A man is known by the company he keeps

In today's fast-paced world many of us find it convenient to "get a little academically interested" in religion, but seldom have the inclination or the time to move emotionally towards the Supreme being. This is especially true of some of the comparatively more "liberal" religions like Hinduism, Christianity etc.

I recently overheard a very interesting anecdote on this trend that I thought I should share.

A priest had been seeing a very pious person attending the Sunday mass, come hell or high water. He used to visit the church with such unfailing regularity that the priest started ignoring his presence.

Then came the hygiene factor. One Sunday, the man was not present in the sermon. And then the next Sunday too. And this went on for a few weeks, until winter set in.

The priest could not bear this any more. He took off straight to the man's house. The man heartily welcomed the priest and offered him hot tea on a cold day. Everything was cordial. The priest then casually inquired why he was not attending the masses any more. The man replied that he, through continuous attending of the mass/ sermons had gained the "knowledge" of God and that he did not fell it compelling any more, to attend the Sunday mass.

A pregnant silence engulfed the living room. The priest, all of a sudden, walked up to the heart, where a few fire woods were simmering in unison, and providing the much needed warmth to the room.

He then pulled out one of the burning woods in his hand, and brought it close to the couch, and left it alone, near where they were sitting, much to the dismay of the host. In it's solitary isolation, the wood put itself out within a few minutes.

No words were exchanged all along. The priest then quietly got up, gave a meaningful smile to the man, and left the house.

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It is amply evident that it is not sufficient to merely gather peripheral interest or an academic pursuit of God in isolation. Sure, most of the Gyanis or saints have done just that - pursued the Supreme being in dark isolation. But then, most of us are not saints, and for the ordinary mortals, the best way to go anywhere near spiritual satisfaction appears to be associating ourselves with our Gurus and people who dwell in that ambience - just like that log of wood, that was simmering well in the eminent company of the logs inside the hearth. Pull it out, and the result is there to see just in a few minutes. And nothing better than getting more involved than merely " wetting the feet", as it were.

This reminds me of a very famous verse in Adi Shankara's Bhaja Govindam:

सत्सङ्गत्वे निस्सङ्गत्वं
निस्सङ्गत्वे निर्मोहत्वम् ।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं
निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः ॥

From Satsangha ( association with righteous people), comes non-attachment; from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion, which leads to self-settlement. From self-settlement comes Jivan Mukti (liberation).