Bhagwad Gita - Post 74

Verse 5

Uddhared aatmanaatmaanam

Na atmaanam avasaadayet;

Atmaiva hyaatmano bandhur

Aatmaiva ripur aatmanah.

Let a man lift himself by his own Self alone; let him not lower himself, for this Self alone is the friend of oneself and this self alone is the enemy of one’s Self.

Let a Man lift himself by his own Self Alone.

There was a person called Madhusudhana Saraswati, and a person called Vidyaranya. They did twenty-four purascharanas of Gayatri, and no Divinity appeared before them. They were great Masters, more powerful in their minds than any one of us. They were wonderstruck that after so much tapasya they had no experience at all.

A voice said, “You shall not have a vision of Me in this life.” 

The person who was called Vidyaranya, who wrote the Panchadasi and other works, was known as Madhava in his pre-Sannyasa days. He was a very learned person. His brother, called Sayana, wrote a commentary on all the four Vedas. They must have been geniuses. We cannot imagine such great wisdom. 

Madhava did Gayatri purascharana for attaining siddhi, and a voice said, “You shall not have a vision of me in this life.” 

He got disgusted that after having done so much, nothing had come. He took Sannyasa. 

When he took Sannyasa, immediately the Divinity appeared and asked, “Why are you doing so much purascharana? What do you want from me?” 

To that Madhava said, “You said that You will not appear before me in this birth.”

“But this is a second birth,” the voice said. “You have taken another birth. Therefore, I came.”

“I want nothing now,” said Vidyaranya. “I was a poor man. As the householder Madhava, I would have certainly asked for wealth and riches, and anything that would make me prosperous. 

But I have taken to renunciation, the path of Sannyasa. Now I cannot ask for anything. So, I am very sorry, great Divinity. You have come too late, and now I cannot ask anything from You.”

But the Divinity said, “I cannot go without giving something. When I appear, I must give something before going.”

“But I cannot ask for anything.”

“You must ask for something.”

“But I want nothing.” 

Then the Divinity said, “Because you want nothing, you shall have everything,” and it vanished. And Vidyaranya became omniscient. 

The above story illustrates how Madhava listed himself to become Sage Vidyaranya, to be so complete in himself that he seeks nothing even when Divine voice pursues with him to seek something.

Let him not  lower himself.

Always be positive in your nature: “I am strong. I am healthy. I can walk three miles without any fatigue, and I can digest any food that is given in the kitchen. I have no problem.”

Never become depressed. “It is a waste! So much japa has been done. What is the good of it? God may be there or may not be. I don’t understand anything. The scriptures may be saying a hundred things. I don’t know which path to pursue. This Guru has been telling me something, but finally He has brought nothing. I will go to another Guru, and I will stay in some other place.”

These kinds of ideas should not arise in the mind. You should feel, “I have taken to this path, and I am sure that I will get it.” If there is no visible progress, it is due to some rajasic karma operating in us. It does not mean that no progress has been made. So, we should never condemn yourself. 

Self alone is  friend / enemy of oneself.

Swami Chinmayananda writes,

“The second line of the stanza contains a glorious idea shaped into a beauty of expression which almost immortalizes Vyasa. We are considered both as our own friend and our own enemy. Any intelligent man observing and analyzing life will vouchsafe for the truth of the statement, but here, more is meant philosophically, than meets the eye. Generally, we do not fully understand the import when we say, “THE SELF IS THE FRIEND OF THE SELF.”

The lower in us can ever raise itself to the attunement of the Higher, but the Higher can influence only when the lower is available for Its influence. To the extent the lesser in us surrenders itself to the influence of the Higher, to that extent, It can serve the lower as a great friend. But if the lower refuses to come under the influence of the Divine in us, the Divine Presence is accused as an enemy of ourselves, in as much as the dynamism of life provides us Its energy both for our “life of higher aspirations” and the “life of low temptations.”

Love.