"shoonyah": "Lord Zero" of the Vishnu-Sahasranamam

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

One of the 'nAmA-s' in the Sahasranamam that I'm always intrigued by

is the name "shoonyah" given to Vishnu and as it apppears in shlOka

no: 79 --

 

suvarna-varna hEmAngO varAngas-chandanAngadI

veeraha vishamah shoonyO grutAshI-rachala-chalah

 

The Sanskrit word "soonya" means "zero", "nullity", "cipher",

"emptiness".

 

It would strike anyone as extremely odd that the Sahasranamam should

choose to call Lord Vishnu as 'Zero'! You can understand God being

called "ekah", the One Supreme Being. The essence of all monistic

theism lies in the belief that God is One (the Upanishad says,

"sayaschAyam pUrUshE; yaschAsAvA'dityE; sa ekah").

 

You can understand too God being addressed as "anantah", the

Infinite, as in the Sahasranamam stanza---

 

kAma devah kAmapAlah kaamI kAntah krutAgamah

anirdEshyavapu-vishnur-vIrO' anantah dhananjayah (stanza 70)

 

Since God is Immeasurable it seems plainly alright to name Him

"anantah", the Infinite. But how is one to explain hailing the

Almighty as 'shoonyah', the Cipher?

 

There is a view that "If Infinity is immeasurable, so is Zero".

Mathematically speaking, one could define 'zero' to be

'anti-infinity'. If 'Infinity' is immeasurable plenitude, 'Zero' is

immeasurable emptiness. If you were to imagine, say, an interminable

series of values, from zero to infinity, floating somewhere out there

in endless space, then, surely, Zero would be at one end of it while

Infinity would be found at the other end... wherever, that is, the

two ends may be found, if at all. And if you reflect upon it deeply,

that would make out 'Zero' and 'Infinity' to be two sides of the same

un-graspable coin.

 

By the same logic, you might say the Sanskrit "anantah" and "shoonya"

might seem antonymous but in reality they mean the same thing.

Hailing God Almighty as 'Lord Infinity' is hence no different from

hailing Him 'Lord Zero'.

 

Incredible logic notwithstanding, we know for a fact however that the

'Infinite' and the 'Cipher' are never really the same thing. None of

us would be willing to exchange one for the other if it came to a

real choice between the two. If I go up, for instance, to a venerable

'achArya' or 'guru' and prostrate at his feet, I would expect him to

shower his benediction upon me saying, "May you be blessed in life,

my son, with God's infinite Grace!". If instead the man were to say,

"May God's zero grace be thine in life!", the blessing would stand

transformed into a vicious curse, wouldn't it?

 

*******

 

So then, why is God, who is Infinite Being, being called "shoonya", a

Zero -- the very opposite of infinity? The traditional commentators

of the Vishnu-Sahasranamam offer us some explanation in their

respective "bhAshyA-s".

 

Let's take up Adi Sankara's "sahasranamam bhAshyA" first.

 

In his commentary, Sri Sankara (6th CE) explains "shoonya" as an apt

'nAmA' for God, the Supreme Brahman, who is "nirguNa" -- i.e. the

Being who is totally devoid of any qualities or attributes. In other

words, according to Sankara's school of metaphysics, God is "guNa

shoonyan".

 

According to this explanation, God transcends all attributes. His

qualities like omnipotence, omniscience etc. only serve to help us in

ascertaining His reality but they do not 'per se' define Him. The

truth of God's existence cannot be grasped by us with reference to

His qualities or 'guNA' alone, says Sankara. Brahman is to be

apprehended as an Absolute Being who stands far apart from and quite

beyond any of His infinitely ("anantah") great qualities -- i.e. He

is 'nirguNa-brahman', a Being without qualities, a Being with 'zero'

qualities. Hence it is fit to call Him "shoonyah".

 

Let's turn to the other explanation found in the commentary of Sri

Parashara Bhattar (11th CE) on the Vishnu Sahasranamam titled

"bhagavadh-guNa-darpaNam".

 

Bhattar explains "shoonyah" in the typical way of the school of

VisishtAdvaita theology. According to this school, God is the Supreme

Abode of all auspicious attributes. The Almighty is full of

innumerable good qualities like "gnyAna", "bala", "aiswarya",

"vIrya", "shakti" and "tejas". In VisishtAdvaita, God is

"ananta-kalyANa-guna-gaNaan" (to use a famous expression of Sri

RamanujAchArya) -- i.e. Brahman is Being with infinite number of

happy and wholesome attributes. The theology next states that God, by

corollary, is also totally devoid of inauspicious, un-wholesome or

negative qualities.

