"Sat Nam" vs. "Satan"

First, a brief etymology lesson:

Sat -
Origin = Sanskrit
Meaning = truth

Nam -
Origin = Sanskrit
Meaning = identity

Satan -
Origin = Hebrew
Original meaning = the accuser



I recently fell prey to a misunderstanding between the two terms. This week, I was accused of teaching Satanic practices to the children in my yoga class.

It matters not who did it or what the circumstances around it were, but it has forced me to look at myself very deeply.

What can I learn from this?
How will I use it to improve?

When I saw that the word Satan originally meant "the accuser", I had a definite AHA moment.

Sat Nam is the truth we find within ourselves when we are open to accepting our true essence as divine. We live and breathe Sat Nam, because we resonate with the frequency of TRUTH. Love is the only truth.

Satan exists within us when we look for fault in others (or other things) instead of looking within. We accuse others (or situations) of being this way or that way as a way to circumvent inner-reflection. Satan distracts us from our meditation.

The Satanic part of us says: {And I am referring to its original meaning here, of "the accuser"}
"I could relax if only they'd be quiet"
"I would be happy if only he loved me"
"I wouldn't have been late if that person hadn't cut me off at that light"

The Satanic part of us is that which many practices refer to as the EGO.

The ego keeps us out of the present moment and exists only in dualities and comparisons. Through dualities and comparisons, it seeks to artificially boost itself by demeaning other people's egos.

This whole thing is ridiculous because it's all mind-made artifice. This is the drama described by Shakespeare in AS YOU LIKE IT: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."

Shakespeare was not familiar with a culture in which Sat Nam is the rule of the day.

Most of us are not.

But that is the purpose of yoga.

We seek to connect our minds, our bodies, and our souls so that we are not merely play-acting out our fears and emotions on random characters who cross the stage.

For fear it is that drives ACCUSATION.

If we were fearless in the face of our own truth-Sat Nam-we would not be focusing our attention on externals whenever we encountered an obstacle.

This was a very profound lesson for me.

And in placing my faith in my Sat Nam, rather than my Satan (as a manner of speaking), I am able to face myself, rather than blaming the one who accused me of chanting the name of Lucifer.

Not only that, I am able to use the situation constructively.

I see clearly that this is yet another way I am being shown the path to truth.

I will remember the duality of Sat Nam vs. Satan the next time I transfer my own fears on an outside circumstance or person.

In this way I will become a more conscious human being, and a better teacher.

More proof that Go(o)d awaits at every corner... and how much planetary consciousness has evolved since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I!

Sat Nam!
Porter