Where in the Vedas is “Vedic mathematics” to be found? Nowhere.
Where in the Vedas is “Vedic mathematics” to be found? Nowhere.
Vedic mathematics has no relation whatsoever to the Vedas. It actually originates from a book misleadingly titled Vedic Mathematics by Bharati Krishna Tirtha. The book admits on its first page that its title is misleading and that the (elementary arithmetic) algorithms expounded in the book have nothing to do with the Vedas.
Please go through the article and express your views on this very current issue.
Krishnamurthi CG Anantha Narayanan
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nothing-vedic-in-vedic-maths/article6373689.ece
Vedic mathematics has no relation whatsoever to the Vedas. It actually originates from a book misleadingly titled Vedic Mathematics by Bharati Krishna Tirtha. The book admits on its first page that its title is misleading and that the (elementary arithmetic) algorithms expounded in the book have nothing to do with the Vedas.
Please go through the article and express your views on this very current issue.
Krishnamurthi CG Anantha Narayanan
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nothing-vedic-in-vedic-maths/article6373689.ece
There is no connection to Vedas and Vedic mathematics. Why then this name by revered Shankaracharya Sri. Bharati Krishna Theerta Swamiji has given this name?. - If one reads Pingalacharya's Chandas shastra, he has used Binary system very first in the world. More importantly he has given many shortcuts for calculations with respect to binary sequences, combinatorics, etc. Also these tools why they are required for studying Veda? Acharya Pingala like Maharishi Panini (Vyakarana) has codified the Chandas. These are all Vedangas (means considered to be part of Vedic studies). He has also introduced number system of KaTaShaYadi (not KaTaPaYadi) and so on. Why all these are required for studying Veda. There are many hidden and secret things in Veda. One needs to be a good mathematician as well as a vedic pundit and also a shastri (shastri means the one who mastered Vedangas and Nyaya & Mimasa) to decode and unlock many secrets. Vedic maths has many such shortcuts - how to connect this with Jyotisha and Chandas, Vyakarana and along with that look at Veda in a different way. We still don't have the adhibautika (subtle-physical) point of meanings of Vedas. Manyof Vedic rites like homa etc. we know little bit about the adhidaivika (subtle-ritual) point of meanings. We also don't know much about the adhyaatmika point of meanings of veda, except for the Upanishad part. So Vedic maths can become a tool for a person who is doing serious research on the adhibautika meanings of veda. We can't ignore something like Vedic maths that easily - in normal day to day life its usage is limited. But it contains many shortcuts for complex math problems.
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ReplyDeleteWhere in the Vedas is “Vedic mathematics” to be found? Nowhere
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Does this means there is no knowledge in "Vedic mathematics"?
Will it cause you any harm if you learn the contents of "Vedic mathematics"?
The first problem is that 99.99% of the Hindu population don't sufficiently care about Vedas. The words Astika or Nastika refers actually to Vedas. In Vyakarana there are 5 verb roots - "vid" and through all of them one can make the word "Veda". Each one differs from each other in meaning and sometimes subtly - also to be noted is that, meanings are always contextual. So when we read/hear the word "Vedanta" - which means the end part of Vedas itself and apaurusheya. Similarly when we hear /read "Vedanga" it is group of texts that are Paurusheya and not actually Vedas but considered to be part of Vedas by Rishis to protect Vedas - this need to be understood in the right sense.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with many of us with respect to our shastra is that first we them lightly, second we know ourselves very little about our own shastra, third we tend to take criticisms both for or against very seriously. All these are arising out of our ignorace.
Basic understanding of Vedas (4 and each one with 4 parts), Vedangas (6 and Kalpa having 3 parts), Vedanta and Vedantic texts (Upanishads, Brahmasutra, Bhagavadgita), Darshana (6 including yoga), Shastras (Artha, Kama, Dharma, etc.), Agamas (Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti), Ayurveda, HaTayoga, Ganita, Gandarva veda (Vastu, Naatyam, Sangeetam, etc.), Itihasa (Ramayana, Mahabharata) and 18 Main puranas and 18 upapuranas and 5 maha kavyams, 5 maha roopakams (dramas), etc. are necessary to understand what is Sanatana Dharma (what is Sanatana and what is dharma - I don't mean dictionary meaning here). Many of the things though appearing to be separate deciplines are interconnected like Ayurveda and Jyotisha, Dharma shastra and Itihasa.
