"You will listen to something else which has not been said at all, you will go on missing that which is said – because you will not be in tune. You will listen to the words of course, because you are not deaf, but just that much is not listening.

"That's why Jesus goes on saying to his disciples, 'If you have ears, listen. If you have eyes, see.' Those disciples were neither blind nor deaf. They had eyes as healthy as you have, ears as good as you have. But Jesus' words are not strange; they are relevant. He is talking to ordinary people; he has to bring their attention, he has to shout. But Buddha's words are strange – he is addressing a bodhisattva, a great being, a bodhi-being; one who is just on the verge of becoming a buddha.

"What does it mean exactly when he says: Therefore, Subhuti, listen well and attentively?

"To listen well ordinarily means to listen in a receptive mood, in deep receptivity. When you listen if you are arguing, if you are judging, if you are saying, 'Yes, this is right because it fits with my ideology, and this is not right because it doesn't appeal to me logically. This is right, this is not right. This I can believe, this I cannot believe.' If you are continuously sorting out things inside, you are listening but you are not listening well.

"And you are listening with your past mind interfering. Who is this judging? It is not you, it is your past. You have read a few things, you have heard a few things, you have been conditioned for a few things. It is the past continuously interfering. The past wants to perpetuate itself. It does not allow anything that can disrupt it. It does not allow anything new; it allows only the old that fits with it. That's what you go on doing when you judge, when you criticize, when you discuss inside and debate.

"To listen rightly means to listen obediently. This word obedience is beautiful. You will be surprised to know that the original root from which the word obedience comes is obedire – it means a thorough listening."