Satsang

Our System

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System for Self Realization

Guru Maharaj created this Sadhana by incorporating the original steps of Yoga, as established by Maharishi Patanjali, and placing them in a differing order. This unique system enables the seeker to progress straightforwardly and easily.

Maharishi Patanjali in “Yoga Sutras” established eight limbs in ascending order called the ‘astangas’ of Yoga. They are Yama (Restraints), Niyama (Observances), Asana (Posture), Pranayama (Control of “Prana” – Vital Energy; – Breathing exercises), Pratyahar (Withdrawal from senses or thoughts of external objects), Dharana (Concentration), Dhyan (Meditation) and Samadhi (Super conscious experience, absorption). Out of these eight limbs, the first five are considered bahirangas (external aids) and the last three limbs as antarangas (internal aids).

Nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-greed constitute Yama (restraints), the first step.

Internal and external purification, contentment, austerity of body, speech and mind, study of self and devotion to God constitute Niyama (Observances), the second step on the ladder of Yoga.

Yama contributes to social harmony and Niyama to personal purity. Maharishi lumps the last three elements of Niyama together – austerity of body, speech and mind, study of self, and devotion to God and calls it ‘kriyayoga’.

Asana (Posture) is to be seated in a position which is firm but relaxed.

Pranayama (Control of “Prana” – Vital Energy; – Breathing exercises) is controlling the vital airs in the body through the regulation of breathing.

Pratyahar (Withdrawal from senses or thoughts of external objects) – When the mind is withdrawn from the sense-objects, the sense-organs also withdraw themselves from their respective objects and thus are said to imitate the mind. This is known as Pratyahar.

Dharana (Concentration) is holding the mind within a center of spiritual consciousness in the body, or fixing it on some divine form, either within the body or outside it.

Dhyan (Meditation) is an unbroken flow of thought toward the object of concentration.

Samadhi (Absorption) – When, in meditation, the true nature of the object shines forth, not distorted by the mind of the perceiver; this is absorption.

The last three steps – Dharana, Dhyan and Samadhi – are actually three continuous steps of the same process. Maharishi Patanjali calls these three steps together as ‘samyama’.

Generally, the followers of Raja Yoga go through the eight steps in the order which Maharishi Patanjali had established. They would start their Sadhana (Practice of Spiritual Discipline) with Yama and Niyama, and would get tangled in these disciplines. It is not easy to master nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and non-greed; internal and external purification, contentment, austerity of body, speech and mind, study of self and devotion to God.

Guru Maharaj experimented and perfected a system in which he put the three last ones – Dharana, Dhyan, and Samadhi first. Also, during the practice of Dharana, at times Pratyahar is brought into picture. The benefit of this method is that the inner strength gained through Dharana, Dhyan, and Samadhi helps in mastering the five elements of Yama and the five elements of Niyama. For spiritual progress, Yama and Niyama must be assimilated.

In this method of Sadhana, which is based on Dharana, Dhyan, and Samadhi, Guru Maharaj taught us to include Upasana and Bhakti, as well as Love and True Knowledge. In the beginning of this Sadhana, importance is placed on envisioning Guru or God in the form of light. Through continuous practice the darkness of ignorance gets removed and True Knowledge is acquired.

This is one of the most easy, convenient, and fruitful methods of Sadhana. Here, the Sadhak is merely asked to spend 15-20 minutes every morning and evening doing Sadhana, devoting the rest of the day attending to worldly duties and living a normal life. In this system, along with the efforts of the Sadhak, the power of the Guru is also injected. Using his own powers, the Guru uplifts the seeker; moves him forward, removes the obstacles from his path, cleans his inner core, and one day delivers him at the doorsteps of God.

In this method, the seeker only needs to establish a connection with the Guru, a connection that must initially be established in person, but later can be maintained by thought. The main focus is on inner Satsang.

With the help of the Guru, True Knowledge can be had quickly and with relative ease, which is the source of Peace. From time to time, Satsang programs are organized at various places where seekers can practice in larger groups.w

5 Steps of realization

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Sages and our scriptures suggest that the original abode of the soul is absolute peace, tranquility, and pure consciousness. In the process of coming to the world or the body, it goes through a journey downwards through five states of being, which are like five Realms. It travels down from its original abode of always being in the state of Love and Bliss to the Realm of Body and in the process, it loses its freedom to be in its original state of Bliss, which is its inherent and original nature.

