The Value of Satsang
Michael Turner
- by Michael Turner
(c) May 1997, 2009
(From a Satsang given on June 29, 1994; based up on a
reading from “The Teachings of Kirpal Singh”)
“Satsang is the central theme of
the sacred teachings and I always
impress upon the dear ones here
and abroad not to miss it, as it is
during these precious moments
when you are near the fountain-head
of bliss and immortality, that you
grasp the true import of the teachings
and assimilate the rare virtues of
Godliness, by sitting in the charged
atmosphere which is filled with His
loving life-impulses. Satsang is the
sacred arena where spiritual stalwarts
are built. It is the pool of nectar
which grants blissful God-intoxication
and all difference s of caste, creed,
or country sink down to their lowest
ebb”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
There’s a lot to be said about Satsang. And yet, for
me, it is ultimately beingness – being among friends
and sharing in the loving sacrament of Naam. When I
was with my master, just being in the same room with
him was a real experience.
I feel, I shouldn’t say “uncomfortable,” but it’s a
precarious thing when a teacher talks about something
like Satsang. Because there’s an implied message:
“You should come to Satsang.” This can strike some
people – just as when a master talks about the
qualities of mastership – as being ego-reinforcing –
like this guy’s just out here to preen himself and
encourage a flock of disciples.
So I try to be careful about how I express these
things, because I’m not out trying to get big crowds
or anything like that. My challenge is learning to
transmit what comes to me from within in a way that
people understand – to find a way of sharing the gifts
that I’m receiving from the Shabd in a contemporary
way, in a non threatening way, in a non-alienating
way.
I come from a background that’s very egalitarian. I
come from a union family. My dad used to lead a
teachers’ union. I was pretty close to being a “red
diaper baby” (laughs). So, I have a really healthy
distrust of authoritarianism. You may call it a
“disclaimer,” but I just like to let people know where
I’m coming from. It’s not like I’m trying to “crack
the whip,” or anything like that. It’s just conveying
things that I’ve learned.
One of them is that it is good, if you’re trying to
learn something, to have somebody in the human body
teach it to you – whether it’s playing guitar, or
physics, or learning how to cook or whatever. There
is a value in hanging out with somebody who has done
what you want to do, who knows how to do it, so they
can pass along what they’ve learned to you. It’s just
basic common knowledge, which everybody seems to
accept - except when it comes to spirituality.
At this point, people - generally speaking, as human
beings go - either accept it blindly, and go off the
deep end, and you get all these true believing cults and
people running around, deeding their houses to the
cause or something, giving their love offerings to the
latest tele-preacher. Or they run the other way.
There is, for some, an aversion to spiritual teachers.
It’s kind of like either, “I have my master - who’s
dead – but he was the One Master of all history.”
(whether it’s Mohammed, The Buddha, Krishna, Jesus,
whatever) or, “I can get it from this book,” or
something like that.
Our spirituality is such an intensely personal part of
us, an intensely private part of us, that extending it
somebody else (honoring somebody as a true spiritual
teacher) is an extremely intimate act, if it is done
as it is intended to be done. The most intimate part
of your self is your spirit – your soul – and there is
a healthy reluctance to really give up that much of
your power to anybody. There’s a chance that, if
you’re dealing with the wrong person, that kind of
intimacy can be misused. And, in this day-in-age,
especially with relationships becoming more and more
multiple as the years have gone by, and people start
to develop thick skins about letting any of their
inner self come through, there’s a tendency to be
somewhat wary. I thoroughly understand.
At the same time, there is the value in finding
somebody who has learned and who has mastered what you
wish to learn, so you in turn can learn from them.
Not because they are a special person, but because
they are a human being who has learned this. For
whatever reason – and, basically, it boils down to
communication – human beings learn best, generally
speaking, from other human beings. You can read all
of the holy books in the world. You can meditate on
all the ascended masters in the world, every past
master and adept and yogi who has ever been. And you
can get great inspiration from them. Everybody can.
Once you learn to explore the inner universes, you can
extend your awareness to these inner planes and make
contact with people in non-physical forms, just as
easily as you can call Los Angeles, or Chicago, or New
York. It is real.
“When you go to a realized soul to get
right understanding, go with all humility,
put aside your views. What you know , you
know. While you are with him, try to understand
what he is saying. Consider the level he is
speaking from, and then compare your own
knowledge.”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
But to make the teaching process tangible, while we are
living in the physical body, we need to have a physical
teacher. That is just the way the game is set up. For
better or ill, that’s a role I have chosen – that has
been chosen for me. I’ve been doing this since October 1993
in this form, just kind of officially getting out there
and trying to do classes and teach something that I’ve
acquired - that has acquired me.
For those who’ve known me for a while, I appreciate
your indulgence at times in seeing me stumble along,
trying to figure out exactly what it means to be a
“guru” in this time in America, growing up in the
rock n ‘roll culture and everything else, in the land
of cheeseburgers and movies and computers and the internet.
