________________
Mahavira & Meditation / 119
10. Company of the Virtuous
Company of the virtuous promotes progressively scriptural study.
Company of the virtuous promotes higher knowledge. Company of the virtuous promotes self-restraint. Company of the virtuous promotes detachment. Company of the virtuous promotes emancipation. A person in solitude is subject to all kinds of doubts and uncertainties at every moment.
Just as water loses its inherent nature in contact with fire so also the pious abandon their virtues when they associate themselves with the wicked.
Company of the pious enhances one's wisdom. Company of the wicked distorts one's understanding. Knowing righteousness and non-violence in its entirety the equanimous and restrained aspirant should always seek the company of the wise.
The reputation of a noble person gets tarnished in the company of wicked people just as a fragrant garland becomes worthless when offered to a dead body.
