First Method of Practicing Bhakti – Hearing
Devotional service to Shri Krishna is performed by following the nine methods as follows:
- Hearing
- Chanting
- Remembering
- Serving the lotus feet
- Worshipping
- Praying
- Executing the orders
- Fraternizing
- Fully surrendering
In this series, we will elaborate on one method each week. We’ll start with the first one – hearing.
This list is in the sequence of the easiest practice to most difficult and advanced for practicing bhakti. Hearing is the easiest because we don’t have to actively do anything; the act of hearing is done by the sense organ (ear) and the mind. Let us elaborate on this some more.
It is said that the sense of hearing is the most effective because it works even when we are in deep sleep. Our eyes have to be open for us to see and unless the ears are deformed, they are never closed; they are always open. For instance, we ‘hear’ the baby cry at night; we ‘hear’ the door click at night that makes us think an intruder has entered the house; we ‘hear’ the alarm go off in the morning and wake up. This means the ears are always working. The words and sounds we hear during the day and night are being absorbed by our mind and body and are impacting us either directly or indirectly. We happen to hear negative talk about someone and based on our relationship with the other, our feelings are either hurt or validated. We happen to hear someone talk good about our child or someone we are attached to, and a smile comes to our face.
This is the reason why listening to the names of God is consistently described in the scriptures as a way to grow the devotional sentiments. Now let’s try an experiment and validate if this truly works or not. When you go to bed at night, note if you heard a sankirtan/bhajan or not. Then turn on the Hare Krishna, Hare Ram sankirtan or any other namsankirtan CD you have. Let it play very softly all night, every night for 30 days, and notice the change in your sentiments. Just as there is background waterfall music playing at a spa that relaxes us, the all night passive listening to the namsankirtan also transforms us.
I’ve done this when my sadhana is lagging and experienced the positive results. Now I’d love to hear about your experience of practicing bhakti by focusing on the method of hearing over the next 30-60 days. Keep me posted!