One should lift oneself by one's own efforts and should not degrade oneself; for one's own self is one's friend, one's own self is one's enemy. One's own self is the friend of the soul by whom the lower self consisting of the mind, senses and body has been conquered; even so the very self of him who has not conquered his lower self behaves antagonistically like an enemy. The Supreme Spirit is rooted in the knowledge of the self-controlled man whose mind is perfectly serene in the midst of pairs of opposites, such as cold and heat, joy and sorrow, and honour and ignominy. A person whose mind is sated with the Knowledge of Nirguna Brahma and Knowledge of manifest Divinity, who is unmoved under all circumstances, whose senses are completely mastered, and to whom earth, stone and gold are all alike, is spoken of as a God-realized soul. He who looks upon well-wishers and neutrals as well as mediators, friends and foes, relatives and objects of hatred, the virtuous and the sinful with the same eye, stands supreme. A person who is united in identity with the all-pervading, infinite consciousness and sees unity every where, beholds the Self present in all beings and all beings as assumed in the Self.
