Satyopanisad

[Guest guest]

Swami! We have on one side the most invaluable spirituality while on the other,

we have also friends and relatives diverting our attention towards the world. No

doubt, it is our fault to pay heed to their words. Yet, we face the conflict.

What is to be done?

 

Today there are no true friends to anyone. Who are the friends of today's world

and of what sort are they? After all, your friendship lasts for two or three

years until you complete your studies here and leave the hostel. Later you

separate from each other and go your own way. So long as you have money in your

pocket and your father is in a good position, everyone would come to you and say

" hello " , but the day your pocket is empty and your father retires, you will be

left with none even to say `good bye'. Can you still call anyone your friend?

 

Friendship in Sanskrit is known as `maitri,' pronounced as `my-three'. Here

three represents the harmony in thought, word and deed. Are there friends with

this purity? Nowhere! Who is your true friend then? God is your real friend. God

is the only friend for you as He is always with you and in you: Don't consider

anyone else a friend of yours. Further, you should be very careful with people

or your company. It is said, " Tell me your company, I shall tell you what you

are " .So all and sundry can't be your friends. A warrior of outstanding stature

and an expert in archery, Karna fell into disrepute because he was in bad

company and so he is branded as one among the wicked four, the " dust a catustaya

" , Duryodhana, Dussasana, Sakuni and Kama.

 

Next, who are your relatives? In what way were you related to them before you

were born? All of them come in. with the passage of time and pass off like

passing clouds. Is it not so? Relatives come up to the main door as one dies and

the members of the family at the most follow one's corpse to the, cremation

ground. None follows the departed soul. It is only God who is with you during

your life and even after your death. So God is your real friend and the only

relation. These worldly people shouldn't be taken as friends and relatives.

 

Your life too is short. But God is awareness and existence. He is there before,

during, and after your life. He is the eternal truth. So follow him, catch hold

of God with your right hand as it is the right thing and catch hold of the world

with your left hand as it has to be left behind sometime or other. It is thus

the right thing to remember God always.