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Satsang with the 3 Gurus
By Narada Jackson-Smith
Spending time with the Three Gurus was an experience of living in Satsang. Every night, for twelve nights, Swami Shankarananda, Master Charles and Swami Chetanananda gave darshan and answered the questions of hundreds of seekers. They led meditations and showed us what it is actually like to live this life immersed in the divine. Swami Shankarananda said, ‘the principal intent of Satsang is to get us back in touch with that sacred space within us’.
In LA there is always more on offer, always more to see and with The 3 Gurus there was no exception: after the evening Satsangs concluded, we saturated ourselves in a two day meditation Intensive. Each of the Gurus gave us their teachings and more importantly they gave Shaktipat – the transmission of grace. Swami Shankarananda spoke about free will and Kashmir Shaivism. He said that in our sadhana, ‘we can choose between Shakti poverty or full unfoldment. ’ Master Charles discussed the basis of his contemporary meditation technology. He emphasised its closeness to the teachings of his Guru, Muktananda and told many stories of Muktananda. Swami Chetanananda talked about the greatness of sadhana, and of unconditional love: ‘what else is there worth being committed to? That power, that possibility, is accessible to you now.’
We met a glittering cast, of yogis in the Satsang. It was an expeirence of grace to be among so many devotees. Every one of them was different each one of them alive to the Shakti in their own way. It was an experience of grace to be among so many devotees. The three Gurus Visited to the most senior of the ‘old timers’; the venerable Chakrapani Ullal, a devotee of Bhagawan Nityananda, a friend of Swami Muktananda and currently ‘astrologer to the stars’ in Los Angeles. He returned the favour and one evening he gave a talk about Bhagawan Nityananda: ‘he was not a man, he was not a siddha, he was not a guru. He was beyond all these.’ Chakrapani’s rhapsodic speech about his times with Nityananda was contagious and many in the audience slipped into Samadhi.
The Gurus illumined the path with simplicity, humour and grace. Swami Chetanananda said: ‘it’s the walk that you walk that’s important’. A questioner asked why the Gurus were so different, even though they are from the same tradition. Swami Shankarananda said, ‘I wanted nothing more to be like my Guru, and the more I wanted this, the less I was like him. The biggest mistake that disciples make is to not accept themselves. Accept yourself, love yourself and do your practise’ Master Charles wittily yet pointedly said, ‘we need a new God… contemplate the God that you create.’
We have left the people we met, the sights have gone. What remains? One night Swami Shankarananda said, ‘the spiritual process is to be always prepared to take the next step. Take the opportunities’. The programs showed that in the inner world, there is always more. There is perfect abundance. Our hearts are filled by the light of enquiry, the warmth of love and the power of the Three Gurus.
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