The object of the ear is sound. By hearing words through the ears, we also gain direct knowledge. We gain direct knowledge, and also indirect knowledge of heaven, hell, and the divine abode. Therefore, in the Vedanta process, hearing, contemplation, profound meditation, and realization, hearing comes first. Similarly, in bhakti bhakti Devotion to Bhagvãn. One of the four attributes of ekãntik dharma. There are nine types of bhakti: Tap to open in glossary → hearing comes first. The supreme element described in the scriptures, its indirect knowledge is obtained through our ears, only through our ears. That is, only by hearing with the ears and acting, believing, or knowing accordingly, we realize that supreme element. There is inconceivable power in sound. Due to the inconceivable power of sound, direct knowledge arises from sound alone, just as a sleeping person is awakened by whatever sound is uttered, he is awakened by that very sound. A sleeping person is awakened by sound. He does not wake up by form. When sound reaches him, he wakes up. If a form comes before him, he does not necessarily wake up. Because ears, on the other hand, remain open twenty-four hours a day. And eyes can be closed. Ears cannot be closed with curtains; there is no mechanism to close them, no on-off system, that's why. And compared to form, sound is more powerful, so say the scriptures. A sleeping person can be awakened by sound, form cannot awaken him. That is about awakening from physical sleep. But there is also a sleep of delusion. One is physical sleep, and another is the sleep of delusion. Having drunk the wine of delusion, meaning there is a sleep of delusion. No one wakes up from the sleep of delusion. Even those who are awake are not truly awake. Therefore, sound awakens one from the sleep of delusion. If sometimes such a word falls upon him, then he wakes up from the sleep of delusion. Tulsidasji was spoken to with such words by his wife, so his sleep of delusion vanished, and his delusion shattered, broken into pieces. Therefore, out of delusion, no other form or anything else works there; only sound works there. And if a word, if such a word of a great person touches him, then his sleep of delusion vanishes. Delusion is piled up deep inside, upon the jiva, and it does not let this jiva move at all. But if somehow a word touches him, then the veil of delusion cannot cover the sound. Unlike how it can cover form and everything else. When a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → 'Blessed be the mother of Gopichand. She inspired her son to vairagya.' That is, a word fell upon his ears. When that word fell upon his ears, his sleep vanished. When a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → into the intellect, and the intellect contracts and merges into ignorance, avidya. It merges into prakriti. At that time, this jiva has no awareness. Like a stone slab, this jiva becomes. From that, God awakens him by His grace. It is like Maharaj. But from that, God awakens him through sound. If someone says, 'O so-and-so brother!' then in this deep sleep, the sound enters within. Form and taste cannot enter like that. In this way, although in sleep the senses remain very hidden, still, if the sleeping man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → And those merged in delusion—it is easy to awaken those merged in avidya. But one who is merged in delusion, it is difficult to awaken him. If we have our own delusion, then even God cannot awaken us from it, gurus cannot awaken us, no man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → If he is a believer and sometimes a word falls upon him, and if he wakes up, he wakes up. Therefore, sound is very powerful. That is why discourse and devotion are said to be primary. Maharaj has said, 'If a spark is struck.' It means he wakes up. This 'Blessed be the mother of Gopichand' and all are examples of that spark. Gopichand got the spark, Bharthari got the spark, and all the examples that have been given, Dhruva got the spark, all of them got it solely through sound. Words fell upon him. Dhruva heard the words of his stepmother, though they were negative, he took them positively. Even though other words fell upon him, he took them positively. Tulsidasji, Surdasji, all of them, even Mirabai as well. When Mirabai was young, a wedding procession came to her village. So she asked her mother, Mirabai was very young, 'What is this called?' She said, 'This is a wedding procession.' She asked, 'What is a wedding procession?' She said, 'In it, there is a groom and' 'there is a bride, and they get married, and the groom comes, and they get married, and all that.' That is, she must have asked many questions to her mother, so her mother got tired. And she asked, 'Who is my groom then?' So she said, 'This is your groom.' Pointing to the idol of Lord Sri Krishna Krishna 1) An avatãr of Bhagvãn. He incarnated in the svarup of a cowherd. This is considered to be a greater avatãr than the others, as Shree Krishna possessed all of the powers of Bhagvãn, whereas other avatãrs possessed less power. Shree Krishna conveyed the message of love and humanity to the world. Also, He recited the epic poem, the Bhagvad Geetã, to Arjun in which He stated: ‘Whenever dharma declines and adharma increases, I shall incarnate myself as a human to save the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, and to establish dharma. I come into being from yug to yug’. 