When there is so much to hear, how to choose?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Yeah, actually it is very important to have some purpose driven here. In the sense that, if we have some goal. Because otherwise, there is just so much ocean of hearing.
And sometimes, we hear so many good points, but then we hear this and we hear that. We are not able to align because there is so much to align also. So, if we have some objective, for example, it is best if we can complement the hearing and the reading together.
If we are reading a subject and we hear about a subject. Then our appreciation of the subject can become deeper. So, actually I would say it depends a lot on individualism.
Some devotees are inspired by some devotees. So, the primary inspiration is coming from a person. Say, a spiritual master or somebody who inspires us.
Then just hearing from that person itself may be enough. That’s what inspires us. But in some cases, the inspiration from some people may be there.
But our inspiration may also be in terms of understanding things. Like, if you want to study a book systematically. Then, if you see at our temple, we have daily Bhagavatam classes.
The Bhagavatam classes are very good in terms of being regularly reminded of the philosophy of Krishna consciousness. But the Bhagavatam classes are not exactly Bhagavatam study in yourself. Because each class is given by a different speaker who goes in different directions.
We get their association, we understand their realization. But we may not go deep into the subject. So, if our interest is in studying a particular book, then it is best to find out some lectures which are systematically covering a book.
Or if we are interested in understanding a particular concept. Say, what are the three modes of literature? Then, we can focus on that topic. So, one is a book itself.
A book may have many topics. The other is a topic itself, which we want to understand. And usually say, if we have to give a class on a particular topic, then we may ourselves hear on that topic.
And apart from that also, there can be applications related to it. So, if I am battling with a particular thought, if I want to develop a particular quality, I may hear about that. That’s also related to the topic only.
But, there is inspirational hearing and there is educational hearing. And the two are not always the same. When we are primarily inspired by some person, by some senior Vaishnava, Vyasa Kuchum, Mahasaura, whatever, then we just hear it from them and inspire them.
Even if the content of that hearing may not be very educationally deep or educationally very multifaceted or whatever. So, for some others, the primary hearing they want is educational hearing. And we can’t legislate this.
In our own spiritual life also, in different stages, we may feel more motivated, surcharged by different kinds of hearings. So, if we make a plan and hear according to the plan, and then afterwards we observe, this worked out well, this did not work out so well, then we can accordingly change. What is our need, whether it is primarily for inspirational hearing or whether it is for educational hearing, that also we will learn ourselves.
So, when it comes to our own hearing, it’s best not to legislate anything. In the temple, when there are programs, we do go for the temple programs whenever it’s possible for us. But in our own hearing, we can focus primarily on that which gives us an exemplary spiritual energy.
So, after we keep hearing for some time, a simple example of this is eating. There are so many different food items. How do we decide what to eat? We may try out different things at different times, but over a period of time, we understand what is good for my body, what is good for my diet, what gives me energy, what keeps my healthy.
And then we choose that. There may be initiatives of experimentation we have to go through before we decide. And even then we may try occasionally some new items.
But we don’t focus simply on eating new items all the time. We know there are some new dishes to eat. So, like that, if we are hearing, there are so many great devotees from whom we can hear.
So, we can have some regular hearing going on and within that, if we are going to hear for a few hours per week, then within that we can allocate a little time when we can hear from our speakers. So that we might learn something new also. But if we have been hearing for a few years, and we have been practicing for a few years, we basically understand what our needs are to a significant extent.
Then the kind of hearing that nourishes us, that is the primary hearing tool. Just like in our meal, the primary meal has to be a nourishing tool. But along with that, we might find some other items also which may be good, which may be not just tasty, but they are also good for our health.
We might keep finding them. So, we don’t have to put a moratorium, no more hearing from anyone else. So, we don’t put a moratorium in eating.
But there has to be a balance between regular educational hearing or regular, not necessarily educational, I could say, nourishing hearing. Whether it is educational or it is inspirational, that’s the way. But regular nourishing hearing and other exploratory hearing to find out if we can get more nourishment from other sources.
And that way we can gradually find out how to keep ourselves inspired from the hearing. Does it answer the question? Thank you.