---
type: Concept
bundle: upanishadic-core
bundle_version: "0.6.0"
id: shravana
title: "Śravaṇa"
iast: "Śravaṇa"
devanagari: "श्रवण"
description: "The first stage of Brahma-jijñāsā — formal, receptive hearing of the Upaniṣadic teaching from a qualified Guru — the pramāṇa-event in which Śabda (verbal testimony) delivers direct Brahma-jñāna; not listening, not studying, not reading, not exposure to content"
darshana:
  - Advaita Vedānta
  - Vedānta
school_scope: "Advaita Vedānta's first of three means of Brahma-jñāna; the pramāṇa stage of the triad"
text_source: "Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5"
tags: [shravana, manana, nididhyasana, pramana, shabda, guru, brahma-jijnasa, advaita]
not:
  - term: "listening or hearing (auditory reception)"
    why: "Ordinary listening is a sensory event — sound waves registered by the ear. Śravaṇa is a pramāṇa-event: the use of Śabda (verbal testimony) as a valid means of knowledge to deliver direct Brahma-jñāna. The difference is not about the ear — it is about the epistemological status of what is received."
    instead: "Treat Śravaṇa as the formal, repeated, systematic hearing of Upaniṣadic passages under qualified Guru-instruction, with the ears and mind fully prepared to receive the testimony as valid knowledge"
  - term: "studying or reading independently"
    why: "Text study (svadhyāya) is a preparatory discipline and a value in itself (see dharmic-ethics bundle, v0.5), but it is not Śravaṇa. Śravaṇa requires a Guru who can apply the text to the student's specific doubts and confusions through direct engagement. The text alone cannot perform the jahadajahallakṣaṇā (indirect indication) that makes the Mahāvākya point correctly."
  - term: "satsang attendance or lecture attendance"
    why: "Attending a talk by a teacher, even an excellent one, is not technically Śravaṇa in the Vedāntic sense unless the teacher is a qualified Guru conducting systematic Upaniṣadic teaching aimed at liberating knowledge. The distinction is not elitist — it is about the conditions under which Śabda-pramāṇa can function."
  - term: "a one-time event"
    why: "The Bṛhadāraṇyaka passage (2.4.5) emphasizes continuous, sustained hearing (nityaṃ śrotavyaḥ). Śravaṇa is a practice — the repeated exposure to the teaching until the student can receive the Mahāvākya without residual contradiction arising."
related:
  - /concepts/manana.md
  - /concepts/nididhyasana.md
  - /concepts/mahavakya.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Śravaṇa — श्रवण

**Not:** auditory listening, independent study, lecture attendance, one-time event

## Etymology

Śravaṇa (श्रवण) from the root *śru* — to hear. The word is related to Śrotra (ear) and Śruti (that which is heard) — the term for the Vedic revelation itself. The etymological kinship is not incidental: Śravaṇa of the Upaniṣadic teaching is, at the practitioner level, the same type of event as the Ṛṣis' reception of Śruti — both are valid hearing-knowledge events.

## Bṛhadāraṇyaka's Formulation

The locus classicus is Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5, where Yājñavalkya instructs Maitreyī:
> "Ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ, śrotavyaḥ, mantavyaḥ, nididhyāsitavyaḥ" — "The Ātman must be seen, must be heard (Śravaṇa), must be reflected upon (Manana), must be deeply internalized (Nididhyāsana)."

The triad appears here in the passive-imperative form (*vya* suffix) — these are not optional practices but the prescribed means for liberating knowledge.

## The Epistemological Structure

Śravaṇa's function is to present the Upaniṣadic teaching as Śabda-pramāṇa — verbal testimony that constitutes a valid means of direct knowledge. In the Vedāntic epistemology established in v0.3 of this series:

- Pratyakṣa (perception) cannot deliver Brahma-jñāna — Brahman is not an object
- Anumāna (inference) cannot deliver it either — inference operates from prior perceptions and moves by analogy; Brahman is without analogue
- Śabda (testimony) — specifically Upaniṣadic testimony received from a Guru — is the one pramāṇa calibrated to deliver knowledge of what transcends ordinary experience

Śravaṇa is the activation of this pramāṇa. It does not produce the knowledge by itself (that requires Manana and Nididhyāsana); it delivers the testimony in the conditions under which the testimony can function.

## The Guru's Role

The Guru is not a conduit who amplifies the text. The Guru performs the *antavyāpti* — the application of the Upaniṣadic teaching to the student's specific confusions. When a student hears "Tat Tvam Asi" and immediately wonders "but I feel finite — how can I be Brahman?", the Guru's response is not a second recitation of the text but a targeted dismantling of the doubt. This is why Śravaṇa cannot be replaced by reading.

## Qualification for Śravaṇa

Advaita tradition specifies the preparatory disciplines (Sādhana Catuṣṭaya) that make a student fit for Śravaṇa: Viveka (discrimination between the permanent and the impermanent), Vairāgya (dispassion), Ṣaṭsampat (the six virtues, including Śama and Dama), and Mumukṣutva (yearning for liberation). These are not gatekeeping criteria but conditions that determine whether the Śabda-pramāṇa event can deliver its content without distortion by prior saṃskāras.

## Audience Metaphor

A doctor can give a diagnosis in a crowded waiting room, but it lands differently when given in a quiet consultation where the patient has come specifically to hear it, has already done the preliminary tests, and is ready to act on what they learn. The same words; completely different epistemological conditions. Śravaṇa is the second scenario — the conditions under which testimony lands as knowledge rather than as information.

## Citations

1. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 2.4.5 — Yājñavalkya's formulation; see [references/brhadaranyaka-upanishad.md]
2. Brahmasūtra Bhāṣya 1.1.4 (Śaṅkarācārya) — Śabda as the pramāṇa for Brahma-jñāna; see [references/brahmasutra-bhashya.md]
3. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi vv. 364–366 (Śaṅkarācārya) — the triad in relation to liberation; see [references/vivekachudamani.md]
4. Upadesasāhasrī 1.1 (Śaṅkarācārya) — Guru's instruction as condition for Śravaṇa; see [references/upadesasahasri.md]
