![You have to elevate yourself by yourself. There is no other element, which will help you to push up. You have to push [yourself up] with all of your might, because you have got that power, but that power you have ignored. Invoke that power within [yourself]! Find out that power that you have got!](https://kajabi-storefronts-production.kajabi-cdn.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/file-uploads/blogs/2147511598/images/a83b3a0-c7a5-a2b2-72e5-ca61e88ffb4_elevateYourself1_cleanup.jpg)
In this empowering excerpt, Swami Lakshmanjoo encourages us to find out that power within [ourselves].
“You have to elevate yourself by yourself. There is no other element, which will help you to push up. You have to push [yourself up] with all of your might, because you have got that power, but that power you have ignored. Invoke that power within [yourself]! Find out that power that you have got! You have to rise with your own might. You should not kick yourself in the depth of ignorance.”
This is from the Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo), Chapter 6, verses 5-7.
So . . .
DVD 6.1 (19:48)
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।
uddharedātmanātmānaṁ nātmānamavasādayet /5a
You have to elevate yourself by yourself. Nobody [else] can elevate yourself; no other element can elevate yourself.
You have to elevate yourself by yourself. There is no other element, which will help you to push up. You have to push [yourself up] with all of your might, because you have got that power, but that power you have ignored. Invoke that power within [yourself]! Find out that power that you have got! Uddharet ātmanātmānaṁ, you have to rise with your own might. Nātmānamavasādayet, you should not kick yourself [down] in the depth of ignorance.
आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥५॥
ātmaiva hyātmano bandhurātmaiva ripurātmanaḥ //5//
Your own self is your friend when realized, and your own self becomes your enemy when not realized.
Have you understood? Atra ca nānya upāya [comm.]. There is no other way of means (upāya); there is no other way. Apitu ātmaiva (ātmaiva means mana eva, your own mind), your own mind has become… when your mind is elevated, it takes the formation of God consciousness. When God consciousness has passed into the inferior field, that God consciousness becomes mind.
DENISE: Full of thoughts.
SWAMIJI: No, mind. Mind is the formation of citi (consciousness). In the upper plane, in the elevated plane, there is citi. In lowest plane, citi becomes just mind, i.e., the substance of thoughts, varieties of thoughts.
citireva cetanapadādavarūḍā cetyasaṁkocinī citram / [Pratyabhijñāhṛdayaṁ, sūtra 5]
When you are given to the objective world, [citi] becomes mind. If you reside in the subjective world, you become un-minded and you become consciousness. That is citi, consciousness.
DVD 6.1 (23:16)
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः ।
अजितात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ॥६॥
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ /
ajitātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat //6//
This is another śloka . . . which one? The 6th śloka. Bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ. His ātma is bandhuḥ (his ātma is a friend to him), his self is a friend to him who has, by his own self-treatment, who has conquered his mind by being un-minded. Ajitāt manastu, the one who has not conquered his mind by being un-minded, for him his own self behaves just like an enemy for him. [The self] becomes his enemy. Otherwise, he [the self] is his friend; [the self] will push him up. And otherwise [the self] will . . .
DENISE: Pull him down.
SWAMIJI: . . . kick him down. Bandhurātmātmanastasya . . . This is a unique [explanation] of Abhinavagupta’s commentary on Bhagavad Gītā. I did not previously explain it to you clearly. I have, but not in that way.
Jitaṁ hi mano mitraṁ [comm.]. If the mind is conquered, he becomes your friend (mano mitraṁ). Mitraṁ means he [the mind] is your friend; [the mind] is not your enemy then. Ghoratara saṁsāroddharaṇaṁ karoti, it will elevate you from the furious cakra (wheel) of repeated births and deaths. [The mind] will elevate you at once. It will become your fast friend to elevate you from that narak, [the hell of saṁsāra]. Ajutaṁ tu, if you don’t conquer [the mind], then tīvranirayapātanāt-chatrutvaṁ kurute, [your mind] will kick you into hells and [it] will behave like a great enemy to you.
DVD 6.1 (26:15)
जितात्मनः प्रशान्तस्य परात्मसु समा मतिः [हितः] ।
शीतोष्णसुखदुःखेषु तथा मानावमानयोः ॥७॥
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya parātmasu samā matiḥ [hitaḥ] /
śītoṣṇasukhadukheṣu tathā mānāvamānayoḥ //7//
Jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya, [the one] who is praśānta, who is appeased, whose mind is appeased, i.e., one-pointed (paramātma samā hita), paramātma [i.e., Parabhairava] is absolutely shaking hands with him, permanently. On which occasions? Śīta, when there is śīta (śīta means when there is a cold wave); uṣṇa, when there is a hot wave; sukha, when there is pleasure; duḥkha, when there is pain; tathā mānā, when there is respect and [avamāna], when there is disrespect. When all of these actions are there, paramātma is there shaking hands with you. No matter [what is happening in your life, you must] go on, go on, this is [only] the glamour of God. No matter what is good and what is bad, it is all the divine formation of Parabhairava.
How beautiful this śloka is.
jitātmanaḥ praśāntasya paramātma samā . . .
Paramātma is there! Paramātma, supreme Parabhairava, remains by his side. He sits here in His lap while facing all off these ups and downs of the world. He remains with him [and says], “don’t worry, this is also your glamour.” [Parabhairava] presses [i.e., massages] his body at that time. Or when he is cold, He warms him up. When he is drunk, He keeps him aware. Whatever he does, if he takes wine and is drunk, that doesn’t matter. He serves him a lot.
[Abhinavagupta] has, in a unique way, explained the Bhagavad Gītā.
(source: Bhagavad Gita, In the Light of Kashmir Shaivism, by Swami Lakshmanjoo)
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