By Sat-sanga, the association with the objects of the world, will be removed. When that worldly association is removed, the attachment, or tendencies of the mind, will be destroyed. Those who are devoid of mental attachment, will perish in that which is motionless. Thus, they attain jivan-mukti, liberation. Cherish their association.
The Supreme State, which is praised, and which is attained here, in this life, by clear whichara, which arises in the Heart, when association with a Sadhu is gained, is impossible to attain by listening to preachers, by studying and learning the meaning of the scriptures, by virtuous deeds, or by any other means. If one gains association with sadhus, of what use are all the religious observances?
When the excellent cool southern breeze itself is blowing, what is the use of holding a hand fan? Heat will be removed by the cool moon. Poverty by the celestial wish-fulfilling tree. And sin by the Ganges. But know that all these, beginning with heat, will be removed merely by having the darshan of incomparable sadhus.
Sacred bathing places, which are composed of water, and images of dieties, which are made of stone and earth, cannot be comparable to those great souls, mahatmas. The bathing places and dieties bestow purity of mind after countless days, whereas such purity is instantly bestowed upon people as soon as sadhus see them with their eyes.
You ask why Bhagavan does not go about and preach the truth to the people at large. But how do you know I am not doing it? Does preaching consist of mounting a platform and haranguing the people around? Preaching is simple communication of knowledge. It can really be done in silence only.
What do you think of a person who listens to a sermon for an hour, and goes away without having been impressed by it, so as to change their life? Compare them with another, who sits in a holy presence, and goes away after some time, with their outlook on life totally changed. Which is the better? To preach loudly, without effect? Or to sit silently, sending out inner force?
How does speech arise? First, there is abstract knowledge. Out of this, arises the ego, which in turn gives rise to thought. And thought, to the spoken word. So the word is the great grandson of the original Source. If the Word can produce an effect, judge for yourself how much more powerful must be the preaching through silence.
You ask how silence can be so powerful? A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence which draw many people towards them. Yet they may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. We may listen to lectures upon truth and come away with hardly any grasp of the subject. But to come into contact with a realized one, though they speak nothing, will give much more grasp of the subject. They never need to go out among the public. If necessary, they can use others as instruments.
The guru is the bestower of silence who reveals the light of Self-knowledge which shines as the residual reality. Spoken words are of no use whatsoever if the eyes of the guru meet the eyes of the disciple.
Mona, silence, is the best and the most potent initiation. That was practiced by Sri Dakshina Murti. Initiation by touch, look and so on are all of a lower order. Silent initiation changes the hearts of all. Dakshina Murti observes silence when the disciples approached him. That is the highest form of initiation. It includes the other forms.
There must be subject-object relationship established in the other initiations. First a subject must emanate, and then the object. Unless these two are there, how is the one to look at the other, or touch them? Silent initiation is the most perfect. It comprises looking, touching and teaching. It will purify the individual in every way, and establish them in the reality.
There is no substance that is transferred during initiation. Transfer means eradication of the sense of being the disciple. The master does it. It is not that the person was something at one time, and then metamorphosed later, into another. God, grace and guru are all synonymous, and also eternal, and immanent. Is not the Self already within? Is it for the guru to bestow it by his look? If a guru thinks so, they do not deserve the name.
The books say that there are so many kinds of initiation. Initiation by hand, by touch, by eye, etcetera. They also say that the guru makes some rights with fire, water, japa, or mantras, and calls such fantastic performances ‘initiations.’ As if the disciple becomes ripe only after such processes are gone through by the guru.
If the individual is sought, they are nowhere to be found. Such is the guru. Such is Dakshina Murti. What did he do? He was silent when the disciples appeared before him. He maintained silence, and the doubts of the disciples were dispelled — which means that they lost their individual identities. That is jnana, and not all the verbiage usually associated with it. Silence is the most potent form of work. However vast and emphatic the shastras may be, they fail in their effect. The guru is quiet and peace prevails in all. Their silence is more vast, and more emphatic, than all the shastras put together. These questions arise because of the feeling that, having been here so long, heard so much, exerted so hard, one has not gained anything… The work proceeding within is not apparent. But in fact the guru is always within you.
There is an old story which demonstrates the power of the guru’s silence. Tat Varia composed a Barani, a kind of poetic composition in Tamil, in honor of his guru, Swa Rupananda, and convened an assembly of learned pundits to hear the work and assess its value.
The pundits raised the objection that a Barani was only composed in honor of great heroes, capable of killing a thousand elephants in battle, and that it was not in order to compose such a work in honor of an ascetic. Thereupon the author said, let us all go to my guru, and we shall have this matter settled there. They went to the guru, and after they had all taken their seats, the author told his guru the purpose of their visit. The guru sat silent, and all the others also remained in Mona. The whole day passed, the night came, and some more days and nights. And yet all sat there silently. No thought at all occuring to any of them. And nobody thinking, or asking, why they had come there. After three or four days like this, the guru moved his mind a bit, and the people assembled immediately regained their thought activity. They then declared, “Conquering a thousand elephants is nothing beside this guru’s power to conquer the rutting elephants of all our egos put together.” So certainly he deserves the Barani in his honor.
