IT’S CALLED A SATSANG BECAUSE WE SIT AND SING

I’m being a bit jokey there, but sometimes you need to be. Say a word like satsang and people can pile on with cosmic connotations. And they’re not wrong…but spiritual often has a suggestion of being super serious. Satsang is not that. Satsang is people gathered together, which takes all shapes and forms, united by purpose. And yes, it can involve singing.

Football matches can involve singing too. And guess what? Football matches are good for the mental health of those attending. Why? They focus your activity on a shared outcome, which is another word for goal. Good for the heart, good for the brain. And that’s what a satsang is, though typically with less kicking.

When people are together we can raise each other’s spirits. It works in a few ways. Some of it is through being around people you know – I went to one last January with mum when my cousin Gourav was over from India. And yes, we did some of the lovely catch-up chat you do in situations like that – but there was more to it. Satsang can be translated as ‘being in the company of truth’.

Truth – or at any rate the quest for it – matters. And there’s something about being with others that makes it easier. We all have our issues and bad days and knowing you can rely on the presence of a supportive community striving for a better life is a powerful tonic. The specific aims are to cultivate sattva (purity/goodness), rajas (passion) and tamas – the latter, concerned with sleep, has positive and negative aspects. And yes, there is song! If you wish, you can join in with chanted bhajans, or simply enjoy listening to them.

The root of bhajan is bhaj, which means to share – enjoy that morsel of knowledge, a tasty bhaji in word form to nourish and reflect on. Spirituality encompasses the everyday because we are beings of spirit on a planet of matter. Society is very good at reducing us to the ways we can be measured and valued economically, but we are always more than that. Experiencing satsang is a powerful reminder of that simple and easily forgotten truth.

Join me for my new course with MySatsang:

Living Ayurveda for Health & Harmony

4-Week Workshop Series with Sunita Passi

Dates: Wed 5^th – 26^th May, 2021 ~ 7pm – 8.30pm

Book here.

Until next time … Namaste