(i) Satsang is an important medium to learn about Dharma and science of spirituality.
Upon attending Satsang, we get information about Dharma and spirituality that we hardly get anywhere else in the present time. The government of our country too does not impart Dharmashikshan (Dharma-based education) under the garb of secularism. Consequently, howsoever educated we might become in practical terms, due to lack of Dharmashikshan, we are least educated in spirituality. We get Dharmashikshan by attending Satsang and also get information on treading the path of spirituality from qualified seekers and saints.
(ii) Satsang clarifies our doubts and protects us from fraudulent Gurus
We follow Dharma through things that we have not heard, or read anywhere. At times, not having got appropriate solutions, people get trapped in the web of fraudulent Tantriks or Gurus. Several people fear stepping towards spirituality due to things they have heard, seen or due to prejudices. Hence, attending a Satsang clarifies all our doubts and we blissfully do Dharmaacharan and start following the path of spirituality.
(iii) Satsang is the ideal place for attaining concentration of mind
I will narrate the Anubhuti of my first Satsang. When I attended a Satsang organized by Sanatan Sanstha for the first time in March 1997, my mind immediately went into a state of thoughtlessness as soon as I sat down.
I used to make an effort to concentrate for 20-25 minutes, then I used to attain the state of thoughtlessness for a few minutes. But during that Satsang, I had an Anubhuti of the state of thoughtlessness with open eyes, meaning I was experiencing thoughtlessness in a conscious state. Thus, I understood the importance of Satsang. Meerabai had an inkling that to attain complete unity with God Shri Krushna, she would have to do Samashti Seva. Hence she used to attend Satsang being a queen and despite opposition from everybody.
(iv) Company of like-minded seekers in a Satsang is nutritious
Just as one starts drinking in the company of a drunkard, the company of seekers in a Satsang provides a qualified direction and momentum to the seeker’s spiritual journey. Getting the company of like-minded persons also provides bliss. The emotion of Bhav and Anubhuti of a seeker are ridiculed by an ordinary, mortal person. Hence, a Satsang provides a conducive environment to a seeker, where in the company of a Guru-brethren, or a co-seeker, one expresses one’s inner feeling about God or guru and experiences bliss.
(v) One gets inspiration to make spiritual progress in a Satsang
Just as in a hospital, group therapy motivates patients to recover fast, by the competitiveness of getting cured faster, on seeing each other getting cured and returning home, similarly in a Satsang, seekers too develop enthusiasm and competition upon seeing other seekers make spiritual progress. Thus, a seeker starts making progress on the path of spirituality at much faster pace.
(vi) Spiritual troubles automatically get cured in a Satsang
The higher the level of the Satsang leader, more is the Chaitanya (divine consciousness) in the Satsang. If the Satsang has been organized through the resolve of a high-level saint, or is being taken by a seeker having a high spiritual level, Riddhis-Siddhis accompany the seeker in order to serve him/her. Hence, many a time, the troubles of seekers get destroyed in the Satsang itself.
In order ,..to please their master, Riddhis-Siddhis give Anubhuti to seekers who have Bhav. I will narrate an Anubhuti in this context. In the year 2000, a Satsang of Dr. Pandurang Marathe had been organized at Dhanbad in Jharkhand. Smt. Narang, a seeker, who had been doing Sadhana for the past one year was also present. This seeker always used to have a headache. She used to feel as if someone had put several kilograms of weight on her head. She had told me about this affliction on two-three occasions and felt that it was due to high blood pressure. Her house had spiritual problems of a severe level.
While Smt. Narang sat at the Satsang, she was experiencing a severe headache and heaviness in her head. At the end of the Satsang, she told me that during the Satsang she sweated excessively but after the Satsang, the severe headache had vanished altogether. Since that day, she has never experienced such a problem again. This is the importance of Satsang.
(vii) Increase in the atmosphere of brotherhood and love in a Satsang
I came to my ancestral village in Jharkhand (where I now live) for the first time in 2008. In the year 2009, we started Satsang and collective aarti there. One day, a young seeker, Shri Abhishek Thakur, who used to regularly attend the Satsang, said that there has been a substantial increase in brotherhood and love in the village after Satsang was started. Another important thing he pointed out was that earlier there used to be quarrels in the village every other day, but ever since Satsang had been started, such incidents had become negligible. It is also true that a Satsang purifies the Vaastu of the house and the premises around the house.
(viii) Divine souls come to a Satsang at subtle level
Gods, sages, saints and ascetics come to a Satsang at a subtle level and go back showering blessings on the seeker. I will narrate an Anubhuti of a seeker in this context. One day, a Satsang was being held in our village. One seeker, Kumari Khushboo felt that Swami Ramkrushna Paramhans was present and was performing a Yagnya at the time of the Satsang. Another seeker, Lipi Kumari, had another Anubhuti that Kamadhenu (celestial cow) had come down from the sky to the premises of Satsang and after giving Gobar (cowdung) and Mutra (urine) in the premise, went inside the Garbha Gruha (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple and after oozing milk from her udder in the plate where the prasadam was there, came again to the premises and returned to the heaven. Another foreign seeker, Smt. Yoya, saw some divine men and women sporting Mukuts (crowns) in a Satsang being held in a small village. She did not know that they were Kuldevtas and Kuldevis from Devlok (heaven). She could have their Darshan as her subtle senses had been awakened. As she cannot speak, she drew the pictures of what she saw for everyone to see.
(ix) Satsang transforms us from Janma Hindu (Hindu by birth) to a Karma Hindu (Hindu by deed)
One saint has said, “ good company leads to cultivation of virtues and bad company leads to loss of virtues”. By attending a Satsang, we imbibe divine virtues and destroy inferior qualities. A Dharma Shaastra (scripture) defines Hindu along these lines, “Hinani gunani dushyati iti Hindu”, meaning one who makes an attempt to remove inferior qualities and tries to imbibe divine virtues is known as Hindu. In real terms, Satsang teaches us the process of transformation from a Janma Hindu to a Karma Hindu.
(x) Try to attend a weekly Satsang. Attending a Satsang provides the necessary energy to do chanting and just as an inverter makes up for a power cut and runs our electrical equipment, similarly the impact of Sattvikta (purity) received from a Satsang remains for a week and we get the energy to do chanting. The best path in Kaliyug is to do chanting of God’s names. Although it appears simple, but to do chanting continuously, our spiritual level must certainly be at least at 45%. At present, the spiritual level of ordinary people is 20-25% and as such, doing chanting is difficult. Due to excessive Raj and Tam (spiritually impure) vibrations in the environment, the mind is not able to concentrate and continuity in chanting is not possible.
We will take a look at an Anubhuti of how attending a Satsang regularly helps in doing chanting continuously. In 1999, when I was doing the Seva of Dharma Prasaar, two women came to attend a Pravachan. Both were friends. After listening to the Satsang, both started doing chanting. After three months, when I again met both of them together, I came to know that one lady who had started attending the Satsang regularly had started chanting very well, while the other lady had stopped doing chanting after one month. Both women were at the same spiritual level of 40%.
Those below 40% level must attend a Satsang regularly in order to be able to do chanting continuously, otherwise doing chanting and increasing its quantity becomes difficult. By regularly attending a weekly Satsang, we keep receiving the requisite Chaitanya (divine consciousness) and the conducive energy required for making spiritual progress. – Tanuja Thakur
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