Our forefathers have kept the Dharma alive so far and handed over the baton to us. It is our responsibility to preserve (by practicing) and remove the superstitious customs and doctrines and pass on to the next generation. One of the superstition that I can point out is that what is followed in Tamil Nadu earlier and now in South India - during Akshaya Tritiya if one buys gold one will get more gold, etc. There are many like this...
Right Krishnamurthi CG . There is a lot of ignorance about Vedas and other scriptures. People react sharply (on criticism as well as praise) when anything "Hindu" is mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThe same is with this book "Vedic mathematics". What does a misnomer serve after all!
This article furthur elaborates the issue:
http://swarajyamag.com/culture/cargo-cult-hindutva/
Where the problem lies... let us examin deeply. One of the reason I can point out is that we are totally away from our Jnana parampara - which regards knowledge that which is arising from intellectual, logical debates based on sound reasoning, in high esteem.
ReplyDeleteयुक्तियुक्तं वचो ग्राह्यं बालादपि शुकादपि । अयुक्तमपि न ग्राह्यं साक्षादपि बृहस्पतेः ॥
Even Bhagavadgita states "बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ"
So when our shastras themselves advice us to take refuge in Logic. It can easily be mis-interpretted and the so called Logical /Rational people use this argument to redecule our tradition. How do we then handle this...? - particulary the deep knowledge of logical fallacies and established facts in addition to understanding who is a friend and who is not. Our shastras or are not against the masses, but with respect to all the politicians and all the external sources we can't say this.
Thus our traditional shastris were taking the "Shabda pramaana" or verbal testimony, very carefully. Because it becomes a basis for knowledge only when you hear it from your trused source - आप्त (trusted). Other than Vedic passages our ancestors never accepted anything so easily. The Buddhists and Jainas didn't accept the vedic passages also - but they had strong shraddhaa on both Dharma and Karma. Today we read /hear a lot of things with respect to everything - this falls in the category of verbal testimony or "Shabda pramaana". Do we really know that 1) the source of the news and 2) the medium which reports the news - both these are trustful ?. If they are trustworthy then on what basis the trust is established ? - Any shortcommings in this itself is a serious flaw leads to a logical fallacy. So when we take Max Muller as the source or media - who hasn't visited India and never learned Veda (Learning veda means - first Paaraayanam atleast krama paaTa) seriously? - Max muller is only a medium - the source is British - what is the intention of both the medium - money, fame, etc. - what is the intention of the source - undermine our traditions and using that to divide and rule. So if our knowledge is "logically" based on Max mullers and the followers like the so called "secularists" then our so called logic is seriously flawed.
Even if the knowledge is valid - we need to understand that any "knowledge" is both objective as well as subjective. So when we take things logically - we also clearly need to understand that logic has its own limitations. Also not everything can be logically perceived nor provable.
To understand the subjective portion one needs to have श्रद्धा (belief - again not a blind belief). Also certain things we need to accept as it is - such as the cyclical nature of universal order - ऋत. Our rishis have tried to understand this ऋत and based on their understading created many meta-rules, collectively they are called धर्म - a eternal living system based on ऋत and a hormonious lifestyle - this fact even Buddha or Mahavira couldn't deny. Vedas are nothing but a manual of these meta-rules codified in a cryptic dialect of Sanskrit.
So we look at knowledge from a logical perspective - what about "wisdom" ??
In our tradition the word "jnana" can be loosly translated as both knowledge and wisdom
This is a quite complex thing. The path of jnana is not easy.
Agree Krishnamurthi CG and there is always something to learn from your contributions. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWow, how come i missed this topic...so much knowledge...may thanks for such a topic Sunil Yadav
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