Just listen!

Listening is one of the basic secrets of entering the temple. Listening means passivity. Listening means forgetting yourself completely; only then can you listen. When you listen attentively to somebody, you forget yourself. If you cannot forget yourself, you never listen. If you are too self- conscious about yourself, you simply pretend that you are listening – you don’t listen. When you listen, you become just a passage, a passivity, a receptivity, a womb; you become feminine. When you become yin, receptivity, the door is open. And you wait.

Listening is the art of becoming passive. The ears are symbolic. Have you watched? Your ears are nothing but passages, just holes, nothing else. Your ears are more feminine than your eyes; your eyes are more male. Your ears are a yin part; your eyes are a yang part. When you look at somebody, you are aggressive. When you listen to somebody, you are receptive.

That’s why looking at somebody for too long a time becomes vulgar, impolite, unmannerly. But listening to a person has no limit because the ears cannot trespass. They simply remain wherever they are. The ears need no rest: they are open 24 hours. The eyes cannot remain open even for minutes. Aggression tires because aggression takes your energy out; so, the eyes have to blink continuously in order to rest. It is a continuous rest. The ears are rested always. That’s why music has been used by many religions as an approach toward prayer because music will make your ears more vibrant, more sensitive.