King Prachinabarhi realised that this story held critically important lessons for him, but pleaded with Sage Narada that he did not understand it easily.
Sage Narada replied.
"Puranjana is the living entity or Jiva, that transmigrates from body to body, from insect to a human being, as the Karmas dictate. He thus experiences the results of the past Karmas. His friend is Ishwara, the Supreme Being, always available as a friend, but almost never understood or recognised for what He is."
"The Jiva likes to be born as a human being as it affords the best experience of Karma's fruits. His nine apertures are the gates of Puranjana's city. A human form is next only to that of a god."
"Pramada or ignorance makes man identify himself with the body. He thinks only of "I" and "mine" and suffers and enjoys only in the body and senses. This is entrapment."
"Puranjana's ten friends are the five senses of perception and five senses of action. They make him enjoy and suffer."
"The five-hooded serpent is the Pancha Pranas, that enliven and protect the body against death."
"The eleventh friend/attendant is the mind."
"Let me now describe the city of Panchala (world of the five senses) experienced through the nine gates.
The eyes, nostrils and ears are pairs of gates, totally six, situated in one place. The mouth, genitals and rectum are the remaining three gates. Being placed into a body having these nine gates, the Jiva acts externally in the material world and enjoys sense objects with form and taste."
***
Narada now connects the names he gave the nine gates to the respective senses in detail. The Sanskrit words, e.g. Nalini and Naalini, being nostrils, are all poetic (a slender and beautiful nose is compared in literature to a delicate long flower/petal Nalini).
There are two parts of the Panchala kingdom. The lower or southern one of pleasures (food, sex and so on). The higher or northern one of acquiring knowledge. The rectum and genital are the lower gates taking one southward. The senses/gates in the upper region help in gathering knowledge.
The two blind associates of Puranjana represent the hands and feet, with no wisdom of their own but acting as directed by the mind.
Those invaders, Bhaya, Prajvaara and Jaraa are all messengers of Death or Yama.
Antahpura or the inner chamber of the city is the dwelling of the mind. It makes one enjoy, suffer, gain knowledge, experience delusion, and so on, from time to time. The Gunas dictate Puranjana's tendencies. Forgetting Ishwara, Jiva acts in Sattva, Rajas or Tamas, experiencing the results of Karma accordingly.
Jiva acting in Sattva reaps the reward of progress to higher worlds, heavens. Acting under Rajas, the Jiva comes back repeatedly to the same level of life of sorrow and so-called happiness. Acting under Tamas drives the Jiva to lower, subhuman forms and births.
Jiva does try always to overcome sorrow and suffering. But his efforts are feeble and ineffectual as he is always experiencing the results of his Karma. Hence, try as he might, he does not succeed by himself in improving his life.
A man may carry a burden on his head, and when he feels it to be too heavy, he sometimes gives relief to his head by putting the burden on his shoulder. In this way, he tries to relieve himself of the burden. However, whatever process he devises to counteract the burden does nothing more than shift the same burden from one place to another.
Simply put, no change in the type or nature of activity can help except devotion to the Lord. Imagine one is dreaming. Even if he wakes up from a dream, the effect of the dream will linger unless he lifts his consciousness to a higher level. Sometimes, we suffer because we see a tiger in a dream; or sometimes, we mistakenly sight a snake. But actually, there is neither a tiger nor a snake. That is how the mindmap of man is full of subtle projections and delusions making him suffer the consequences. These sufferings cannot be mitigated unless we are awakened from our dream called this mistaken understanding of reality.
***
What is the way for the Jiva who wants to break this cycle of birth and death?
अथात्मनोऽर्थभूतस्य यतोऽनर्थपरम्परा । संसृतिस्तद्वयवच्छेदो भक्त्या परमया गुरौ ॥
वासुदेवे भगवति भक्तियोग: समाहित: । सध्रीचीनेन वैराग्यं ज्ञानं च जनयिष्यति ॥
T: "The intention of the Jiva is to get out of the cycle of misery. To break that cycle, the only way is supreme devotion to the Lord, who is our Guru! Immersed in Bhagavan Vasudeva, by being established in Bhakti Yoga, one develops both dispassion and wisdom, the two essential attributes to overcome suffering."
