Vedic Mathematics

Description

Vedic Mathematics The work, VEDIC MATHEMATICS or ‘Sixteen Simple Mathematical Formulae from the Vedas’, was written by His Holiness Jagadguru Śańkarācārya Śrī Bhāratī Kṛşna Tirthaji Mahārāja of Govardhana Matha, Puri (1884- 1960). It forms a class by itself not pragmatically conceived and worked out as in the case of other scientific works, but is the result of the intuitional visualisation of fundamental mathematical truths and principles during the course of eight years of highly concentrated mental endeavour on the part of the author and therefore appropriately has been given the title of “mental” mathematics appearing more as a miracle than the usual approach of hard-baked science, as the author has himself stated in the Preface.

Swāmī Śańkarācārya was a gifted scholar on many fronts of learning including science and humanities but his whole milieu was something of a much higher texture in that he was a Rși fulfilling the ideals and attainments of those seers of ancient India who discovered the cosmic laws embodied in the Vedas. Swāmī Bhāratī Kṛṣņa Tirtha had the same reverential approach towards the Vedas. The question naturally arises as to whether the Sūtras which form the basis of this treatise exist anywhere in the Vedic literature as known to us. But this criticism loses all its force if we inform ourselves of the definition of Veda given by Śrī Śańkarācārya himself as quoted below:

“The very word ‘Veda’ has this derivational meaning, i.e. the fountain- head and illimitable store-house of all knowledge. This derivation, in effect, means, connotes and implies that the Vedas should contain (italics mine) within themselves all the knowledge needed by mankind relating not only to the so-called ‘spiritual’ (or other worldly) matters but also to those usually described as purely ‘secular’, ‘temporal’, or ‘worldly’ and also to the means required by humanity as such for the achievement of all-round, complete and perfect success in all conceivable directions and that there can be no adjectival or restrictive epithet calculated (or tending) to limit that knowledge down in any sphere, any direction or any respect whatsoever.”

“In other words, it connotes and implies that our ancient Indian Vedic lore should be (italics mine) all-round, complete and perfect and able to throw the fullest necessary light on all matters which any aspiring seeker after knowledge can possibly seek to be enlightened on.”