Our company also affects our fate
A man is known by the company he keeps. In the company of good people we become good and in the company of bad ones, we become bad. The company of drunkards makes us drunkards; the company of gamblers makes us gamblers; the company of thieves makes us thieves. Besides, it also affects our fate. To illustrate the point, we may recall the happenings at the time of Guru Nanak.
Guru Nanak and Mardana once came to a town and stayed in a small hut outside it. Mardana would play upon the rabab and sing while Guruji used to utter the holy verses. In the same town lived a man, who would serve the holy men visiting the town and enjoy their company. When he came to know that a Mahatma was staying in the hut, he came to see him. He enjoyed the holy music and was much delighted. He decided to come every day to hear the holy singing.
This man was a Kshatriya by caste. He had a neighbour who was a shopkeeper. When the shopkeeper came to know that his neighbour enjoyed the holy singing and the company of Guru Nanak every day, he too wished to be taken along.
One day the two set out together. At a little distance from the town the path led to a locality where some prostitutes lived. The shopkeeper changed his mind and went to the place where these evil persons lived. The Kshatriya, however came to the Guru’s cottage. Likewise many a times they came together but the mind of the shopkeeper compelled him to go to the bad company only. But one day they planned to return together. They agreed that whosoever comes first shall wait for the other at the cross-roads
.
On that day the shopkeeper arrived first at the waiting place. He sat down and began to scratch the ground with a stick. Suddenly he saw a gold coin in the dust. He dug further and found a pitcher full of cinders lying there.
In the meantime the Kshatriya too came there limping as a thorn had pierced his sole. The shopkeeper laughed heartily and said, “I do evil deeds and yet receive a gold coin, while your good company brings you nothing better than a thorn in the foot. Let us enquire from your Guruji why it has been so?”
They both came to Guru Nanak and narrated to him all that had happened. Guruji told the shopkeeper, “My friend, you once gave a gold coin in charity, which multiplied into a pitcher full of gold coins. But with your every evil deed, the cold coins got burnt and truned into cinders, till only one was left, the one which you actually gave and now you have received it back. Likewise the earlier deeds of the Kshatriya were so sinful, that he deserved to be hanged. He, however, sat in a good company and remembered God. As a result his punishment of hanging was gradually reduced to a mere thorn-prick.”
The shopkeeper was sorry for having lost so many gold coins and decided to chage his way of life.