1. Listen to the means (sadhana) by which one arrives at the realization of "Supreme Meaning" (Paramartha) and gains contentment. Understand that the best means is definitely listening (shravana).
2. By listening, devotion is understood, dispassion arises, and attachment to sensual pleasure gets broken off.
3. By listening, one's thinking becomes clear, one's intellect becomes firm, and the bondage of pride is broken
4. By listening one gains conviction, the sense of "me" and "mine" is broken, and one gains inner contentment.
5. By listening doubts get cleared, misunderstanding is dispelled, and previously existing traits and attributes are changed.
6. Through listening the mind gets controlled and one gains contentment. By listening the bondage of body-consciousness gets broken.
7. By listening the ego sense of individuality disappears, dangers are avoided, and many calamities are burned to ashes.
8. Due to listening one's undertakings are accomplished, one can get the experience of samadhi, and one becomes spiritually accomplished and content.
9. Listening in the company of saints and the virtuous (in satsang) helps one to understand by way of explanation. By listening one becomes one with Brahman.
10. By listening understanding increases, the intellect is sharpened, and the attraction to sensual pleasures is broken off.
11. By listening one understands the meaning of inquiry, or "thoughtfulness" (vichara), Knowledge (Jnana) becomes stronger, and Reality becomes clear to the aspirant.
12. By listening good intelligence is developed, the power of discrimination is awakened, and the mind begins to long for God.
13. By listening, bad company is broken off, passion dies down, and the dangers of life dry up all at once.
14. By listening the fascination with objects gets destroyed, inspiration shines, and Reality is definitively revealed.
15. By listening one gains the best of life, one finds peace, and one gains a firmness in turning away from worldly entanglements.
16. There is nothing that is as essential as listening, by which anything can happen. By listening one can find the way out of the river of worldly miseries.
17. Listening is the beginning of devotion. Listening is the beginning of all things. By listening everything becomes complete by itself.
18. Neither being engaged in worldly activities nor turning away from worldly entanglements can take place without listening. This is the actual experience of everyone.
19. It is well known to all people that without listening one cannot understand. For this reason, the first basic effort in spiritual endeavor is listening.
20. When there is something that one has not heard about in life, one has doubt about it. Therefore nothing can be compared to the importance of listening.
21. If one looks at the various types of spiritual practices, none is equal to listening. Without listening one's work cannot actually be carried out.
22. Without the sun, there would be darkness everywhere. The spiritual aspiration without listening is similar to that.
23. Without listening, the nine types of devotion, the four types of liberation, and the nature of the spontaneous natural state of effortlessness (sahaja) cannot be understood.
24. Without listening, we would not know about the six duties of the priests, or how to do repetition of mantra, or how to perform rituals of worship.
25. Without listening, the significance of many religious vows, charities, austerities, spiritual practices, yogic practices, and pilgrimages cannot be understood.
26. The various streams of knowledge, the knowledge of the body, the significance of the understanding of various principles and the employment of various skills, and the gaining of the Knowledge of Brahman, cannot be understood without listening.
27. The multitude of varieties of herbs and plants exist because of water. Indeed, all creatures are born from one aquatic source.
28. All beings are supported by the one earth, for all beings there is only one sun, and for all beings, their actions come about by the one wind.
29. For all beings there is one space, which is called the sky, and all beings reside in the one Absolute Reality, Parabrahman.
30. Likewise, for all beings, there is one essential spiritual practice which is listening.
31. There are many countries, many languages, and innumerable opinions found on this planet earth. In all of this, there is no other spiritual practice that is greater than listening.
32. By listening there arises a weariness with worldly pursuits. Those who are in bondage become seekers, and those who are spiritual aspirants become committed to regular spiritual practice.
33. By listening, those who are spiritual aspirants become accomplished, acquiring highest understanding. This is well known to everyone.
34. The immediate effect of listening is that even those who are cruel and hurtful-minded people become virtuous.
35. The greatness of listening is such that it cannot be told in words. By listening, even one who has a hurtful intellect and is always committing wrongful deeds becomes virtuous.
36. It is said that one gets the fruits of pilgrimages and spiritual vows in the future. It is not like that with listening. With listening, one gets direct results immediately.
37. An example of the power of listening is that it is similar to how many diseases and ailments are cured immediately by certain medicines. Those who are experienced understand this.
38. When what is heard is thought about and understood, good fortune reigns strongly. Mainly, the Supreme Self, Paramatman, is understood in one’s own Self-experience.
39. Understand that it is called "reflection" (manana) when one remains always attentive to the meaning of what has been heard. With reflection comes the verification (nididhyasana45) that is constant abidance in the Self and contentment.
40. Only when the meaning of what has been said is understood, does one become content. With this understanding, all doubts are instantly cleared.
41. It can be said that doubt is the root cause of birth, and that by listening doubt becomes rootless and one naturally becomes completely content.
42. Where there is no listening and no reflection, how can there be contentment? Without listening, instead of liberation, one holds on to bondage.
43. Whether one is a seeker, an aspirant (sadhaka), or one who is accomplished (a Siddha), without listening one does not become free from bondage. It is by listening and constant reflection that one's mind becomes subtle and clear.
44. One should know that a place where there is no regular listening is not conducive to spiritual understanding and that the aspirant should not stay there even for a moment.
45. Without listening in one's own self-interest, how can there be any spirituality? Even all that has been accomplished already can become fruitless without continued listening.
46. Therefore, you should listen, and retain in the mind what you have heard and the spiritual practices that you have been given, and you will always be saved from the ocean of worldly entanglements.
47. Just as one has to eat food and drink again and again, one must also listen to what has been heard again and again.
48. That person who disregards listening due to laziness, suffers when it comes to their own best interest.
49. One who defends this kind of laziness is effectively losing their spiritual life. For this reason, listening to spiritual discourses must be done.
50. Now, with regard to how one should listen, and which texts should be read, this will be told in the next sub-chapter.