2) In the Vachanãmrut, Shreeji Mahãrãj also uses the name “Shree Krishna” to describe Bhagvãn Purushottam Nãrãyan. Tap to open in glossary → So Mirabai got attached to Him from that day. Because that word touched her, that 'my husband is this Kanaiya.' Therefore, she later took the ascetic garb. So they wake up through sound. All those who have awakened. Therefore, there is great power in sound. It should be applied. One whom Maharaj calls stubborn, whose spark does not strike, he has no issue. His delusion never breaks. Otherwise, it breaks everywhere through sound. There is so much power in sound that it awakens even one merged in avidya. Thus, there is infinite power in sound. Sight goes up to the object and stops, whereas sound does not just go to the ear but goes up to its essence. It reaches right up to the jiva. If a form comes here before a person, then it stops at the eye, it stops there. It stops at the physical object. It does not enter within. And if sound comes, it enters right up to the jiva. Then why does everyone not wake up? Huh? They do not want to wake up. They simply do not want to wake up. That's why. Otherwise, sound enters up to the jiva. That is, if it has entered up to the jiva and he has grasped it, then it is called a spark. It is called a spark. These others now, now motivation, those who motivate, the conscious mind and subconscious mind, sleeping mind, huh? Subconscious mind. If that word goes into the subconscious mind, then he wakes up. His jiva wakes up. The subconscious mind is awake only for a short time in twenty-four hours. It accepts, then mostly it remains asleep. So if one finds out when it wakes up and enters it then, there is no issue. Even if a thought is entered into it, he gets the spark; it is not necessary that only a word is brought. A word might have been heard ten years ago, and if he enters it into the subconscious mind now, still he wakes up. It is not necessary that the word must be fresh, like brought from the vegetable market, that is not required. An earlier word can also be useful. Shastriji Maharaj got vairagya after reading Yamadand, that is considered a word, right? That is indeed called a word. Those are called the words of Nishkulanand Swami Nishkulanand Swami Disciple of Sahajanand Swami (Swaminarayan Bhagwan) and author of the Bhaktachintamani, as stated in the scripture's own closing colophon at the end of every chapter. Tap to open in glossary → Sight goes up to the object... If a spark is struck, it is struck only by someone's word. If one thinks about oneself, how did we become sadhus? Through sound. For some, the spark is struck slowly. That is, some sadhu might have struck two or three blows, many blows. And for some, it happens in one blow, split into two pieces. But then, how long it remains, how long it lasts, so Maharaj has said. If the spark is struck and if it lasts for a long time, then he attains the supreme state. Otherwise, he becomes like the washerman's dog, belonging neither to the home nor to the ghat. Therefore, the spark is struck, it is struck by sound. Sight goes up to the object and stops, whereas sound does not just go to the ear but goes up to its essence, which awakens even from its own form. The eye has so much power, a specialty compared to other senses, that, for example, if a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → then in the mirror, the mirror will capture his form. The mirror captures his form, right? Similarly, how does a man man Mind. One of the four antah-karans, with the function of (pronounced mun) generating thoughts and desires, and governing all of the indriyas. Tap to open in glossary → it falls upon the retina, it captures that form. It is captured up to there. And from there, the jiva will capture it. The jiva will capture the form from there. Similarly in every sense. Taste comes up to the tongue, and from the tongue, the jiva then captures it. Mind comes, and from the mind, that one also captures it, in that way. Sound goes right deep within. It goes up to the jiva sometimes, like that. If his state is such, the sound goes up to the jiva. In sound, does the ear go there or does the sound come to the ear? Sound comes to the ear. The ripple-wave analogy and that bud analogy, those two analogies come in Tarka-sangraha. That through the ripple-wave analogy, sound travels. Or else that lotus name... leaf-bud analogy? Japakusuma is different. Leaf-bud analogy? Like the petals of a lotus, when that lotus blooms it goes further and further. And that ripple-wave analogy means like when a stone is thrown into a water body, ripples rise from it and go right up to the shore. So mostly, through the ripple-wave analogy, sound comes to the ear, and from the ear, it then goes right into the jiva, up to the jiva. Then where to stop it is in our hands. Not to let it reach right into the jiva, to keep it outside, all that is in our hands. So form also goes up to the jiva and sound also goes up to the jiva, then what is the difference? Sound goes up to the jiva on its own. Sound goes up to the jiva by the power of sound. And form stops at the eye, then from there, the nature of form is such that if a mirror comes, it merges into it. The nature of form is not such that right everywhere... if some veil comes, form stops. The nature of sound is not such that if a veil comes, it stops. It goes right through the veil. If this wall comes, form stops. The eye stops, but if there is sound, it does not stop even if it is behind the wall. And if sent from here, it goes behind the wall as well. Like that. If someone is telling us and our attention is elsewhere, our attention is elsewhere and someone is telling us, then we do not realize anything. That is, the jiva did not pay attention to it. The sound indeed went there. The sound went there, but he did not focus on it. So if the sound has come there properly, and his focus is there, then the spark is struck. If he does not focus at all, even if he knows that a very good word has come, sometimes we feel a powerful word has come, but if he does not focus on it, then his jiva does not wake up. AI translation of the Gujarati transcript above, produced in the same pass that transcribed the audio, one English segment per Gujarati segment. Devotional and technical terms with no precise English equivalent (kirtan, satsang, vasana, samskara, and similar) are kept as their plain transliteration rather than force-translated. Not human-proofread., AI-translated, unverified · Source details