6.5 Lift yourself by yourself Krishna speaks
उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet
ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ
Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. For the self alone is the self's friend, and the self alone is the self's enemy.
Explanation
Lift yourself by yourself.
And then the line the chapter turns on: the self alone is the self's friend, and the self alone is the self's enemy.
Five occurrences of the word in two lines, doing different work each time. Nobody else is going to do this, and nobody else is what is standing in the way.
Going further
Word by word
- uddharet
- elevate
- ātmanā
- through the mind
- ātmānam
- the self
- na
- not
- ātmānam
- the self
- avasādayet
- degrade
- ātmā
- the mind
- eva
- certainly
- hi
- indeed
- ātmanaḥ
- of the self
- bandhuḥ
- friend
- ātmā
- the mind
- eva
- certainly
- ripuḥ
- enemy
- ātmanaḥ
- of the self
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Lift yourself by yourself; do not let yourself sink. The self alone is the self's friend, and the self alone is the self's enemy.
Five occurrences of ātman in one verse, and no other party involved. The Gita is unsentimental here: there is no one to rescue you and no one to blame, and the same faculty does both jobs depending on how it is held. It is uncomfortable and, for anyone who has been on both sides of it, accurate.