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without name (anami), the Self, then you become a vitarag.
The Lord has said, "Until you meet a Gnani Purush, remain in whichever pond (one's beliefs, sects and relative religion) you are in, don't go around looking for another pond." You may become stuck in the mud if you try to swim in other ponds and that mud will leave you covered in stains. When you meet a Gnani Purush, quickly come out of the pond you are in. If you find a Gnani Purush, you will become the owner of every pond there is and your work will be done. The Gnani will bring you beyond all the ponds.
By being in the Gnani's satsang, you become permeated with the Gnani's paas (aroma; paas - the effect of contact or company). The paas of asafetida (hinga; the acrid smelling resin used in cooking); becomes so entrenched in the cooking pots that even if you cook rice pudding in it six months later, it ruins the rice pudding. When even the effect of asafetida lasts for six months, it is possible for the effect of kusang to destroy one's countless lives to come. In the same token, the effect of satsang is equally strong but the time spent in satsang must increase.
"Hey! We have to do this in order to run our worldly life." If just one word of this statement were to enter within (becomes your belief), you are doomed. It ruins your sanskar (samskar, inner substrate which is a net effect of all that is positive that you have attained from past lives). There is no telling when one will be led in the wrong direction. Only Gnan can prevent your sanskar from becoming ruined.
For example, a sant purush (one who helps others move from the bad to the good and lives his life accordingly) makes his living selling milk. He meets someone who tells him, "Just look at your neighbor, he has made so much money and look at you, you have remained the same, poor." The saint asks him, "How did he make so much money?" The other man replies, "By mixing water in his milk, of course!" Now if just a single
word of this statement were to penetrate the saint's mind, that would be the end of him. Just one word will wash away all his current spiritual stock.
People will drag one into sensual pleasures even when he does not wish to. This is the fault of the company. There will be no problem if he is in good company. He will find a rose with good company and encounter thorns with bad company. If someone forces you to drink alcohol, you will have to make a big excuse or object strongly against it. Tell him that your doctor has absolutely forbidden alcohol or that your wife will not let you back in the house. One way or another you will have to overpower the situation. As far as kusang is concerned it is best to keep your distance.
How clever and shrewd the vitarag Lords must have been to attain liberation through understanding! Those who cannot bear the burning heat of worldly suffering have immersed themselves in the 'sticky mud' which has a temporary cooling effect (immersion in worldly vices). But the Lord has said, "It is better to become strong through the heat of the suffering. You are doomed once you fall into the mud!" The one who suffers will eventually cool down, but when will the one immersed in mud become free? Once you enter the sticky mud, you will inherit a warehouse of kashays (anger, pride, deceit and greed), but if you undergo penance of the burning heat of suffering, at least your kashays will become less. If you keep the company of the one who is immersed in the worldly mud (kusang), even when you do not have many kashays yourself, the other person's kashays (negativities) will influence you and take hold within. You must do a lot of pratikraman if you fall into the mud even once, and make a firm determination that you will not fall again. But if you fall into the company of ignorant people who verily are laden with kashays, how can you escape without being scathed with kashays, yourself?
A satsang that beats you all the time is still preferable over
