Satsang

A tune makes the medicene sweet

Chapter 6 Satsang

Peter returned to New Delhi. He sent out an e-mail to Charles at UNESCO on his choice of selection of the case study subjects.

Indian legends on the role of the mother as self regulator was presented in several different versions of man's evolving experience. There was little Krishna and his brother Balram in the paradise of Brindavan. Then as he grew, it became the legend of the teenager, Krishna and the gopis. This further developed into the legend of Govardana hill where Krishna persuaded the common man to rebel against King Indra, who was King and god to the people. All these legends carry a dream like quality to their experience.

This last event may have caused the fall of Krishna on account of the powerful storm that King Indra sent to destroy the livelihood of the people at Govardana. He loses his dream sensation of experiences and brings himself to a greater experience of reality.

In rising from the fall, Krishna cultivates himself as a man in a physical environment. He takes his reformist attitude to Madurai where in an encounter with the King of Madurai, Kamsa, he kills the king and brings back Kamsa's father, Ugrasena to the throne. Kamsa represents the self serving attitude in man. This commences his understanding of the world where he becomes familiar with greater forces at work in the environment.

He comes to meet the empire of the Pandavas, as the group that broke away from the Indus valley and set up a new home in the Ganges. Historically, this represents the Magadha empire in eastern India. As they grew, their outlook on life, took on a greater physical nature than the practices of the people in the Indus valley. This caused certain ideological differences.

In the Mahabaratha war that followed, the Pandavas defeat the Kauravas from the Indus and establish a new sampradaya in India's history. The new outlook creates an emphasis on the physical nature of man's experiences. In some respects, this represents the Kaliama-Hyacinth schism, causing an exodus of the Bactrian population in western India, to travel further west.

In the last and final legend, Sri Krishna is depicted as the householder in the world, engaging his two loves, both the east and the west in the form of two wives and trying to bring a reconciliation of the two in his individual understanding of himself.

Peter identified Neela in the depiction of the early experiences, up to the Mahabaratha war. Thereafter, he identified Chandra, one of the Swamys recommended by the university. But in the final part, he saw a need to go back to Neela as the return to the household life.

Charles's reply was succinct.

“Excellent suggestion and scope of study. Am pleased to approve the same.”

 

Peter arranged to meet Chandra the following day. The ashram that was run by Swamy Chandra Segara Raja Megam was located in the north eastern part of the city. It comprised a double-storey bungalow, in a quiet neighborhood, with a large hall for satsang gatherings, meditation rooms, a dining area, kitchen and a dormitory.

The bungalow was surrounded by a garden on all sides.

He met the Swamy in the hall. Swamy was as usual surrounded by the company of students undergoing apprenticeship.

“All divisions are falsely imagined,” the Swamy said in response to Peter. “We experience a split from ourselves for many reasons. There is of course the gender issue. It is the basis of all divisions. Thereafter, the individual experiences a division between himself and another on account of color. Then there is the division between living and non-living, animate and inanimate, knowledge and ignorance, good and bad and finally this adds up to the experience of the individual and the world.”

“What constitutes this division?” Peter asked.

“A man's will,” he replied. “We have to divide the world in order to relate to it, thereafter the division becomes unbearable and we seek ways to reunite.”

“How would you describe your attainment of your understanding?” Peter continued.

The Swamy paused to consider.

“I grew up here in New Delhi. My father was a practicing priest in the temple. I never had a normal childhood....just being a child.” He paused before continuing, “I was a bit rebellious in my teens and my father decided to leave me to my own devices. I took up a job as a teacher and never wanted anything to do with my father.”

He paused to recall the details.

“Slowly, I came into my own and realized the person I was. The divisions caused in me were on account of my family reputation and the preservation of the truth that my father represented. But in overcoming that, I realized that there were natural divisions in society that was founded on a whole lot of other matters. So I spent my time understanding the cause of divisions.”

He smiled before continuing.

“If a man spent a lifetime questioning something, it is bound to reveal the answers to him sooner or later. So I came to see the divisions as a play between the innamai and the mahimai, two principles that represent self and the world. In a simple view, that's all there is, but to persuade the mind of its truth, one has to live the tenets in life, apply it in our daily activities before the mind accepts them as true.”

“Swamy, the satsang,” one of the students called out.

“Oh yes,” he corrected himself, “ in the early experiences of the understanding, one engages food, relationships, work and of course songs as a medium to affirm one's understanding. This is undertaken in a controlled environment, such as this ashram. But beyond that we encourage the student to leave, take a job outside for at least two years, and allow the environment to affirm that knowledge.”

“This is the experience of the Mahabaratha?” Peter asked.

“Certainly,” the Swamy affirmed. “It's a play of the mind.”

“Are your students able to go home to their families?” Peter asked.

“The family environment is still too complicated for the student,” he advised. “Where it involves women and children, the student offers to them his own experience of the female and the child. Thereafter, in a male student, he is left with the male identity, but they view the family with a deep personal sense and this sometimes leads to break ups.”

Before Peter could respond, the Swamy suddenly perked up and said,

“The family is of course the final exercise in the growth of the student, but no guru can tell you what to do there. It is at the will of the jivan or the creative force of the universe.”