Listen attentively, O learned one! to what I shall now tell you .Listening to it, you shall immediately gain a thorough Liberation from the bondages of samsara. (68)
The Acharya gives the student full assurance that if he listens attentively and looks for the subtle meaning in the words of the Teacher, he shall attain a sense of complete fulfillment in life.
We must understand that the word, 'listening' is used here in a sense much more ample and accommodative than its dictionary meaning.
From what you have been told so far, you know how essential it is for a student to be completely attuned to the Master. The student already has, through a process of self-discipline, made his inner kingdom clean and peaceful, wherein he stands in all devotion and meekness, receptivity and alertness. When he 'listens’ to the inspired words of the Master, full of subtle suggestions, he within himself, starts living the unworded implications coursing through the words.
avahitah sr̥ ṇusva; avahitaḥ means with attention; derived from the root avaha; avadhānam means attention; care, alertness is called avadhānam; from that only the word sāvadhānam has come. sa avadhānam means what; with alterness. avahitaḥ is the adjectival form; participal form; with attention; ṇuṣva; may you listen to.
A student, thus prepared, when he comes to 'hear' a discourse from the Master, not only hears the words but spiritually lives the Truth; this is called 'listening'.
He Vidvan; so here the teacher is addressing the student as He Vidvān; Oh learned person, because the student seems to know a lot of things, he seems to have thought a lot more; because his questions are very very precise. Therefore Oh learned informed student; listen very carefully. To what? yanmayā samudīryatē; what is being taught by me. So listen to carefully to what is being taught by me.
So yetat sravaṇat; by listening to my teaching, you will be liberated from what? bhava bandāt; from the bondage or shackles of saṁsāra. And how long it will take? here the teacher makes a point; if you are very alert, even at the end of the teaching itself, you can discover the freedom. You do not even require a separate effort, if you are very alert and qualified; very śravaṇam itself; if it is done consistently and systematically, for a length of time, then the śravaṇam itself can give freedom.
In Vedanta it is a scriptural discussion between a saint of inner experience and a student of inner purity. It is a Guru- sisya samvada and the experience of Reality which is the theme of discussion is brought within the experience of the student, immediately and instantaneously, if the student is ready to receive it.
Therefore, Sankara is perfectly orthodox when he declares that the disciple shall experience Liberation if only he knows the 'art of listening' to the spiritual voice that sings through the Master's words.
Love
