Yatharth Geeta -Swami Adgadanand 365

Yatharth Geeta -Swami Adgadanand Ji

CHAPTER 6 The Yog of Meditation बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जित:। अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥6॥ [ “The Self is a friend to the man who has overcome his mind and senses, but he is an enemy to one who has failed to do so.’’] To the man who has vanquished his mind and senses, the Soul within is a friend, but to the man who has not subdued his mind and senses, he is an enemy. In the fifth and sixth verses Krishn thus insists repeatedly that a man should redeem his Self by his own effort. He must not degrade him, because the Self is a friend. Besides him, besides the Self, there is neither any friend nor any enemy. It is so because, if a man has restrained his mind and senses, his Soul acts as a friend and brings him the highest good. But, if a man’s mind and senses are not restrained, his Soul turns into an enemy that drags him to re- birth in lower forms of life and to endless misery. Men are fond of saying, “I am Soul.” So there is nothing for us to worry about. We cite evidence from the Geeta itself. Isn’t it said there, we ask, that weapons cannot pierce and fire cannot burn and wind cannot wither the Self? He, the deathless, immutable and universal, is therefore me. Believing so, we pay little heed to the warning in the Geeta that this Soul within us can also descend to an inferior, degraded level. Fortunately, however, he can also be saved and elevated; and Krishn has made known to Arjun the action which is worthy of being done and which leads the Soul to absolution. The following verse indicates the qualities of a benign, friendly Self.