 

According to Bhattar, in so far as, Brahman is replete with

infinitely good attributes, He is to be known as "anantah". And in so

far as He is absolutely bereft of defective qualities, He is to be

known as the God of "zero-defects" -- in other words, He is

"shoonyah".

 

>From a purely theological standpoint both explanations above are

equally valid and wholly satisfying (depending, of course, upon

which school of Vedanta -- Sankara's or Ramanuja's -- one is

predisposed towards). All the same, for one who is not steeped in the

various nuances and niceties of Vedantic theology, (especially for

one who cannot really appreciate the technical difference between the

metaphysical "nirguNa-" and "savisesha-" Brahman), the explanations

of AdiSankara and Parashara Bhattar for "shoonya" might only seem to

resemble the case of the proverbial bottle that got described as

"half-empty" by one and "half-full" by another.

 

---------------

 

Even leaving theological considerations aside, one can still regard

Zero to be a remarkably apt 'nAma' for the Almighty. Common knowledge

of the world around us reveals how all-powerful the concept of Zero,

"shoonya", truly is. When we look at the history of Zero, we realize

why 'shoonya' is almighty indeed!

 

Until about 1500 years ago nobody in the world outside India could

count numbers beyond 9 without enormous difficulty. The entire

Graeco-Roman Western world knew nothing about the Hindu-Arabic system

of numerals that prevails in the entire world today. The Romans

depended upon alphabets to denote numbers -- such as I, X and C or

with V, L and D. In their system the number 32 had to be written, for

example, as XXXII but writing a number like 3200 or 32000 for the

Greeks and Romans presented a huge, often insurmountable problem! For

several centuries the Graeco-Roman civilization struggled with this

cumbersome system of numbering. It was the principal reason why for

almost a thousand years Western mathematics hardly advanced beyond

being a method of elementary counting and mensuration using crude

devices like the abacus. The Greeks and Romans had no knowledge of

how to deal with large numbers, ratios, series, complex algebraic

functions and calculations -- all child's play for any high-school

student today. Western thought simply stagnated for ages since it

could just not grapple with the mathematical problem of large numbers

and calculations.

 

Somewhere between 1000 and 1200 AD, the Western world came in contact

with the Arab world and that was when the Hindu-Arabic system of

numerals opened the eyes of the Europeans to a whole new world of

mathematical thought.

 

The Arabs had for long borrowed and been using the Hindu system of

numerals that had been in use in ancient India for more than a

thousand years earlier. The Hindu system did not use alphabets but a

simple but versatile scheme of numeric symbols starting from "Zero"

-- the famous 'shoonya' -- and ending with 9. These symbolic numerals

made it so easy to represent and calculate numerate values anywhere

from zero to infinity in quick time. They enabled complex functions

and calculations. They made it possible to represent the most

formidable series of values by a mere formula which in turn

facilitated further complex mathematical functions! The Western world

realized -- for the first time ever -- the power of the Hindu numeral

system: a power that became the inspiration for all the mathematical

advancements to later come out of Europe: algebra, ratios, surds,

functions such as squares, cube and root, series and progressions,

logarithmic tables, quadratic equations... and so on and so forth.

 

It was the power of Zero, "shoonya", indeed that made the European

Renaissance possible --- the Renaissance that eventually gave birth

to all the wonderful discoveries of modern mathematics such as

Fabionacci series, Pascal's Probability theory and even Newton's

Calculus! "The concept of Zero unleashed something more profound than

just an enhanced method of counting and calculating". Zero

revolutionized the old modes of human thought. It meant firstly

people could use only ten digits, from 0 to 9, to perform every

conceivable calculation and to write any conceivable number.

Secondly, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for

abstract human thinking that had been simply unthinkable before!

 

********************

 

How did the ancient Hindus discover such a powerful concept as

"shoonya" while the rest of the world remained ignorant of 'Zero' for

ages?

