True Friend Is A Lamp
Dipam means a light, a lamp. Be a lamp unto yourself. those are the last words of Gautama the Buddha but they contain the whole message of all the masters. Listen, learn, watch, but always remember that each decision is your responsibility. Never shirk any responsibility. It is easier and more comfortable to throw the responsibility on others, but it is very costly, because in throwing the responsibility on others you are throwing opportunities for integration, for individuation.
'Be a light unto yourself' does not mean egoism, because when the light is there, there is no ego ever found. 'Be a light unto yourself' does not mean that you have to close yourself to existence and that you are not to learn from anywhere else. Learn from each and everything: from trees, from birds, animals, rivers, mountains. Learn from everywhere, keep yourself open to all the dimensions of life. Let existence pour its wisdom into you, from every nook and corner. But the final decision has to be yours; never allow anybody else to decide for you.
The people who want to decide for you are not your real friends. The real friends are those who will give their whole heart to you, who will make everything available to you, whatsoever they have known and learned, but who will also insist that you decide on your own. They will not help you to lean upon them.
In fact sometimes real friends look very hard because when you wanted to lean too much they simply denied you. When you wanted to just follow them, they didn't help; they wanted you to be on your own. But finally one comes to know that those were the people who really loved you. They gave all that they could but they never took away your basic right to decide, to choose, to be.
That is the message in this simple word 'dipam': be a light unto yourself.
JAI SAI RAM - BABA BLESS ALL THOSE WHO WOULD BE LIGHT UNTO THEMSELVES.