satsang: company of the holy - sri sathya sai ... company of the holy date: saturday, 8th december...

“SATSANG: COMPANY OF THE HOLY”

DATE: SATURDAY, 8TH DECEMBER 2012 Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre, Queenstown

CONTENT • Why Seek Spiritual Company?

• What is Good Company?

• We Adapt to Our Surroundings

• Satsang, a Spiritual Discipline

• Satsang or Socializing

• Resolve to Seek Only the Good

• Questions for Discussion

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre, Queenstown

WHY SEEK SPIRITUAL COMPANY

• Good Company lifts and carries us on the tide of spirituality.

• Unwholesome company washes us away on the dark current of self indulgence and grief.

• Good Fellowship provides us with: • Good sustenance • Encouragement • Beneficial companionship • Inspires us on Godward path • Grants strength to continue our

quest when task seems most difficult.


WHY SEEK SPIRITUAL COMPANY

The easiest and most fruitful method of keeping yourself free from dust and rust is satsang (good company). The company of the good and the Godly will slowly and surely chasten and cleanse the persons prone to straying away from the straight path towards self realisation.

Sathya Sai Speaks 9, pg 223


WHAT IS GOOD COMPANY

• Real friends encourage only the best in us.

• A true companion gives without taking.

• Good company is association with those who seek to learn and practice: • Truthfulness • Love • Duty • Devotion • Peace

• Men and Women who practice spiritual discipline are examples to each

other and to the world.

• It is their nature to serve all, even those who harm them.


WE ADAPT TO OUR SURROUNDINGS

• Nature of all creatures to adapt to their surroundings.

• People develop tastes for available foods and they normally build their homes from materials obtained locally.

• Similar adaptation occurs in our minds

• We tend to agree with the attitudes and behaviours of the company we keep.



• Seek acceptance and approval

• When new on spiritual path , good company is indispensable

• When mind is not confirmed in the ways of good behaviour and morality, it can be led astray.

• Only great beings can change such minds.



• Long practice and discipline is required to make the mind obey the Divinity within.

• Association with high minded friends, one can adopt aspirations and ideals similar to theirs.

• Rama admonished Lakshmana as below: “The company of bad men is the prelude to the disappearance of wisdom. The company of good men makes wisdom blossom.”

- Rama Katha Rasa Vahini


SATSANG, A SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE

• Can we call the practice of choosing our company a spiritual discipline?

• Methods that help us evolve spiritually are designed to purify our hearts and minds.

• Meditation • Service • Study

• Company we keep directly influences our purity of mind.

• We better understand the practical aspects of spirituality when

we see them practiced by others. • Practical demonstration is necessary for our education, as well

as our own study and devotion. Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre, Queenstown


Ascetic practices, years of constant recitation of name, pilgrimages to holy places and shrines, study of sacred books – these will not help the aspirant to spiritual victory as much as communion with the Godly and good. - Sathya Sai Speaks 6, pg 193



• Best way to combat wrong tendencies: • Keep them out of sight and out of

mind • Keep such influences far away • Keep virtue in sight always • Keep high ideals to inspire noble

actions

• Mahatma Gandhi was inspired to live a life of Truth after he witnessed a holy play about the life of the Avatar Rama.


SATSANG OR SOCIALISING

• In Sai Centres, important to understand the effects of our actions on others.

• Difference between Satsang and Socialising

• Newcomers must be welcomed into a spiritual atmosphere

• Maintain spiritual focus or be silent.

• Need to be vigilant as others can also have a negative impact on us.

• When we are caught in the grips of worldly desire , we can only be reformed by good company.

• Without strong spiritual guidance and support we may not even realise our plight.


RESOLVE TO SEEK ONLY THE GOOD

• Heart is the best guide to correct action.

• It tells if we are benefiting or losing the company we keep.

• The choice is ours: • We can choose to do what is

right? • We can also choose the path of

minimum effort. • If we lose the opportunity to

take the correct path now, can we be sure when the chance will come again? Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre, Queenstown

RESOLVE TO SEEK ONLY THE GOOD

Through satsang you develop freedom from delusion, through freedom from delusion you develop faith in truth and through faith in truth you attain liberation itself.

- Sathya Sai Speaks 10, Pg 151


DISCUSSION

1. What is considered good company? (Qualities, God, Human??)

2. Why seek holy company?

3. How should we treat those considered to be bad company? 4. What is the difference between Satsang and Socialising? (Give

description and examples)

5. How can we be a beneficial influence on others without their bad habits affecting us?

6. When is it better to be alone?

7. Is it possible for us to remain unaffected by those around us? Explain reason for your response.


CONCLUSION Today, people think that satsang means a congregation of spiritual aspirants. People join such congregations and think that they are in satsang. But it is not satsang in the true sense of the term because people whom you think to be good may turn wicked. They are bound to change. How can such temporary association confer everlasting happiness? It is impossible. Till this day, people have not understood the true meaning of satsang and its significance. Tell me your company I shall tell you who you are. When you associate yourself with ephemeral things, the results also are bound to be transitory. You should develop friendship with Divinity, which alone is true and eternal. Divinity is very much present in you. You cannot find it outside. The external world is subject to change. The world is nothing but a combination of matter. Everything in this world is transitory. Nothing is permanent. All that is seen in this world is illusory. The unseen Atmic principle alone is true and

eternal. - Baba


End of Presentation

A Presentation By, Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre Queenstown


satsang: company of the holy - sri sathya sai ... company of the holy date: saturday, 8th december...

Documents