Satsanga of Love:
A Feast of Friends on the Noble Path


The 2007 Satsanga of Love began on January 29, 2007. Swami Veda Bharati suggested that a daily synopsis be shared with family members around the world who are able to attend only in spirit.


Monday, January 29, 2007 - Love, Serve, Remember

The opening ceremony took place on a sunny afternoon in a colorful pavilion erected at Sadhana Mandir. It began with the recitation of Vedic mantras and introductory comments by Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Dr. Prakash Dixit, and Sonia van Nispen. The time had arrived for Swami Veda to speak - a moment that was highly anticipated, as everyone was curious to learn "Why are we all here, and what is this all about?"

Swami Veda spoke of choices to be made and organizational work to be done, but if there were a singular answer to the question, "Why have we gathered here?" it was when Swamiji reminded us that we are here not to establish an organization but to establish ourselves. As he has been heard to say elsewhere, Yoga is not merely learning a system or a technique; it is the reconstituting of your whole personality. This would be a week for personal transformation, however the goal would be to pull the teachings we have received from the ancient texts, our teachers, masters and Gurudev out of the abstraction of the intellectual mind and into our hearts to share with others in the experience of life. It has been said that the greatest gift a spiritual guide can give to a student is self-reliance, that the master's work is to transform the student into a master, capable of not only continuing personal spiritual growth, but also becoming capable of guiding others. All considerations of "choices to be made, organizational work to be done" aside, if the purpose of the Satsanga of Love is to prepare this spiritual family for the transitions to come, the most important task is developing the self-reliance, stability, equanimity, and purity of thought, speech and action which will allow the family not merely to continue, but to truly thrive.

So, as our Master has chosen the Satsanga of Love as a vehicle to impart this most valuable gift of spiritual self-reliance, we turn to ourselves, not as egoistic individuals, but as kalyanimitra - friends on the noble path - who, when noticing that our companion is about to lose his footing, gently, compassionately, and with unconditional love, call attention to the next step. Love is a communication, both giving and receiving, and as kalyanimitra we are to cultivate this love in the context of the Himalayan Tradition - love as teaching, giving guidance and knowledge as needed, and love as learning, accepting the guidance of others, knowing criticism to be of actions not of the person. By cultivating this sense of kalyanimitra, we can expand our capacity for gratitude. For years the guidance of our teachers, masters, and Gurudev have been a blessing upon us - has our spiritual growth reflected our acceptance of this blessing? The greatest gift we can bestow upon our Master is the gratitude that can only be expressed when we manifest the acceptance of the blessing through the spiritual growth that the teachings have made us capable of realizing. Irrespective of spiritual attainment, food is still food, and mouth is still mouth - a master's work is never done, but as the older children grow, they acknowledge that they are the inheritors of the responsibilities of the household. They are the custodians not only of their younger brothers and sisters, but properly see themselves as the link between past and future generations, and then serving appropriately.

Many have looked at this family of highly qualified people surrounding Swami Veda and ask him, "Swamiji, why do you insist on doing everything yourself rather than delegating the more mundane responsibilities so that you can spend more time with your writing and meditation?"

Again and again, he has said that it is not enough to be intellectually capable - it is also important that those who are given responsibilities be capable of performing them with a purity of intention and a capacity to surrender the fruits of their actions. He assured us that the family is not without such personalities but that, due to their humility, they have kept to the background and kept to the shadows. Where leadership is concerned, particularly within a spiritual context, those most qualified to lead are those, though not unwilling to assume responsibility, who are least inclined to assume the power and influence that often accompanies it. Now is the time for those who are spiritually qualified to come forward from the shadows of their humility, and for those who have not yet become spiritually qualified to come forward from the shadows of their egoism. This task involves an honest attempt at cultivating the fine art of“being small." Swamiji was heard to say, "Don't think it needs to be difficult - it can be done. But it requires sankalpa."


Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Marks of Spiritual Progress, Format

The daily format for this first week of the Satsang of Love is as follows: The family gathers in the meditation hall and is settled into meditation by 8:15, in anticipation of Swamiji, who guides the meditation with his presence for an hour. After meditation, he speaks for a short time and sets a focus for the day's contemplations and discussions. A hatha yoga class follows and then a recorded lecture from Swami Veda's series, "Marks of Spiritual Progress" is played in the meditation hall.

The "Marks of Spiritual Progress" lectures are the basis of Swami Veda's spiritual homework assignment, which the delegates have been studying in preparation for the deliberations before them. The six lectures will be examined over the following six days.

The plenary group reconvenes at the meditation hall at 2:30, when two members of the family engage in a pair discussion of approximately 20 minutes to offer possible approaches for smaller group deliberations.

The small group deliberations run from 3:00 to 5:00 (with a short break for tea, of course), after which the groups re-convene in the meditation hall to present the fruits of their discussions to the entire group. Swamiji joins, observing the final presentation, offering a few additional comments and considerations, and apologizing for keeping the group from dinner.

One of the delegates gives a presentation in a field of interest or expertise at 8:00 for the evening program, and after the evening prayers at 9:00, it is time for rest.

