127. Learn to Listen, to Learn

A two-dimensional map is used to represent a three-dimensional territory. It’s an easy, useful and convenient way, but has its limitations. We need to experience the territory to fully appreciate it. The same is the case with ‘words’ which attempt to describe a multidimensional life in terms of people, situations, thoughts, feelings and actions. But words also have many limitations, much like a two-dimensional map.

Firstly, words are polar. To call one thing good is often implying that something else is bad. There are hardly any words which can describe a state beyond polarities. Secondly, the same word evokes different feelings in different people depending on their experiences and circumstances. That’s why some cultures use silence for spiritual communication to overcome these limitations of multiple interpretations. Thirdly, we tend to stop at word’s literal meaning which is like knowing about the truth but not being truthful.

One such word is ‘I’ used by both Krishna and Arjuna. While Arjuna’s ‘I’ is his identification with divisions, Krishna’s ‘I’ is oneness encompassing all divisions of the manifested existence. The awareness of the limitations of words will help us to understand the Gita. The following verse is one such instance.

Krishna says, “O Partha, listen; with your mind completely fixed upon Me, practising yoga, taking refuge in Me, you will without doubt come to know Me in full” (7.1). To reach Krishna’s Me, we need to dissolve ourselves as a salt doll dissolves itself to be the ocean.

Krishna used the word shrunu (listen) which needs attention. We were taught how to speak. It could be a language or how to express ourselves. But we were hardly taught ‘how to listen’. A closer look at life shows that situations themselves teach us to listen and understand - especially difficult ones, such as the Kurukshetra battlefield for Arjuna. At its core, this is about listening to learn.