Without Satsang, Maya (Illusion) Does Not Release
In the world of spiritual paths we have many examples of moral talks or people cobbling together some sort of spiritual presentation of religious information. In Sant Mat however, a genuine spiritual master cuts through the illusion and has the goal of presenting satsang discourses. These solely address the eternal divine truths and realities. The goal is always to motivate the initiates, the disciple satsangis to follow the meditation practice and make spiritual progress during this life. These discourses always have much depth, are mindful of the long tradition of Sants in India, and test positive for Sant Mat content.
"If we listen to Satsang, Satsang bears its colors. There is great power in Satsang. If we listen to Satsang with love and affection, then many of our sins are cut. Our load becomes light. Our sins fall away. Satsang is a very lofty thing. But after listening to Satsang, act on it, meditate on it first. Think about it. And keep it within. Then see how much change comes within you. Your conduct, thoughts, behavior, all will change. One will become a human-divine being. One will become a human Mahatma. They say, brother, that Satsang is no small thing that the Sants speak of. They are telling the matter of their own experience. They say, in our heart, when there is samskara, then in the hearts of such devotees Satsang strikes. And he will act on it. And his being is transformed." (Baba Ram Singh)
The satsang discourses of Baba Ram Singh are always wonderful and test positive for the depths of Sant Mat spirituality. Below is excerpted from a recently translated satsang from Scott Gaul's very fine seva project to make available in English more of Baba Ram Singh's satsang discourses via his Radhaswami Talks blog, which I highly recommend. See the link to the entire satsang below.
An excerpt from a recent satsang titled, Without Satsang, Maya Does Not Release
What can be read and spoken, that is called akshar (letters). But the Sants say, the Naam which the Sants and Mahatmas give is not contained in these letters. It is not within the fifty-two letters of the alphabet, not within the seven crore mantras. So a doubt can arise in us: when it is not letters at all, then how do the Sants give it? Because on the day of Naamdaan, they say, first the Simran of the five names is given, and that too is made of letters. That too can be written, read, spoken; that too is perishable. But when the Guru seats us in Dhyan, going within, between the two eyes, here is the seat of our soul and mind. And that very Shabd is also there, the Shabd which has come from Satlok Sachkhand and rests here. They say, the Guru, going within, joins our soul to the Shabd. And that is what Naamdaan is.
They say, on the day the Guru joins us to the Shabd, He comes to sit within us in the form of Shabd. And from that day the Guru is always with us. Between the two eyes, in the tenth door. That is why, they say, the Sants say: brother, by doing Simran and Bhajan, leave the nine doors and come to the tenth. When your third eye opens, that Naam will manifest, that is, the Shabd will manifest. The Shabd to which the Guru has joined you, which is called Anhad Shabd. There are many kinds of Shabd. There are also Shabds of the lower six chakras, which are called Das Vidh Naad (the ten kinds of sound). These are of twenty kinds. And above the eyes, that is called Anhad Naad.
They say, on attaining which, the mind becomes a little contented. The mind gets a respite to become still. That, they say, is the Anhad Shabd. And after that comes the Sar Shabd. They say, the Sar Shabd, in Parbrahm is the Sar Shabd. And in Satlok Sachkhand is the Sat Shabd. So the Shabd of every region is different. So on the day of Naamdaan, the Guru joins our soul to the Sar Shabd. But at first, when our soul goes within, it is the Anhad Shabd that manifests. That is why Kabir Sahib too has said:
"Jaap dies, ajapa dies, even Anhad dies away.
Without recognizing the Sar Shabd, one wanders again and again."
They say, until that Sar Shabd manifests by the Guru’s grace, the coming and going does not end.
That is why they say, brother, that Naam is a very lofty thing, about which Guru Nanak too has said:
"By Shabd the earth, by Shabd the heavens;
Through Shabd the Shabd blazed into light.
All creation follows in the wake of Shabd;
Nanak, the Shabd abides in every heart."
They say, that very Shabd which has created the whole world, that very Shabd is resounding in our tenth door. And the Guru joins us to that very Shabd. It has come from Satlok Sachkhand and rests here. They say, that very Shabd is what the Sants call Naam. So that Naam is something else, and these mantras and tantras are something else. That is why they say, without Satsang, our delusion does not go away. Because in Satsang the Mahatmas do not speak about the Vedas, Shastras, Puranas, and other scriptures. They explain to us about our own soul. The glory of the Guru, the glory of Naam, the glory of Satsang. They speak about the Lord; that is what is told in all Satsangs.
The purpose of this human body, how precious this human body is, why we have received it, what we were supposed to do with it, what we are doing: all this information is given in Satsang. When we come to know that this human body is very precious, that the Lord has given it for crossing the ocean of birth and death, when we have this knowledge, then we go to the Guru. If we have no knowledge, where would we go? That is why Satsang comes first. It is Satsang in which the knowledge of truth and untruth comes. In which all the information about Naam, about the Guru, about Satsang is received. And about the soul and the Lord too.
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