Satguru

I just browsed the Wikipedia and found some meaning of who a Satguru is. It is defined as below:
Satguru means the true (Sat) guru. The term distinguishes itself from other forms of gurus, such as musical instructors, scriptural teachers, parents, and so on. The Satguru is a title given specifically only to an enlightened rishi/saint whose life's purpose is to guide initiated shishya along the spiritual path, the summation of which is the realization of the Self through realization of the God.
The recommendation says that the first and the foremost qualification of the True Master (Satguru) is that he must have known the True Lord (God) himself. In one of Kabir's songs, the Satguru is described as the real Sadhu:
He is the real Sadhu, who can reveal the form of the Formless to the vision of these eyes; Who teaches the simple way of attaining Him, the is other than rites and ceremonies; Who does not make you close the doors, and hold the breath, and renounce the world; Who makes you perceive the Supreme Spirit wherever the mind attaches itself; Who teaches you to be still in the midst of all your activities. Even immersed in bliss, having no fear in his mind, he keeps the spirit of union in the midst of enjoyments. The infinite dwelling of the Infinite Being is everywhere: in earth, water, sky and air; Firm as the thunderbolt, the seat of the seeker is established above the void. He who is within is without: I see Him and none else."
Vashista, Lord Rama's Guru was the Satguru in Treta Yuga. Swami Shankar Purushotamam Tirtha quotes Yoga Vashistha:
According to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, a Hindu Satguru is always a Sanyasin, an unmarried renunciate.
However, not all writers include the stricture. For instance,"Tukaram, a Hindu Satguru, is known to have had a family. Mounuddin Chishti also had children. The Satguru Kabir had a son, Kamal, who was very Devout."

From the above definition, what we can say is most of us or rather all of us have failed to realize the true meaning of Satguru. In todays's world, we define Satguru to be the person whom we seek when we are in trouble. When we face some sort of material problems, we go to this particular person and seek his advise on what should be done to overcome the problem. This person goes on trance, tells us to cut lime, throw around the house and we will see improvements. It might sound funny when it is put on words, but that is exactly what is happening today! We fail to realise that this 'Samiyaar' is merely reducing our self confidence, merely attracting devotees and followers, merely making a living out of this. He has not realize god himself, what more making us realize god! Once we seek such kind of Samiyaars to solve our problems, we are bound to go to him again and again whenever we face a problem. To the extend we lose our self esteem and motivation. One fine day, when we do what he says and we realize that it is not helpful, we consider him to be not powerful anymore. We turn to other Samiyaars. A Satguru doesn't have powers, he doesn't put up magic shows to attract people. A Satguru is an ordinary man with an ordinary soul, only that he has realized the Parabrahma and now he is making others realize the Parabrahma.
A true guru doesn't solve our problems and request us to do certain Parigara to overcome our problems. He teaches us how to face problems with a brave heart, how to overcome these problems our self through Sadhanas (good practice) and by building our self confidence and motivation.
A Satguru doesn't preach, what he does is to teach. A priest in a temple or churche preaches, he talks about the greatness of God, he even conducts seminars or courses for a fee. He has a number of followers or even devotees who worship him. On the other hand, a Satguru teaches, he does talk about God etc, but then he doesn't stop there, he teaches us how to self realize god within us. He teaches us to see God not externally but internally within ourselves and in every every other living beings. In short, he enlightens us, he cultivates love within all human beings, anger and hatred is thrown away.
Hence a Satguru does not have followers or devotees. He seeks for Shishyas (students). He does not charge fees for the knowledge he passes on, he realizes that the knowledge he has is far beyond the dollars and cents!
A follower follows blindly whatever the guru says, he accepts every single word that the guru utters. This does not help in growing the knowledge. The knowledge fades away with the follower. However, a student will study the knowledge gained, he analyses the teachings, he debates his thoughts on the teachings with the Satguru and when the student has come to a certain level of enlightenment, he passes on the knowledge gained from the guru and also what he understands out of it. This way, the knowledge has multiplied itself and continues to grow.
A good example will be Swami Vivekananda and his Satguru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. When Swami Vivekananda was a student of Ramakrishna, he argued a lot with the guru and challenged his teachings. He took time to study the rationale behind the guru's words. This way, he was able to get enlightenment and today we have Raja Yoga or Hatta Yoga is because of this great student of Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna confined himself in his asrama, he was teaching his students under 1 roof, but Swami Vivekananda spread the knowledge he gained from his Guru blended together with his own studies throughout the whole world. This is the greatest success of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa When someone called Swami Vivekananda a Guru, he said, " I'm not a guru, it's all my guru, Swami Ramakrishna.

Satsanghatve Nissangatvam

What is the meaning of Satsangham?

Sat (Truth) + Sangham (Company). Means to seek the company of THE truth. Truth can only be one, so as the Satguru or Parabrahma, which is only one. The concept of oneness is termed as Advaita Vedanta. The mind is modulated to see one in all and all in one. What's the one that we see? We see the truth. We see God as one and the one God that dwells in all beings. Once this level of moderation is achieved, one overcomes evil thoughts, hatred, jealousy, anger, lust etc towards another. One promotes love and easily accepts the differences between each other.

