Train the mind to become your ally.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
बन्धुरात्मात्मनस्तस्य येनात्मैवात्मना जितः |अनात्मनस्तु शत्रुत्वे वर्तेतात्मैव शत्रुवत् ||६-६||
bandhurātmātmanastasya yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ . anātmanastu śatrutve vartetātmaiva śatruvat ||6-6||
Use this verse when your mind turns against your goals.
Meaning
For one who has conquered the self, the self is a friend; for one who has not, the self behaves like an enemy.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Self-mastery turns the inner world into a friend.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna continues the self-mastery teaching. The same mind can support growth or sabotage it, depending on whether it is trained.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna deepens the previous verse by revealing what determines whether the self is friend or foe: conquest. For the one who has mastered the lower self — its cravings, fears, and impulses — through the higher Self, the mind becomes a faithful ally, carrying him steadily toward freedom. The very faculty that could enslave now serves.
But for the anaatman, the one whose self remains unconquered, that same self turns hostile, working against him 'like an external foe'. The image is striking: our own mind can ambush us, sabotage our resolutions, and wound us more reliably than any outer enemy. The difference is not in having a self but in having mastered it.
This is why the inner work matters above all — not to suppress ourselves, but to win our own allegiance, so that the whole of our nature pulls in the same direction.
In daily life
Create routines that make the mind cooperate.
A phone-free morning helps the mind become a friend rather than a distraction machine.
Try this today
Design one routine that supports your better self.
My trained mind supports my growth.Reflect
Where is my mind acting like an enemy?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘अनात्मनः तु’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on self mastery, in other chapters
- Verse 3.41Master desire at its earliest stage in the senses, before it captures your mind and reasoning — it is far easier to check an impulse than an obsession.
- Verse 4.26Whether through restraint of the senses or purified engagement with the world, sense-experience can be turned into an offering.
- Verse 2.64The self-mastered person who moves among sense objects free from attachment and aversion attains divine grace and inner clarity.
- Verse 5.7When you act with a pure heart and see the one Self in all beings, your work no longer binds you.
Swipe left for 6.7 · Steadiness reveals the higher Self.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 6.6
Who says Bhagavad Gita 6.6, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 6.6, in Chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga (Dhyana Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 6.6 mean?
For one who has conquered the self, the self is a friend; for one who has not, the self behaves like an enemy. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 6.6 for daily life?
Create routines that make the mind cooperate. A phone-free morning helps the mind become a friend rather than a distraction machine.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 6.6 mean?
बन्धुः आत्मा आत्मनः तस्य — the self is the friend of that person; येन आत्मा एव आत्मना जितः — by whom the self has been conquered by the Self; अनात्मनः तु — but for one who has not conquered the self; शत्रुत्वे वर्तेत — remains in enmity / acts as a foe; आत्मा एव शत्रुवत् — the very self, like an enemy.
Where does verse 6.6 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 6 of 47 in Chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga. The next verse is 6.7.