Sanskrit
उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् । आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥
uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ nātmānam avasādayet ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ
Translation
Let him raise the self by the Self and not let the self become depressed; for verily is the Self the friend of the self, and also the Self the self's enemy;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
One of the chapter’s most quoted lines, and it turns on a single Sanskrit word (atman) doing double duty — lower self and higher Self are grammatically the same noun, distinguished only by which one is doing the raising and which is being raised. No external agent is invoked to lift or condemn it. Verse 6 immediately specifies the condition under which each relationship — friend or enemy — holds.
Concepts