According to the philosophy of the Bhagavata Purana, the senses are different from the physical sense organs. The senses, along with mind and intelligence, are part of the invisible subtle material covering of the soul. The physical organs of sensation (eyes, nose, tongue, ears, skin, legs, arms, mouth, anus, and genitals) are part of the visible gross physical body.
The distinction between subtle senses and physical sense organs is important and offers consciousness researchers a valuable conceptual tool. Let us consider, for example, the problem of phantom limbs. Persons whose legs or arms have been amputated often report that they distinctly feel the missing limb, and even experience quite distinct sensations, such as twinges of pain or itching. The City of Nine Gates allegory provides an explanation for this mysterious phenomenon. Let’s take the case of someone whose arm has been amputated but who still feels the presence of the arm. The arm is one of the working senses. It is composed of two elements, the subtle grasping sense and the physical organ of the arm and hand. Amputation removes the physical organ through which the subtle sense operates, but the subtle sense itself remains, and therefore its presence may be mentally perceived.
Since the subtle sense is material, it may be able to act upon gross physical matter without going through the related physical sense organ. This model may therefore explain some of the phenomena reported in connection with ghosts and apparitions, and in connection with mediums, particularly the mysterious movement of physical objects. This model may also explain how persons are able to experience sense data during near-death experiences when the physical sense organs are incapacitated because of anesthesia or shock.
The senses are compared to attendants of the queen. They serve her by bringing information and performing activity. Together they comprise the array of material intelligence and sensory capabilities, all formed from subtle but nevertheless material energy. They manufacture a sense of self, with which the king becomes entranced and falsely identifies.
The body itself, the City of Nine Gates, is made of gross material energy, of the kind that can be manipulated by ordinary physics and chemistry. The body is powered by five subtle airs, listed in the Ayur Veda, the Vedic medical science, as prana, apana, vyana, samana, and udana. In the Puranjana allegory the five airs, comprising the vital force, are represented by a five-headed serpent.
Unknown Origin
In the allegory, Puranjana asks about the identity and origin of the queen and her attendants. The queen replies,
O best of human beings, I do not know who has begotten me. I cannot speak to you perfectly about this. Nor do I know the names or the origins of the associates with me. O great hero, we only know that we are existing in this place. We do not know what will come after. Indeed, we are so foolish that we do not care to understand who has created this beautiful place for our residence.
My dear gentleman, all these men and women with me are known as my friends, and the snake, who always remains awake, protects this city even during my sleeping hours. This much I know. I do not know anything beyond this. You have somehow or other come here. This is certainly a great fortune for me. I wish all auspicious things for you. You have a great desire to satisfy your senses, and all my friends and I shall try our best in all respects to fulfill your desires. I have just arranged this city of nine gates for you so that you can have all kinds of sense gratification. You may live here for one hundred years, and everything for your sense gratification will be supplied.
The king’s questioning the queen represents the self’s asking material intelligence for the answers to ultimate questions. The answers provided by the queen, as well as her fundamental attitude, reflect those of modern science, which prides itself on avoidance of certain questions and the tentativeness of whatever answers it may provide. “I cannot speak to you perfectly about this. … We only know that we are existing in this place.” Essentially, the queen provides a monist, materialist answer to the king’s questions about his situation.
Description of the Gates
The Bhagavata Purana then provides a more detailed description of the nine gates of the city inhabited by the king and queen. Seven gates are on the surface (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and a mouth), and two gates are subterranean (anus and genitals).
Five gates face east. The first two gates on the eastern side are called Khadyota (“glowworm”) and Avirmukhi (“torchlight”). To see, the king exits these two gates and goes to the city called Vibhrajita (“clear vision”). On this journey he is accompanied by his friend Dyuman (the sun, the ruler of the subtle visual sense).
In other words, the king encounters qualia by sensory contact through the physical gates of the body. Qualia are secondary properties of objects, such as color. In consciousness studies, the question of how we perceive qualia is a much debated topic. Do they exist in their own right, in the objects with which they are identified, or do they exist only in our own minds? According to the Bhagavata Purana system, qualia, such as colors, exist as subtle sense objects. They have a reality of their own and are not simply produced within the mind.
That the king goes out through the gates of the eyes to contact subtle sense objects in a city of visual impressions suggests that the seeing process is not simply one of passive reception, but may involve an active process of image acquisition (as in sonar or radar). This may explain such phenomena as traveling clairvoyance, whereby a subject can mentally journey to a particular location, beyond the range of the physical sense organs, and then accurately report visual impressions. This model could also explain visual sensations reported during out-of-body experiences. The exact relationships between the physical sense organs, the subtle senses, and the subtle sense objects are not easily understood, but could perhaps be clarified by experimental work based on the overall model of the City of Nine Gates.
In the eastern part of King Puranjana’s city there are, in addition to the eyes, two gates called Nalini and Nalini, representing the nostrils. The king goes through these two gates with a friend called Avadhuta (representing breathing airs) to the town of Saurabha (“odor”). The last gate on the eastern side is Mukhya (“mouth”), through which the king goes with two friends to the towns of taste sensation and nourishment.
Through the two gates on the northern and southern sides (the ears), the king goes to places where different kinds of sound are heard. Through the gates on the western side of the city, the king goes to the towns where sensations of evacuation and sexual pleasure are experienced. During his journeys, the king takes help from two blind men, Nirvak and Pesaskrt, who represent the arms and legs. We will shed more light on this next week.