It further loses its connection with the Supreme consciousness or God and its discerning Intellect. We are not able to differentiate between the Means to live in this world and the Objective of our being and for most of us the “Means only becomes the Destination”. Mind and Intellect become cluttered to know what is right and fair. Finally, in the Realm of Body, it is only interested and focused on its sensory pleasure and living a mechanical life. Its state becomes like that of a cattle, trapped in a marshland, which does not know how to come out of it and more it struggles to come out, deeper it goes. It becomes caged in the body and after staying for some time in this state, he even starts loving the cage. In the process, he goes through pain & pleasure, but the lasting peace always evades him, and he does not know how to lift himself to his original state of Bliss. In another words, he is not aware, how to attain Nirvana or Salvation.

These states or Realms are:

The first level is the lowest level of being, a very mechanical, almost animal-like existence. Eat, drink and be merry is the mantra. Focus is always on taking care for the body and satisfying its demands, without analyzing whether right or wrong. Objective of life is Sensory pleasure as opposed to being awake. Some people never wake up to the higher level of awareness and stay stuck.

After the Realm of Body, comes the Realm of Life in which we get drawn up towards the divinity and cosmic consciousness, practicing religious rituals and connecting to the spiritual world. These two Reals are covered through External Karmas like rituals, chants, visiting individual places of worships etc. After we cross the two states, we enter the Realm of Mind. This is where the real spiritual pursuit begins because Mind is the controller of all organs. It is the Mind, which works as the fulcrum between Body and Soul and which is responsible for transforming thoughts into actions. We can not achieve lasting peace without befriending mind and quieting our mind. The practice for covering this Realm is ‘Upaasana’, Which is the core of our Guru Maharaj’s system. After this for the fourth Realm we need to practice cleansing our intellect and sharpening our wisdom. And finally, for the final Realm the practice is complete surrender and becoming an Observer or Drashta as it is called in our Eastern Philosophy. Only after that we experience the unison with God and savor the Bliss.

Hence, the objective of our Spiritual pursuit is to be aware, awake, and then crossing these five states to transcend back to our original state of being. This means to reverse the process and again go through them albeit in the reverse order to reach again the Realm of Love / Bliss. Its logical like peels of onion, that the state that had come last is crossed first and the original state is reached at the end i.e. our Final destiny.

In this process, the Mind plays its game and puts up several hindrances before the seeker. It continuously tries to push him down, at times alures him with all kinds of worldly temptations. They could be material wealth, some mystique powers, name & fame or even disrespect towards his Master or God. Fighting and winning over the game of Mind by adopting the spiritual practices with the help of the Power of his Master is general known as ‘Satsang’ or the ‘Spiritual Pursuit’. For a long time, the battle between the Mind and the Seeker continues with win lose to each other but slowly and steadily we evolve with the help of our Master.

Hence, this pursuit is also known as the ‘Journey of crossing the five states.’ The specific Practices to cross any Realm, would be different, which the seeker must adopt as per the advice of his Master. The detail about the different practices and the different Realms would be discussed in subsequent sections.

Our Guru Maharaj has given us a system of Spiritual pursuit which He developed for us considering our worldly responsibilities and considering we are pressed for time and do not have resources for the difficult ‘yogic practices’. The system not only enables us to cross these five states with much ease but also provides the much-needed joy of Love, inner peace and freedom from fear and anxiety during the journey. Our Guru Maharaj’s system starts from addressing the Realm of Mind, as the lower two Realms get addressed and covered in the process in the beginning only. We get the first Realization that we are not just a Body, but we are a ‘Divine entity’ within the Physical body and part of the same divinity that pervades the entire world. We appreciate the importance and identify the transactions and interplay of our ‘Mind, Intellect & Ego’, the internal organs with our Body and Soul. We understand the importance of befriending our Mind.