I appreciate it. It’s a learning experience for me,
just like it’s a learning experience for everybody
else.
One thing that I feel it really important to convey to
people is that, no matter how matter how open an
individual is for Shabd, they are growing like
everybody else is. Mastering Shabd is like being a
master craftsman, a wood-worker, an electrician, or
whatever. There’s always something new to learn.
My job is simply to convey this thing in a way it can
be understood. One of the essences of it is to
establish some of the parameters, some of the things
that help learning it. One of the things that helps
is to have frequent association with your teacher, and
also frequent association with other students of your
teacher. It’s a basic thing. It’s like going to a
class in any form.
There is a model for personal growth I learned years
ago when I was studying “success consciousness.” I
call it the “Diamond of Success”. It has four points
around the periphery, and one in the center. These
points are based upon the central precept that, the
difference between yourself now and five years from
now is the input you receive and the people you
associate with. What that comes to is, the four keys
to help you learn anything, including spirituality,
are:
1) Read works about the path. Get the Light through
the eyes. Get visual information. It stimulates the
brain and it develops an interest level which keeps
you pursuing it.
2) Listen, whether it’s through tapes of people who
are doing it or inspired music. Get it through the
ears as well. Because it starts encoding upon the
human factor, on the human element, the principles
which you are trying to understand.
3) Associate with people of a like consciousness.
Spend time with them, because it’s a common interest
level. Napoleon Hill called it having a “master mind
group.” But it’s really just having a kinship circle
with people.
4) Have this same kinship circle with your teacher,
Because the teacher is somebody who, on a human level,
can answer questions, and offer feedback and insight
verbally about any challenges a student is going
through, about anything in life. And spiritually (and
this is what makes a Shabd teacher different), he or
she an individual who is the manifestation of the
Shabad Dhun is an open conduit for the Voice of God,
the Voice of the universe - just like a grounding
wire for Spirit. It’s a matter of spiritual physics.
By simply being in that presence, one attains benefit.
Now this doesn’t mean hanging out all the time. I’m
not looking for everybody hanging here and getting off
all the time, because there has to be balance. But
these four things work. And they all really, in a
sense, supplement the fifth, which is the center of
the diamond, which is the most important thing, which
is:
5) The practice. Every day, at a regular time, as
much time as you can spare - if it’s 15 minutes, make
it 15 minutes; if it’s a half an hour, make it a half
an hour; if you can spare an hour, make it an hour -
every day, put some time into your meditation. Put
time into sitting, gazing into the Tisra Til – the
third eye – and being aware of the Light as It begins
to glow, and listening with the inner ear for the
Divine Sound Current, which is the most important
thing of the whole practice.
As Baba Jaimal Singh once told Sawan Singh,
“Listen to the Shabd Dhun, calling
in your heart, every day with great love
and devotion, for fifteen minutes, or ten
minutes, or five minutes, or an hour or
two, according to the time at your disposal.
But you must listen to It every day for a
while.”
Do this on a regular, daily basis. Then, on a
periodic basis, come in fellowship with other people
who are doing a similar practice. You can share with
each other and learn from each other, as well as gain
the benefit of this combined energy. When you sit in
meditation, as you open yourself up, you find that you
each become grounding wires for Spirit, like copper
wires that Spirit is flowing through. And when you
come together in Satsang, you become a cable, which is
greater than the sum of its parts.
So with Satsang a lot more spiritual juice starts
flowing through, which uplifts everybody in the
process, more than just a group of people sitting
together. It increases on this quantum level Spirit’s
capacity to flow, which uplifts everybody and spreads
out around us. On a sociological level, on a cultural
level, on a civic level, as denizens of this planet,
this also helps our home. This is because we start
becoming conduits for the outward and inward flow of
Spirit, and we gradually achieve a harmonious balance
in the universe around us.
This doesn’t mean that we’ll get the “hundredth
monkey” of people doing Shabda Yoga, and suddenly
there’s a paradise on earth and no more war, and peace
for everybody, and everybody eats the right kind of
tofu and granola, and drinks purified water, and we’re
all having a good time.
But it definitely helps, and alleviates tensions
around you, helps facilitate healings that you will
never even know about. The Shabd will flow through
you and touch people around you as you’re just walking
through the crowd.
You do this by yourself, in individual meditation, and
you come back together again and spend time together
in Satsang, and get reenergized, and learn through
various ways to open yourself up a little bit more all
the time.
“This place is a sanctuary, as you say.
Sanctuary means what? – a place of sanctity.
That should remain as a place of sanctity, not
as a place of mirth and joy. Make it a point
that those who come from outside come in
all devotion and all inspiration. Don’t make
it a place of mirth and joy. Love - love is
strong you see. This place, as you were told
the other day, should be a place where there
should be meditation and no sleeping. Also
no mirth or joy, mind that; come in awe and
sanctity. If you will do it, in a month or two
the place will be charged.”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
I wanted to comment on one thing that struck me, which
is liable to be misunderstood. Kirpal basically says
“No mirth!”
