One should uplift one’s lower self by the higher self. One should not depress or downgrade one’s self. For the self verily is both the friend and the foe of the self.
(BG 6.5)
Pull yourself out of difficulties by yourself! Save yourself by yourself! … Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Go forward; assert yourself again and again, and light must come.
—Swami Vivekananda (CW, 8:132, 2:403)
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To him who has subdued the lower self by the higher self, the self acts like a friend. But to him who has lost his higher self by the dominance of the lower one, the self functions as the enemy, always hostile to him.
(BG 6.6)
The mind uncontrolled and unguided will drag us down, down, for ever—rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us.
—Swami Vivekananda (CW, 6:30)
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O Pàrtha! Yield not to unmanliness! It befits thee not. Abandoning this base faint-heartedness, rise up, O dreaded hero!
(BG 2.3)
If one reads this one shloka one gets all the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this one shloka lies imbedded the whole message of the Gita…Stand up and fight! Not one step back, that is the idea… Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! . . Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards… Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune.
—Swami Vivekananda (CW, 4:110, 1:461)
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Therefore fight, remembering Me [God always. One who has dedicated his mind and understanding to Me, shall come to Me alone, undoubtedly.
(BG 8.7)
Truth, purity, and unselfishness—wherever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.
— Swami Vivekananda (CW, 4:279)
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