Don:The word “soul” has always puzzled me, as I am not clear what the word means for those who use it. Soul is a...

Satsang is a compound Sanskrit word that means “keeping the company of the Self.” The Self, Awareness, is the true nature of everyone and one keeps company with it by continually meditating on it in many ways. One of the most effective methods involves discussing non-dual teachings with someone whose knowledge of his or her identity as Awareness is doubt-free, to get clarity with reference to Self inquiry. The satsangs posted here are answers to the questions of many people around the world who are interested in enlightenment and committed to Vedanta as their preferred means of Self knowledge.

Now that Vedanta is well known in Western spiritual circles, it has become commonplace for unqualified “teachers” to identify with it. A qualified teacher is called a mahatma, someone immersed in the Vedic tradition who has been taught the methodology by someone who has been properly taught in an unbroken chain of teachers, through Shankaracharya, back to the Upanishads, the source texts themselves. My teacher, Swami Chinmaya, seen here with his teacher, Swami Tapovan Maharaj, satisfies this qualification. I have not strayed from the tradition since my introduction to it in 1968 and teach traditional Vedanta, although not in the traditional monastic format.
Chinmaya Teaching in a Traditional Setting

Don:As I read and reread the books of James and listen to his tapes and reflect on them I hope to “more clearly” understand...
Timmy:Dear Sundari, sorry to bother, I found your contact address at the ShiningWorld website. I have a question, which I am hoping you or...
Pradesh:Dear Sundariji, I have been listening to Ramji’ssatsangfor a while (including the beginner’s course) now and have been practising theadvaitascience as per Ramji’ssatsang. By...
Pradesh:Dear Didi, thank you once again for your kind advice and time. Your kind words of encouragement andsatsanghave really been helping me in observing...
Mick:I see that what takes itself as the I is nothing more than a collection of physical and subtle patterns and behaviours arising from...
Dieter:I have a question about inquiry. I have followed theGitacourse. In the course Ram recommends several texts to go to in-depth. Among them is...
Ganesh:I wish to contribute to thesampradayaand the dissemination of self-knowledge because the only thing I love is self-knowledge, traditional Vedanta. I want to write...
Harry:Dear Sundari, thank you for your beautiful words. I have forgotten to write to you of an important element in this unfolding. I made...
Larry:I am looking for some discussion and description of the five offerings. Sundari:Because I value life more than anything and because it is a...
Ganesh:I have a little question about these three words: intuition,svadharmaand spontaneous response. It seems that my understanding about what intuition means or how I...
Seeker:Hi, Sundari. I have read through all the requirements at ShiningWorld and I wanted to start to teach Vedanta in Swedish. English is my...
Nicola:Dear Sundari, first and foremost I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to you, Ram and all the teachers on the...
Seeker:Thank you for taking so much time to write this (just for the record, how many times have you had to write this kind...
Viktor:Dear Didi, thank you for your kind guidance and advice, especially when you say “Think opposite, as you gain nothing by indulging this need.”...