One of the most critical pre-requisites for this system is to connect with an able Master, who knows the lanes and by lanes of these Realms. Some of them are like climbing a mountain which is both slippery and steep. The Master has crossed them many a times, and accordingly He provides help and support to his disciples. We can choose to call Him Friend, Guide, Master, or anything of our choice.

Our Guru Maharaj suggested that the best way is to establish a family relationship with Him like Uncle, Aunt, Brother, Friend, or anything that suits us. Another pre-requisite is to establish this relationship based on absolute ‘Faith & Respect’.

Our prayers to Guru Maharaj to bless us with a sense of resolve and duty towards ourselves. May He enlighten our path to lift ourselves to our original Abode of Bliss, Peace, and a sense of Equipoise. Amen.

Starter Kit

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Frequently Asked Questions

People who are exploring spirituality or are in pursuit of peace or just want to simplify their lives have questions. In this section we try to answer some of the basic questions based on the philosophical views and principle tenets of Ramashram Satsang Mathura. Some of the answers are actual responses given by Shri Sanjiv Kumar, an engineer by profession and a spiritual scientist by design to some seekers.

Questions covered include:
 The need for spirituality
 Physical and material well being
 Why a Guru?
 The benefits of meditation
 Personal growth through spiritualism

The Need for Spirituality

1. If I am happy with my existence, do I still need spirituality?
Yes, spirituality talks about the common good, about everlasting peace. Right now,
in this physical state our happiness is dependent upon material possessions and
other external factors. Our perception is that happiness is possible just by achieving
more of physical comfort and physical possessions. But, even a mere thought or
possibility of losing them results into anxiety and makes us unhappy. Our lives are
stressful due to our desires to achieve more of them. Our overall lifestyle in terms of
health or having a calm state of mind, work-life balance, and our ability to be at
peace irrespective of the external environment does not improve. So, we need to
figure out what provides us that, and I think spirituality does.

2. What will I gain through this Satsang?
I would say its internal spiritual strength. We have been trying to achieve peace and
happiness in life through physical possessions and things that are materialistic.
Materialism has not given us everlasting peace. It only increases our desire to get
more and more. While spirituality talks about the common good. How  humans can
achieve lasting peace, can coexist better and we would go beyond physical comforts
and physical possessions, talk more about our personal growth by covering all
aspects of our life and not just obliquely focussed on material acquisition. Achieving
spiritual strength and inner strength that will provide us a peaceful coexistence
across nations and communities rather than continuing to fight for the self-centric
individualistic and materialistic approach that we tend to have today.

On Physical & Material Well Being

3. Will I have to shun physical and material comforts?

In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna taught us how to balance between karma and
dharma. Basically, Spiritualism and this world are not at odds rather they
complement each other. One can continue to achieve progress within this world,
and yet if we stay a little detached from it, we can achieve spiritual progress as well.
We can continue to enjoy the marvels of the material comforts and at the same time
be at peace within.

4. Is detachment necessary?
The Bhagwad Gita talks a lot about detachment and we are losing this concept in this
culture and age. Attachment leads to misery and we go back and forth between
pain and pleasure, state of happiness and sadness and misery, as those ups and
downs of emotions that come through attachment.  Buddha said that root cause of
all misery is our attachment to our possessions. Our scriptures have taught us that
detachment is an element which would provide us the ability to live well in the world
as well as continue to progress spiritually by focussing on our rightful Karma or duty.

5. How can one attain detachment?
Indian culture and heritage always had the concept of Guru. The moot question is,
why do we need a Guru? Because, if detachment was so easy that everybody could
implement, they would have been living happily all by themselves. Lots of people
have studied Gita, but how do you implement those concepts in our own lives?
That’s the challenge.  So we would have to find someone who has done that and is
aware where all the challenge lies. My grandfather, Guru Maharaj, Dr Chaturbhuj
Sahay Ji, implemented those concepts and practiced them in his own life and then he
shared it with the world. These days I follow the same process that he prescribed
and I try to share that with youngsters and anybody who is interested because I feel
the concepts are great but implementation within one’s life is the most important
piece and fortunately my parents and my uncles who served the mission of Guru
Maharaj were also able to live a life which embodied the concepts that Lord Krishna
gave in Bhagwad Gita.

