“Let one raise oneself by oneself; let one not degrade oneself; for the self alone is the friend of the self, and the self alone its enemy.” The verse plays on the several senses of ātman at once (see 5.7). The self to be raised is the lower self, the mind-person mired in moods; the self that raises it is the same person's higher resolve, in the end backed by the witnessing Self. The lesson is bracing and non-mystical: no god will do your inner work for you; your own mind, mastered, is your best friend, and the same mind, indulged, your worst enemy. Self-effort is not opposed to grace; it is the form grace takes in a willing person.