Satsanga

OM Namah Sivaya
Blessed Self
At the morning satsang at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, we talked about the meaning of satsanga. Satsanga means "company of the wise," or "company with truth." Satsanga means tuning into a higher wavelength of thought. Continuous Satsanga means keeping yourself in such a place that the thought becomes real and making this thought your own. I opened at that moment, the book Bliss Divine, by Master Sivananda, to the line, "Do not be afraid of death." We are afraid of death all the time. Swami Sivananda said, "Do not be afraid of death, do not identify with this perishable body and mind." Because when you do so, you would function out of your separated self, and therefore will be afraid of death. When we are in the company of . Swami Sivananda's thoughts, this idea of being something more than our own body and mind reality seems to be real. This is the power of satsanga. Some one else's thought becomes your own. You can not create that thought from your own experience and you do not believe in a reality other than the one that your thoughts have collapsed onto. But by keeping yourself open to be influenced by a person of wisdom, you might be able to raise your self to a higher thought level that seems far fetched and eventually this thought starts to become reinforced in your mind and you open yourself to the new reality.

A thought is real when it is repeated. A thought opens us up to a reality either limited or unlimited. Being in constant satsanga, makes this expanded thought becomes reality and saves us from the limitations of our own minds that keep closing in, repeating patterns.

Satsanga means also sitting together. In the Ashrams or Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, we sit together constantly tuning into each others and to the Guru's wavelengths through daily meditation together, chanting together, working together and studying together. Satsanga is the underlying idea behind the workings of the ashram, that everyone tunes in to the same wavelength, the highest wavelength, that of the wise person. When one is open to this tuning, one will benefit from this collective thought alignement process and one's consciousness will be uplifted - almost literally, to the wavelengths of the Guru's thoughts. This is termed "paradigm shift," when one's thoughts change a level and the thoughts and emotions of the people connected to us change as well.

Thoughts are connected, realities are connected and seem real when many people share the same reality. This makes the thought seems strong and real and at the same time prevents us from changing our thinking. If we can be free from this influence, i.e. if our thought is strong enough to change wavelengths and not be manipulated or influenced by the environmental thought and by our own limited memories and patterns, the thought has a chance to lift up to another level of consciousness. That is why along with satsanga , one has to practice nisanga as well (no company). It is better to practice Satsanga than Kusanga (evil company, bad influences). Nisanga can only be practiced when one is strong , otherwise satsanga is the way.

The methods of Yoga, by helping us to strenghten the mind and the emotions, to become very focused and very detached, allow the highest reality to come in - a place of all possibilities. The mind needs to be strong. All Yoga methods help to make the mind strong and not distracted.

Quantum physics have found that things can exist simultaneously or even that one's conscious intention can change the past. This is the experience of "sidhis" of Yogis of lore, the psychic powers. The yogis can do this by going deep into themselves and be completely detached from outcomes, the "collapsing" of this story line or this mode of functioning, thus remaining in the infinite space of all possibilities.

Knowing that all possibilites are there at our beck and call doesn't mean that we would use it to create realities corresponding to our desires. Knowing this gives us tremendous peace and saves us from the heartaches of trying to mend realities in infinite unending possible scenarios, which we call "the ocean of samsara." Because we do not have this experience of self awareness, we are still in the illusion that something is there, outside of ourselves, for us to do and to experience. This creates our restlessness and constant involvements in the dramas of our lives.
Knowing the Truth will lead us to Freedom.

Being in constant satsanga and practicing Yoga is the tool to liberation i.e. being at the place where this and that possibility can or cannot happen but you are not worrying about it.

Satsanga thus is not a process of brainwash or slavery but a process of recollection of our true nature, it implies two things: One, that you are willing to align your thoughts with higher thought wavelength, and two, you are practicing yogic self discipline and change your consciousness from darkness to light i.e. from tamas to rajas to sattwa. It is not a process imposed from outside but a conscious choice from the individual wanting to be aware of him/herself. The Guru or liberated person doesn't need us, it is us that need to be on the same wavelength as the Guru.

During this Thanksgiving Holiday Program on "Changing Consciousness," we talked a lot about the merging of Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga, two processes apparently very different and yet are one.

One is to love God and love God alone, and one is to discard the unreal for the real, and going deeper and deeper in the depths of our consciousness to find the underlying truth. The result is the same, the disappearance of separateness and illusions. The week end was so beautiful with music, concerts, food, beautiful company, beautiful weather. We are looking forward to have satsanga with you again, and invite you to partake in this common thought wavelength, this feast of the spirits during the upcoming Holiday Retreat Dec.19-Jan.2, 2008!

viveka

OM
Blessed Self:
This is the summary of what we have talked a lot about today. Everyday of this vedanta course has brought us to a very deep level of realization and communication. There are things I never spoke about in other context, that I was able to bring out in this context. The students were receptive and thinking deeply, many things have been revealed about their own path, their wrong thinking and their obstacles.

We talked a lot about the necessity for aspirants to think properly about one's life and directions by questionning oneself (vichara) about what is atma (self) and non atma (not self). This is termed viveka - discrimination between the real and unreal.
To be able to recognize what is atma and non atma implied that we are already the atma.
That recognition or knowledge is not an inttelectual recognition or knowledge but a state of being.
Viveka is there with aspirants but it is not unbroken and it is faulty. Faulty and imperfect thinking about onself makes one makes mistake over and over again, taking the non atman for the atman, thus getting lost in illusions.
The truth will set one free, and the untruth can't be true, no matter what one would like to think about it.

