Dinesh and Bawa

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Monday, May 19, 2008

Make new Friends...


A comment someone left:

This is in response to the question asked "Q: I go to college. Guru Ji says, make one friend everyday. How?"

Guruji's advice about making a new friend every day can be counterproductive. It must be stated with some caveats.

There are lot of unspiritual people in this world. If you make friends with such people, they will drag you down into drinking, teasing, smoking, sex, etc.

What is the underlying desire in making a new friend? We must be friends only with those who fulfill our ultimate spiritual goals (Satsang). Lot of people spend time chatting away with so-called friends about silly things [I am like this, you are like that]. Real friends are those who teach you good things, who have good character.

If you exist in a state of silence, you will automatically discover the people you need to make friends with - those who match your spiritual desires.


Our Response to it:

Make new friends... no caveats... if they are "unspiritual", make them spiritual!!

Along with being spiritual, you also need to really strong, then the environment you are in doesn't make any difference to you, but you do have a super impact on the environment!!

Of course, there are few people who will simply not learn, or refuse to learn, we keep our distance from them, but always have our doors open, in case they wish for Knowledge...


 

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its Buddha Purnima today : the day that Prince Gautama became the Buddha, the Enlightened One .. a very nice story from more than 2500
years ago, being enacted again since more than 25 years ago ..

Uday Sanganeria said...

i totally agree. infact the only reason i keep on making friends is to get them into spirituality. everyone eventually comes here only, expecting a few unlucky ones. recently i have noticed that people have become more open to spirituality. people dont run away from it. they might not be into it but they also are not against it anymore. times are changing.

jgd :)

Anonymous said...

oops sorry, errors in my earlier comment .. wasn't he still called Siddharth during all those decades of his quest, and ofcourse he'd given up being a Prince decades before ..

Anonymous said...

Hi bau

I am 26 years old working in a BPO. I used to be too stiff in expressing myself. Now it has reached such a point that it has become my nature not to express my sadness, anger, happiness etc. Recently i lost my grandfather. Although I loved him so much but I did not express my feelings to the outer world. I know that I need to change but this habit of getting away with the situation by not showing my feelings is worrying me slightly. Pls help

Thanks bau
love you

Anonymous said...

I see you have given prominent coverage to the comment I left :-)

I follow the path of Sri Aurobindo/Jiddu Krishnamurti. I believe Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a genuine Guru (unlike that hugging saint Amritanandamayi Ma) and occasionally follow his activities through the web. I have never attended Art of Living courses.

When Sri Sri made the comment "make new friends", the context was his observation that people stick together in cliques in schools and colleges.

Normally, our friendships work like this - "We hang out every weekend
at some cafe. We like to chat and relax. We share our little joys
and fears. (I am getting promoted. You are getting married) We like
to watch movies. I helped you so now you must help me. We belong to the same caste, religion, etc". These friendships are of a "vital" nature and not spiritual nature. I use the word "vital" in the sense Sri Aurobindo uses it in his works.

I think what Sri Sri was trying to say is that this *BASIS* for
friendship has to change. We must be open to new influences and accept people without prejudice. But we cannot reduce his comment to a rule like "Make a new friend every day". Rules are dangerous because people stop thinking on their own and become habituated to *OBEYING* the Guru/Messiah. That is why we have so much violence in the world in the name of religion.

During the course of my Sadhana, I had to disassociate with many
people who were friends in college or in my profession. My mind
wanted to abide in a supreme state of Silence and I really could not
waste my energy in listening to the chit-chat of my so-called friends.

As we progress on the spiritual path, we start making new friends.
My friends today don't need daily contact. If I call on them
after a few months or years, they are still willing to accept me as a friend.

So, As Sri Sri said, I did make new friends, but I also dropped
old friends who were a burden on my spiritual development.

Anonymous said...

Here is a poem for you Bawa:-)

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
and the other gold!

New or Old, friends should not drain you off your energy. Even old friends in the process of bringing them to the path if there is too much of resentment, I either maintain a distance or don't broach the topic again/for some time.

Anupam Gupta said...

EXACTLY BAU!!!!i totally agree....

gud response

Anonymous said...

Jai Gurudev Bawa :)
I just wanted a small change in the blog..the intro part doesn't fill in the box and so if u can change its font :) And please write more about knowledge and your's and dinesh bhaiya's experience with HIM!!
I have been viewing this blog 100 times a day...and seriously you should see my reaction whenever a new post comes in!Hee hee...
Loved ur show on ETV!

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