The great Shankaracharya has given clues that form the steps to Samaadhi (enlightenment). It forms simple yet definitive steps. Many Gurus and spiritual masters teach to us that desire (moha) should be dropped and there are zillions of people trying to practice dropping of the desires. Unfortunately only a few succeed.

Shankara knows better and this is Krishna's approach in Gita as well. Moha or desire is not like a ball that you catch and drop. It is like a habit or addiction. We can call it conditioning. Nobody has quit smoking by throwing a packet of cigarette. The individual when ready to quit, throws the packets. and he/she only quits when he/she changes and conditions oneself. Similarly, no body quits drinking by breaking a bottle of Johny Walker whiskey. Again, once the changes in the individual happen, he is ready to throw away the bottles. The change to get rid of a habit or addiction has to happen at the level of the personality and outlook of the individual concerned. Or else, after throwing the cigarette or the bottle, the individual would head back to the shop to purchase another.

Shankara therefore starts at the level of an individual and emphasizes the importance of Satsang as the starting point. Satsang is similar to right company. We all know that for advancement of our career we need the right company. I as an accountant socialize with other fellow accountants. We listen to talks and interact. We come back to our towns and apply that knowledge in our practice. There are conferences in every topic around the country and people come for developing better understanding their field of interest. There is no reason to get attached or hooked to these conference; there is no need to get attached to these conventions.

Similarly, in the field of spiritualism, satsang should lead to nissang (anasakti or non-attachment). This is so significant and is worth pondering over. Basically, Shakara here is defining what satsang is. Any company that leads to non-attachment is satsang. Conversely, if it does not lead to non-attachment, then it is not satsang. This is immensely helpful in finding the right Guru. This is just one simple formula. If a Guru tries to bind you down and is producing attachment, he is not the right Guru. A guru who is simply pointing his fingers to the direction you should go and is showing you the path to non-attachment (anasakthi or nissang) is the right Guru for you or me.

What is satsang and how does it work? The Guru or the right company encourages you or me to bring awareness to our lives. This company of awareness is ultimately the right company or the true satsang. The awareness that every action occurs at the periphery and nothing happens at the center is the starting point. Day by day, it becomes obvious that the natural state of being is non-attachment. There is never a connection between me the center and I the periphery. And this realization of anasakti or non-attachment.

If a Guru promises you that he will show you heaven, he will awaken your kundalini Sakti for a certain amount of fees, he will grant you happiness in life, prosperity in business, a good family life, what so ever which is material by nature, please be aware that such Gurus are not Satguru (True Guru). They are merely binding you down and producing attachments. Unfortunately, in today's fast moving world, the society seeks the feet of such Gurus. When the Guru grants 'magical' boons with their magical stick, temples are built for them, idols of them are placed. On the other hand, when the gets into a scandal or shows signs of worldly attachments and desires, their fame is washed down the drain and devotees turn away from them. These followers have failed to realize the true meaning and the true essence of a Guru. Please realize that this person is not even a Guru in the first place. You have been merely blinded and now you have been awakened by such unfavorable events. Please seek the true Guru, i.e. the Satguru!

Krishna does talk about abhyas (practice) yoga and he lays a lot of emphasis on this yoga. But we have to know what have to be practised. We cannot and should not try to practice non-attachment, because it is not an acquired phenomenon, neither can it be forced or taught by someone to follow; non-attachment is our default status, it is the natural state of all beings. All we have to do id REALISE it. But practice is required in bringing our awareness to it. The mind likes to get attached to the periphery and keep us busy there. Practice is needed in bring it to the center and keeping it there. Acts will still continue, but will continue with awareness. All techniques of meditation and all modes of Satsang try to make this happen. And once it becomes the steady state, it becomes hard to get attached or detached. For this a proper guru is essential.

It is also important to realize that both attachment and detachment happen at the periphery and that effort is needed for both. To come close to someone needs effort and similarly effort is needed to hate someone. Non-attachment does not require an effort; it is simply realization of our natural state of being. And once it happens, it produces qualitative changes in life. There may not be any changes obvious to someone watching from outside. Krishna still eats food and drinks water. He still plays tricks like anyone else, but there is qualitative difference in him and someone else doing the same thing. Krishna is established in the center, and all acts for him are happening at the periphery. There is no possibility of any attachment.

Satsang leads to non-attachment and in simple terms Satsang is living life with awareness; satsang is spending time with the center and watching the actions at the periphery as a witness. Any company that promotes this to happen is the right company. Shankaracharya truly has taken the gist of Gita and put it in a formula for us here and it is worth spending some time on understanding these gems of Bhaja Govindam.

Below is an extract of the Bhaja Govindam for all of us to ponder upon. Take time, read it, understand it and realize the true meaning.

Satsangatve Nissangatvam

Nissangatve Nirmohatvam

Nirmoatvam Nishchalattvam

Nishcalattvam Jiivanmuktih

From Satsangha, comes non-attachment; from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion, which leads to self-settlement. From self-settlement comes Jivan Mukti (liberation).