Satsang is the Good Path for Character Formation

Meaning: According to the line of Rigved 6/21/12 — "Those who do good to others, tread the religious path and also lead others on the good path, they only are learned. This attitude is awakened by 'Satsang'."

Message: Great benefit is achieved by the satsang of learned and religious men. Great is the grandeur of 'satsang'. The saying in Hindi is 'sath sudharhin satsangat pai' which means even the foolish become reformed by the company of the saintly. The great poet Kalidas before his transformation was such a big fool that he was sawing the very branch of the tree on which he was sitting. Some people through a peculiar, strange procedure got him married to an unusually learned scholarly lady called Vidyottama. What a contrast! On the one hand the height of foolishness, while on the other hand the height of learning. But this contact created an intense desire in the heart of Kalidas who wrote the Sanskrit epic 'Dhaakuntala'. Tulsidas, who was a lecher, because of his wife's admonition became a 'mahatma (great soul) and became a saint.

Innumerable men's lives have been changed by 'satsang'. The best means for making the life great and divine is the company of learned men only. The Sanskrit saying is —Chandanum sheetalum loke, chadanaadapi chandrama

Chandanandrayormadhye sheetalaa sadhu sangathi.

Which means, sandal is cooling, but the moon is cooler and the company of excellent and learned men is cooler that both. The learned people have the treasure of knowledge and the energy of experience, by which they are able to charge of, enliven anyone. They have the capacity to provide solutions to every kind of difficulty. They are patient, sober and restrained and they are always ready for every type of cooperation. Just a gentle smile from them is capable of giving peace to the man suffering from physical, material and other difficulties. There is only benefit and nothing but benefit through their company.

In this world full of disease and material-ills, the company of really saintly and knowledgeable people is extremely difficult. One will be able to get everywhere the wicked and hypocritical persons moving about with the religious marks on their foreheads and bodies. The bad company of such person's increases sins, corrupts the intelligence, destroys fame, kills morality, increases immorality and intensifies anger. Bad company destroys man's present in this world and his future in the world after death.

When a person sits under the keekar-tree, he is hurt by the thorns; similarly difficulty is certain with the company of wicked men. Therefore, one must keep away from people with bad tendencies. What can one get except bad thinking in the company of atheists, and those who deride Vedas, religion and God? If we wish to do something good in life and become great, then we must keep the company of gentlemen, men of good conduct and men who are learned.

Satsang is helpful in the formation of character.

Sa no bodhi pureta sugeshutga

durgeshu pathikrudwidaanaha

Ye ashramaas urvo vahishthaastebhirna

Indraabhi vakshi vaajum. (Rigved 6/21/12)