How should we choose our friends? Bhagawan gives all of us an important instruction today.

There is no harm in taking time to enquire whether the person with whom you want to have friendship with is good or bad. When you have a high status and a good position in society, everyone will run after you, saying, ‘Hello, hello’! But when you lose your position and fall on bad days, everyone will run away from you. This is not true friendship. What is true friendship? A true friend is one who will follow you like a shadow in times of both pleasure and pain, profit and loss. When the tank is full of water, thousands of frogs will come into it. But when the tank becomes dry, not even a single frog will be seen there. Similarly, when you have a good position and a high rank, everyone will follow you. But you will find none in your times of difficulty. Such friendship is not true friendship. Have friendship with only such persons with proper discrimination. Don’t make friends with everybody who says ‘hello, hello’ to you. This is a great mistake. You should know the background, habits, behaviour, discipline, and other qualities of the person with whom you want to have friendship. You should also try to know with whom they associate and what type of company they keep.