Bhagavad Gita 6.5
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् | आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ||
uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet | ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ ||
Translation
One should elevate one's self by one's own self; one should not lower one's self; for one's own self is one's friend, one's own self is one's enemy.
Reflection
Whose arrival have you been quietly waiting on to do the lifting that is yours to do?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Six
Nobody is going to lift him. The rescue he keeps waiting for, the teacher who will finally arrive, the partner who will finally see him, the breakthrough that will finally land, none of those are the lift. The hand he is waiting to feel is his own. The verse is blunt about this. He is the friend who can pull himself up, and he is the enemy who keeps pushing himself down, and the two are the same person. This is severe news and it is also the only news that frees him. If the lift is his to give, no door is locked from the outside.