’s image for the body (red link)
• jivanmukta — 5.19’s ihaiva (right here) conquest of samsara
• karta / bhokta — 5.14’s denial at both levels
• svabhava — 5.14’s term for nature-as-agent (red link)
• jnana — 5.16’s sun-metaphor for how jnana dispels ignorance
• atman / brahman — 5.17’s four-term absorption formula

Swami’s commentary

5.13 — the nine-gated city. Sarva-karmāṇi manasā sannyasya āste sukhaṁ vaśī; nava-dvāre pure dehī naiva kurvan na kārayan. “Renouncing all actions mentally, the self-controlled embodied one sits happily in the nine-gated city — neither acting nor causing action.” The nine-gated city is the body (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, anus, genitals = nine). The atman “dwells” in it without being it. The key phrase is manasā sannyasya — mentally renouncing all actions. Outwardly actions continue through the body’s nine gates; inwardly the renunciation is complete.

This extends 5.3’s relocation: sannyasa is inner, not outer. The jnani “sits happily” in the body-city because they are not entangled with it — they dwell in it without being bound by it, the way a citizen dwells in a city without being the city’s walls.

5.14–5.15 — the Lord does not act or bind. Na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ; na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate. “The Lord does not create agency or actions or the action-fruit conjunction — svabhava (nature) proceeds.” 5.15 continues: “the All-pervading accepts neither sin nor virtue. Knowledge is veiled by ignorance; beings are deluded thereby.”

Two Advaitic moves:

1. Brahman/Ishvara is not the cause of action or its fruit. What acts is svabhava (nature, prakriti). The jiva’s apparent agency is a feature of identification-with-prakriti, not of atman/Brahman.
2. Brahman is not a moral accountant. Punya and paapa do not reach Brahman; they belong to the karmic-ledger-level (vyavaharika) which operates under svabhava’s logic.

This answers the theological puzzle: if Brahman is all-pervading, doesn’t Brahman do everything, including evil? No — Brahman is the unchanging ground; what does the world-of-action is svabhava/maya. Brahman’s “pervasion” is like water’s presence in every wave: the water is not the wave’s motion.

5.16–5.17 — jnana as sun. Jñānena tu tad ajñānaṁ yeṣāṁ nāśitam ātmanaḥ; teṣām āditya-vaj jñānaṁ prakāśayati tat param. “In those whose ignorance is destroyed by self-knowledge, that knowledge shines like the sun, revealing That Supreme.” Classical image: ignorance is darkness, jnana is the rising sun. Once it rises, the previously unseen ground (Brahman) is plainly visible. 5.17’s four-term formula — tad-buddhi, tad-ātmā, tan-niṣṭhā, tat-parāyaṇā (intellect absorbed, self identified, devoted, made whole) — names the stages of this absorption (see Swami’s Ep 67 analysis of advanced vs general reading).

5.18 — samadarshana. See the samadarshana concept page for the full treatment. In brief: the wise see with equal vision across the maximum social distance of 5th-century-BCE India (learned-humble brahmin, cow, elephant, dog, outcaste). The sameness is in consciousness — the differences at the body-mind-role level are still perceived, but the one Brahman shining through each is recognized. Samadarshana is the jnani’s perception (fact), not the ordinary person’s belief (aspiration).

5.19 — samsara conquered right here. Ihaiva tair jitaḥ sargo yeṣāṁ sāmye sthitaṁ manaḥ. “Right here, in this very life, samsara has been conquered by those whose minds are established in sameness.” Moksha is not postponed; samadarshana is moksha enjoyed in the body. This is the Ch 5 argument for jivanmukti.

5.20–5.21 — no rejoicing or grieving. Na prahṛṣyet priyaṁ prāpya nodvijet prāpya cāpriyam. “Neither rejoicing at pleasant contact nor recoiling at unpleasant.” Samatva’s settled fruit. Bāhya-sparśeṣv asakta-ātmā vindaty ātmani yat sukham — “with self unattached to external contacts, one finds the happiness that is in the self.” The jnani’s joy does not depend on anything external, so no external event can destabilize it. Sukham akṣayam — undecaying joy.

Episodes 65–67 [cumulative]: The nine-gated city (5.13); Brahman does not act or bind (5.14–5.15); jnana-as-sun (5.16); 5.17’s four-term absorption; 5.18 as samadarshana’s definitive statement (see concept page); samsara conquered right here (5.19); the jnani’s undecaying joy (5.20–5.21).