Language is only a medium for communicating one’s thoughts to another. It is called in only after thoughts arise. Other thoughts arise after the ‘I’ thought rises, and so the ‘I’ thought is the root of all conversation. When one remains without thinking, one understands another by means of the universal language of silence. Silence is ever-speaking. It is a perennial flow of language, which is interrupted by speaking. These words I am speaking obstruct that mute language.
For example, there is electricity flowing in a wire. With resistance to its passage it glows as a lamp or revolves a fan. In the wire it remains as electric energy. Similarly also silence is the eternal flow of language, obstructed by words. What one fails to know by conversation extending to several years can be known instantly in silence, or, in front of silence. Dakshina Murti and his four disciples are a good example of this. This is the highest and most effective language.
Jnanis work through silence. By speaking their power is reduced. Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence. So mental contact is the best.
Guru is not the physical form, so the contact will remain even after the physical form of the guru vanishes. One can go to another guru after one’s guru passes away. But all gurus are one. And none of them is the form you see. Always mental contact is the best.
The highest form of grace is silence. It is also the highest teaching.
Vivekananda has said that silence is the loudest form of prayer. It is so for the seeker’s silence. The guru’s silence is the loudest upadesa or teaching; it is also grace in its highest form. All other initiations are derived from Mona, and are therefore secondary. Silence is the primary form. If the guru is silent, the seeker’s mind gets purified by itself.
Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. The silence of Dakshina Murti removed the doubts of the four sages. Silence is said to be exposition, silence is so potent.
For vocal speech, organs of speech are necessary, and they precede speech. But the other speech lies even beyond thought. It is, in short, transcendent speech, or unspoken words.
Silence is the true upadesa. It is the perfect upadesa. It is suited only for the most advanced seeker. The others are unnable to draw full inspiration from it. Therefore, they require words to explain the truth. But truth is beyond words. It does not admit of explanation. All that it is possible to do is to indicate it.
The look of a jnani has a purifying effect. But purification cannot be visualized. Just as a piece of coal takes a long time to be ignited a piece of charcoal takes a shorter time, and a mass of gunpower is instantaneously ignited. So it is with the grades of people coming into contact with mahatmas or jnanis. The fire of wisdom consumes all actions. Wisdom is acquired by association with the wise: Sat-sanga, or rather, its mental atmosphere.
In the proximity of a great master, the vasanas cease to be active. The mind becomes still, and samadhi results. Thus the disciple gains true knowledge, and right experience, in the presence of the master. To remain unshaken in it, further efforts are necessary.
Eventually the disciple will know it to be their real Being, and will thus be liberated, even while alive.
Grace is there to help you. Individually we are incapable because the mind is weak. Grace is necessary. Serving a Sadhu will bring it about. There is however nothing new to get. Just as a weak man comes under the control of a stronger one, the weak mind of a person comes under control easily in the presence of strong-minded Sadhus. That which is, is only grace. There is nothing else.
Association with the wise — Sat-sanga — and service of them, is required of the disciple. The first really mean association with the unmanifest, Sat, or Absolute Existence. But as very few can do that, they have to take second best, which is association with the manifest Sat, that is, the guru.
Association with sages should be made because thoughts are so persistent. The sage has already overcome their mind and remains in peace. Being in their proximity helps to bring about this condition in others. Otherwise there is no meaning in seeking their company.
The guru provides the needed strength for this, unseen by others.
Service is primarily to abide in the Self. But it also includes making the guru’s body comfortable and looking after their place of abode. Contact with the guru is also necessary. But this means spiritual contact. If the disciple finds the guru internally, then it does not matter where they go.
Staying here, or elsewhere, must be understood to be the same. And, to have the same effect.
Sat is the Self of selves. The Sadhu is that Self of selves. They are imminent in all. Can anyone remain without the Self… ?
No. So noone is away from Sat-sanga.
You ask if proximity to the guru is helpful. Do you mean physical proximity? What is the good of it? The mind alone matters. The mind must be contacted.
Sat-sanga will make the mind sink into the heart.
Such association is both mental and physical.
The extremely visible being of the guru pushes the mind inward.
They are also in the heart of the seeker. So they draw the latter’s inward-bent mind into the heart.
You need to be clear: “What is Sat-sanga?” It means association with Sat, or Reality. One who knows, or has realized Sat, is also regarded as Sat. Such association with Sat or with the one who knows Sat is absolutely necessary for all.
Shankara has said that in all the three worlds there is no boat like Sat-sanga to carry one safely across the ocean of births and deaths.
Sat-sanga means Sangha, association, with Sat. Sat is only The Self. Since The Self is not now understood to be Sat, the company of the sage, who has thus understood it, is sought.
That is Sat-sangha. Introversion results. Then Sat is revealed.