Answered from scripture
What does the Bhagavad Gita say about self-worth?
In short
The Bhagavad Gita puts your worth in your own hands. In verse 6.5, Krishna says to lift yourself by your own effort and not let yourself sink — the self can be its own friend or its own enemy. On low days, choosing to befriend yourself is itself the practice.
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The verse
“uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet”
Bhagavad Gita 6.5 · Chapter 6, Dhyana YogaLift yourself by your own self; do not let yourself sink. The self alone is the friend, and the enemy, of the self.
Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.
In depth
The Gita does not locate self-worth in achievement or in others' approval. It places it in the relationship you keep with yourself. The same mind that drags you down can raise you up; which one it becomes is a choice you make daily.
To 'be your own friend' is concrete: speak to yourself as you would to someone you love, take the next small right action instead of collapsing, refuse to be your own harshest critic. The Upanishads go further still — that the self is one with the infinite (Tat Tvam Asi) — so your worth was never in question to begin with.
Related questions
Which Gita verse is about self-worth?
Bhagavad Gita 6.5 — lift yourself by your own effort; the self can be its own friend or its own enemy.
How does Hindu scripture view self-worth?
The Gita ties it to how you treat yourself, and the Upanishads affirm the self is one with the infinite — so your worth is inherent, not earned.
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