Expert: Imran R. - 1/16/2006

Question
What is a friend?


Answer
Dear Michelle,

Your question is curious and interesting.

'Friends' are many.  True friends are few.

Therefore let it be said that a true friend is one that will always be by your side, no matter what happens.

This one loves you unconditionally, and is not in a relationship with you for personal gain or to judge you, but rather to be with you, help you and strengthen you.
A true friend helps you become a better person.

So there are no conditions or strings attached.

A spiritual friend, with these qualities, is precious more so than gold.

No one is perfect, even true friends make their mistakes sometimes, which i am sure causes much pain and regret to her/him either immediately or later on.

But true friends are for ever, as they say. For even after death, somehow due to the law or recurrence they find each other once more, in the next life, remembering nothing of the previous life. Yet they are together once more.

Life is one eternal moment. So time in this sense does not exist. Birth and death fall into that same 'time-line'.
Appearing and disappearing, what is the difference - the moment is still the same one we are living now.  

We measure days, weeks, months and years because we have all lost our spiritual faculties, so we cannot see things as they really are.

The sun rises and sets each day, but when one understands 'now' is eternal, and does not really end, then we understand better how things tend to work life after life.

Best Wishes

Imran Rajan