Acharya Prashant explains that true listening is not a separate activity or a scheduled event like a movie show. He emphasizes that if one only attempts to listen during a discourse and treats the rest of their time as personal or ordinary, they will fail to truly hear even during the discourse. To truly listen, one must not come with the specific objective of listening as a task; rather, listening must become one's very nature. He asserts that if a person is a disciple only for a few hours, they are merely seeking spiritual entertainment rather than transformation. He explains that one can only hear him when they are not listening with the intent to just gather words, but when they have a deep concern for the speaker himself. He clarifies the concept of a Shravak as discussed in Jainism and by Osho. True listening does not happen through the ears, as ears only catch external sounds and spoken words. Instead, being a Shravak means the Guru resides in one's heart, whispering silently amidst the noise of daily life. While the world's sounds are heard, they feel distant, whereas the Guru's presence is intimate and constant. For such a person, words become secondary; whether the Guru speaks or remains silent, the connection remains unbroken because the Guru is held close, like a child to a mother's chest. This state requires the total surrender of one's own intellect and ego. Finally, Acharya Prashant explains why a Shravak is considered superior to a Sadhak. While a practitioner follows a long, sequential path of hearing, reflecting, and meditating to reach liberation, a true Shravak finds liberation in the act of listening itself. When listening happens from the heart rather than the intellect, the need for intermediate steps like reflection or practice disappears. In this state, listening is equivalent to enlightenment and liberation, providing an immediate and direct path to the truth. He concludes that for a true disciple, listening itself is the ultimate liberation.
