बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः ।अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥanātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat
To the man is his self a friend in whom the (lower) self has been conquered by the (higher) self, but to him who is not in possession of his (higher) self, the (lower) self is as if an enemy and it acts as an enemy.
Gītā 6·6We have two selves, the apparent self, which is only the ego, that mental centre in us which takes up this mutable action of Prakriti, this mutable personality, and which says “I am this personality,…” and the true self which is, indeed, the upholder, the possessor and the lord of Nature and figured in her, but is not itself the mutable natural personality.
He (the sage) sees… that he is himself his own enemy and his own friend, and therefore he takes care not to dethrone himself by casting his being into the hands of desire and passion, but delivers himself out of that imprisonment by his own inner power; for whoever has conquered his lower self, finds in his higher self his best friend and ally.
In other words, to master the lower self by the higher, the natural self by the spiritual is the way of man’s perfection and liberation.
