How Is Hearing A Valid Form Of Yoga

“The inhabitants of Vrindavana were perplexed by great difficulties because a certain portion of the Yamuna was poisoned by the chief of the reptiles [Kaliya]. The Lord chastised the snake-king within the water and drove him away, and after coming out of the river, He caused the cows to drink the water and proved that the water was again in its natural state.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.31)

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विपन्नान् विषपानेन निगृह्य भुजगाधिपम्
उत्थाप्यापाययद्गावस्तत्तोयं प्रकृतिस्थितम्

vipannān viṣa-pānena
nigṛhya bhujagādhipam
utthāpyāpāyayad gāvas
tat toyaṁ prakṛti-sthitam

“Can you answer this question for me? It relates to a specific implementation of bhakti-yoga, as defined by the esteemed Prahlada Maharaja. It is actually the first in the list of items. I think that son of the Daitya king offered the greatest service to mankind in providing the list. He created substance out of something that is otherwise complex. Bhakti-yoga might appear to be something that exists only in the abstract, to be discussed by academics or to be used by leaders to criticize others for their behaviors leading to misery, exhaustion, defeat, and being bound to the cycle of birth and death. Prahlada showed how bhakti-yoga looks, when implemented in real life.

“The problem I have is that I think any of the other eight items within the list make more sense than the first one. This is because there is something being done. Take kirtanam, for example. I am sitting down and chanting. I might be chanting with others, in what is known as sankirtana, repeating the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Another process is smaranam. Remembering the Supreme Lord, who is known as Vishnu. This is kind of difficult, considering that we have so much already on the mind. It requires effort.

“Being a friend. Offering service. Worshiping in the formal sense. Surrendering everything. These involve doing things. The first item in the list, which is perplexing, at least to me, is hearing. The Sanskrit is shravanam. I also know that any of the nine processes done steadily, with determination, and with an eye towards perfection will yield the same result as any of the other processes.

“How does that make sense, though? If I sit down and hear, that is quintessential passivity. I am not doing anything. I put it right on the border of sleeping. Why would hearing help me? How does it move me further along in the path? Shouldn’t I at least have to do something, after the fact?”

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada translates bhakti-yoga as “Krishna consciousness.” This is to simplify things, as well as to clear up the misunderstanding of many gods tagged to the Vedic tradition. There is always only one God. There is always only one source. That individual may appear differently, across different ages, revealed to select people, and thus have different associated names, but it is always one person at the origin. Since He is a person with the greatest qualities, He is Bhagavan. Since He is all-attractive, He is Krishna.

Consciousness is the objective in bhakti-yoga. Consciousness is what carries forward, to the next lifetime. The body is like the machine. When we return the rental car at the airport, once the agent takes the keys or we park the vehicle in the proper space, our affiliation ends. This is more or less the case, provided there are no incidental damages or lingering issues. We were once in that vehicle, which is like a machine. We were together across hundreds of miles, in journeys that spanned many days. Then, just like that, the car has no meaning to us. There is separation.

शरीरं यद् अवाप्नोति
यच् चाप्य् उत्क्रामतीश्वरः
गृहीत्वैतानि संयाति
वायुर् गन्धान् इवाशयात्

śarīraṁ yad avāpnoti
yac cāpy utkrāmatīśvaraḥ
gṛhītvaitāni saṁyāti
vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt

“The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 15.8)

We are with the machine that is the body. We will one day leave that machine behind. The consciousness carries forward. The comparison is to air transporting scents. We are at a distance from the kitchen. We are indoors, but somehow we can smell the flowers from the garden in the courtyard. We can identify what is baking in the oven. This is due to transport. The same applies to our future existence. We can shape that existence, through influencing consciousness.

यं यं वापि स्मरन् भावं
त्यजत्य् अन्ते कलेवरम्
तं तम् एवैति कौन्तेय
सदा तद्-भाव-भावितः

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

“Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 8.6)

To get an understanding of the potency of hearing, imagine the situation of an adult learning how to swim. They had trauma during childhood. They suffered through the embarrassment of being the only child at parties to not know how to swim. The parents wondered why the child was so afraid. As an adult, this person has to explain to their young children why they are not so fond of entering the water during the summer months. Finally, after growing tired of offering excuses, they decide to give it a try. They want to tackle their fear.

The first day with the instructor goes well. There is some progress made. On the second day, there is a different instructor. This person wants to take the tough approach. Our adult student is a little apprehensive, but they continue anyway. During one of the drills, the instructor intentionally lets go, causing the student to fall into the water. The adult student panics, calls out for help, and then rushes to the side wall. They were not ready for that step. They were not sure what to do when left totally alone in the water, with no surface to hold as an anchor.

That is enough trauma for one day, they think. At the same time, they feel completely humbled by the experience. In the same pool there are three and four year old children, sometimes in the next lane over, swimming effortlessly. Those children are so happy to be in the water. They have not a care in the world. Then, there are so many others who are brave enough to dive into the water to rescue people. Known as lifeguards, they sacrifice their own comfort to bring safety to others.

After the harrowing experience, this adult student cannot help but recall the pastime of Krishna jumping into the Yamuna River. A young child at the time, Krishna knew what He was doing. There was danger around. The fumes of poison spread to the nearby vicinity. Krishna took the risk to save His friends, His neighbors, and His community. The cause of the disturbance was the snake known as Kaliya. The poison was dangerous enough, but what human being was going to face the serpent directly?

The person in our story fondly recalls Krishna dancing on the hoods of Kaliya. Krishna finally spared the serpent after kind pleas for clemency from the nagapatnis. These were the wives of Kaliya. Krishna was also kind enough to leave a sacred footprint. The eagle known as Garuda would see this mark on the hood of Kaliya and know that everything was safe.

The person in our story can only recall this incident because they initially heard. As they are triggered by the scent of chlorine reminding them of the dangers in their swimming experience, Krishna was not afraid of the poison from Kaliya. The person in our story at some time engaged in shravanam. They retained that connection to transcendence despite a harrowing experience. Through an episode from living life, outside of a formal worship scene, they got a vivid picture of the meaning to the delivery of the surrendered souls, as described in Bhagavad-gita.

ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि
मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्-पराः
अनन्येनैव योगेन
मां ध्यायन्त उपासते
तेषाम् अहं समुद्धर्ता
मृत्यु-संसार-सागरात्
भवामि न चिरात् पार्थ
मय्य् आवेशित-चेतसाम्

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

“For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pritha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.6-7)

Whether in good times or bad, anyone can remember Krishna. They can realize that He is the strength of the strong, that He is the one responsible for the results of action. Through hearing alone they can change their consciousness for the better. This means that shravanam indeed fulfills the purposes of yoga.

In Closing:

How from simply to hear,
Success in yoga to steer?

Not passive resembling sleep?
At least some attention keep.

Reminder of Krishna fearlessly diving,
After Kaliya to Yamuna arriving.

His kindness and mercy to devotees shown,
Recalled after harrowing bout of my own.