Need for a Guru

6. Who is a Guru?
Guru is someone who has moved forward towards self-realization and
enlightenment stage and now He is ready to share some of that with us.

7. If a Guru is needed for detachment, how can you find a Guru?

This is a great question. My grandfather Guru Maharaj actually wrote a book on this
topic, ‘Guru Bhakta Sahajo Bai’ by depicting how Sahajo Bai found her Guru and
then what followed. That whole book is on this topic.
Guru Maharaj also addresses the process by which a person who is not adept in
scriptures or who doesn’t have knowledge of the concepts that he wants to learn,
can figure out who is the right Guru. There was something that he quoted,
“गुरु मिला तो जानिए, जब मिटे मोह संताप।“
(Guru Mila to Janiye, Jab Mite Moh Santap)
This means that your quest for a Guru will end when you sit in front of him and
forget about all your miseries and questions. You would feel that all the miseries are
alleviated and a deep sense of peace is percolating inside without much effort.
Because, these days there are lots of people who talk about a lot of things but if they
cannot put one at ease and at peace irrespective of the external circumstances, then
I think there is a problem.

8. How will I know this is the right Guru for me? There are so many Gurus around.
I strongly believe that when you start your quest, the energies of the universe will
come to help you and they will guide you through to destination where you find your
Guru. So the first duty of a seeker is to inculcate that deep quest to get his Guru.
But, Guru Maharaj also said that when you think you have met your Guru you should
not accept Him all at once, rather test him. But, as someone not initiated into the
spiritual process, how can you test a Guru? One of the tests he suggested was that,
“if you sit in front of someone and you forget about your miseries and all those
tensions and anxiety that you have accumulated including the past baggage that you
have on your mind” then you have met your Guru.
Here’s a personal example. I used to visit one of the disciples of Guru Maharaj when
I was in college some 40 years ago. While travelling to meet him I would have so
many questions and would be thinking about so many things. But, the moment I
would sit in front of him, those doubts and queries are all cleared without speaking a
word. As though I am in the land of peace. All those questions would go away and
there was this amazing sense of calmness. It was pure Bliss as we call in Hindi
‘anand’. A deep sense of joy used to pervade inside that uplifts your energies and
enables your senses of being in a different world altogether. I experienced that and I
feel, that is one way to figure out.
By calmness and peace I mean it’s not just for 30 seconds. You go there, you sit there
for an hour or more and you literally forget all the stress, all the issues and situations
that you are dealing with completely, and then I think you are in the right place.

9. How do Gurus help us find peace?

Guru Maharaj said that ‘to be at peace’ is the most inherent and natural thing to
happen for every single person or soul. Spirituality is a very natural phenomenon,
which we have forgotten because of the place where the society is, because of the
current culture, because everybody is running to amass something or the other,
without knowing what and why. And hence, there is no peace. So think about this as
you and I are talking right, we are all thinking about something all the time.
While you are thinking, the mind like a machine emits out thousands and thousands
of thoughts per millisecond. So, how will you find peace when this phenomena is
going on? You will have to stop the barrage of thoughts and go into what is called
the state of yoga. So, how do we stop the barrage of thoughts? Through meditation.
Now, somebody needs to teach us the right way to meditate. There are lots of ways
to meditate. Some are more effective than the others and the person who takes us
through that process is referred to as Guru.

Meditation & Its Benefits

10. What is meditation?

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11. Meditation takes too much time, is there any benefit?

Our Guru Maharaj talked about utilizing 23 hours in a day for your material gain and
for earning your living and taking care of your family. He said that for these 23 hours,
we might even forget Him in the process of focussing on the worldly duties, but he
asked us take out one hour every day for our own spiritual growth. He said as human
beings we owe it to ourselves. If we do that, slowly but steadily we will be able to
gain that inner strength. We develop the ability to hear our inner voice of conscience
that essentially calms ourselves. We are able to reflect & concentrate better and
make the right decisions.

