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The glory of Satsang

A spiritual discourse on the two paths of upliftment and downfall, and the essential role of the Guru and satsang.

"Uṭhāna means achievement, development, fulfillment, and progress. Patana means distraction."

"Guru Kṛipā is not so easy to gain. First, you have to understand the Guru Vākya."

A speaker delivers an evening satsang, explaining how both spiritual progress (Uṭhāna) and downfall (Patana) stem from one's association (Saṅgha). He emphasizes the critical importance of true spiritual company (Satsaṅg) and the Guru's lineage (Guru Paramparā) for liberation, using analogies like the purifying Ganga river. Key themes include the necessity of Guru's grace, the danger of bad company and doubt, and the difficulty of correctly understanding the master's instructions, illustrated by a story of a disciple who misinterprets the teaching "God is in everyone" when confronted by a mad elephant.

Filming location: Edinburgh, UK.

DVD 379

When we are born, it is according to our destiny, and destiny is the product of our actions. Action is in our hands, but not the fruits. The fruits come as destiny in this life or in another. We meet two ways; there are two paths. One is known as Uṭhāna and one is Pātana. The beginning, the roots of both Uṭhāna and Patanā, stem from one point, one place. Uṭhāna means achievement, development, fulfillment, and progress. Patana means distraction. Now, both have their roots in one place, on one point, and that is called Saṅgha. Saṅgha means society or companions—mostly, where you spend your time or with whom you are. In Saṅgha, if we put one word more, that is called Satta, Truth, Satya. Then it becomes Satsaṅg. And if we put one word instead, 'Ku', it means Kusaṅg. Satsaṅga is that which leads you to Uṭhāna, to development: good friends, good society, good education. Patana is the bad society, and it is said the habits you learn in bad societies are very hard to get rid of. It is easy to become free from an enemy, but not from bad habits. Habit is the second nature of man. The habit becomes a kind of nature, and it will torture you lifelong. Is there any way, if one fell into the Kusaṅga or from Satsaṅg to Kusaṅg, to come back? Yes, there is a way. Even the dirty water from the streets enters the Gaṅgā. No one will say it is dirty water. It becomes the holy Gaṅgā water. What does that mean? Saṅgha. Now, only that water which enters into the Gaṅgā will be known as Gaṅgā Jal. Similarly, a seeker, a sādhaka, a practitioner will not unite with the Guru; he cannot become the Guru. You may talk a lot, but you cannot be there. There can be water, perhaps according to your opinion, cleaner water than the Gaṅgā, but still it is not Gaṅgā water. Therefore, Guru Paramparā, the tradition, the spiritual lineage, is very important, and that will guide you. Before you surrender and join the Guru, you should know the Guru Paramparā. It is that devotee who will achieve what one is longing for if he has this Guru Bhakti and goes lifelong with it. It does not matter how old you are, it does not matter how far you are developed, but until the last breath of your life, and even in the next life, you should be the perfect devotee, surrendered. Very scientifically, very spiritually, and very inspiringly, Swāmī Nirlipta Nandajī Mahārāj performed the Hindu spirituality. I would say it is not a Hindu spirituality. It is for all humans because spirituality is beyond everything. There are no limitations. No one has a copyright on spirituality. No one has a copyright to become happy or unhappy. Love, contentment, happiness, achievement—these are the universal principles. And similarly, spirituality is that purity, that consciousness, the cosmic which belongs to all. Purify mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa, and you will achieve that which you would like to do. But only through the Guru. That water which will enter the river will become the Gaṅgā water, which will enter into the Gaṅgā. Let us say, in order to become Gaṅgā water, I will enter for a while and then flow out into other streams. Again, in the same streets, no one will call this Gaṅgā water. Again, it will be the dirty water. As long as you are devoted, obedient, and one with your master, you will become the master, and you will be ever the master. Otherwise, there are many, many ways to come to the path, that we