SPAIN
GIVING SATSANG
Excerpts from Prem Rawat's satsang in Madrid, Spain, 10 May 1976
What happens when we hear and give satsang? I mean, what really happens? I've talked to a lot of people who have gone up on stage and started giving satsang and first they are very hesitant and they say, "Na, c'mon, I'm very shy, you got other speakers." They're like little kids, you know, and don't want to get into it. But then they get up and start giving satsang and slowly, slowly, slowly there's a build up. It starts going more and more and more and more and more, and then it gets so beautiful. Sometimes all of a sudden these people just completely crack up and they cry, or they have to completely stop, and then they come up to me and say, "Wow, that was just really beautiful, that was a really beautiful experience."
Why is it like that? It's something I've been trying to put my finger on and I haven't been able to yet, but there's something about giving satsang which is very, very beautiful. It is the connection. This is what I really think it is. I mean I can't be too sure of it, but I think this is what it is. Because when we get up and we talk about this Knowledge, we really look at our lives and see, "Yes, wow - this has really happened." It's like the mountain climber who climbs up this big mountain and he turns his tape recorder on and says, "Yes, I have just climbed forty thousand feet!"
Sure, we give satsang for other people, but see, for example, now I'm not too sure how much it's benefiting you. Maybe to you I'm talking completely off the wall, but I know it's doing me wonders. And this is why I like to give satsang, because it's really beautiful for me. Satsang pertains to us, too, in our lives because it's really beautiful. It's for our own growth. It's like, okay, let's find out exactly where you are. instead of making a chart of it every day, when you give satsang you can really see.
Imagine somebody getting up to give satsang and maybe the director of the stage says, "Mr. So and So is gonna give you satsang." So he gets up, but he hasn't been doing any meditation, satsang, or service, and he says, "Hi, dear premies, and uh, geez, I don't know what to say, bye," and he goes off. Because he's not realizing, there's no experience for him to tell, and that's why he can't say anything. But if there was in fact an experience for him to tell, then he would say it.
If you take all my satsangs and take the average meaning of them all, they'll be identically the same. Why? Because it's experience that is inspiring satsang, not something else. So when experience is the same, all the satsang will therefore also be the same. That is why satsang is beautiful, because it actually lets us know where we are at. Maybe it also shares the beautiful experience that we've had of Knowledge with other people, but it also lets us know where we're at. That's why it's really good for us.
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