HARMONISING ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE
Part 2. SATSANG
I am just returning back home, from a spiritual pilgrimage to Tamil Nadu, Tiruvannamalai, a sacred and a Holy mountain Arunachala, one of the five main Shiva places in India. The mountain is regarded as a physical embodiment of Lord Shiva. The Eternal Ocean of Grace, as referred to, by Sri Ramana Maharshi, an Indian sage, who reviled the direct part of Self inquiry and awakened the mankind to the immense spiritual power of Holy Arunachala Hill, the spiritual Heart of the World.
Being within the close proximity from the mountain, one retains spiritual vitamins that you can only obtain in the close distance from an awakened being. Not many people are using these rarest and purest vibrations to go deeper and obtain immortality. There are those who are just passing through, sightseeing, conducting so called spiritual rituals, as part of their daily routine. Yes, many have stayed and look for themselves and I can assure you, that the most important ingredient is, still, after hundreds of years, is immersing oneself in SATSANG. What is Satsang? In Sanskrit: “the company of the Truth”, is an audience with Satguru for the purpose of a spiritual or yogic instruction. The “Sangha” is the gathering of the spiritual people, who are performing the good service or devotional activities.
Let’s talk about what happens in SATSANG. Blessed are those, who are in this lifetime are called to experience SATSANG. OM NAMAH SHIVAYA.
Despite many difficulties and seeming obstacles, everyone’s goal in life should be to reach the Truth. The mind is the only teacher and the enemy, understanding this, learning about the subtleties of how it works can lead oneself to a fast and a steady improvement on the path. This improvement will spread and grace all aspects of your worldly life, relationships, work etc, because the “I” is including everything, the Absolute Truth, unthatomaeble, ungraspable, the basis of all, from which the dynamic “I”, the way you are perceived in the world, the way you are unique in your own self, comes out and appears to be real. But it’s only a temporary version, changing with the views or opinions when your mind changes. Whatever convictions we used to have earlier in life, have changed with time, whether we want it or not, the thoughts, ideas we believed before may not be the thoughts we are trusting now. How can this be explained and investigated? By inquiringi the the nature of the mind. What is Mind? It is a bundle of thoughts, memories, associations, emotions, images, that are projected onto the pure screen and when identified with - believed to be one’s true identity. I am not my mind. Some of the hardest inner ideas about oneself to let go of - are called vasanas - deep seated root tendencies of the mind. We can achieve that by becoming more aware of them by inquiring, bringing awareness into the light, stop identifying with certain patterns of behaviour that are coming out from believing these tendencies. Making conscious efforts every day when the particular vasana arises ( sometimes it could be quite a painful memory, or unpleasant feeling or a thought that something is wrong with me etc then goes the mind’s interpretation of it, then followed by actions which keeps us from repeating the same mistakes again and again and the loop continues to be alive inside, until the pain of disappointment becomes so unbearable, that by the grace of God we look inside and if we are mature enough - we reflect and investigate ourselves and when the time is ripe - we notice - this particular feeling comes and goes, therefore I can not be it. That is the power of being the observer. Bringing awareness into the actions can neutralise those deep roots tendencies and with time of continuous conscious remembrance of our true nature, the SELF, the I AM, the pure awareness, their grip on the mind will loosen up, giving the breaths of true life’s meaning. Realising this Truth that I AM, is the complete and absolute freedom.
SATSANG and inquiring within with friends, can expedite in this process of evolution greatly and the master will appear in form for the one, who is truly sincere in his heart.
With the power of the true teacher Sat Guru ( the real one Guru, inside each and everyone’s heart) is the only inner experience that can point us in a right direction and get us confirmed inside the Heart ( spiritual heart, not the human organ, it is place in the middle of the chest). The SATSANG is an immense help for being seen fully for what we are not, and for what we truly are - The Self. The Self remains as the substratum underneath the wrong Self and one can only realise it and be it. Whereas the wrong self is the mind and its content. Only UNREAL can be perceived in the mind, as thoughts, emotions, feelings, preprogrammed reactions etc and when identified with it - create strong false inner convictions and patterns of behaviour that keeps us far away from the Truth of who we are. One should first become aware of the inner underlying conscious presence, that stays same and is unchanged at any given situation - in a form of a witness. The One who is seeing, the seer, is the Pure Self. The Self can not be seen or described, as it has no points of origination or qualities. And yet, it is who we all are. The Self is pure silence we can say, with being, being fully consumed by it without any thoughts or mental movements, as all the mind’s tendencies, emotions, associations, past and imaginary future - have been seen, meditated upon and inquired within and therefore declared as temporary and unreal and discarded with the Grace of the GURU (Guru Kripa). The Sangha in Sanskrit means the “company of the Holy). in this case the Holy is referred to a realised living master, is the group of earnest spiritual seekers, who are gathered around him/her in SATSANG to absorb the energy of the pure mind and it’s silence, that is emanating through the power of the spirit who is in sync and have been established as the part of the cosmic, universal HEART.
To me, the most precious achievement on this planet would, undoubtedly, to be totally happy, in complete contentment with my self, where is nothing more to accomplish, to do or to achieve. Being in the Self as the Self is the highest achievement.
