We are working with you on the Truth of Satsang. What is Satsang? This is a question that we have to explore a lot and, even so, we will not have a final answer using words.
Amid questions like this, what I have recommended to people is that they get closer. You can walk up to a menu and look at it, and know everything on it, and still not know what’s on the menu. That’s because, really, you only know what’s on the menu when you taste the dish. Before that, all you have are theories.
So, this is a difficulty we have here, and we have to approach it by seeing this difficulty as a challenge that needs to be overcome.
When do we actually know what Satsang is? When we are in Satsang. The word “Satsang” means “the encounter with the Truth.” It’s not a theoretical, conceptual, intellectual, or verbal approach to the Truth.
Human beings are very fond of abstractions; they live in abstraction, this abstraction... For example, we use the expression “love,” but that’s an abstraction! No one really knows what Love is. We use words like “God,” but that’s an abstraction! We don't know what God is, however, we have the word. This is an abstraction!
So, we have the menu, not the dish! This is an abstraction! The word never deals with Reality; it’s a symbol, an idea, an image. So, the word “Satsang” literally means… “Sat” is Being and “Sang” is encounter: encounter with the Being. But what does it mean? What does it represent? The word “Being” ... what do you understand by “Being”? What do you understand by “God"? What do you understand by “love”?
The thing described is not the description; the description is not the thing. The description is never the thing! I’ve been inviting people to approach Satsang, to meetings like the ones we have in this online format, and also in a much more effective way, in an in-person format. We even do Satsang retreats. In this encounter, we can come across this Communion. This Communion is the presence of Consciousness being shared. It’s the same and one Presence, but we enjoy this same Reality as a single Reality present.
Another expression, no matter how much we talk about it, whether we put some words or explanations here, this word will never really be understood unless we live it directly: it’s the word “Darshan.” The word “Darshan” is another word for what happens in Satsang, the encounter with the Being, with the Presence, in that looking and being looked, in that seeing and being seen. That’s the meaning of the word “Darshan,” it means to see and be seen. Generally, it’s used for the encounter you have, when your look comes across What is sacred, also looking at you. It’s to see and be seen.
So, when you go to a Realized Being like Ramana Maharshi, you look into his eyes, you look at him and you can see from a place inside. Something is present beyond the mind, beyond this “me,” this “I.” Thus, it’s a look that manages to see and be seen. Then, there’s an encounter, a sharing, a communion, where that one Consciousness is revealed.
The Truth about all this manifestation is that there’s only God, only this unique Reality. Intellectually, this is unattainable! It’s like the Direct Revelation of the Truth about your Being. It’s possible to realize This, but you’ll always be unable to say to others what This is. To live This is to be This, and that’s unspeakable. To be God is to live God, but the word “God” is not the thing. So, the various descriptions we have don't quite get to the Truth about That.
So, this encounter with the Truth of your Being… this is the meaning of the word “Satsang.” And that seeing and being seen is the meaning of the word “Darshan.” Right now, we are here having a moment of Darshan. The Truth of your Being is the only Reality present here in this meeting. There’s no “someone” talking and “someone” listening, “someone” seeing, and “someone” being seen. There’s only talking, listening, and seeing – that’s Darshan.
Sharing this Presence, the Truth of Silence, of the non-mind, of the non-“I,” of the non-ego… is what you have before a Realized Being in meetings called Satsang, when there’s this Presence of looking, seeing, and being seen, which is Darshan. So, this moment here is a Satsang moment and also a Darshan moment.
I invite people to join online meetings as well as in-person meetings. So, in these meetings, we come across something far, far superior to speech. Spoken language is an instrument, just a tool.
When you come across a dish, you had first taken a glance at the menu. You don't eat the menu; you eat what’s on that plate the waiter brought you. And, to eat, you make use of utensils such as a fork, knife, or spoon. So, the tools are available there. You don't eat the fork, the spoon, you don't eat the cutlery. You eat the food! So here, the speech makes use of words. Those words are the tools. Language is the tool, the cutlery. What you feed on is Silence. It’s the Presence of Silence… It’s the Presence of Silence that you feed on in Satsang. This Silence is the Presence of Consciousness.
In general, we are very attached to words. It’s as if we like the menu and reading about food more than actually eating, tasting the food, the meal, the dish, that content there. I want to invite you to live this Consciousness, this Presence, to enter this Silence, which is Satsang, the Darshan.
There’s always something greater in these talks than the words. I want to repeat this to you again: you use a fork, a knife, a spoon... you use the menu, but what you’re really eating is the food. It’s the food that matters! For those who are hungry, the cutlery and the menu are not enough. The simplest food feeds and the finest of the menus does nothing for you, nor does the cutlery.
Thus, our online and in-person Satsang meetings are irreplaceable. I'm saying this because some people ask “is it possible to work with just these videos?” I’ll answer: working with these videos has a very powerful effect, but this is something very particular for each one of us, for each one of you who are present watching these videos. You’ll have to find that answer. You’ll have to feel it internally. You'll have to find out for yourself if listening and watching the videos... if that’s all or if there’s something else besides watching these videos and discovering something here.
Everything you have in these videos is very important. We have several playlists here. As these playlists are born from this Natural State, and here we’re not sharing a belief or theory… this is a Natural State here. We’re living what we’re sharing! It’s not a belief, theory or concept; and everything we've been saying in these videos works! Everything works!
You can and need to work this out on yourself. Then, that will give you depth, a completely different perception of reality. However, you’ll have to find out if you need it, if you feel that you need to be in online and in-person meetings to delve further into this. What I say is that there’s something about online meetings that you don't find in these videos, and there’s something about in-person meetings and also retreats that you don't find in online or in these videos. However, you’ll have to find an answer for yourself.
The truth is that we are in this life to realize This. So, it’s a life of dedication to the Truth of your Being, the Awakening of God, the Awakening of Consciousness, the Awakening of your Natural State, which some people call Enlightenment or the Awakening of Consciousness. The Flourishing of this Presence is the Flourishing of the Truth of God, which is Love, Silence, and Wisdom. Thus, this meeting here, in Satsang, is the encounter with the Truth – the word “Satsang” is that: the encounter with the Truth – and also this encounter with the Silence of your Being, in Darshan, which is this look and being looked, see and be seen.
In face-to-face meetings, it has an extraordinary quality, as well as in these online meetings, as well as here, at this moment, in this video, and all of our other videos. Being open to it, discovering how to listen to it, how to perceive it, how to look at it, how to allow yourself to look and be looked at, hear, feel, live it... So, this moment becomes a moment of Guided Meditation, of Contemplation of your Being, of Divine Contemplation. I’ve called this True Guided Meditation. It is not a contact with speech. It is contact with Silence, with What is between words, contact with the look, with perceiving what transcends the mind, the body, and everything the intellect can reach, which is naturally always within a model of limitation.
So, this is our moment together, this is the True Guided Meditation, which is Darshan, Satsang, this encounter with the Being, the Presence, the Truth of God.
So, if this is something that makes sense to you, I invite you to online and also face-to-face meetings. We also have retreats. Leave your “like,” subscribe to the channel (where we have many videos), and get closer to yourself, work on it and realize This in this life. Ok?
See you next meeting!
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