Monday, December 8, 2008

You are your own enemy/friend


Gita ch.6 slokam 5


उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं आत्मानमवसादयेत

आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः

6.5 Uddharet, one should save; atmaanam, oneself sunk in the sea of the world; atmanaa, by oneself; one should save, uddharet, should uplift (oneself) from that, i.e. make it attain the state of being established in Yoga. na avasaadayet, one should not lower, debase; atmaanam, oneself.
Hi, for; atma eva, oneself is verily; atmanah one's own; bandhuh, friend. Centainly there is no other friend who can bring about liberation from this world. In fact, even a friend is an obstacle to Liberation, he being the source of such bondages as love etc.
Therefore the emphatic statement, 'For one is one's own friend, is justifiable. Atma eva, oneself verily; is atmanah, one's own: ripuh, enemy. Anyone else who is an external harmful enemy, even he is of one's own making! Therefore the firm conclusion, 'oneself verily is one's own enemy's is reasonable. It has been said that 'oneself is verily one's own friend, oneself verily is one's own enemy.' As to that, (the self), of what kind is one's own friend, or (the self) of what kind is one's own enemy?

-- English Translation of Sri Sankaracharya's Sanskrit Commentary – by Swami Gambhirananda
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From: Ramanujcharya’s commentary: (Dr. S. Sankaranarayanan’s translation):

The figure of speech here is of Samsara as the ocean in which the individual self is like an object with liability to sink. What causes its sinking is the lingering attachments of the mind to some objects, though in the discipline of Jnana Yoga one may keep aloof from such objects. A mind with such attachments is the foe and without them, the friend.
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Source: http://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in

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