Company to shun and Company to keep!

In the Mahabharata[Shantiparva], Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas asks Bheeshma, the sage-warrior and family elder, “O enlightened elder, I wish to know what type of person must one serve?  Even though there may be any number of relatives and friends, it is well to know whose company is desirable and whose is not.  Please enumerate the qualities of the desirable company and the undesirable company.” 

Being addressed thus, the great sage warrior, Bheeshma tells Yudhisthira, “ O Dharmaraja, as requested by you, I shall enumerate the qualities of bad company and also that of good company  Please listen.

One must not keep the company of one who is greedy, cruel, who has shunned Dharma, who is a cheater, who is wicked, ignorant, sinful and suspicious of everyone, lazy, and not deft in doing work, undisciplined, he who is angered easily, who is blamed, who has amorous thoughts about his teacher’s wife and who abandons one in times of need.  One must not keep the company of one who always wishes ill in his mind, who is shameless, who looks to sin in every action, who is an atheist and decries the spiritual texts.  One must shun the company of one who cannot control his senses, of one who is avid in sexual interests, whose behaviour lacks culture. 

One must not keep the company of one who hates the world, who is not principled, who tells tales, and who is uneducated in matters of knowledge and truth.  One must shun the company of those who are jealous, of one who is decidedly wicked, of bad character, impure and of low speech.  One should not keep the company of those who gamble, one who betrays a friend, one who aspires for another’s wealth and of one who is dissatisfied with the gift given by a friend to the best of his ability to give. 

One must abandon the company of one who has no love for a friend, who always works for money alone, and who exhibits disproportionate anger in inappropriate places, of one who makes friendships purely for gain, of one who abandons you suddenly, and abandons a noble friend abruptly, of one who never remembers the good done by a friend while exaggerating the slightest offence made by him.  One must not keep the company of one who is friendly on the outside and inimical on the inside, of one who pretends to be a friend and yet turns out to be an enemy, of one who sees everything in a perverse manner, and with extreme intelligence always sees something devious. 

One must shun the company of one who is intolerant of the well being of his own people and others, of one who is a drunkard, of one who is hateful, of one who is angered easily and has no compassion, of one whose nature is to torment others; and one must decidedly shun the company of a traitor, of one who is enthusiastic about killing animals and who is ungrateful.

O Yudhisthira, now I will tell you the qualities of the company one must keep.  One must keep the company of one who is friendly, who is adept in speech, of one who is knowledgeable.  One may keep the company of one who is good looking, of good character, who is not greedy, who works hard and endures, who is established in truth, who has conquered his senses and who has many good friends.  One must keep the company of those who have many good friends, who strive, endeavour and exercise their body and mind, who work for the well being of their family, who care for their servants like their children, who are not blamed and who are famous. 

One may also keep the company of those who do not work in excess of their capacities, who are happy with the good received from others and who do not anger or sorrow without proper reason.  One may keep the company of those who are adept in gaining and managing wealth in a proper manner, and of one who is not disturbed even if others wrong him and of one who doesn’t give up a friend’s duty in spite of great hardship. The friendship of one is desirable who doesn’t abandon a poor man in spite of being angered by him excessively, of one who is not greedy after money or infatuated by women, who is trustworthy, who care about their relatives, who view both mud and gold equally, who are firm in their friendships and devoid of ego. 

The company of such people is desirable who do not show off their knowledge, are peaceful in nature, treat everyone with respect and those who are faithful in their duties to their masters.  A king who keeps such company will be successful and his kingdom will expand graciously.  Summarising, one must keep the company of the high born and noble people of good character.  Of the many negatives that are listed earlier, know that the ungrateful and traitors are the worst of the lot and must be shunned at all times.”