Index
Introduction
Mathematics and the Spiritual Dimension
Archimedes and Pythagoras
Shulba Sutras
Evolution of Roman Numerals from
India
Equations and Symbols
Poetry in Math
Vedic Mathematical Sutras
Bibliography
Unfortunately, I think I went too far to the other side. I threw reason to the wind, so to speak, and unceremoniously became a self-ordained "spiritual person." Science, the foundation of which is mathematics, as I saw it, had nothing to offer. It was only years later, when the cloud of my sentimentalism was dissipated by the sun of my soul's integrity, that I was able to separate myself from yet another delusion-the first being the advice of my father, and the second being the idea that I could wish myself into a more profound understanding of the nature of reality.
Math cannot take the mystery out of life without doing away with life itself, for it is life's mystery, its unpredictability-the fact that it is dynamic, not static-that makes it alive and worth living. We may theoretically explain away God, but in so doing we only choose to delude ourselves; I = everything is just bad arithmetic.
However, before we can connect with our heart of hearts, our real spiritual essence, we cannot cast reason aside. With the help of the discriminating faculty we can know at least what transcendence is not. Withdrawing our heart from that is a good beginning for a spiritual life.
Mathematics has only recently risen to attempt to usurp the throne of Godhead. Ironically, it originally came into use in human society within the context of spiritual pursuit. Spiritually advanced cultures were not ignorant of the principles of mathematics, but they saw no necessity to explore those principles beyond that which was helpful in the advancement of God realization. Intoxicated by the gross power inherent in mathematical principles, later civilizations, succumbing to the all-inviting arms of illusion, employed these principles and further explored them in an attempt to conquer nature. The folly of this, as demonstrated in modern society today, points to the fact that "wisdom" is more than the exercise of intelligence. Modern man's worship of intelligence blinds him from the obvious: the superiority of love over reason. next