MATH or MAGIC!

Emerging triumphantly from his self-imposed eight-year "sabbatical" in the forest ashram, Professor Venkatraman was initiated into the holy order of sannyasa (renunciate) as Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja by Trivikrama Tirthaji Maharaja, the Shankaracharya of Sharadapith in Benares (Varanasi) in 1919 at the age of 35. Within two years, he became the next Shankaracharya there.

He was marked out for greater responsibility by the Shankaracharya of Govardhana Pith in the holy city of Jagannatha Puri, Shri Madhusudana Tirtha, who wanted to hand over his position due to failing health. This is the same magnanimous personality who some twenty years earlier had cordially received and assisted the great Vaishnava scholar and devotee, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the foremost mathematician and Vedic astrologer of his time.

From 1902-1904, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta was staying in the Bhakti Kutir of his father, Shrila Bhaktivinode Thakura, in Jagannatha Puri, just 100 yards from the Govardhana Matha. He frequently visited the Matha and discoursed with Shri Madhusudana. This is described in the newly-released biography "Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava" compiled by his grand-disciple Bhakti Vikasa Swami: "Sri Madhusudana, head of the Matha, treated Sri Siddhanta Sarasvati respectfully, personally guided him in his research, and gave him free access to the extensive Matha library. In fact, Sri Siddhanta spent so much time discussing monism with Sri Madhusudana Tirtha that some people suspected that he might join the impersonalists' camp." (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta would go on to found the Gaudiya-Vaisnava Matha and open up 64 temples and preaching centres in India. His disciple, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, would later found the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and spread the bhakti movement around the world.)

In 1925, Shankaracharya Madhusudana fell seriously ill and insisted on handing over his mantle to Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaja, who in deference to his order, appointed Sri Svarupanandji to head Sharadapith and went to Jagannatha Puri to become the Shankaracharya there and dedicated the rest of his life travelling and preaching both philosophy and science.

Among the books on philosophy he wrote is a title on Sanatana Dharma (the Eternal Religion of the Soul). His lectures and demonstrations on mathematics were well-received by academicians and students in colleges and universities all across the country and were also highlighted by the media.

The Maharaja wrote 16 volumes on the detailed application of his 16 Sanksrit sutras in mathematics, one volume for each sutra. He was firmly convinced of their wide scope of application: "The sutras apply to and cover each and every part of each and every chapter of each and every branch of mathematics (including arithmetic, algebra, geometry - plane and solid, trignometry - plane and spherical, conics - geometrical and analytical, astronomy, calculus - differential and integral, etc). In fact, there is no part of mathematics, pure or applied, which is beyond their jurisdiction."

The manuscripts of the 16 volumes were deposited in the house of one of his disciples in Nagpur for safe-keeping prior to being published. However before they could be published, the manuscripts vanished. This tremendous loss of scientific knowledge remains an unsolved mystery till today. Some reports alleged that the manuscripts were illegally acquired and taken out of the country by a foreigner. When the loss of his works was finally reported to the Maharaja, he remained unperturbed and said that everything was still there in his memory and that he could re-write the entire 16 volumes all over again from his retentive memory. But as the Shankaracharya, he had many more pressing duties and demands on his time to attend to first.

In 1957, at the age of 73, the Shankaracharya finally started on the task of re-writing the 16 volumes from memory. He completed the first manuscript, an introductory volume, before embarking, in February 1958, on a three-month tour of the United States and the United Kingdom where he gave hundreds of classes, lectures and demonstrations on science and religion. This is the first time in history that a Shankaracharya broke with established tradition and crossed the Indian Ocean to preach. He dazzled rapt audiences in colleges, universities, churches and other public institutions with his discourses. He gave demonstrations of his mathematical wizardry on television too. He also left behind his sole manuscript to be published in the USA.

After returning to India in May 1958, the Shankaracharya continued his strenous schedule of travelling and preaching until his health deteriorated. The following year, he fell seriously ill. On February 2, 1960, the Shankaracharya attained samaddhi in Mumbai at age 76. His manuscript was brought back to India and published posthumously by his followers under the title "Vedic Mathematics".

The task of re-writing the 16 volumes was thus left uncompleted. However with the single manuscript that he has left behind, he has successfully planted the seeds in a fertile research field for future scientists and mathematicians to explore and expand. With the sutras, mathematical formulae and shortcuts, clues and pointers in his introductory volume, the Shankaracharya has bequeathed to modern science a magnificent link to the knowledge of the ancients.

Although some academicians, unable to find fault with his mathematics, chose instead to question the authenticity of his Sanskrit sutras, their carping has been overshadowed by the tremendous interest in his work by students in India and other parts of the world who are benefitting from the simple, speedy techniques of calculation he unearthed. The ground-breaking work of the mathematics professor who became renunciate preacher and Shankaracharya, continues to be a boon for students facing competitive examinations today.