in the great harmonies
of Wagner's compositions.

"He who has realized Brahman becomes silent," says Ramakrishna.
"Discussions and argumentations exist so long as the realization of The
Absolute does not come. If you melt butter in a pan over a fire, how long
does it make a noise? So long as there is water in it. When the water is
evaporated it ceases to make further noise. The soul of the seeker after
Brahman may be compared to fresh butter. Discussions and argumentations of
a seeker are like the noise caused during the process of purification by
the fire of knowledge. As the water of egotism and worldliness is
evaporated and the soul becomes purer, all noise of debates and discussions
ceases and absolute silence reigns in the state of _samadhi_."

A better translation of the word "noise" would be "sputtering."

Sound is not necessarily _noise_. The idea conveyed is not intended to be a
condition in which the soul becomes anaesthetized as it were, but a state of
_knowing_, and the effort and the sputtering of _questioning_ and
_searching_ is passed.

The same gospel better expresses the meaning thus:

"The bee buzzes so long as it is outside the lotus, and does not settle
down in its heart to drink of the honey. As soon as it tastes of the honey
all buzzing is at an end. Similarly all noise of discussion ceases when the
soul of the neophyte begins to drink the nectar of Divine Love, at the
lotus feet of the Blissful One."

Who will not say that the bee is more satisfied when he has found and drank
of the honey than when he is buzzingly seeking it?

Surely it is not necessary to be of one mind, in order that we may be of
one heart. Even though we were as "like as two peas in a pod," it is well
to note that the two peas are _two_ spheres--nature has made them separate
and distinct despite their close resemblance.

To unite with the absolute should correspond to this unity of all hearts in
the desire for a common effort to establish harmony, while we permit to
each individual the freedom of mind; of taste; of choice of pursuits; of
choice of pleasure; of discrimination; and preservation of identity.

Our contention is that _mukti_, or liberation (which we believe to be
identical with attainment of cosmic consciousness) does not mean an
absorption into the Universal, the Absolute, Brahm, to the extent of
annihilation of identity. And we claim that this view finds corroboration
in the best interpretation of Orient