Simple Shortcut #2: Combination

Simple Shortcuts is a new series of posts geared towards synthesizing that not-so-simple yet crucial simple statement (i.e. main point of our presentations).

Our next shortcut may not seem as straightforward as substitution, but it's not impossible.

Shortcut #2 entails asking, "How can I combine <insert Satsang item here> with <insert non-Satsang item here>?"

In our last post, we looked at the following video and how it might apply to the age-old concept of agna.

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

However, through combining this video with other topics, we may in fact find more intricacies that span the breadth of our Satsang presentations.

• Related to agna is the topic of faith vs. logic, and while the birds may have perched in a logical musical pattern, it required a leap of faith to see if that pattern did exist or not. 
• Perhaps these birds are a breath of fresh air into our otherwise boring, mundane lives; it's something we need to apply to our Satsang (i.e. nitya navin rakhvu). In Vachanamrut Kariyani-3, Shriji Maharaj explains, "This Shuk Muni is a very great sadhu. From the day he began staying with Me, his enthusiasm has been ever increasing; in fact, it has never diminished." If we seize the right moments, we too can experience the flourishing of our Satsang. 
• However, do all people find birds perched in a pattern entertaining? Eccentric musicians aside, maybe not. Thus, we need to engage in a modality that suits our preferences, like one of nine types of bhakti.
• For a musician, birds sitting in such a coordinated pattern is a rare opportunity - slim odds - yet it's in these encounters we can remember God as sarva-karta (all-doer), one of the four aspects of our upasana and feel empowered by the one we've met.

Rather than continue along with this free-for-all, let's see what simple statements we may have generated.

• Faith freshens up our Satsang.
• The nine types of bhakti are there to keep our Satsang fresh.
• Understanding God as the all-doer keeps our Satsang fresh.

Here, we've combined topics in ways we may not have otherwise thought of before, and the more we do it, the better we get at it. Think about that the next time we encounter something extraordinary.