Who is a friend?

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

Questioner: To what extent is friendship important in life?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is friendship? What do you mean by friendship? You are lonely and you get somebody to cling to, and then the two of you hang out together, and you call this as ‘friendship’. What do you mean by ‘friendship’? What kind of friends do we have around us? When do we call somebody a friend?

We say, ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’, so that makes friendship a trade. ‘When I am in need, you help me and when you are in need, I help you, and then we are friends. Your views agree with mine, my views agree with yours and we are friends. I need to copy assignments and you are always there, then we are friends. In all my rubbish, the one who can partner me, he is my friend.’

In a lucky moment, aloneness happens to you and you are just sitting still with yourself, fully contented, not excited, not sad, but completely with yourself. You are sitting still, and the other fellow comes and says, ‘Hey, you are sitting quietly. Are you sad? Come, let’s go for a drink.’ And you call him your friend. You call him your ‘friend’.

(Some listeners sitting in the audience start whispering to each other)