The Three Friends of Man
by Swami Adiswarananda 21.05.2006, changed 31.05.2006

Feedback

Tell a friend

Print

In a small village there lived a pious man, virtuous and honest. One day he received a summons from the king to appear before him for judgement. The king was known for his eccentricity, unpredictability, and cruelty. The pious man became very much disturbed and afraid. He had never done anything wrong or unjust, so how could he receive a summons like this, he wondered.

The pious man had three friends: his best friend, his next best friend, and his least intimate friend. He went to his best friend, explained his fear and distress to him, and asked him to come with him to the king's court. His best friend, standing inside the front door of his house, heard the whole matter and said: "I am afraid I cannot accompany you to the king's court. I can only say good luck to you, my friend," and he closed the door in his friend's face. The pious man became terribly disappointed to realize that one whom he had always regarded as his best friend would desert him and leave him out in the cold.

He then went to see his next best friend, told him the whole problem, and made the same request of him. This friend said: "I know you to be a good man and I could never imagine your doing anything wrong. I'll accompany you up to the palace gate, but I do not intend to enter the palace and stand before the king, because he is unpredictable and eccentric and may decide to put me in jail along with you." The pious man became disappointed for the second time.

Sad at heart and disillusioned about human goodness, he went to his least intimate friend, from whom he never expected any help. When this third friend heard of his problem, he said to him: "I do know you to be an honest man and also I am certain that you are incapable of doing anything wrong. Don't worry, my friend, but go home and come leisurely to the court of the king. I am going ahead to testify to the king about your honesty and goodness." The pious man was greatly surprised at this pledge of support from a friend to whom he had never paid much attention.

The pious man in the story represents a human individual in distress, the king, death and the summons, the call of death. The palace gate stands for the graveyard. The "best friend" represents money and possessions, which say goodbye to person at death and never come out of his house to accompany him. The "next best friend" represents relatives and friends, who accompany him only up to the graveyard and then leave his dead body there. The "least intimate friend," to whom he never paid much attention, is the memory of his good deeds, performed with selflessness for the benefit of others. The memory of his good deeds becomes his sole support in his fearful, solitary journey hereafter. Such a memory is his only true and trusted friend. The Bhagavad Gita (II.40) solemnly declares this fact and says: "in this [selfless action] no effort is ever lost and no harm is ever done. Even very little of this dharma [selfless action] saves a man from the Great Fear." The memory of a good deed is like the messenger of Truth that escorts the soul to the realm of Truth.

[Editor's Note: This material is from Ramakrishna.Org and is republished here with permission of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York.]