Adi Shankaracharya described Sangat as the main force for living a spiritual life.
Sangat is the company of people you live with. Living in the company of good people makes one good and the reverse is also true.
The same is now being proved in the allopathic context. A new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown that when one person quits smoking, than others are likely to follow. One person quitting can cause a ripple effect, making others more likely to kick the habit.
- If your spouse stops smoking, you’re 67 percent less likely to continue smoking.
- If your friend kicks the habit, it’s about 36 percent less likely that you’ll be smoking.
- When a sibling gives up cigarettes, your risk of smoking decreases by 25 percent.
- Your risk of smoking drops by 34 percent if a co–worker in a small office quits smoking. It’s sort of like watching dominoes. If one falls, it very quickly causes others to fall.
We should treat people in groups, rather than as individuals. Friends and family need to be involved. If you want to quit, try to get close friends and family to quit as well.
Quitting smoking may have the side benefit of improving social well–being, just as it improves physical health.
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