True Friend & Supreme Duty!

Maharaj Yudhisthira asked: Pls tell me about the nature of true friendship. It seems to be exceedingly rare that a friend is found who listens to good advice, and who always endeavours for one’s benefit. If such a true friend is acquired, I feel that he is more valuable than fabulous wealth & numerous relatives

Bhisma replied: The following persons are unfit for being accepted as friends-one who is addicted to sinful life, one who is a slave of lust, one that denies the existence of God & one that has fallen from the duties of his social order. Also, those who are envious, idle, without compassion, crooked, suspicious, dishonest & untruthful are unfit to be accepted as true friends. All of these persons are ungrateful & so they ultimately become injurers of their friends. There are means of atonement for all kinds of sins, including the killing of a brahmana, but there is no expiation for an ungrateful person

Yudhisthira asked: Pls describe the supreme duty in life & the results that are obtained by its performance

Bhisma said: Religious duties are innumerable & diverse & the correct performance of any one of them can never prove to be futile. Still, dedication to the path of self-realization is the supreme religious duty that stands above all others. If one thinks, deeply, he can understand that the things of this world are temporary & thus have no inherent value. This realization automatically results in gradual detachment from all desires for material enjoyment. When one comes to the stage of comprehending the basic defect of material existence, he should strive for self-realization & liberation from material bondage

Sri Krsna says in Gita:

jñāna-vijñāna-tṛptātmā kūṭa-stho vijitendriyaḥ
yukta ity ucyate yogī sama-loṣṭrāśma-kāñcanaḥ

A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogī [or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything – whether it be pebbles, stones or gold – as the same.

Bhagavad-gītā is the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. No one can become Kṛṣṇa conscious simply by mundane scholarship. One must be fortunate enough to associate with a person who is in pure consciousness. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has realized knowledge, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, because he is satisfied with pure devotional service

By realized knowledge, one becomes perfect. By transcendental knowledge one can remain steady in his convictions, but by mere academic knowledge one can be easily deluded and confused by apparent contradictions. It is the realized soul who is actually self-controlled, because he is surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. He is transcendental because he has nothing to do with mundane scholarship. For him mundane scholarship and mental speculation, which may be as good as gold to others, are of no greater value than pebbles or stones

Thoughts? #gameoflife