The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ notes
those of action, whose organs are the hands, the feet, the tongue,
and the organs of excretion and reproduction.
13 “The city of nine gates” is the body. The gates are the two eyes, the
two nostrils, the two ears, the mouth, and the organs of excretion
and reproduction. In some lists these gates are expanded
to eleven by adding the navel and the brahmarandhra or sagittal
suture, the opening at the top of the skull.
27–28 The area “of spiritual consciousness” between the eyebrows
is one of the seven centers of awareness or chakras described in
yoga literature. These seven chakras, though not physical, are said
to lie along a channel for awakened spiritual energy ( kundalini )
that corresponds with the spine; the chakras are located at the
level of the anus, sex organs, stomach, heart, throat, eyebrows,
and the top of the head. Kundalini circulates among these centers,
but it is usually confined to the lowest three chakras, corresponding
to the main preoccupations of life on the physical
level. In yogic concentration the vital energy (kundalini) rises;
samadhi is said to take place when it reaches the chakras at the
brow or head.
CHAPTER SIX
11 This describes the traditional seat used for meditation. The Gita
is not concerned with the outer forms of the spiritual life, but
here we do get a mention of the grass and deerskin used by the
ancient sages. Perhaps the point is that they used what was available
in their forest retreats, and that the seat should be what
Patanjali calls sukhasana : comfortable enough to forget about
your body.
14 “All actions dedicated to Brahman” is a literal translation of the
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