अथ ह श्रोत्रम् ऊचुः त्वं नः उद्गाय इति तथा इति तेभ्यः श्रोत्रम् उदगायत् यः श्रोत्रे भोगः तम् देवेभ्यः आगायत् यत् कल्याणम् शृणोति तद् आत्मने ते अविदुः अनेन वै नः उद्गात्रा अत्येष्यन्ति इति तम् अभिद्रुत्य पाप्मना अविध्यन् सः यः सः पाप्मा यद् एव इदम् अप्रतिरूपम् शृणोति सः एव सः पाप्मा
atha ha śrotram ūcuḥ tvaṃ naḥ udgāya iti tathā iti tebhyaḥ śrotram udagāyat yaḥ śrotre bhogaḥ tam devebhyaḥ āgāyat yat kalyāṇam śṛṇoti tad ātmane te aviduḥ anena vai naḥ udgātrā atyeṣyanti iti tam abhidrutya pāpmanā avidhyan saḥ yaḥ saḥ pāpmā yad eva idam apratirūpam śṛṇoti saḥ eva saḥ pāpmā
Then they said to hearing: "Sing the udgītha for us!" — "So be it," and it sang: the enjoyment that is in hearing it sang out for the gods, but the good that lies in hearing it sang for itself. The asuras understood: "With this singer they will surpass us!" — they fell upon it and pierced it with evil. That evil is the unseemly thing that people hear: that is the very evil.
fcce5ef63024 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:39:35 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fourth is hearing, the gateway of revelation: by it the Veda, the śruti, is received. Yet it too sang with something held back — and was pierced; the trace is "unseemly hearing": an ear open to gossip, to abuse, to filth, an idle and greedy ear.
The higher a sense's office, the more dreadful its corruption: a wounded hearing turns even the holy into food for curiosity. Hence the tradition's strictness about what we listen to and to whom: hearing is the gate through which either the name of God or poison comes in; to guard it is half of the spiritual life.