Friendship Day! No one in the world says they never had any friends. But who truly is a friend? Whatever we celebrate in this world carries great importance in one way or another. What does it mean to be a friend? How do you define a friend? A true friend is one who helps in times of need. As soon as the word “truth” appears, the concept of “absolute truth” also emerges, and with it, the definition of a friend also changes. Then he no longer remains just a friend; he becomes a ‘mitra,’ a true soulful friend. What is the difference between a ‘friend’ and ‘a true soulful friend’? The first word is given by the world, and its meaning is worldly too. The other word has a spiritual meaning, which is given by a spiritually awakened person, in other words, one who has experienced the truth. ‘Mitra,’ a true friend, is someone who has erased your sense of ‘I’ (ego) and your ‘me’ and liberated it. Look at the word itself; it has ‘mi’ and ‘tra.’ Thus, the one who liberates the ‘me’ is a true friend. If friendship is based on demands, then that person is not a true friend. Who is a true friend? All those who accompanied the spiritually enlightened ones were their true friends. True friends are rarely born in this world. Hanuman Ji became a true friend to Lord Ram. As the saying goes, “Guru is your mother, father, brother, and a true friend.” He was both a guru and a true friend. Arjuna became friends with Shri Krishna; the relationship Shri Krishna shared with Arjuna was true friendship. For Meerabai, Saint Ravidas was her true friend, and for Vivekananda, Ramkrishna Paramhansa was his true friend. That happens only in divinity and comes only from the Truth. What is God? It is the ultimate evolution of your consciousness! The day you become a true friend, you become God. In other words, your mortal body needs a friend, but the consciousness within needs a ‘mitra,’ a true friend. And when a true friend is found, a friendship arises. What is friendship? When you love everyone. This is why it is said to seek true friends. When a true friend is found, he transforms friendship into true companionship. A friend must become a true companion, but how? When you find a friend who is free from the sense of ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’, he will lead you to true friendship. He will become your true friend; therefore, you can only find your true friend through the Divine, and not in this mortal world.
On this International Friendship Day, you have to transform your friendship into true companionship. One can obtain the company of a true friend after many lifetimes. And when you find the company of a true and soulful companion, then old friends start drifting away. Then you will no longer say, “This is my best friend.” A best friend disappears, and then he sees only the One in everything. So today, if you let go of that inner friend and make space for a true companion within, then it will bring a revolution in your life. That will be a true Friendship Day. Because I woke up today, the whole world seems like a friend to me; now the entire world is my friend. “No friendship and enmity with anyone”—the game is over. Casual friends are merely an illusion, but a true friend is divine. I hope you are all friends in some way, that you will move from casual friendship to a true spiritual friendship, and that you will seek a friend who brings out those qualities within you. Becoming a true spiritual friend is liberation.
Today is International Friendship Day, so make a strong resolve to become a true spiritual friend, a ‘mitra.’ If you die being a casual friend, you will keep coming back to the cycle of birth and death. If you die as a true spiritual friend, you will attain liberation, and life will be truly successful.
MAAsterG’s invaluable and transcendental wisdom is available free of charge on his YouTube channel, ‘MAAsterG’ and ‘GOD HOME JOURNEY’. MAAsterG guarantees that merely by listening to 3 to 30 of his lectures, you will witness a tangible transformation in your own life. |
