Who is Your Very Best Friend?

May 18, 2007

Who is Your Very Best Friend?By Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D.(Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya)Do you have friends? Of course you do! Who doesn't have friends?To even pose such a question would seem silly to many of us. Ashuman beings, most of us are social by nature, and we need to expressour need for relationship in the form of our many friends and lovedones. Most of us even have one or two people who we would call ourvery best friends – people whom we trust completely, and who we knoware always there for us in times of trouble.While almost all of us can say that we have truly good friends,however, the truth of the matter is that most of us have no realknowledge about who our truly best of friend really is. The verybest friend that we have is the same one whom we tend to ignore theeasiest. Indeed, most of us spend much of our lives running awayfrom our very best

friend as fast as our little feet can take us.That very best friend in your life is Bhagavan: God. It is God whois not only your very best of friends, but who is responsible for thefriends that you do have now.Accepting the reality that God has given us the gift of friendship inour lives, I want to pose an interesting question to you.Think of the very closest friend that you have in this world. Thisperson cares about you and would do anything for you, right? Ofcourse he would. Well, this is my question: Do you have any friendor loved one in the world, including even your very best friend, whoyou can say will never abandon you? Do you have a friend who, infact, will look after you and follow you as you traverse lifetimeafter lifetime, sometimes being in male bodies and sometimes infemale bodies, sometimes in the body of a slug or sometimes in thebody of a king; who will be there as a silent witness seeing you

inyour best of times, but also seeing you when you're at your veryworst? If you answer this question honestly, you know that there isabsolutely no one – however much they may truly love you – who wouldbe willing to do this for you. No one.Yet you do have such a friend. God as Antaryamin (the Inner Witness)patiently and lovingly accompanies us as we journey from one life toanother. Bhagavan (God) doesn't ever judge us or abandon us. RatherGod chooses to reside ever-present within our hearts as the silentwitness of our actions, emotions, and thoughts, observing us in ourgood times, and at our very cruelest and most selfish times. Yet,even more so than the most loving parent we could ever imagine, Godnever gives up on us. Instead, He waits patiently and lovingly, ourTrue Friend, yearning for us to come to the realization that we arenever alone. He waits for us to quiet our mind, to still ouruncontrolled desire

for selfish pursuits, and to turn to Him and Hisloving embrace.To know this Eternal Friend, we must cultivate love and devotion(bhakti), for this is all that God asks of us: that we make Him thepriority in our lives, and that we try to love our very Best Friendas He loves us. This friend has written us a letter of love calledthe Bhagavad Gita. Read Bhagavan's letter to you, love Him, and liveHis Dharma daily. Thus you will know more joy, more peace, morefulfillment, and more bliss than any human friend can ever give you.You will directly experience the love of Bhagavan.The Author:Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D. (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) has been apracticing American Hindu for over 30 years. He has a Ph.D. inReligious Studies and is recognized by the Hindu community as one ofthe leading Hindu Acharyas (Spiritual Preceptors) in the nation. Hehas lectured on Sanatana Dharma at such prestigious

institutions asHarvard University, Columbia, Rutgers, Cornell, Northwestern, as wellas for such companies as Ford Motor Corporation and LucentTechnology. He is the Founder and President of the InternationalSanatana Dharma Society. To contact Sri Acharya-ji, email him at:info.His primary websites are:http://www.dharmacentral.comdrmoraleslist/yoga-spirituality/http://www.drfrankmorales.sulekha.com/ TAD VISNOH PARAMAM PADAM (Rg Veda 1.22.20)

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