call yoga practice. Many ṛṣis, many yogīs, when they become a little world-famous, they forget that they are the master. They become themselves the master; that is what we call the swayambhū, the self-made master. But that wise one who realizes this will first remember his or her master and pay the adoration. Paras saṅg loha kyā, phir binā palṭā loha, Yato paras aslī nahīṁ, nahīṁ to rahā bīch meṁ bichhoā. Paras is a precious stone, very, very rare. If you have that stone and you take that stone and touch iron, the iron will turn into gold. In this poem, it is said, "Paras saṅg loha kyā, phir binā palṭā loha." I brought them together, but still the iron did not change into gold. What does it mean? Yato paras aslī nahīṁ—maybe the Paras is not real, or beech mein rahā vishvā—or you did not touch properly; there remains a distance. That means doubt. Doubt is a lemon in the milk, doubt is a crack in the house, doubt is that barrier between Bhakta and Bhagavān. Saṅgha, saṅgat sār anek phala. The Saṅgat with whom you are spending time, you have many different kinds of fruits. Satsaṅg sat sudhare sat saṅg pahi. Even an ignorant one, a foolish one, can become wise if he comes to the Satsaṅg. There are many, many stories about this. No one has come, no one has come through, without satsaṅg and Guru Kṛpā. Guru kṛipā he kevalam, śhiśhya ke ānand maṅgalam. But Guru Kṛipā is not so easy to gain. First, you have to understand the Guru Vākya. If you cannot understand the Guru Vakya, then you cannot come a step forward. All holy literatures, all the wise persons who wrote some spiritual books—Vedas, Upaniṣads, Gītā, Rāmāyaṇa, Purāṇas, or Bible, Qur’ān, many, many holy books—the words that are written inside are called Guru Vākya, as well as the Vākyas of your master, to follow the instruction. It is very hard to understand the Guru Vākya. Yesterday we were driving in the car, and Swāmī Nirliptā Nāñjī Mahārāj said one story, very short and quickly, and the story was: The master who was preaching, "Everywhere is God. In everyone is God. I am Oṁ, you are Oṁ, we are Oṁ, they are Oṁ, everyone is Oṁ. Above is Oṁ, below is Oṁ, behind is Oṁ, in front is Oṁ, everywhere is Oṁ, Oṁ... Oṁ." One disciple who trusted his master completely went shopping. And there came a mad elephant, or a wild one. People ran away; people were hiding. But the man, the disciple of that Gurujī, was walking very peacefully. And on the other side, the elephant was coming. People said, "Run away! Hey, sādhu, please go away, it is a mad elephant." He said, "You are the mad one. My Gurudev said, 'Everyone is God. The elephant is also God.' God cannot do anything wrong to me. I walk." He came near, and the elephant took his trunk and, thanks to God, just threw him away. He could have squeezed him. Some ribs were broken, his leg was broken, and he came to Gurujī disappointed—an angry disciple, oh my God. Gurudev said, "How are you?" He said, "Thank you. What happened?" Nothing. Oh, Master said, "What is happening to disciple? What happened to your leg?" He said, "Master, this happened to me because I believed and trusted your words. If I would not, I would not suffer this." Gurujī said, "My son, what happened?" He said, "Master, you told everyone, 'You are God.' But what happened to me?" He told the whole story. "People were saying to me; I should have listened to them and not to you. Your Vākya said to me, 'Do not worry.' And this is the result." Gurudev said, "Yes, my son, I am proud of you that you trust my words. But you do not understand my words. Analyze a little bit." "How should I do more? You said in everyone there is God, and in elephants also God." He said, "Yes." "But people who were calling you, warning you, was not God in them?" "This, I did not think. Then, consequences are there." So, Guru Vakya—to understand the Guru Vakya is not easy. If you understand the Guru Vākya, then you have to do the Guru Seva. Sevā dharma he mahāndharma hai. Helping, service, helping a needy person is the greatest dharma. It does not matter who it is, humans or animals. Afternoon, I think Nirliptā Nandajī said about his Guru: "If you see a suffering animal and you cannot help, or you do not help this one, ask yourself, are you human? You take a fish out of the water. You know how fish is suffering? Ask yourself, are you a human?" Humans have different approaches to creatures. Love we need. Love. Then come to the service. It is not sure