In plain words
Satsaṅga is most necessary for the young. People take Sat to mean those who have set out on some spiritual path, who keep a little away from the material, who speak of the divine God and practise sādhanas, and they regard joining such people as satsaṅga. That is not satsaṅga. Sat means what is true, what is steady. What does not change in past, present or future is Sat. That itself is divinity. We must always be in friendship with such a sense of the divine. Only when there is such friendship does this become satsaṅga. What we have is the aṅga. In the aṅga is the saṅga, in the saṅga the jaṅgama, in the jaṅgama the liṅga. Of these four, aṅga, saṅga, jaṅga and liṅga, the aṅga is merely impermanent, passing. It is joined with all the limbs, so it has been called aṅga. Within the aṅga there is a saṅga. A society. That society is the six enemies within. Lust, anger, greed, pride and envy. This is the society. In this society unity is never known and never grows. One says yes, one says no. If the eye longs to see something good, at once the ear longs to hear something bad. There is no fellowship at all between one and another. Living within such a society, the good feelings that arise in us have been turning into evil ones. This is one society within the aṅga. In this society there is a Jaṅgamayya. He is the very principle of the jīva. That very jīva is the jaṅgama. When we inquire a little into this jaṅgama: Chī! That I should enter this wrong path I have never known in my life! This is not right for a life. It reveals the liṅga, called the Ātma, within this jaṅgama. The oneness of this jaṅgama and liṅga is the eternal, true Sat. Satsaṅga is to put far from us these evil qualities, the six enemies, and to long for the union of the jīva and the Ātma. That is why, for those who do japa, four fingers are on one side and one finger is on the other. This one (the thumb) is divinity, the liṅga. Rājasika, tāmasika, sāttvika. This one (the forefinger) is the jīva. This jīva alone pronounces on every single thing in the world: this is good, this is bad. Because this jīva forms a bond with these three guṇas, God stays far away. So those who do japa place the japamālā on this guṇa called Sat, and when they do japa with these two, the jīva and God, this is the joining of jīva and Brahman in oneness. This is the true Sat. Joining with others, joining good people, doing good works, hearing good things: this alone is not satsaṅga. This is a worldly, physical, natural, everyday society. These are things that change in the course of time. All these are only reflections. The original is within oneself. So we must take refuge in the original, not in the reflection. Swami called this follow the master. who is the master? Your conscience is your master. conscience follow do not follow the mind, mind is like a mad monkey. do not follow the body, body is like a water bubble. follow the conscience. This is satsaṅga. Ninety-nine out of a hundred young people today follow the mind alone. The moment you follow the mind, this inert body sets out after it as a slave. The body is merely inert. Inert though it is, because it relies on the mind it too becomes the root cause of actions.
So the body is most necessary for doing actions. But by relying on what can we do good actions? By relying on the conscience we can do good actions. If a man relies on the mind, he goes into bad actions. What does mind mean? The mind is nothing but desires bundled together. For us these desires are not the kind that come to an end. When one is fulfilled, it longs for another. So it is not good for us to follow desires in this way, desires with neither beginning nor end. There is a limit to that too. There must be food to eat and clothing to wear. There must be a house to live in. If some illness or other comes, there must be money to buy medicine. All these are most necessary for man. We must not go beyond the limit. Now, say we are thirsty. When we are thirsty, a cup of water quenches the thirst. Say, how foolish is the man who longs, “I am thirsty, I want the whole river Gaṅgā”! Must he drink up the river Gaṅgā! To fill a stomach a span wide, a handful of rice is enough. If you say, “I want a basketful of rice,” is that not simply waste! We cannot live without air. But if too much air comes, we choke. This body stays healthy, within a limit, only when there is warmth in it. But if it passes 99 degrees, a man falls ill. So to live with limited desires is health itself. To go after desires beyond all measure is to lose one's wits. So: less luggage more comfort, make travel a pleasure. Our desires are the luggage. We must make this luggage a little less. In the language of Vedānta this has been called Vairāgya. Vairāgya does not mean leaving house and home, mother and father, children, money and grain, going off to the forest, holding the nose and sitting there starving. Stay in your own home. Carry out your duty. Hold to your responsibility. Doing this, you must go on making the heart pure with sacred feelings. This is true Vairāgya. Vairāgya does not mean leaving things behind and going away.