Here in the foothills of the Himalaya I am once again holding satsangs. (You can read more about it on the satsang page.) In these satsangs I answer people’s questions relating to spirituality, personal growth, psychology, meditation, relationship – really anything in life that is important to those present, in the moment. In case you have never attended a satsang, though, I want to try to convey something of the hidden element, the mystical element of what is going on in these meetings.
Many of us live with words in our heads almost all our waking hours. Without necessarily being very conscious of it, this stream of thoughts has become our primary experience in life. Meditation is the practice which attempts to undo this dominance of thoughts. And through meditation, if we are lucky, we begin to taste the vast, silent, still spaciousness which is our underlying consciousness, when the mind is not busy.
Now to the magic. During satsang, we combine the awareness of this silent space with the use of words to discuss whatever questions are arising. The whole conversation is taking place within a field of meditation, where the small, personal self has been set aside. Effectively, the responses to questions are coming directly from that silent place, without being filtered by the personality. I call this the magic of satsang. Of course, it is not really so surprising. The silence and stillness and spaciousness are ever-present in each of us. When we are experiencing this space directly, we have returned to our essence. Everything else that we experience, including our thoughts, are arising within this space, from this stillness and silence. With practice, we can stay in touch with our essence even whilst attending to our sensations and thoughts.
