Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 5 भगवद् गीता अध्याय 6 श्लोक 5 उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत्। आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः।।6.5।। English Translation - Swami Gambirananda 6.5 One should save oneself by oneself; one should not lower oneself. For oneself is verily ones onw friend; oneself is verily ones own enemy. English Translation - Swami Sivananda 6.5 One should raise oneself by ones Self alone; let not one lower oneself; for the Self alone is the friend of oneself, and the Self alone is the enemy of oneself. English Translation - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 6.5. Let a person lift the Self by self and let him not depress the Self. For, the self alone is the friend of the Self and self alone is the foe of the Self. English Commentary - Swami Sivananda 6.5 उद्धरेत् should raise? आत्मना by the Self? आत्मानम् the self? न not? आत्मानम् the self? अवसादयेत् let (him) lower? आत्मा the Self? एव only? हि verily? आत्मनः of the self? बन्धुः friend? आत्मा the Self? एव only? रिपुः the enemy? आत्मनः of the self.Commentary Practise Yog. Discipline the senses and the mind. Elevate yourself and become a Yogarudha. Attain to Yoga. Shine gloriously as a dynamic Yogi. Do not sink into the ocean of Samsara (transmigration). Do not become a wordlyminded man. Do not become a slave of lust? greed and anger. Rise above worldliness? become divine and attain Godhead.You alone are your friend you alone are your enemy. The socalled worldly friend is not your real friend? because he gets attached to you? wastes your time and puts obstacles on your path of Yoga. He is very selfish and keeps friendship with you only to extract something. If he is not able to get from you the object of his selfish interest? he forsakes you. Therefore he is your enemy in reality. If you are attached to your friend on account of delusion or affection? this will become a cause of your bondage to Samsara.Friends and enemies are not outside. They exist in the mind only. It is the mind that makes a friend an enemy and an enemy a friend. Therefore the Self alone is the friend of oneself? and the Self alone is the enemy of oneself. The lower mind or the Asuddha Manas (impure mind) is your real enemy because it binds you to the Samsara? and the higher mind or the Sattvic mind (Suddha Manas or the pure mind) is your real friend? because it helps you in the attainment of Moksha. English Translation of Sanskrit Commentary By Sri Shankaracharya's 6.5 Uddharet, one should save; atmanam, oneself sunk in the sea of the world; atmana, by oneself; one should save, ut-haret, should uplift (oneself) from that, i.e. make it attain the state of being established in Yoga. Na avasadayet, one should not lower, dase; atmanam, oneself. Hi, for; atma eva, oneself is verily; atmanah ones 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 ones own friend, is justifiable. Atma eva, oneself verily; is atmanah, ones own: ripuh, enemy. Anyone else who is an external harmful enemy, even he is of ones own making! Therefore the firm conclusion, oneself verily is ones own enemys is reasonable. It has been said that oneself is verily ones own friend, oneself verily is ones own enemy. As to that, (the self) [Ast. has this additional word, atma, self.-Tr.] of what kind is ones own friend, or (the self) of what kind is ones own enemy? This is being answered: English Translation of Commentary - Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 6.5 See Comment under 6.6 English Translation of Ramanuja's Sanskrit Commentary 6.5 By the self (Atman), i.e., by the mind, which is unattached to sense-objects, one should raise the self. One should not allow the self to sink by a mind which is of the contrary kind. For the self alone, i.e., the mind alone is the friend of the self; and it alone is the foe of the self. [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.] Commentary - Chakravarthi Ji Since the soul has fallen into the well of samsara by attachment to objects of the senses, with effort one should deliver that soul. One should deliver the soul (atmanam) by the mind, which is devoid of attachment to objects of the senses (atmana). One should not let the soul fall into the well of samsara by the mind, which is attached to objects of the senses. Therefore, the mind (atma) is both the friend and enemy of the soul. Rudra Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary One should exercise discrimination and thereby realise that attachment to sense objects is the cause of bondage and non-attachment to sense objects leads to liberation. So it is mandatory that infatuation with sense objects is renounced. By diligent effort one must elevate their consciousness and become free from the transmigratory existence of samsara or the continuous cycle of birth and death. One should not debase oneself clinging to the lower nature like the animals. Lord Krishna emphasises the changing nature of the mind. When the mind is freed from attachments one becomes lucid and clear and the mind is like ones best benefactor. When the mind is disturbed by attachments it becomes distracted and distorted and the mind becomes ones worst malefactor. Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary Only by constant endeavour with faith and determination is one able to detach themselves from ego sense and misidentification with their bodily activities and be in equiminity. Shri Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary The word atmana refers to the mind. The mind must detach itself from the infatuation of sense objects by association from those wise in Vedic knowledge who posess spiritual knowledge. In this way the mind will be elevated and gravitate towards spiritual objectives. But if the mind is pointed in the reverse direction subject to worldly pursuits and deluded by sense objects then the mind will become agitated and harassed. Lord Krishna is confirming the truth that the mind has the potential to give the most benefit as the greatest friend to the atma or eternal soul and also that the mind has the potential to be the most destructive as the greatest enemy to the atma or eternal soul depending upon how the mind is influenced. Kumara Vaishnava Sampradaya - Commentary The word atmana refers to the mind. The mind must detach itself from the infatuation of sense objects by association from those wise in Vedic knowledge who posess spiritual knowledge. In this way the mind will be elevated and gravitate towards spiritual objectives. But if the mind is pointed in the reverse direction subject to worldly pursuits and deluded by sense objects then the mind will become agitated and harassed. Lord Krishna is confirming the truth that the mind has the potential to give the most benefit as the greatest friend to the atma or eternal soul and also that the mind has the potential to be the most destructive as the greatest enemy to the atma or eternal soul depending upon how the mind is influenced. Transliteration Bhagavad Gita 6.5Uddharedaatmanaatmaanam naatmaanamavasaadayet; Atmaiva hyaatmano bandhuraatmaiva ripuraatmanah. Word Meanings Bhagavad Gita 6.5uddharet—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