सोऽचिरादेव राजर्षे स्यादच्युतकथाश्रय: । शृण्वत: श्रद्दधानस्य नित्यदा स्यादधीयत: ॥
T: "Oh, noble king, being immersed in the glorious accounts of Bhagavan Achyuta, engaged always in studying and listening to the Lord's glories with dedication, the Jiva overcomes the bondage quickly. "
"Seeking the company of Bhagavatas, true devotees imparting the understanding of Bhakti, is like going to the beautiful bank of a river. One will forget the necessities of life like hunger and thirst, and become immune to all kinds of fear, lamentation and illusion."
"In reality, we are too busy attending to our needs like hunger and thirst, and never take our minds off these material activities to engage in higher pursuits."
"Let me give you an insight, dear king. Even Brahma, Shiva, Manu, Daksha and other Prajapatis, the great sages like the Kumaras, Marichi, Atri, Bhrigu, and even me - none of us, all accomplished in meditation and purified by austerities, also learned in scriptures, can know Bhagavan perfectly well. He is beyond our understanding."
यदा यस्यानुगृह्णाति भगवानात्मभावित: । स जहाति मतिं लोके वेदे च परिनिष्ठिताम् ॥
T: "When a devotee receives the grace of Bhagavan, he will relinquish his worldly mindset and attachment to the senses. He will also give up attachment to Vedic rituals like Yajnas, which are anyway reward-seeking activities."
"Prachinabarhi, don't make the mistake of taking Vedic rituals and Yajnas to be the summum bonum of life. They can never be because they are all reward-seeking."
"Vedas do help to understand that Bhagavan lives within our very home called this body. But we constantly chase outside pleasures and goals, missing the real opportunity for eternal bliss within."
"By covering the whole world with kusha grass during your incessant Yajnas, you have killed a large number of various animals in sacrifices. That is how you have missed the whole aspect of Bhakti."
तत्कर्म हरितोषं यत्सा विद्या तन्मतिर्यया T: "That activity which pleases the Lord, i.e. pursuit of Bhakti, which can come only from that understanding and mindset."
हरिर्देहभृतामात्मा स्वयं प्रकृतिरीश्वर: । तत्पादमूलं शरणं यत: क्षेमो नृणामिह ॥
T: "It is Bhagavan Sri Hari, Ishwara, who creates Prakriti and this world of matter and senses and He therefore dwells within our body! Thus, surrendering to His feet is the way to welfare for those in this world."
"Knowing this, pursuing this path, makes one a true devotee. Only such a wise one can also become a teacher or Guru to others. Know that an advanced devotee of Bhagavan is no different from Bhagavan Himself when he plays the role of the Guru!"
"Dear King, I have told you what is essential. Now let me add what the sages want you to know."
"Imagine a lovely deer, enjoying the company of his mate, eating grass happily in a lovely forest full of flowers and songbirds and so on. Now, does he know that a tiger has come to attack him? Also, does he sense the hunter who has his arrow ready to strike him? That is how death lurks around us all in this world."
"A worldly man is irresistibly attracted to a woman, the pleasures of sex, and immerses himself fully in wife and children and so on. His condition is no different from that of this deer."
"Man forgets that constantly hanging over him is Time, which is taking away his life span with the passing of every day and night. He does not see the gradual diminishing of his life, nor does he care about the god of Death, who is trying to kill him from behind."
"Just try to understand this. You are in a precarious position and are threatened from all sides. My dear King, just try to understand the allegorical position of the deer. Be fully conscious of yourself, and give up trying to attain the heavens by your Karmas and Yajnas. Give up the obsession with worldly enjoyments, and take shelter in Bhagavan whose knowledge you can gain through the kindness of the liberated souls. In this way, please give up your attraction for worldly existence."
