Value Of Satsang

By Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal
The company of learned and virtuous people (Satsang) is what we should seek. Just being in their company, rids us of our ignorance (agnana). Gnanis do not indulge in unnecessary talk. They discuss only matters relating to the atma. They speak the truth, and thus we too imbibe the quality of honesty.

Honesty, in turn, confers peace of mind on us. One who utters lies can know no peace. He is always in a state of agitation, for fear that he might be found out. To cover up one lie, he utters another, and thus he is caught in a cycle of lies, from which he cannot get out of. Our association with gnanis also earns for us the respect of society. If we count the learned as our friends, then that says a lot about our own good qualities.

Gnanis help us in ways we cannot even think of. There was a poor man who, every day, provided food to a gnani engaged in penance. One day, the poor man had to perform his father's death anniversary, but he had no money to perform the rituals. His wife asked him to approach the gnani for help. The gnani, being a man of God, had no money to give the poor man. All he had was an ash gourd, which he gave to the poor man. Obviously, the vegetable was going to be of no use to the man in conducting his father's death anniversary. So he laid it aside and managed to go ahead with what little money he had.

The gourd shrivelled up after some days. The poor man's wife cut open the gourd to see if something could be salvaged, and inside the gourd she found diamonds. The gnani had not put the diamonds there. How could he, when he had nothing to call his own? But such was the power of the gnani's penance that the poor man had been rewarded for serving the gnani throughout the year.

Our minds are constantly in a state of worry and confusion because of the pressures of life. This confusion is wiped out when we are with gnanis. We are no longer faced with dilemmas, for now decision-making becomes easier for us, since we think clearly. Since gnanis always speak only about the scriptures, and of matters pertaining to the atma, we derive mental strength from their words.