mathematics , mysticism......

[Patricia Meredith Greer]

On Tue, 20 May 1997 00:07:56 BST sac51900 at saclink.csus.edu 
wrote:


>  S Krishna <mahadevasiva at hotmail.com>
>  wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> >     he intended, I would like to say that the ancient Hindus seemed to
> >     have had a mystical interpretation for every postive integer i.e.
> >     1 represents God, 2 represents any God and his/her consort i.e.
> >     Parvatiparameshvarau, Seetaramau, Lakshminarayanau , 3 represents
> >     the Trinity, 4 represents the 4 Yugas, 5 represents the     Panchabhootas, 6 
> > represents the Shadrtu( 6 seasons) and the
> >     worship of 6 dieties( according to Shankaracarya), 7 represents
> >     the Saptarshi( 7 sages)...........ad infinitum. The point I am        trying 
> > to make is that any postive integer can be interpreted
> >     mystically/linked to a fact of nature. The mathematician Srinivasa
> >     Ramanujan is supposed to lectured once on the mystical     significance  of 
> > the number series 2**n -1, where n is a positive
> >     integer. His claim was that one can derive all important aspects
> >     of Bhuloka from this number series.  
> 
> If there is one number that can be called the mystical number
> supreme in India, it is SUnya = 0.  Whole philosophies
> in Buddhism, Tantric Hinduism, Jainism, etc. are constructed
> around this number and concept.  At the recent Seminar on SUnya
> (Feb. 97) held by INSA and IGNCA in New Delhi,  the topic was
> explored in depth and many interesting papers were presented.
> 
> Regards,
> Paul Kekai Manansala
> 
It seems to me that the 9 is closely related to the 0, 
since it in effect acts as a zero when added to any other 
number -- eg.  7 + 9= 16 = 1+6 = 7.  I would be very 
interested to read the papers to which you refer -- do you 
know how I could get hold of them?
Thanks!
Patricia
________________________________
Patricia M. Greer
Department of Religious Studies
Cocke Hall
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22901