
Satsang is a Sanskrit word that means “gathering together for the truth” or, more simply, “being with the truth.” Truth is what is real, what exists. So all there is, is Truth. Whenever something increases your experience of the Truth, it opens your Heart and quiets your mind. Conversely, whenever something,. such as a thought, fear, or judgment, limits or narrows your experience of the Truth, the Heart contracts and the mind gets busier. We are all equally endowed with this capacity to discriminate the Truth. Thus, the true teacher, or satguru, is within you, and satsang, or being with the Truth, is endless. You have always been here in the embrace of your true nature as aware, loving space. You have always been in satsang.
Satsung typically involves listening to, or reading scriptures, reflecting on, discussing and assimilating their meaning, meditating on the source of these words, and bringing their meaning into one’s daily life. For adherents, satsang becomes a way of being and a practice that governs actions and interactions with others. It has been likened to being part of the universe and contributing to it in their best capacity while learning and getting support from it at the same time.
The idea behind satsang is that a favorable environment such as the presence of holy people, listening to holy scripture or music, allows an individual to elevate his mind from one that is worldly towards a higher level of thought. It is said that Satsang constitutes one of the four ways – along with contentment, the spirit of inquiry, and self-control – by which people who are “drowning” in samsara (repetitive history) can be saved.