When you keep an iron nail next to a magnet, after sometime the nail starts exhibiting magnetic properties. If you put ice in hot water, after sometime it melts and the water becomes cold. History speaks of the Paras Mani, the divine stone, the touch of which changes everything into gold. A rotten fruit causes all the other fruits in the basket to rot. Human beings are no different. An English proverb says that a man is known by the company he keeps. When two people spend a lot of time together, after sometime they start becoming like each other. This happens because in every interaction—with a person, an animal, a plant or even an object—there occurs an exchange of prana. In the realm of the ether and to a clairvoyant eye, this is visible as a change in colour of the aura—yellow interacts with a blue to become green, but the same yellow when interacting with black becomes brown. No wonder our ancestors emphasised upon the importance of good company or satsang, the company of evolved beings.
History abounds with examples of the effect company has on a person. In the Ramayana, it is told of how Manthra, the housemaid’s company, diluted the thought process of the just Queen Kaikeyi, who under her influence demanded King Dashrath to send Lord Ram to exile. There is a story in Ayurveda, in which the rishis who came down from the higher reaches to settle in the plains, began to age owing to interactions with commoners. Likewise, there are instances of evolution of beings in the company of Gurus and exalted beings. Ahilya transformed from a stone to a woman, by the mere touch of Lord Ram and she got salvation. Arjun got the gyan of Gita in the company of Lord Krishna and he won a losing battle.
Satsang basically means being in the company of sat, that is truth, because only when you are in the company of truth, do you realise truth. A company full of falsehood always leads to the destruction of the body and the soul. Satsang need not necessarily be with a person or with people. It could also mean the atmosphere of Vedic chants, which emit phenomenal positive energy; or it could also mean reading sermons by evolved beings, though it is always best to be in the company of Gurus as the Guru would know your energy frequency and how to upgrade you. Let me give you a practical, easy-to-do exercise for your house or office, without resorting to buying books or travelling. A simple kriya detailed in the shashtras—the Sanatan Kriya. As you sit in silence and do dhyan with your Guru as detailed in the kriya, you automatically come into the satsang of your Guru, saints and subtle energies.
Kusang or negative company does the opposite of what a satsang would do. If satsang is tamso ma jyotirgamaya, kusang is jyotirma tamso gamaya or in other words instead of going from darkness to light through satsang, you are asking the Divine Mother to go from light to darkness by kusang. A very good indication of which of the two states you are in is to observe your tendency of action. If you are doing charitable acts, spiritual acts, going deeper into meditation, avoiding alcohol and parties, then the energy you are with is definitely satsang. If the opposite is what you are doing, actions like turning your face away from an injured animal, causing harm to environment, immersing yourself in grosser pleasures and if your time for meditation is reducing, then it is kusang. Never let anyone else judge you; always let your experience and the course your life takes, judge you.
Yogi Ashwini is the spiritual head of Dhyan Ashram.
dhyan@dhyanfoundation.com