32. The City of Nine Gates

In these verses, Kṛṣṇa refers to the body, which has nine gates to the external world: the two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, mouth and the two organs of evacuation.

Here, Kṛṣṇa does not refer to not doing anything out of laziness and indulgence. We are in the midst of intense activity and yet are not doing anything. The mind separates the doer from the action. It is the mind that defines 'who the doer is' and 'what the action is'.

Kṛṣṇa is talking of being so completely involved in something that we become the very action itself. First, we become the witness to the action, only then we can be completely involved in it. It is not the action that gives us the joy, but the experience of bliss within us through the action, that actually gives us happiness.