Inner Friendship For Hindus

Inner friendship is about receiving wise guidance from your inner voices that know better than you do how you should respond in your circumstances to be happy.   You experience the source of your inner voices, hunches, thoughts or feelings as a person who becomes your inner friend.

    For a Hindu, you have many possibilities for an inner friend.  Your inner friend is a god or spirit that is real to you and in whom you trust.  You have many to choose from in Hinduism, but usually one stands out as especially close to you.  This is your inner friend.

    Hinduism is a rich, beautiful, ancient, wise religion with many gods.  One of those gods represents all that is precious to you, and is your inner friend.   Now the question is, how can you communicate with your inner friend, so you can receive wise guidance in how to live successfully?

    The answer is to develop you inner friendship.  Suppose your inner friend is Krishna.  The Bhagavad Gita describes how to understand the teachings of and how to relate to Krishna.

I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear.  But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them.  Gita 9: 29

It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another.  Nothing is ever lost in following one's own dharma, but competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.  Gita 3: 35

Just as fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscured by dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb, knowledge is hidden by selfish desire-hidden, Arjuna, by this unquenchable fire for self-satisfaction, the inveterate enemy of the wise.   Gita 3: 38-39

When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.  Gita 6: 32

He alone sees truly who sees the Lord the same in every creature, who sees the Deathless in the hearts of all that die.  Seeing the same Lord everywhere, he does not harm himself or others.  Thus he attains the supreme goal.  Gita 13: 27-28

That one I love who is incapable of ill will, who is friendly and compassionate.  Living beyond the reach of I and mine and of pleasure and pain, patient, contented self-controlled, firm in faith, with all his heart and all his mind given to me - with such a one I am in love.  Gita 12: 13-14

He is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen.  Gita 12: 17 

That devotee who looks upon friend and foe with equal regard, who is not bouyed up by praise nor cast down by blame, alike in heat and cold, pleasure and pain, free from selfish attachments, the same in honor and dishonor, quiet, ever full, in harmony everywhere, firm in faith- such a one is dear to me.  Gita 13: 18-19

When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.      Gita 6: 32

And from the Upanishads:

O Lord of Love, may I enter into you,

And may you reveal yourself unto me,

The pure One masquerading as many.

I am your devotee.  Make me your own.

Taittirya Upanishad 4: 3

The Lord is enshrined in the hearts of all.

The Lord is the supreme Reality.

Rejoice in him through renunciation.

Cover nothing.  All belongs to the Lord.

Thus working you may live a hundred years.

Thus alone will you work in real freedom.

                  The Isha Upanishad 1-2

Those who act without thought of personal

Profit and lead a well-disciplined life

Discover in course of time the divine principle

That all forms of life are one.

Those who work in the service of the Lord

Are freed from the law of karma.

                  The Shvetashvatara Upanishad VI 3-4

    And finally about Krishna from the Gita:

All men approach me, so I receive them.  All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.  Gita 4: 11

I look upon all creatures equally; none are less dear to me and none more dear.  But those who worship me with love live in me, and I come to life in them.  Gita 9: 29

Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice.  Better than knowledge is meditation.  But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace.  Gita 12: 12

He is dear to me who runs not after the pleasant or away from the painful, grieves not, lusts not, but lets things come and go as they happen.  Gita 12: 17

    How do you begin an inner friendship with a friendly god through the power of prayer or meditation?  It is easy, just begin.  Just pray, or meditate.  

    The first step is to quietly pray or meditate to open the door to communication.  Your inner friend is always listening.  You do not have to be loud or wordy.  Just let your inner friend know you are now reaching out.  You can pray out loud or silently in your head.  “Hello.  It’s me.  I don’t know what I am supposed to do, but here I am.”  Your inner friend is waiting for you and will be glad you opened the door.  To begin … just pray or meditate.  Then follow the nine steps to a mature inner friendship described in Inner Friendship For Everyone.

Request For Articles

    This article has been prepared for this web site, www.innerfriendship.com by the author of the site.  It is only one point of view.  If you have an experience with inner guidance through prayer or meditation in your walk with Hinduism, and would share it with others, how you did it and how it worked out, please write a brief article about it and email it to contact@innerfriendship.com.  It will be reviewed and some of the articles will be added to the Hindu page on the web site.  We cannot put them all on at once, but we may rotate them.  Include your name, city, state and temple affiliation if you want.  Also include your written permission to publish your article on the site.  Any suggestions for the web site or improving the ebook for the next edition will also be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jonathan Burch