SATSANGA, the celestial association

Satsanga is a celestial association of the devotees of the Lord with a purpose to delve deep into some subtle divine secret to gain more and more love of the Lord. It also includes the singing of devotional songs (Kirtana) either jointly or listening to them with extreme devotion and also the religious discourses conducted by certain learned religious scholars and preachers with a small or a large gathering. Satsanga is a valuable spiritual aid to bring the seeker closer to the supreme consciousness. It’s considered the easiest and the most effective way to reveal the supreme awakening of the soul within the seeker. This association demands heartfelt sincerity and deep devotion on the part of the participant. The more of devotion the simpler is the way to salvation and purity of soul which’s the ultimate purpose of all devotees and the motive for all activity towards the Lord. In Satsanga usually a good number of people assemble together, united in purpose such that their physical energies work in unison and there’s a collective flow of divine vibrations that has the capacity to inspire the truest love for the Lord leading to the highest divine achievements. As a prelude to all celestial activities the seeker needs to rise above the common demands of the physical existence, Lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego and their controlling mind and make a sincere effort to develop a flawless love for the Lord and once there’s some development in this direction there’s an automatic uplift of the soul and then Satsanga gives a great boost to the seeker.
For a common man busy in the mundane affairs physical afflictions are common. These are both natural and man made. Regular participation in Satsanga with deep devotion and love makes all these calamities at least easier to deal with and with consistent efforts there’s an end to all worldly troubles as there’s almost negligible feeling left about the pinch of these things for a seeker who has gone some distance in the path of divinity.
The real purpose of human life is to get liberated from the cycle of life and death and in order to attain this object one has to detach himself from the glamour of worldly activities and work for getting awakened to the secrets of life and the universe but the lure of worldly affairs is so captivating that life passes away like a dream and the main purpose of life is ignored by almost everyone and thus the process of reincarnation continues. Those who understand the truth of this life and work tirelessly for the achievement of its purpose are great eternal souls who’ve become one with the universal Lord and all the doors of awakening are open for them and nothing has remained unattained for them.
There’re two types of seekers in the path of divinity, those who shun all worldly affairs and remain absorbed with the Lord all the time away from the attention of the common man and those who opt to be apparently active with the worldly affairs---who run a family, bear children, work actively to earn a living but are mentally detached from the mundane world and work secretly for the achievement of the real purpose of life. These household saints do have a guide (Guru) or in certain cases do not require one as they’re already enough awakened to their main purpose of life. Satsanga or the celestial association is of great help to them as they themselves not only make a rapid advancement out of it but also carry along lots of people by developing in them the truest love of the Lord which helps them a long way towards a better awakening without any hurdles besides a comfortable worldly existence. The repetition of God’s name in its various forms in complete isolation with mind fixed at a certain point is a great vehicle for spiritual advancement but the same activity in unison within a group of devotees (Satsanga) gives a magical uplift of mind towards higher consciousness. The association of a pupil with his master (Guru) is the most revered activity in the celestial field and hence the choicest Satsanga. It involves the highest devotion of the taught for his teacher so much so that the master becomes the truest representative of God for the pupil making him capable to experience all the truths of divinity and helping him open all the doors of spiritual advancement. The modern social set-up and corporate living provides lots of tension and absence of peace. The common man deeply involved in the worldly affairs is largely benefited from occasional participation in Satsanga of varied type especially by providing him an instant peace of mind.

THE MURDER MOST FOUL

The gruesome murder of Rajneesh Sharma, a Jammu youth by Kashmir police inside Ram Munshi Bagh Police station in Srinagar is highly deplorable. The boy was taken into custody by the concerned police from his residence at Sarwal locality in Jammu on Sept 30 on a complaint of kidnapping of a Muslim girl Amina from Srinagar whom he had actually married legally and the wedding registered with an appropriate court of law. The body of Rajneesh bore obvious torture marks which incited a wide protest from the people of Jammu. The post-mortem reports also confirm the brutal torture though the final opinion of the experts is awaited.
Such brutal police excesses are not rare in this country but this particular case carries some deeper ramifications. The Muslims in the valley take such an incident of inter-religious marriage a severe affront especially when a Kashmiri Muslim girl chooses a Hindu boy as a life partner. In this case the boy was from Jammu and naturally the tempers ran too high. The worst part of the episode is how the Kashmir police authorities actively initiated action with the arrest of the boy from his residence and ended with his obnoxious murder inside the police station Ram Munshi Bagh. Obviously the action was taken with the active support of the highest civil as well as police authorities with the lone motive of a revenge from the Hindu boy’s adventure alliance with a Muslim girl from Kashmir. The incident clearly reverberates the environment that Kashmiri Pandits faced while in Kashmir in good olden days before 1990. How we had to be in complete subordination to the whims and foibles of the majority community even in the most ordinary activities in life is an example in itself not to speak of such an adventure activity. KPs had not only to bear insults from their Muslim neighbours patiently even during celebrations of some of their religious ceremonies but also become victims of their fury whenever India won a match or a Muslim trader was taken to task anywhere in India for any of his misadventures. There’s usually a mass celebration among Muslims whenever anyone of them enters into wedlock with a Hindu girl with mutual consent as the basic condition for the girl is to convert to Islam and perform marriage according to their custom but conversely the things usually turn explosive if the girl with a Hindu background opts to marry a Muslim boy. The event reflects clearly the biased attitude of the Kashmir administration toward Hindus in the State and how far the authorities can initiate any brutal action against them according to the sweet will of a Kashmir Muslim. The reader can easily imagine that the KPs were forced to leave Kashmir in early nineties especially to make the Kashmir administration clean of all the Hindu and Indian elements and make a smooth way for the Muslim administrators to act clean as suited to their vested interest otherwise in a mixed administration such brutal happenings were almost impossible. It’ll not be out of place to mention that a few partners in the said administration from Jammu have no say in any of the important policy making and their counterparts from Kashmir are bold enough to overpower them or ignore them easily to make a smooth way and take their biased decisions in all matters. It’s gradually becoming open to all Jammuites that the Kashmir administration is bent upon working for the interest of Kashmir Muslim only not for any the people of any other part of the State. The Kashmir Pandit, reputed worldwide for his administrative and academic capabilities is almost completely sidelined and ignored in J&K simply because he has always been a strict adherer of the national interest and is now content with working satisfactorily in the broader echelons of national and international forums.
All the saner elements at the national level generally and State level particularly are out and out to admonish the criminal act of the Kashmir Police and demand an independent enquiry and severe punishment for the perpetrators of the crime.