Chapter 75அதிகாரம் 75 செவிமடுத்தல் Listening

A man who refuses without listening has heard nothing but his own words; the man who listens and then refuses is one of your own: listen to him.

The Tamil word kel means both ‘listen!’ and ‘kin, one of your own’; the line closes on both.

The ear washes the heart as water washes the feet of one who has walked on thorns.

Lending an ear with a mind not at rest is like drawing water with a sieve.

I said that even a stone thrown into a well would hear itself answered; the heart has become sandy ground that does not hear.

A stone dropped into a well sounds back; sand takes it without a sound. Whose heart has turned to sand, the Tamil leaves open.

She said a hundred words, and the ears of those who listened circled the one thing she left unsaid.

As water knows the low ground, the bowed ear knows the heart’s word.

A bowed ear is one inclined toward the speaker, humble and attentive.

People hear what is sounded as a matter of course; a few hear the gap left unsounded.

A root finds the water within stone; those who do not lie find the lie within words.

The words of those who praise you are no mirror of your face; what they show is the shape of their own need.

Even a pot kept covered needs one opening for its steam; for the heart, that way is someone who listens.