12. Does meditation awaken your inner voice or conscience?
Yes and no. Let’s call the inner voice as conscience. How many people can really hear
their inner voice, their actual inner voice? We mostly hear our mind. Our thought
processes have taken over our real conscience, the intuition has taken a backseat.  If
we were so clean and pure that we got up in the morning and we are able to listen
to our inner voice telling us to do some good today, right? We don’t have time for
that. We don’t think it necessary. We already have several things lined up before we
actually get up. Everything is towards some material gain or activity. We are caught
up in a vicious cycle of things that have to be achieved during the day rather than
listen to our conscience.
When we meditate under the guidance of a Guru we bring ourselves to a stage
where

1. Our inner voice gains strength and clarity.
2. We calm our mind so that we can have the ability to listen to our inner
voice and
3. We think we are taking a vacation from this vicious cycle and trying to
connect with ourselves.
So people think that meditation is like we have to achieve this and we have to
achieve that, it’s more about connecting with our inner self. Self-realization is
nothing but knowing ourselves better and Meditation helps in all of it.

13. What is the right age to start meditating, should children meditate?
Guru Maharaj actually said meditation should start after attaining the age of 16 or
later because till teenage the brain is under development and it is better to let some
of the development happen before we start controlling our mind and taking charge
of ourselves.
The newer generation is on the mobile phone 24/7. They are getting exposed to all
kinds of things from a very early age. So, how do we expose them to lead a better
life where for example they have the ability to hear their inner voice or what we call
‘have inner strength’? Inner strength is the ability to be happy without just an
extreme focus on material things. Inner strength is happiness from within which is
irrespective of what status I have in this world and what material possessions I have.
So, inner strength will also help the youngsters to push back and avoid taking the
peer pressure. Sometimes we do things that we don’t want to do but do because of
peer pressure, my friends are doing this or people are pushing me in some ways. If
children have inner strength they will be able to resist all these and do what they
really think right and want to do.

Personal Growth & Spiritualism

14. No education system teaches meditation, yoga or the concept Guru
Education helps us and the society in so many ways, but there is a very heavy
emphasis on having a career, becoming an achiever. We have forgotten creativity,
forgotten curiosity and we have also forgotten to live life for a higher purpose. Can
we achieve those things just through the education system?

No, but if we go back to
our heritage in India, Gurus were always there. There are thousands of variations of
Yoga, philosophies and there are so many ways to achieve personal growth that will
take us to a higher level of being where we have the brain functioning at far more
efficient levels and where we are trying to become better human beings. So, does
the education system produce better human beings just by the virtue of going to
college? I don’t think so. We also need spiritual education of some sort which has
been always available but outside the education system.

15. How does spiritualism help us attain personal growth?

We all should look at personal growth, which is beyond bookish knowledge. We are
talking about inner strength, inner voice and the conscience. Our ability to become a
better human being is through vertical growth. There is a concept where we could
be moving horizontally in time where the past is gone, we are in the present which
will be gone shortly and the future we have never seen. If we could continue to
move horizontally in time without making any vertical progress we will just keep
doing what we are doing. By vertical progress, it is meant to improve our state of
being. We are part of the divinity that pervades everywhere in this world. But after
coming into contact with the world, we have travelled down through different
Realms or state of being. Finally, we reach into the Realm of our Body where our
entire focus and objective of live comes to satisfy the demands of this physical body
through sensory pleasure and material acquisition. Whereas vertical growth means
that we evolve ourselves again to higher states of being, by living a life with purpose
and to identify ourselves again with that divinity.
Upanishads talked about Panch Kosi Vidya (The 5 Realms of existence) where the
lowest level of being is the Realm of Body (Annmaya kosh), in which we are living
just for materialistic things and sensory pleasure. At the highest level of being i.e.
Realm of Bliss (Anandmaya kosh) we are self-realized, enlightened, in unison with
the Supreme Consciousness. So, basically the 5 steps to self-realization talks about
nirvana where you have to deal with your body, your breathing, your mind, your
brain, your ego and that’s what is meant from vertical progress. If we want to live a
life with purpose like Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa, we have got to make
vertical progress.
Spiritual growth helps us in becoming a better human being, living a life with higher
purpose instead of living a self-centric life just helping ourselves. Once we achieve in
our lives the higher levels of being through this vertical growth, we can even share
our experience with other people and help them achieve that.

