
bandhuh
aatmaa aatmanah tasya
yena aatmaa eva aatmanaa
jitah
To him who has conquered his
(base) self * by
the (divine) SELF, his
own self is the friend.
anaatmanah tu shatru tve
varteta aatmaa eva shatruvat
To him who has not subdued the
self, his own self acts as the foe
-Bhagavat Gita ( Ch.6 verse 7)
* ISKCON publication replaces '
self ' with ' mind '
Swami Chidbhavananda's commentry
The base and the divine are the two
mutually opposing natures at work in man. When either of them predominates
the other gets vanquished.
Where the body, mind and senses are under
perfect control, the divine nature prevails and pulls the man up. Progressively
he evolves into high orders of existence.**
But when he submits to the base nature it
ruins him completely. The foe outside hurts (or attempts) only occasionally. The
foe of the base nature on the other hand, is constantly causing havoc. The
reckless man therefore is personally responsible for the evils he has brought on
himself. He is the worst enemy of himself.
*************************************
** The following quote is
not part of Sri. Chidbhavananda's commentry.
Then the devil took Jesus to a very
high mountain and showed him all the kingdom of the world in all their
greatness. "All this I will give you, " said the devil, "if you
kneel down and worship me." Then Jesus answered, "Go away Satan ! The
scripture says, 'worship the Lord your God and serve
only him !'
" Then the devil left Jesus and angels came and helped him.
- Matthew 4.8-11
For other pages on 'Guides of
Souls' follow the links below.
