The Four Gates to Liberation
The First Gate:
What is Satsanga (Conscious Company)?
Contemplations by Nick Gancitano
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Existence is Consciousness; Consciousness is intelligence.
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The greatest intelligence is communicated in silence.
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Noise and words only distract your listening.
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If you cannot hear the silence, you cannot hear wisdom.
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Others may hear It, but cannot grasp for It passes through them.
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You must train yourself to recognize true wisdom: true conscious company.
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Words are everywhere — wisdom, rare.
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Wisdom comes with experience; experience with patience.
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Just as all air does not possess the same amount of moisture, all words do not possess the same wisdom.
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Spend time with the ignorant, and you will grow ignorant; time spent with the wise, you will understand why.
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If you are lifeless or stagnant, look around: you are surrounded by fools.
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Spend time with fools and you will die one.
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Fools avoid intelligence and wisdom, yet pretend to understand.
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It is easy to be near fools; they neither challenge, disturb, nor guide us toward completion.
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The fool avoids conscious company: it exposes them.
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Hence… fools secretly criticize the wise, leading other fools to also be ignorant.
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The fool is too ignorant to realize they are the fool.
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Just as electricity degrades water and air quality, so too the company of the ignorant degrade the quality of people they associate with.
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Avoid the unwise posing as wise like a plague.
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Always pursue either the company of sages; if not, then solitude. Both are far better than the alternative.
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Association with sages is the Light on the path of Life. Superior to other paths, it is truly rare!
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No matter the difficulty or struggle, pursue and never neglect the opportunity for Satsanga.
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Attempts to teach others will halt your progress, for the fool sees others that should learn from them. Often, the fool speaks the words, and not comprehend them.
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Beware of those that expound wise words, yet draw attention to their person (flesh); therein lies the greatest potential for deception and corruption.
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Through this Gate to Liberation called Satsanga, you can only pass when willing to shed foolish alliances.
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This will only happen when you cease cravings for comfort.
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When you ban in(toxic)ation, what you were escaping from — escapes You.
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Wisdom will stand the test of time — ignorance will fall.
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Love will survive, impersonators will not.
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Conscious company will expose the Truth, so you will not need your lies.
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Face the fear and you will transcend; avoid the fear and there will be no end.