Satsang & Satsanga

Satsang at the Sivananda Yoga Farm

Satsanga is a fundamental concept in yoga, it is the concept of the community.  Satsanga is the community and satsang is the experience of coming together.  This coming together is of like-minded souls to elevate and encourage one another in the practices of meditation, kirtan, study and prayer.  Satsang is Sadhana with other like-minded seekers.

In Sivananda Yoga the community comes together twice each day for Satsang, morning and evening, and follows a general routine of practice.

Satsang begins with 20-30 minutes of silent meditation with a few minutes of explanantion from the leader and perhaps some soft chanting of Om before the silence is begun and concluding in some soft Oms to bring everyone out of their meditation.

Next the leader guides the group in the singing of the Daily Chants.

If the group is feeling devotional and there is time for it, additional chants may be sung with different members leading and the group responding in the Kirtan style.

Next we study the philosophy of yoga by reading aloud from a book or two such as Bliss Divine by Swami Sivananda, Meditation and Mantra by Swami Vishnu Devananda, the Bhagava Gita and often concluding with a randomly chosen page from Swami Sivananda's letters to his followers.

At this time there may be a special lecture by a visiting teacher or doctor, a musical performance, a movie or a puja or special offering to the deities and lineage of teachers.

Satsang is concluded with an assortment of prayers and chants beginning with the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra that is chanted at the end of Sivananda Yoga classes as well.  Then we pray in english a beautiful prayer written by Swami Sivananda, the Universal Prayer.

Arati, the prayer of lights is our final offerings of respect and gratitude to the lineage of teachers, saints and divine beings that have brought us to this point.  After offering the flame to all those who came before, we offer the flame to everyone in the Satsanga, symbolically bathing ourselves with the light.  We sing Twameva as we circulate the light amongst us.  Then we bow down, touching our forehead to the earth.  Then Prasad is served and Satsang is over.

photo by Eileen Escarda