Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 05.01.2018 morning, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Friday)

You know, a good friend, a real friend is your second self. But how to find that in spiritual life? To have a second self, what it is called in psychology? Alter ego, schizophrenia? It’s got different names, but that‘s like a break, like a fisher in our consciousness, in our identity. Is this your friend!? Usually such а second identity is your enemy. And the big problem comes when your weaker ego and your false ego are fighting with each other. Where is your real identity then?

But anyway, how can you find this real friend? Who is your second self? First, you have to become yourself. And then if you know yourself, you will also be able to recognize the other on a spiritual basis.

And a bad friend is just like your shadow – always following you, as long as there is sunshine. If there is no sunshine, he will not follow you. Do you need such friends? Better we have real friends, who are our second self.

Friendship also means sharing of possessions and principles, ideals. Oh, what a quality understanding of friendship! It’s not that we drink together. We share the same principles and we share what we have. Such a high relationship!

So, friendship is like an attitude. It’s not a feeling, because feelings are coming and going; it’s a vision: I have a friendly disposition to life. What is the advice in the Gita: “Make your mind your friend, not your enemy.”[1] So, to establish friendship – it’s like a practice. And when your mind becomes your second self, that means he is your friend already. The key here is control; if your mind is controlled, he is a good friend; otherwise he might be an enemy.

And you know, proverbs concerning friendship also appear again and again. I heard a new German proverb concerning the Hungarians, which is not very favourable, but we have to give a second thought to that: “If you have a Hungarian friend, you don’t need enemies”. When I first heard it, I was a little offended. Do we need to have such a vision? Better turn it the other way round: if you have a Hungarian enemy, you don’t need friends. Because a good enemy is a treasure. You cannot really have a debate or a real elevated fight with a low character. Because if the other person is a knight, you are also forced to be and act as a knight. You cannot act as an assassin. So, a good enemy is very precious. Therefore we like our mind so much because it’s a good enemy. Coming always with some new ideas.

Baladev: There is another proverb: “From my enemies I will protect myself on my own, but God, please, save me from my friends!”

Swami Tirtha: Yes, correct – whether they are Hungarians or not.

(to be continued)

[1] Bhagavad Gita 6.5