Pursue Satsang and Bhajans for a Life of Peace and Joy

Bhajan - a devotional song

Bhakti - devotion 
Satsang - a spiritual discourse or spiritual gathering
Atma Gyan - the ability to find our inner self

At Satsang, Rammurti Baiji said:

"Listening to Bhajans and understanding them can be challenging for beginners. Spiritually enlightened saints expressed their life experiences and embedded many deep meanings in the Bhajans that can be hard to grasp. Repeated listening in the company of spiritually enlightened people will slowly have an illuminating effect on you. Bhajan bhakti is that by nature.

We may wear various forms of jewelry, like gold. As beautiful and pure as it is, even gold has to be cleaned. At other times gold is melted, and it has to take heat to get the shine back and more heat will further enhance its shine, Through all this, it stays strong and can even get stronger.

Human beings similarly go through many negative and harsh experiences in life, which can actually strengthen our inner being. Saints who have obtained strong inner strength are not effected by outside events and environment. All humans have same opportunity to cultivate that.

A small child needs help to learn walking by holding our hand. But eventually he learns to walk on this own. As he grows he will learn to walk and maneuver obstacles. He does not need to hold our hand anymore. He will learn and mange his own struggles. He has obtained knowledge of walking!

In the same way, if we participate in Satsang we obtain true knowledge and enhance our inner strength so negative outside forces cannot come near us. We function without fear and are not affected. Our inner peace and purity cannot be disturbed.

At night we may see many stars in sky but when the sun appears, they all disappear. It's the same when we have the true knowledge: all small matters disappear and we are left with essential true knowledge.

After all what is life? See, the temptation of young adulthood robs our childhood. Then we spend our life accumulating wealth. Work and worry robs our youth. Then we worry about retirement and that robs our life. We typically spend our first twenty years with a big appetite and we eat large amount of "food" during these years. Then next ten years we spend enjoying and indulging in various useless activities. The next ten years we're in search of what to do to take responsibility of earning money - you may have wife and children to support. Then we start worrying and thinking about how to save money and invest so our family is taken care of. Later in life we start to struggle and life can become bothersome. Regrets, sadness and tears may become part of old age.

But we can obtain a higher power and salvage the normally painful life cycle. This is illustrated by how flour is made out of grain. They use two grinding stone wheels held by a post in the center. Grain is put in the center in an opening near the post. The grinding action of the wheels pulls the grains away from the post and gets crushed and turned into powder.

But the grain that stays close to the post and takes refuge, is saved. We also need to stay close to our “post”- our inner knowledge and truth that gives us strength so we do not get swept away like the grain that turns into powder.

We are fortunate to have an opportunity for Atma Gyan. We can change our life to peace and joy. We do not need to roam the world looking for peace and true happiness. No matter how much we try, ocean water will always taste salty. The world is full of sea water of misery and pain. If we want pure water we can take it from a river: the river of true life knowledge. This knowledge is within us. Align with God and do not deviate from it. That is our true journey.