On this particular day, Swamiji requested that we contemplate the choices and preparation that must be made to prepare for the time of the last breath and the transition that follows. A guideline was also set - that during this festival, participants refrain from identifying themselves by their nation - neither Germans nor Americans nor Koreans nor Indians - but simply as humans and friends.

The pair conversation that opened the small group discussions was provided by Jim Nelson and Veenie Blilie, both of Minneapolis. They spoke of the importance of being open to the pure experience of pain: Rather than repressing those thoughts and feelings that we deem uncomfortable, difficult, or unbecoming of a personality on the spiritual path, allowing such thoughts to arise, but regarding them as a witness - a task that requires an identification with the spiritual center that can only be cultivated through persistent and continuous practice.

At the evening program, Dr. Dinesh Sharma spoke on Ayurveda. He is not only an Ayurvedic physician, but was trained from within a traditional Ayurvedic lineage, and has also lectured widely.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The contemplation that Swami Veda set for the day with his morning talk is perhaps summarized by his request that, if only for a single day, we be critical only if we can be critical out of unconditional, unqualified, absolute love of the person who is exhibiting the behavior of which we are being critical. As an aid , it was suggested that the moment any negative thought arises in the mind-field, to mentally recite five Gayatri mantras, followed by the Mother Gayatri prayer.


Dr. Stoma Parker and Salvatore Zambito opened the afternoon group contemplation of the second lecture on the Marks of Spiritual Progress. They focused on the idea that just as the meaning of a word is not the definition of the word, but rather the experience of the word, the meaning of spiritual teaching is not discourse, analysis and definitions, but spiritual experience of the teaching itself. Salvatore told a beautiful story of three Chinese masters who traveled from town to town, saying nothing, but breaking forth in such genuine, heartfelt, and contagious laughter that the entire town would break out in laughter, at which point the masters would depart, their work there being done for the time. Stoma and Salvatore made full opportunity to engage in their own infectious hilarity, which further illustrated the point of an experience, rather than a definition, being the meaning of a thing, and also explored the silence and stillness which follows a such a genuine experience as pure laughter. It was noted that pain and joy, laughter and tears, are in many ways quite similar, and given the choice between the two, why not choose joyful laughter rather than painful tears? This notion of choice has been an underlying theme - life before yoga and meditation is life without choice - we are continuously assaulted by thoughts and feelings that arise from the mind and, mistakenly believing them to be who we are, reduce ourselves to the content of our thoughts and emotions. With spiritual practice comes the capacity to be a detached witness, capable of observing the distinctiveness of the Self from the thoughts and emotions which were previously mistaken to be essential to the personality - and how this opens a space in which a choice can be made: "Is this thought conducive to samadhi? Is this emotion conducive to the state of mind necessary to breathe a final breath of the quality I wish my final breath to have?" The explanation was offered as to why a sorrowful choice is made, rather than one of joy: Feeling the loss of all the joy that one has realized to be absent from life, letting go of that sense of loss and experiencing the Joy is often harder than remaining with the pain.

Swami Veda observed several group presentations and spoke for some time before dinner. As a result, dinner was late, and there was no evening program - there was much digesting to do.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

This morning, Swami Veda suggested that we contemplate that 95% of what we believe to be rationally held views are actually emotionally based, and that what we consider to be the rational basis for these views, prejudices, and all other aspects of our personalities are actually an overlay, an intellectual attempt at rationalizing the predominately emotional make-up of our minds.

Day Three of the small group discussions on the Marks of Spiritual Progress considered a somewhat more accessible lecture, and the delegates, with two days of experience with the process, found the experience very enriching. Michael Kissener and Paul Scheele opened the afternoon discussion, and the group presentations that followed the small group discussions were particularly powerful. In the Himalayan Tradition, one is never asked to accept anything as true but rather is encouraged to experiment and verify for oneself whether something is true. Until we apply ourselves to the personal verification and assimilation of a teaching by steady, continuous spiritual practice, even the most powerful advice remains as seeds still in the hands of the sower. The small group discussions are a forum in which the delegates, with the guidance of Swami Veda and the support of the satsanga, examine their own spiritual transformation as a process of integrating the teachings - not merely intellectually, but fully into daily life. As this process of self-examination reaches a particular point in the group discussions, we heard the perennial teachings echoed, rather then being merely recited, as parrots do. In that moment, the channels of communication between the aspirants permit teacher-student relationships to be spontaneously created, and the teaching is transmitted. The world of spiritual endeavor has no lack of cliches, but when the dampers are removed from the bells during this processes of kalyanimitra group discussion, the words ring clear and true - a communication not merely of definition, but of experience, not merely of information, but of love.

This evening, Salvatore Zambito spoke about the creation of his recently published book, The Unadorned Thread. The book brings together 12 English translations of the Patanjali's Yoga Sutras within a single volume, in a concise and easy to read format. Salvatore is a very enjoyable and engaging speaker, and the story of the creation of this work - which was not merely the writing of a book, but for the author, the creation of conscious entity - was a powerful example of the capacity for intellectual endeavor, when carried out with devotion and concentration, to be transformed into spiritual sadhana.