Yet the external instrument and the inward nerve centre are not sufficient for listening. Suppose in your library, you are intently reading a book and lost in study and the clock strikes, yet you do not hear it. The sound is there, the pulsations in air are there, the ear and centre are there and these vibrations have been carried through the ear to the centre and yet you do not hear it. What is missing? The mind is not there.
The lecturer of a college complains that his students are present physically but their mind is elsewhere. Same complaint is heard from the preachers giving their sermons to the audience. Thus we see that the thing necessary is that the mind must be there. First there must be a external instrument, then the organ to which this instrument will carry the sensation and lastly the organ must itself be attached to the mind.
When the mind is not attached to the organ, the organ and the ear may take the impression and yet we shall be conscious of it. The mind too is only the carrier. It has to carry the sensation still forward and present it to the intellect. The intellect is the determinative faculty and decided upon what is brought before it. Still this is not sufficient. The intellect must carry it forward and present the whole thing before the ruler in the body, the human, the king on the throne.
Before him, this is presented and then from him comes the order as to what to do or what not to do. And the order goes down in the same sequence, to the intellect, to the mind, to the organs and the organs convey it to the instruments and the process of hearing is complete. The ruler of the body is self-effulgent and is our own self. The body, the external shape has no light as its own and cannot know itself neither can the mind. Why not?
As the mind waxes and wanes and it is vigorous at one time and weak at another and also, it can be acted upon by any thing and everything therefore, the light which shines through mind is not its own. The Essence as such can never decay or die and can never become stronger or weaker to the self, it is self luminous. It is luminosity in itself.
Knowing that Self to be your true nature, you will develop right listening automatically. In the audio cassette on ‘Vivek’ ‘Wisdom’ Swami Ji reminds us “Time and again, emphasis is laid with the loud and clarion call to give up greed, pride, lust, anger and other vices. Don’t injure any ones feelings. Don’t indulge in bad pursuits. So many don’ts, people have been listening and listening but they are so much entangled in the meshes of these evils that they can’t get rid of them. Even before they are aware of them, these evils overpower them like demons. We make a solemn promise not to be a prey to anger, conceit, lust, pride, greed and other vices. But we don’t even realise when we lose temper or become a slave in the hands of our ego. This happens because we never made an effort to listen to the Inner soundless sound and embark upon the Inner Journey”
It is the meditation which enables us to hear the Inner voice and then all these evils leave us spontaneously. No extra effort is required; Meditation cleanses our mind of negations, such as worry, anger and fill it with thoughts of love, service and joy. In the sanctum of our there must be shined one joy, one power and one peace.
Mind would be pure and pure mind paves the way for right listening. We would understand the spirit of sacrifices. We won’t worry about the time and date when Gita was recited. We would be interested to know what Gita preaches and try to put that into practise. That is the right listening, which will not do the job of scissors shredding everything into pieces but perform the job of needle bringing everything into harmony and goodwill.
In that tape on ‘Wisdom’ Gurudev Shri Ji narrates an incident, “A man is drowning. He cries out, “I am drowning”, “I am drowning” A passer-by hears him wailing and replies, “Get drowned. You don’t have to get permission from anyone. Why are you shouting?” It is not the right listening. What he meant was to be saved from drowning.
Many a time we may draw wrong conclusions, from what we hear due to our own limited intelligence or false ego. The self within you is beyond mind and intellect. Realise it through meditation. That is your own true self. Be a Witness, a seer, a listener to the soundless sound within and you will enjoy the perfect peace and bliss within and without. Life will be total and then whatever you do will bring happiness to us. Listening to the inner voice of Self is right listening and our listening in the outer world will be right listening as well.