Renounce Bad Company Above All
Narada warns that nothing harms devotion more than the company of the worldly, the cynical, and those who scorn the Divine.
The aspirant should by all means give up bad company, Narada urges, for it is the cause of lust, anger, delusion, loss of memory, loss of discrimination, and total ruin (Narada Bhakti Sutra 43-44, echoing the Gita). Just as holy company kindles love, base company quenches it, dragging the heart back into the very attachments and doubts the devotee seeks to transcend. This counsel is not contempt for people but realism about influence: the unsteady aspirant is shaped by surroundings before being able to shape them. Narada therefore makes the avoidance of corrupting company a first and essential discipline. Guard the tender flame of love from the winds that would extinguish it.
Above all, evil company should be shunned, for it is the root of every downfall.
The warning mirrors the Psalmist's praise of the one who 'walks not in the counsel of the wicked' and the New Testament caution that 'bad company corrupts good character,' a near-universal moral insight about the power of social influence.
Narada Bhakti Sutras