Informative

Shravan: the sacred spiritual practice of listening

Do you know how Tantra originated? The Divine Mother Parvati asked a question to Adi (first) Yogi Shiva. The discourse between these two primal universal powers laid the foundation of Tantra. 

Thousands of years ago, way before the art of writing in letters was invented, the hearing was the medium of the carrier for the cultures around the world. Vedas, the ancient Indian texts, were carried out through hundreds of generations by memorizing the spoken texts.

A spiritual journey of a seeker is depicted in three stages. Shravan (listening), Manan (contemplating), and Nididhyasanam (meditating). The first step of spirituality is listening, and hence, Shravan or listening has the utmost importance when it comes to spirituality. In this blog, we will discuss the importance of listening in spirituality. 

Difference between hearing and listening

What is Shravan? In simple terms, it means listening. But there is a massive difference between just hearing and actively listening. Hearing is just a biomechanical activity, where sound waves collide on the thin membranes of our eardrums.

The listening takes place after that. Sharvan means listening to the enlightened one, being present there, one hundred percent, and recording it into your subconscious. Listening implies a lack of any inner thoughts. It means an act of absorbing everything falling on your ears.  It means being utterly available in the present, opening yourself entirely for the information being given on.

Why listening is vital when it comes to spirituality

One meaning of spirituality is, having a direct connection with God, the Divinity, or that ultimate universal power you believe in. That direct connection means you are saying something to those powers, and you are open to reading and interpreting the messages given by Them.

As with any of the relationships, listening is crucial in the relationship between the Divine and the seeker, and hence, significant emphasis has been given to listening. When it comes to God, listening through ears is not enough, and a seeker must have to listen through his head and heart. 

 Spiritual listening

 Spiritual listening is the art of converting yourself into a listening entity with the help of total attentiveness and stillness, devoid of any distraction whatsoever. When you are open, attentive, and genuinely curious about others, you establish a more profound and sacred connection with others. Others in this term are your Guru, your Divine, or it could be your Ishta Devata as well.

This active spiritual listening leads to a new understanding of the self, discovering new possibilities as you connect to the higher powers. To be mature spiritually, you must root firmly in your beliefs and commit yourself to daily practice. These are various types of spiritual listening we must follow in order to connect to ourselves on deeper levels.

Listen to your body.
Your body is a temple of your soul, and it constantly sends you messages. Acquiring an witnessing attitude, you must listen to the body. Are you feeling hungry? Tired? Does your body need a rest or good exercise? Perhaps, your body wants to dance in the rain or play on the beach.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you were grateful for your body? Taking some time away from the constant distraction, ask what your body needs to bridge that ever-increasing gap between you and your body. Listen to the surroundings.

What do you smell? Hear? See? Is nature telling you something? Look down towards the earth; she is the Mother of all of us; what is she trying to say to you? Look up in the sky.  Do you resonate with the cloudless sky or the night sky, full of stars?

Listen to your inner voice.
Fear, tensions, and responsibilities push down our inner voice as we grow up. We listen to our inner voice when we feel strong, upbeat, empowered, and confident. Seekers who live by their inner voice are no more just bystanders. They create and shape their own life. They make their resolution fulfilled.

But listening to the inner voice needs commitment. It needs awareness of the present moment. It requires strict exercise, mindfulness, diet, and meditation routine. Surrounding yourself with the people who are supportive of your ideas is one of the most crucial parts of having the ability to listen to your inner voice.  

Listen to the sound of silence.

When it comes to spirituality, silence does not mean the absence of any noise whatsoever. It implies a lack of internal noise. It’s a situation of absolute poise, where mind, body, and soul are perfectly in sync. Silence is absolutely necessary to listen to the deep inner voice.

Buddha, Moses, Muhammad, and many more went to seek solitude in silence and came back with world-changing revelations. So, contemplate what silence is trying to tell you. What do you hear when you find yourself in silence? Can you hear something beyond the silence?

Listen to your heart.

The ancient texts of Upanishads describe the heart as the center of the mind. When a seeker listens to his heart, it deepens his consciousness, intuition, wisdom, and ability to love unconditionally. When you open your heart to all, you progress in spirituality. But one must remember that listening to the heart does not mean obeying every emotion.

Listening to the heart means understanding our inner orientation, the core of what makes us ‘Us.’ Heart is the core, the center, the substance. Every once in a while, during the time of introspection, a seeker must ask himself, what is his heart telling? Every seeker must have a place where he can unfold his heart.

Listen to your emotions.

How are you feeling? What are your reactions when something unexpected happens to you? A seeker must curiously check upon his emotions from time to time. It has been observed that emotions play a more significant role in spiritual progress than the practice itself. If the feelings behind the intentions are pure, one can see his resolutions being fulfilled in no time.

What sounds in nature remind you of the Divine? Wherever you are, take a moment and listen to the sounds around you. Note down what you hear in your head while you meditate. What kind of words or melodies resonate with you when you listen to the music? Note them down. They are telling you something about yourself. Enlightenment begins when a person sits in silence and listens to himself, along with the sheer awareness of the Divine Presence.

Over the next few days, try to listen. Try to spend a few minutes of every day just sitting and actively listening, seeking the Divine voices. We hope this blog helped you gain insight into the act of spiritual listening. 

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