Q. He says that a lot.
M. Yeah. “No mirth. No joy.” It sounds pretty dour,
you know? It sounds like, “Don’t have fun there. This
is serious business.”
I think, really, what he’s referring to is that when
people get together, it’s easy to turn it into a giant
rap session. Everybody starts hanging out, shooting
it back and forth, and it just becomes this and that,
and “Did you see this?” and “So and so did this. Did
you hear about that?” “No, I didn’t hear about that.”
It turns into sort of just a social hour, and I think
there’s plenty of time for that. I’m not about to be
telling people “Never have social hours.”
But when the time is there for Satsang, the feeling to
be conveyed and the perception to enter the gathering
with is one of “We are all opening ourselves up for
Divine Spirit.” The teacher is the human pole for It
to flow through, and we are sitting in this presence
of Spirit, basking in It, opening ourselves up to It,
receiving inspiration from It. It’s joyful, but it’s
not glib. It’s more just this quiet, deep, deep, deep
golden bliss that emanates from the Heart of All.
And, whether a person takes me on as his or her
teacher – or any of the Shabda Satgurus who are
walking this planet right now - I would say the same
thing. When you enter into Satsang with a guru, it is
important to have your attention on God, because
that’s how you derive in the process the most benefit.
“The way to make the most of such a rare
opportunity and derive the maximum benefit
is that one should try to come to the place
of Satsang as early as possible and sit
silently in a prayerful mood, blanking the
mind of all the worldly thoughts in the
August presence of the Master, inwardly
absorbing his words of wisdom. If by sitting
close to fire we feel warmth and the
proximity of a glacier gives a cold shiver,
there is no reason why one should not be
affected by the divine aura of a Master-
saint whose radiation has an unimaginably
long range.”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
It’s also important when you find a teacher who you
like to work with that, if there is a regularly
scheduled Satsang, it is to your benefit to attend on
a regular basis, just like you do your meditation on a
regular basis. Because the Satsang increases the flow
– quantumly – exponentially. There is a greater flow
of Spiritual Current which assists your spiritual
progress. Just being in the presence of It, It will
lift you up.
Whether it’s a Satsang of seven people, or hundreds or
thousands of people – anything like that – it is
important to keep applying yourself on a consistent
basis. You will develop rhythm and consistency in
your spiritual practice which will imbue your
consciousness with Spirit. In the process, Spirit
will fill you with Its essence more and more. It will
flow through you and saturate you, increasingly dyeing
you in Its hue. You will become an awakened,
conscious particle of pure Spirit.
Eventually, you will unfold into a drop of pure
consciousness that ceases to create karma and is
working off its past karmas with the aid of Spirit.
As you achieve that balance, you will blossom into
self-realization, God-realization and spiritual
freedom.
Yours in the LightSong of Naam’s Love,
Michael Turner
* * * * * *
“Hazur Sawan Singh Ji used to say that
Satsangs served a very useful purpose
as a protective hedge around the field of
Simran and Bhajan, so that these vital and
life-giving processes continue to develop
and thrive, in spite of the otherwise busy life
in the family, in society, in your respective
avocations, and the like. The first thing the
Negative Power does when he wants to keep
control over a soul is to stop him doing Bhajan
and Simran. The individual finds that there is
always something to lure him away from his
meditation. This is his first method, and secondly
he slips that question into the mind: ‘Why go to
the Guru or the Satsang? What is the use of it?’
Satsang is the very place where a turning point can
be effected and an awareness of wrong doing
and wrong living is achieved, so he will try to
persuade us not to go there. If you have the
strength to ignore him, he will then suggest
you just go and bow down and leave. He will
place all kinds of doubts in the mind, and
instead of the fullest benefit from the Satsang,
the person returns home with nothing but
dissatisfaction or the bad effects of gossiping
and back biting from other wavering
individuals. These are two very powerful
weapons that the Negative Power is constantly
wielding.”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
“The importance of Satsangs or spiritual
gatherings cannot be over emphasized. To
attend Satsang is like having a protective
hedge around your meditation; it also increased
the incentive to meditate. Attend the Satsang
even if your time is limited. Cancel some other
appointment in order to do so, if necessary,
for the benefits of Satsang are invaluable.. .I
once asked Hazur Maharaj, ‘What are your
orders regarding Satsang?’ He told me, ‘If you
are very sick in your bed, but you can move, then
attend Satsang.’ Just note that he did not say
that if you have strength to walk, then attend
Satsang. From this single instance, you can see
how important it is.
Leave hundreds of urgent works to attend Satsang.”
- Sant Kirpal Singh
Michael112658@ yahoo.ca
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SFS
Alt.Meditation.Shabda