A devotee’s question: Is there a difference to listening to chanting, lectures in the hall than at home? Or if we live here at the ashram in our room, is there an advantage to going to the hall?
Sushree Gopeshwari Devi Ji’s answer: Yes, there is a difference. Do you remember that once in Mangarh, that is back in Gurudham, in Shri Maharaji's dham, it was very heavily raining. It was monsoon (rainy season) time, and Shri Maharajji said to all the seniors not to come to the hall, the little courtyard of Shri Maharajji's (place), where satsang used to take place, where kirtan used to take place. A devotee, in that wet weather, with a lot of rain pouring, walked into that hall, into that little courtyard, and Maharajji was filled with so much joy in his heart despite telling them to be in their rooms and listen to the chanting there. Maharajji had said, “You people can sleep, because the roads were very slippery.” Despite that, that devotee walked into that hall. It made the Guru so happy!
Just imagine how happy God would be if we took two steps to come to the temple, rather than sit in our room in a very leisurely manner, which we can do at other times when there is no satsang and chanting going on in the prayer hall. But if there is satsang going on in the prayer hall, we should try our best and make every effort to be in the presence of this environment, because the environment creates a vayu mandal. Vayu means air, and mandal means orbit. So this entire room would be filled with that vibration and energy, which alone in your rooms takes a very long time to build. By the time you build that environment, and sit there for half an hour, one hour, two hours, whatever, then it's time to now go for your breakfast, lunch, or break. Thus, with samuhik, which means ‘group chanting’, in Kali Yug nam sankirtan is emphasized. Nam sankirtan means not your silent meditation. Nam sankirtan means, very clear it is, nam sankirtan means,
हरेर्नामैव हरेनामैव हरेनामैव जीवनम् । कलौ नास्त्येव नास्त्येव गतिरन्यथा ।।
Hare namaiv nāmaiv, Hare namaiv jeevanam. Kalau nāstyeva, nāstyeva, nāstyeva gatir niyatā.
एहिं कलिकाल न साधन दूजा योग यज्ञ जप तप व्रत पूजा । रामहि सुमिरिए गाइए रामहि। संतत सुनिअ राम गुन ग्रामहि॥
Ehiņ kalikāl na sādhan dhūjā, yog, yagya, jap, tap, vrat, poojā. Rāmahi sumariye, gāiye rāmahi. Santat suniye rām gun grāmahi.
So, samuhik means group, and nam sankirtan means when we sing loudly, like we all sing here. So that, very quickly, with the group chanting, with almost everybody, if not one or two, if they're all devotees, then to some degree, maybe some have 1%, some have 90%, some have 50%, whatever the degree of their surrender is, roopdhyan is, the vayu mandal gets created as fast as possible. And that external vayu mandal helps in building the inner vayu mandal of our hearts and minds. So, you will feel a very different experience when you do not have your mind on who's present and who's not present.
If you try to get your minds absorbed and immersed in that chant which you are chanting, and in the roopdhyan of your Beloved whose name you are chanting, immediately, with the grace of God and with the yogamaya power, all the rest will be shut off. And it will be only the Lord who will open up in your hearts and minds. You don't have to put in the effort. And, instantly, you start to get drowned in the ecstatic joy of nam sankirtan.
So there is a vast difference when samuhik kirtan is going on, or when Shri Maharaj Ji's lectures are going on, to leave the comfort of your little rooms and come in the hall and sit here like a sadhak.
Just like when people work, they can work at home. So during COVID time, work from home started. However, now almost all the officers want the people back in the office. And every worker knows why. I don't have to tell you that. You know you could take your leisure time, your pleasure time. And do whatever you wish, but when you are in the office, and when your boss is up there physically you can see, or maybe he's not present, but he may come any moment then you need to produce the work. But here, this is a spiritual thing. You can't compare, but I was just trying to tell you how important it is to be present. There are certain places where you've got to be present.
So in our spiritual satsang, this satsang, the environment, needs your presence in the satsang hall. That is why Shri Maharaj Ji, when he visited the Bay Area in 2005 he gave his last talk there. We've got that recording. And in that he had said that daily you can practice your sadhanas in your own homes,, but once a week or twice a week, every devotee should meet at a sajjan's house. (Sajjan means a pious devotee or a devotee's place) and do samuhik sankirtan, this group sankirtan. So there is a difference.
