Acharya Prashant addresses a question about unintentionally provoking people with one's ideas, especially spiritual ones, and the desire to be more likable. He explains that the purpose of communication is not merely to send words or ideas, but to ensure the other person receives and understands them. The speaker is responsible not only for what they say but also for how the listener receives and interprets it. If the listener gets provoked instead of understanding, the speaker's own purpose is not served. He cautions against the ego's pleasure in instigating others and seeing its power to make them react. The speaker's responsibility extends beyond just uttering words; it includes how the other person feels and construes the message. This requires paying close attention to the audience. One must be prepared to use a thousand different ways to communicate the same point, which necessitates empathy. Without empathy, the listener will not open up, leading to a failure in communication. One is not speaking to walls but to conscious people with their own frailties, imperfections, needs, pains, biases, and pasts. Therefore, the speaker must first understand where the listener is coming from. This involves crafting the right examples and choosing the appropriate language, tone, words, time, and occasion. A genuine communicator, especially in the spiritual domain, must be versatile. This versatility arises not from skill but from compassion. They must be willing to leave their own position and compromise on everything except the truth at their heart. The first thing people listen to is not the words, but the empathy behind them. They want to see if the speaker's eyes carry their pain. If they sense a genuine desire to help, they will listen, even if they don't fully grasp the words. The purpose of communication is wellness or welfare, not just speaking the truth. In fact, that which brings real wellness to the other is the truth. Love is a great teacher; it is love that penetrates, not knowledge. The world remembers great lovers, the saints, more than mere scholars.
