The darshan of the noble souls like mahatmas itself will bring great transformation. The story of Satyatapa is the best example. The word "Satyatapa" is a title. At the very beginning, he actually was a big robber on the roads. He would wait at the roads that lead to forests to kill the people and rob them of money.
One day, when he was wandering about in the forest, he saw a sage named "Aruni" who was engaged in penance. In anticipation of some money from him, he jumped onto him, shouting aloud. Sage Aruni opened his eyes once and continued with his deep unperturbed penance. Satyatapa became surprised. Even without his knowledge, his mind got transformed. He prostrated to the sage and said, "O sage! So far, I have wounded several people and killed several others. But, I have so far not seen a courageous person like you. As soon as I have seen you, I felt that there was some transformation within my mind. I will not commit sins any further. Kindly tell me the way for my betterment." The sage however left the place even without uttering a single word. The robber prayed very earnestly and followed the sage everywhere he went.
One day, when the sage was going somewhere, suddenly a lion came from somewhere and tried to jump onto him. Meanwhile, the robber dashed onto the lion, fought with it and finally killed it. The sage became happy for protecting his life and said, "My son! From today onwards, utter only truth. Do not ever eat the leaves of Sakata tree. This is the upadesha (initiation) that I am giving you." He became very happy for this and after taking Guru's permission, started penance in the forest. Very strangely, he could only find the Sakata trees everywhere around. He never saw so many of them before. Abiding by Guru's order, he continued his penance without consuming any food.
One day, Sage Durvasa while searching for food came to the hermitage of Satyatapa. He prayed Shiva and immediately a tray appeared along with all the necessary ingredients. Durvasa happily said, "Your devotion towards Guru is amazing. You are doing penance by sticking to truth. That is why, from today onwards your name will become "Satyatapa". After few days, when Satyatapa was cutting the wood for worship, his hand got chopped off because of the sharp edge of knife that passed his finger. However, with the power of his penance, his chopped off finger got reattached to his finger tip. Some celestial beings (Kinnera) observed this strange sight and told about this to Indra. In order to test him, Vishnu came in disguise as wild boar and Indra as a hunter. They came to the place where Satyatapa was doing penance. They enacted thus - The boar ran away out of fear when the hunter was following it. It then reached the hermitage of Satyatapa. The hunter came there immediately and asked him where the boar had gone. This was a tricky question for him because if he tells the truth, the life of the boar will be in danger. If he lies, he will become the one to has disobeyed Guru's words. Meanwhile, Satyatapa unknowingly said these words - "O revered one! The eye has seen the boar. The eye that sees cannot talk. Whereas the mouth that talks cannot see. How can the mouth say that it had seen something when it actually cannot?" Vishnu and Indra gave the darshan in their real forms after seeing his interest towards truth and helpfulness.
Such is the power of the friendship of the pious. With the mere darshan of the sage, a wicked person got transformed into a saint. That is why, we must always strive for the friendship of the pious and noble souls. If one has the grace of Sadguru, one will certainly be blessed with the energy to adhere to truth despite any hostile circumstances. It comes automatically. This story teaches a lot.
Jai Sri Ram! Jai Sri Ram!