that your master will accept your service. You may do everything, but he will not accept. Therefore, Holy Gurujī said: "O Merciful Lord, Mahāprabhujī, be kind and be gracious to me. Give me the opportunity to come to the satsaṅg, give me the satsaṅg. Kusaṅg se Prabhu moye bachana. O my Lord, protect me from the kusaṅga. Tere dāsan ke dāsam hoye. If you do not accept my service directly, let me serve your servants. And please accept my service, even through your servant." That is called bhāva. This bhāva, this devotion, when you have it, then you have the aura, the ābhāmaṇḍala. That ābhāmaṇḍal, wherever you move, this energy is moving. But if you have doubts, if you are angry, then you destroy it. Every day, you are constructing something and breaking something. You are only on the mental level: saṅkalpa and vikalpa. Therefore, satsaṅg. "O my disciple, you did not understand my vākyas. That is why this condition is now; it happened to you. Who was warning you? In them also, God was talking." "Yes, Master, it is my mistake." So, to understand, then you are worthy to have Guru Kṛpā. Whatever you do, mokṣa mūlaṁ guru kṛpā—you cannot come to mokṣa without guru kṛpā. Kabīr Dās Jī was a devotee of the Mother, and he was crying to have her darśan. And she gave him darśan and asked, "My son, what do you want, Mokṣa?" "No, you have to go to Guru Rāmdās." The same thing happened; it was said to Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa. He was crying day and night to see Kālī, the Divine Mother. And she appeared to him, and he asked only one thing: "Mother, I need only your blessing; I need only mokṣa." And she said, "No, I can give you everything, the kingdom of the entire universe. Go to the Guru Totāpurī Jī." Paramahaṁsa Rāmakṛṣṇa’s Guru was Totāpurī Jī. "He will bless you to get Mokṣa." Therefore, it is said: Dhyāna mūlaṁ guru mūrti, pūjā mūlaṁ guru padam, Mantra mūlaṁ guru vākyaṁ, mokṣa mūlaṁ guru kripa. Therefore, satsaṅg, and in satsaṅg what you can get, nowhere else you can get. Then you have a connection to God directly. You know the divine soul, the great Bhakta, Mīrā Bāī, who was born in Rajasthan. She said: "My intention, my concentration, my heart, my being is completely dedicated to the lotus feet of the Gurudev. Nothing I like in this world except those lotus feet. Through that, bhāvasāgara sab sūkh gayā hai. The ocean, the worldly ocean, the ocean of ignorance, is dried out. I am not worried anymore about crossing the ocean. Kripa kari Gurudev, the Merciful Lord has given me that knowledge, so that now I do not have anymore this illness of rebirth and death. My last hope, and the hope, is the shelter at the Gurudev." Why? Because Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī jai. Mīrā Bāī said that day will be counted as a day for human life on the day when you meet the saint, and that time will be counted as the time which you spend in satsaṅg and in God’s consciousness, thinking about God or meditating. Therefore, satsaṅg. No one has crossed this ocean without satsaṅg. Satsaṅg also can be with one person only. That is what we in Hindi call Dosti. Dosti means, "Do" means two and "Sati" means the truth. Both go on the path of the truth, the reality; that is the dosti, that is the best friend. And the other one who leads you towards the kusaṅga, bad habit, is not a dosti; that is the opposite. So, satsaṅg today was dedicated this evening for satsaṅg. Tomorrow we will have another program. You are very tired. Everyone is tired from sitting the whole day. Now it is time to stretch our muscles and relax a little bit. So, thank you for giving me the opportunity. Satsaṅg and Guru Maimā is so far, it is said: I may make the ink of all seven oceans, and make a pencil of all the vegetation, all forests, and a paper of the whole earth; still, I cannot end the glory of the Gurudev. Therefore, after all this, one thing remains: how to describe the glory? Gurur Brahmā, Gurur Viṣṇu, Gurur Devo Maheśvara, Gurur Sākṣātpara Brahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Oṁ Śānti, Śānti,... Satya Sanātana Dharma Kī Jaya, Ādi Guru Bhagavān Śaṅkarācārya Jī Mahārāja Kī Jaya, Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jaya, Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jaya. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Oṁ Hari Oṁ.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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