On Satsanga

John Assaraf grew up in the streets. In Success Principles, Jack Canfield tells how John Assaraf transformed his life and became a multi-millionaire. The secret to his meteoric rise? Satsanga. Assaraf managed to land a job at the gym in the Jewish Community center across his apartment in Montreal, Canada. One of the perks he received in his job was access to the gym in the community center. He would spend 9:15 pm till 10 pm in the sauna after work each day. Successful businessmen frequented the sauna and told stories of their successes as well as their failures. Noticing that several of the rich folks came from very humble beginnings, Assaraf slowly realised that success was not the prerogative of a select few; anyone could craft the life they wanted. The association with elite businessmen, who freely shared their wisdom and experiences with Assaraf, was enough to give him the requisite knowledge and inspire him to make it big in life. In addition to becoming a multi-millionaire, he paid it back by writing inspirational books, as well as being one of the teachers in Rhonda Byrne’s Secret.

The word satsanga comes from two Sanskrit words: sat, which loosely translates to “good”, and sanga, which translates to “company”. Satsanga simply means keeping good company. What “good” means depends on the context. For John Assaraf, good company included successful people with the right know-how and belief structures. For a student, good company would be fellow students who study well, and they would do well to avoid students who possess vices and whose influence would be detrimental. Indeed, when I was in my tenth standard, three of my classmates were particularly studious. A friend of mine, who was reasonably adept but not one of the top students, decided to be the D’Artagnan of the three studious musketeers. The result? My friend’s marks soared exponentially.

The benefits of satsanga are outlined beauifully by king Bhartrhari in his Neetishatakam: 

जाड्यं धियो हरति सिञ्चति वाचि सत्यं
मानोन्नतिं दिशति पापमपाकरोति ।
चेत: प्रसादयति दिक्षु तनोति कीर्तिं
सत्संगति: कथय किं न करोति पुंसाम् ।।१९।।

Satsanga (positive association) has the following effects:
– Removes ineptitude from the intellect
– It helps sprinkle truth in one’s words
– It confers dignity to a person
– It removes sin
– It gives prasada (a sense of clarity, peace) to the heart
– It spreads one’s fame in all directions

What, indeed, can Satsanga not do for people?

– Nitishatakam of Bhartrhari, Verse 23

What, indeed, can Satsanga not do for people? The shloka gives examples of various benefits of keeping company with the virtuous. Their mere presence will be sufficient to inspire us to speak the truth, for we will feel guilty of letting them down if we transgress. Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” As part of satsanga with great minds, we discuss the highest quality ideas and gain wisdom, which will result in our performing high-quality actions that benefit all, resulting in the word spreading about our actions. In turn, we will develop more high-quality ideas and perform more high-quality actions, and satsanga has brought about a life-altering positive spiral.

Jim Rohn said that you are the five people you spend the most time with. Subconsciously, their characteristics will rub on to you. If you choose to hang out with angry people, chances are that you will be indignant more often than not. If you hang out with hard-working people, chances are that you will develop a stellar work ethic. If you hang out with smokers, chances are that you would be puffing a couple of packs a day. If you hang out with saintly people, chances are that you go through your days gracefully and mindfully. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that you choose these five people carefully, ensuring that they add positive value in the areas you care about in life.

Most of the examples that I discussed in this article pertain to the material world. The highest benefit of satsanga is transcendental, leading to liberation. Who better to explain this than Adi Sankara:

सत्संगत्वे निस्संगत्वं, 
निस्संगत्वे निर्मोहत्वं।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं 
निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः॥९॥

From Satsanga arises non-attachment. From non-attachment arises the absence of delusion. When there is the absence of delusion, clarity on Transcendental Self-Knowledge arises. When one possesses Transcendental Self-Knowledge, one attains jivan-mukthi, i.e. one is liberated while still living in the body.

– Bhaja Govindam, Verse 9

The company of Self-Realised masters, seekers on the spiritual path, devoted bhaktas, and spiritual adepts gives rise to the clarity along the following lines:

• I am not the body.
• My body will perish one day.
• The company of friends and relatives is temporary, I must part company with them one day.

Therefore, there is no point in clinging to objects and people, as they both are temporary. This absence of clinging is non-attachment. Non-attachment leads to the removal of delusion concerning the nature of oneself and the nature of the world. When delusion is removed, what stands is the Changeless Reality. When this Changeless Reality is realized, what remains is the Non-dual Existence, one’s True Nature, and there is no more return to the realm of samsara.

What, indeed, can Satsanga not do for people?

Image Credit: Jason Goodman from Unsplash