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. Uddhared ātmanātmānam — “lift the self by the self” — is the same formula as BG 3.43: the higher Self is the only leverage over the lower. Rescue is a self-relation, not a petition.
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Word by word
- uddhared ātmanātmānaṃउद्धरेद् आत्मनात्मानं
- let one lift the self by the Self (uddharet + ātmanā + ātmānam)
- nātmānam avasādayetनात्मानं अवसादयेत्
- let one not degrade the self (na + ātmānam + avasādayet)
- ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhurआत्मैव ह्य् आत्मनो बन्धुः
- for the self alone is the self's friend (ātmā + eva + hi + ātmanaḥ + bandhuḥ)
- ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥआत्मैव रिपुः आत्मनः
- the self alone is the self's enemy (ātmā + eva + ripuḥ + ātmanaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The whole verse turns on one Sanskrit word playing two roles in the same sentence — “atman” names both the self doing the lifting and the self being lifted, with no third party invoked to do either job. Nobody is coming to raise you; the same faculty that can drag you down is the only one available to pull you back up.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you're stuck in a low mood or a bad pattern, resist the urge to wait for outside rescue — the same mind that got you here is the only tool available to get you out. Use it deliberately instead of outsourcing the job to circumstance.
Professional
- When a project is stalling because of your own procrastination or self-doubt, don't wait for a manager or a deadline to force the fix — the discipline that would solve it has to come from the same person who's currently avoiding it. No one else can supply it.
Family & Social
- If you've let a relationship drift through your own neglect, don't wait for the other person to make the first repair — the same attention you withdrew is the only thing that can restore it. Nobody else can do that work for you.
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