You would be familiar with the word satsang. Sat means "Saint" or "Divine Personality" and sang means "to associate". If sat, the Saint, is genuine and our sang, association with him, is also genuine, then we will attain our ultimate goal of God-realization and divine bliss. The Vedas state:
samitpāṇiḥ śhrotriyaṁ brahmaniṣhṭham (Mundakopanishad)
A
true Saint is one who has complete knowledge of the scriptures, and also
practical realization of God. He should be able to impart to us the
theoretical knowledge of the Vedas. Furthermore, he should have attained
divine vision of God. He must possess the treasure of divine love
bliss. If someone has a cheque book but nothing in the bank, what can the
cheque book achieve? If one merely talks about God, without having surrendered
to him and having attained divine love, then that talk will merely increase
ones pride.
What do we mean by sang or association? It can be of three kinds. We possess three things: body, mind, and soul. Amongst these three, what must we associate with God and the Saints? Scriptures say that we must associate all three. The surrender must be complete. God says we must offer all that we have in our possession. It is true that whatever we have is impure and dirty, but we must offer it anyway. God does not expect us to offer him divine things from Golok. He says, "Whatever you possess, offer it all to Me." Of our three possessions, the mind is the most important. This mind has two states: mind and intellect. The advaitis (monists) mention four states, but that is not important. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna has himself mentioned only two states of the mind:
What do we mean by sang or association? It can be of three kinds. We possess three things: body, mind, and soul. Amongst these three, what must we associate with God and the Saints? Scriptures say that we must associate all three. The surrender must be complete. God says we must offer all that we have in our possession. It is true that whatever we have is impure and dirty, but we must offer it anyway. God does not expect us to offer him divine things from Golok. He says, "Whatever you possess, offer it all to Me." Of our three possessions, the mind is the most important. This mind has two states: mind and intellect. The advaitis (monists) mention four states, but that is not important. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shree Krishna has himself mentioned only two states of the mind:
mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśhaya
"Arjun!
Offer your mind to me, and offer your intellect also to me." Arjun
thought, "The mind is one, then how is he is asking for two
things?" Shree Krishna said, "Yes! Yes! There is
only one mind, but it has two states. When it thinks, it is called the
mind, and when it takes decisions, it is called the intellect."
Thus, it is mainly the mind and the intellect that must associate with the Saint. And of these two, the intellect is more important. The mind is a mere servant of the intellect. It simply does what the intellect tells it to do. You people say time and time again, "Oh! My mind does not want to think of God. My mind is telling me to sleep. My mind is telling me to go away from here." Granted the mind may be telling you to do all this, but you must learn to control it with the intellect that God has given you.
Thus, it is mainly the mind and the intellect that must associate with the Saint. And of these two, the intellect is more important. The mind is a mere servant of the intellect. It simply does what the intellect tells it to do. You people say time and time again, "Oh! My mind does not want to think of God. My mind is telling me to sleep. My mind is telling me to go away from here." Granted the mind may be telling you to do all this, but you must learn to control it with the intellect that God has given you.
