The right company for the mind

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant (AP): Being in the right environment itself is Satsang. Satsang does not necessarily mean a gathering. Satsang means realizing what affects the mind and acting accordingly. Give the mind the right food, give the mind the right companions. The right companions of all kinds: right books, right food in the physical form, right sleep, right activities, right exercise, right internet, right people, the right city, right locality, right house, right husband, right lover; that is Satsang.

Questioner (Q): How we can define right?

AP: That which does not unsettle the mind. That which does not load the mind with more and more ideologies, thoughts, opinions.

What did the question begin with? Is boredom contagious? So, what is then the definition of the right environment?

An environment that is not eager to load you with stuff.

That is the only definition of the right companion.

That is also the definition of the right friend, or the right husband or wife, or the right acquaintance. Someone who is not very eager to wash his dirty linen upon you. Someone whose presence in your life does not make you unsettled, because our nature is to remain settled…