At a gathering of his chasidim, the Magid of Kozhnitz zy"a was once extolling the praises of his student, the Me'or Einayim. As he spoke, the Me'or Einayim inched closer and closer to his Rebbe, until he was standing right next to him and leaning in to hear his words better. The chasidim were perplexed by this behavior. Why was he so intent on hearing words of praise about himself?
The Magid told them, "This too is a display of his greatness. He has sanctified his entire body to such an extent that he only hears what he needs to hear. When I say divrei Torah, he doesn't need to come so close because he can hear it even from afar. In this instance, he couldn't hear what I was saying, since he can't hear when someone is praising him. He thought that I was saying divrei Torah and he was disturbed that he couldn't hear it from afar, which led him to worry that his senses had been corrupted, so he got as close as he could. However, even at close range, he couldn't hear anything because his ears simply can't hear someone speaking about his greatness."