16. In the age of politics and religion what is role of spirituality?

If our self-centeredness and self-preservation continues then we might lead
ourselves to the fate of self-destruction. If we look Indian or European history, we
will find that there were crusades, where people killed one another for religion. Does
that make sense? Of course not but what does not make sense even more is that it is
happening even today.  We have thousands of years of human history. We couldn’t
learn this lesson yet. What could be the reason we continue to kill each other in the
name of religion?
Then take materialism. There is 1% who have all the wealth in the world and 99% is
left in the dust, why? Humans have created these systems and concepts. Initially we
thought that communism  will bring the level so that everybody is at the same level.
Then, we thought that democracy will give us freedom, give us liberty, it will give us
the ability to be free in our will and in our ability to execute our free will.  Now

democratic societies are as corrupt rather more corrupt than we can ever imagine.
Power completely changes the public servants who were supposed to be serving.
There is one element that causes all this and that is the human mind and its lust and
greed. If you do not control the energy and thought processes that control the
human mind, we cannot progress vertically. We can befriend the human mind and
utilize it as a tool for our progress rather than being driven by it where the mind
turns the entire energy to material acquisitions. It can also turn into a wheel that
takes us to enlightenment but when the human mind is left uncontrolled, power,
money and other things lead to atrocities that we see in the world.
So, spirituality will help us control and manage our own mind, we achieve self-
realization and self-actualization that we were destined to as human beings.

Literature / Sadhan

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Overview of Satsang Publications

  • Atit, Agat Aur Anant by Param Pujya Sri Hemendra Kumar Ji
  • Kalyan Marg by Param Pujya Sri Brijendra Kumar Ji
  • Param Bhagwat Ka Jeevan Darpan by Param Pujya Viral Ji

Book: Atit, Agat Aur Anant

Atit, Agat Aur Anant is written in two complementary parts and provides an introduction to the historical perspective and current state of affairs of the Ramashram Satsang. The book also recommends the path that a spiritual seeker should pursue based on the teachings and ideals of Guru Maharaj Param Sant Dr. Chaturbhuj Sahay Ji. The author Param Sant Hemendra Kumar Ji admits his ineptitude as an author but considers that the book is a result of Guru Shakti (divine power), forcing him to put down his reflections about the great gurus, teachers, and Satsangis (spiritual seekers) whom he had so closely observed. According to the author, it is important not to deviate from the originality and the sanctity of the ideals and teachings of Guru Maharaj propagated in the Satsang, as the characteristics tend to get diluted over the passage of time. The book talks about the duty of every spiritual seeker to inculcate the Guru’s virtues such as simplicity, tolerance, selfless love, and blissful attitude.

Book: Kalyan Marg

Param Sant Dr. Brijendra Kumar Ji, son and disciple of Guru Maharaj, Param Sant Dr. Chaturbhuj Sahay Ji, gave several discourses and wrote articles while he taught meditation and spiritual practices. He was not only a master of the spiritual practices, but was also a reformist. Several of his articles and parts of discourses were found in his library that were never published. An attempt has been made to put this unpublished work and other discourses together in this book. The literal meaning of the title of the book is “Passage to Well-Being”. Great care has been taken that his thoughts and literary scheme are presented without any distortion. The articles in this book are a priceless possession for the reader and should help the reader immensely through his spiritual journey.

Book: Param Bhagwat Ka Jeevan Darpan

This book is about 108 real anecdotes from the life of Param Bhagwat Pandit Mihilal Ji. The reader will find that the anecdotes are thought provoking and informative about the finer details of meditation, spiritual practices, and behavior. The sweetness of eternal love and the fragrance of spiritual knowledge have been presented in short write-ups, and each anecdote has an important take-away. The writer, Param Pujaya Viral Ji, was a veteran editor of the monthly magazine “Sadhan” and has selected the write-ups to cover the entire life of Param Bhagwat Pandit Mihilal Ji. Every write up sounds like a self-standing story, and the reader will find himself immersed in the spiritual sea as he goes through the episodes one after another.

Click Here To Read More About Monthly Sadhan On Sadhan.in