To be a human is to have Sky in the Heart and Earth in the body || Acharya Prashant on Khalil Gibran

Acharya Prashant

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To be a human is to have Sky in the Heart and Earth in the body || Acharya Prashant on Khalil Gibran

“Let the whole world listen.

The sky will now speak to the earth,

but the earth is deaf as you and I”

~ Khalil Gibran

Speaker: “Let the whole world listen. The sky will now speak to the earth, but the earth is deaf as you and I”. What is the ‘sky’ and what is the ‘earth’?

What is the ‘sky’ and what is the ‘earth’? Gibran is saying, “*But the earth is deaf as you and I*”. So, now tell me who is the ‘earth’?

Listener: Ego?

Speaker: Yes, so then, what is the ‘sky’?

Listener: The Call?

Speaker: So, why is he saying, “*Let the whole world listen*”?

It’s a prayer. He is saying, “Kindly listen, kindly listen. You, the people of the earth, this world, kindly listen”.

“*The sky will now speak to the earth*”. Does that mean that it’s a special occasion when the sky speaks to the earth? Then why is he saying that, “The sky will now speak to the earth”?

He is saying, “*Let the whole world listen. The sky will now speak to the earth*”. What does it mean? Does it mean that the sky speaks to the earth at an appointed hour?

Listener: No.

Speaker: Then? It means that the moment you listen, the speaking happens . “Let the whole world listen”. It’s because you are not listening that you cannot hear the sky speak. Listen and then you hear nothing, but the silence of the sky.

Let the whole world listen, the sky will now speak to the earth. Whosoever has ever listened, has only listened to the sky. To that Great silence . Those who do not listen, hear a lot of things. Those who listen deeply, hear nothing. If you can hear a lot of voices, then for sure you are not listening. And if you are listening, there is nothing to hear. There is only that great silence, of the great void.

So, there is the prayer, “Listen. Please listen”. It’s an imploring, it’s a request. And then, there is a regret . You do not listen, the earth does not listen. Just as you and I are deaf, the earth too is deaf. The sky is speaking all the time; the center is calling all the time through its alluring silence. But we do not listen, the ego never listens. The ego is noise; how can noise listen to silence?

To be human is to have a body of earth and a heart of the sky. If you just have a body of earth with no heart, then you are a puppet, not a human being. Even a puppet has a body, even a puppet moves. To be human is something totally different. To be human is to have the sky in your heart; that great silent vastness in your heart. Then you are human.

This article has been created by volunteers of the PrashantAdvait Foundation from transcriptions of sessions by Acharya Prashant
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