a question

[Guest guest]

Hello, my name is Kendra. I am a professional book editor and writer living in

South Carolina. I was the managing editor at Shambhala Publications (a publisher

of books on Buddhism and other Asian studies) in Boston for 11 years before I

moved out of Massachusetts. While at Shambhala I was editor of Great Swan by Lex

Hixon and of Living at the Source: Yoga Teachings of Swami Vivekananda. You can

see my profile at http://profiles./kcburroughs

I recently published a book about the Bhagavad Gita (I compiled annotations

to accompany the translation by Shri Purohit Swami, using quotes from many of

the great commentators). Now the publisher has asked me to do the same with the

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. I am choosing selections and will write up the

commentary meant to help those who are reading a sample of Sri Ramakrishna for

the first time. I am neither an academic scholar nor a Hindu, but a good

researcher and a lover of God. I have been reading the Gospel of RK for years.

Swami Adiswarananda of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York is an

advisor on the project. I am using Swami Nikhilananda's abridged version of the

Gospel because that is the one the Swami wanted me to use.

As I reread the familiar text, some questions arise. My question today

concerns the following passage:

 

" A man cannot live on the roof a long time. He comes down again. Those who

realize Brahman in samadhi come down also and find that it is Brahman that has

become the universe and its living beings. In the musical scale there are the

notes sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni; but one cannot keep one's voice on ni a

long time. The ego does not vanish altogether. The man coming down from samadhi

perceives that it is Brahman that has become the ego, the universe, and all its

living beings. This is known as vijnana. "

 

What I interpret from my limited knowledge of Indian music is that ni represents

an incomplete state. It is a note with a sense of tension that longs for

resolution in sa, which represents the undifferentiated oneness of Brahman

toward which ni longs.

Now, assuming this is correct, how is this like person in samadhi who comes

down to consciousness of the world? Can someone spell out exactly what this

musical metaphor is intended to imply?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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