How to be a Friend

SLOKA OF THE WEEK:

Upadesamrta, Text Four
daditi pratigrhnati
guhyam akhyati prcchati
bhunkte bhojayate caiva
sad-vidham priti-laksanam

TRANSLATION

Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one's mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasada and offering prasada are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.

JOURNAL:

Every morning my mind wanders during the first round of japa. This morning it landed first on the thought of friends I had to touch base with. Next it went to this blog and how I didn't want to do the reading involved with the next chapter of "Teachings of Queen Kunti". Then the above sloka came to mind, I decided to write on it and things quieted down up there so I could concentrate on the names of Krishna.

After my japa, while looking for a picture to use here, I ran across the above photo on my "local temple's" web site (http://www.iskconportland.com/iskconpdx/chant.php ). I knew then that this was the topic I was suppose to write about. You see, the photo not only shows a devotee smiling and reaching out to his friend but, in the foreground on mrdanga, is my friend that I met on sankirtan.

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With the rule of thumb; if it's good for a devotee, it's good for the rest of the humans, the above sloka shows us the steps to being the best of friends.

1) Give and accept gifts that mean something. If you find someone you want to be friends with look for a small need they might have and try to fill it.

2) Share your problems and success's with each other. Remember, this is step two, not step one.

3) Feed each other! Inviting someone over to your home for dinner is a sign of friendship that shows your desire to be transparent with your friend at an intimate level.

When I first met the mrdanga player in the photo there were two devotees and myself standing on a busy downtown street corner. I had come for sankirtan and they were thinking that they should sell books instead. Then this devotee came walking up with with his drum and it was decided in favor of sankirtan. Happy, I asked him if he minded me playing a shaker with him since no one else had brought an instrument. He said it would be great and thanked me for joining them.

When we took a short break he asked me how far I lived from the temple and, when I told him, he sympathized. When we finished up he invited me to dinner at the temple and I gave a donation and thanked them all for a great evening.

And that's how it worked for me. I don't remember the devotee's name but I will always think of him as my friend.

All glories to the devotees! Hari Bol!