The ego is the problem as it doesn't surrender to knowledge.
Self Surrender means renunciation of ego. One has to have something in order to surrender. One can not surrender something or renounce something that one doesn't have. That means that renunciation has to come with discrimination. This means that one has to have the firm conviction that what one renounces is for higher truth, a higher gain and one is not loosing something by renouncing. One has to know that one is free to do what one chooses, but it is better to follow that path that leads one higher. That decision has to be made out of strength and conviction but not out of fears or to please someone. In other words, you have to make your own decision about renouncing the ego for a higher realization. Not because you are running away from something. So if you are not keeping the renunciation, it is because the viveka or discrimination is broken. We forgot why we renounced at the first place, and we took back what we have renounced.

When the desire is there for external thing, and when the ego is still very unyielding, the relationship with Guru (teacher)wanes, and one thinks that one knows and are in control.
One forgets to self surrender or to surrender the ego. At that time one takes back what one has renounced, and gets back what one has known to be an imperfect strategy for growth. One forgets that this familiar strategy that one has devised for one's life didn't work and can not work. This egoistic pattern of action Can Not give what we really want, the immortality, the Atman, our own Self.

Relationship with Guru exists only as far as one is wanting to honor this self search, in otherwords as far as the desire for liberation is there. Relationship with Guru disappears the moment the desire for liberation is not there. At that time what one sees as one's Guru might appear only as a person, a friend, or merely an imperfect body.

The desire for liberation is not there when one doesn't perfect one self in the qualifications : viveka, vairagya, and shat sampat.

1. knowing what one is and what one is not
2. staying detached from one's desires for involvement in the unreal (out of forces of habits)
3. practicing contentment and tranquility knowing that the inner life is the only road to freedom.
4. practicing control of senses and turning inward, knowing that there is nothing really worth it outside.
5. bearing through the difficulties of spiritual life, and keep going - not giving up, nor drop off the high thinking.
6. and know with faith that it is leading one to a better life, that the truth exists, that one is on the right path, that the teacher is leading you to the right place. Also have faith that one can do it.
7. keep this practice of dwelling within and detachment to other things presented in our minds, in a constant manner so one doesn't get lost again and stay balanced in all situations.

Therefore one has to perfect oneself in those qualifications to be able to keep maintaining the connection with our own Atman - through the agency of seeing the Guru. If not you loose the perspective of all that is truly about and see only the limited , emotional or personal or physical nature of the Guru.

The relationship works both way. The Guru will not tell the students what to do. It has to be the students that by his own free will, and out of discrimination, that come to the teacher ansd ask for help. Doing service to Guru is a way to tune oneself to the Guru's wavelength, thus matching the ego with the Guru and self surrendering oneself through the process of selfless action or selfless service. It combines the Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, the Raja Yoga and the Jnana Yoga - discrimination, dispassion, shat sampat etc... together.

The Guru doesn't need the students, it is the student that needs the Guru. The Guru out of selfless love or compassion shares the knowledge and help the struggling students. He can not help the students against himself as the students need to realize that he/she needs help. Because no one can really eat for you if you are the one that is hungry. The teacher has to wait till the student is ready to give him knowledge. The student has to perfect his discrimination and his dispassion as well as his self control in order to receive the next help from teacher.

Om swami sita

vedanta

Nov.12, 2006

Om Namah sivaya
Blessed Immortal Atman
To all my contacts, students, friends, devotees,

This is the first time I am "blogging" (i.e. talking to the immortal self or God out there in the cyberspace!) . We just had 3 days of celebrations of Swami Vishnu-devanandaji Mahasamadhi at the ashram and that includes my mortal body birthday as well. Thoughts of him are very much within me as I just finished the lay out of the 2nd poem book named Smaranam, following Darshan.
It is a strange feeling to publish your poems, I have done it once, so now is the second one. .. the confirmation that your inside can be shared with all because the process you went through is a helpful process for everyone and basically is the same process. After all we are one!

Things are always bubbling within me and are welcomed as they are considered divine inspiration. Here a book not completely published yet, and now we are starting another one.
The typing up of Swami Vishnu-devanandaji instructions to staff from the old emails the time when Swamiji was alive and giving instructions to staff. These emails were in the attic of Swamiji house, unique testimony to a time when he was teaching while administrating the day to day running of the organization. I even found a hand written letter of him to staff telling them that he will go on seclusion for 6 months and noone to know his whereabout!

Of course there is the 3rd book lining up as well, a more serious and dry book about Yoga Psychology and Jyotish counselling. This was my Jyotish thesis to be elaborated. My Jyotish teachers and friends said that such topic is unique and my knowledge of both worlds are helpful for both Yogis and Jyotishis.

The actual Vedanta course has 8 students , some of them have known me for 7 years or more.
The schedule is different than the normal ashram routine, as they have a lots of more time by themselves, they kept silence most of the time, and just have to talk with me in the context of studying scripture. It is such an inspiring venture that I wish I can do it more often. I believe that it will help many. My heart is aching thinking of all those that could not join the course for a reason or another. I visualize them being there and mentally send the energy of the course to them.

In December, we will have other opportunity to study together scripture, this time not in such intense and structured manner but in the form of swadhyaya, sitting together and going through scriptural teaching for 2-3 hours daily.

So much is there to learn and understood.

May the Guru bless us always with the desire for knowledge and the mean and the opportunity to do so.

We talked today about the tap where the knowledge will come from - that is called the Guru's grace -
May that tap be open, and may us be able to recognize the tap and enjoy the nectar bliss of spiritual truth in our own mind and heart.

Om swami sita