CH 6, Verse 5

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Chapter 6

Verse 5

 

Uddhared aatmanaa'tmaanam n'aatmaanam avasaadayet /

aatm'aiva hy aatmano bandhur aatm'aiva riput aatmanah

//

 

A man should uplift himself by his own Self; he should

not cause his Self to sink low. For, he alone is the

friend of himself; he alone is the enemy of himself.

 

LESSONS FROM BHAGAVAD GITA – 55

>From the discourses of Pujya Sri Swamiji

 

“A man should uplift himself by his own Self; he

should not cause his Self to sink low. For, he alone

is the friend of himself; he alone is the enemy of

himself."

 

A man has to elevate his Self, sunk in the sensual

world, by means of the self. It means, he has to

struggle hard and put conscious efforts to pull his

lower Self upwards and make it scale the peak of Yoga.

No friend from outside can be of any help to him in

this regard. Therefore the Lord says that he alone is

the friend of himself and he alone is the enemy of

himself.

 

When the ego is guided by discriminative wisdom, it

chooses to lead a life of self-restraint and

self-control. And then, by spiritual disciplines like

prayers and meditation, it rises to the level of the

Higher Self and it (Ego) acts as its own friend and

benefactor. But if the Ego-Self refuses to be guided

by reason and discrimination, it will certainly

entangle itself in the meshes of the sensual world of

lust and wealth. As a result it will be caught up in

the Karmic reactions of miseries, pain and sufferings.

Here the Ego-Self acts like an external enemy causing

its own downfall and degradation.

 

No one should cause his Self to sink low, that is, in

the dark ocean of sensual world, which is full of

sufferings, pain and births and deaths. One should

always try to raise one's soul from this mundane world

to the highest state of perfection.

 

 

 

 

- We Remember

9-11: A tribute to the more than 3,000 lives lost

http://dir.remember./tribute