 

To grasp the concept of "shoonya" required a very high level of

intellectual and spiritual advancement as what prevailed in India

during and after the Vedic period. As the English philosopher,

A.N.Whitehead wrote: "The point about zero is that we do not need to

use it in the operations of daily life. No one goes out to buy zero

fish or eggs. [but] It is in a way the most civilized of all the

cardinals, and its use is only forced on us by the needs of

cultivated modes of thought". Vedic mathematics and astronomy of

those ancient times clearly bear evidence to the highly sophisticated

conceptual and ideological skills that our Indian forbears possessed.

There was no doubt at all that the ancient Vedic Indians who gave to

the whole world the idea of "shoonya" were indeed masters of the most

civilized and "cultivated modes of thought".

 

*************************

 

There was a great mathematician in India who lived in the 10th

century CE, He was BhAskarAchArya. He wrote several pioneering

treatises (Sanskrit) on Vedic mathematics. In one of the treatises,

it is said, he wrote a small dedication : "To the Supreme Brahman,

who is Infinity, I offer my salutation". BhAskarAchArya used the

Sanskrit word "khAhara" to denote God as 'Infinity' in the

dedication. It is derived from "kham" which means 'Zero' and "hara"

meaning "divided". The word "khAhara" was meant to indicate that God

who is Infinity is related to Zero.

 

BhAskarAchArya was the first mathematician to reveal to the world the

intimate relationship between "shoonya" and "anantah", between Zero

and Infinity. Any quantity divided by "shoonya" is equal to Infinity,

he said. Take a value like 16 and divide it ("harah") with

progressively decreasing divisors. What happens? The quotient

progressively enlarges. For e.g. 16 divided by 4 = 4; and 16 divided

by 2 = 8; and eventually when 16 is divided by 0 it equals

'Infinity'! Every quantity, every value in the world, when divided by

"shoonya", results in the same quotient or result viz. Infinity,

"anantah".

 

Such is the mighty power of Zero that it can raise and relate all

values on earth to the exalted state of Infinity -- that very same

state in which God Almighty, the Vishnu of the sacred 'Sahasranama',

is said to eternally reside and rule!

 

Regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook.

http://calendar.

[Guest guest]

Dear SrIman Sudarshanan:

 

The Other name for "Shoonyam" is Poojyam.

Poojyam can be taken as Poojaneeyam or

one that is exalted and therefore worthy of

worship. That will take us away from the many

not so plesant association with the many meanings of

the word " Soonya". The Lord has also agaDitha GadanA Sakthi

and He can be worshipped as "Soonyaaya nama:"

as well as " ParipoorNAya Nama:"

 

Just a little speculation !

 

Your posting of is excellent and

thought provoking.

 

V.Sadagopan

 

At 09:18 AM 6/11/03 -0700, you wrote:

>

>

>Dear friends,

>

>One of the 'nAmA-s' in the Sahasranamam that I'm always intrigued by

>is the name "shoonyah" given to Vishnu and as it apppears in shlOka

>no: 79 --

>

> suvarna-varna hEmAngO varAngas-chandanAngadI

> veeraha vishamah shoonyO grutAshI-rachala-chalah

>

>The Sanskrit word "soonya" means "zero", "nullity", "cipher",

>"emptiness".

>

>It would strike anyone as extremely odd that the Sahasranamam should

>choose to call Lord Vishnu as 'Zero'! You can understand God being

>called "ekah", the One Supreme Being. The essence of all monistic

>theism lies in the belief that God is One (the Upanishad says,

>"sayaschAyam pUrUshE; yaschAsAvA'dityE; sa ekah").

>

>You can understand too God being addressed as "anantah", the

>Infinite, as in the Sahasranamam stanza---

>

> kAma devah kAmapAlah kaamI kAntah krutAgamah

> anirdEshyavapu-vishnur-vIrO' anantah dhananjayah (stanza 70)

>

>Since God is Immeasurable it seems plainly alright to name Him

>"anantah", the Infinite. But how is one to explain hailing the

>Almighty as 'shoonyah', the Cipher?

>

>There is a view that "If Infinity is immeasurable, so is Zero".

>Mathematically speaking, one could define 'zero' to be

>'anti-infinity'. If 'Infinity' is immeasurable plenitude, 'Zero' is

>immeasurable emptiness. If you were to imagine, say, an interminable

>series of values, from zero to infinity, floating somewhere out there

>in endless space, then, surely, Zero would be at one end of it while

>Infinity would be found at the other end... wherever, that is, the

>two ends may be found, if at all. And if you reflect upon it deeply,

>that would make out 'Zero' and 'Infinity' to be two sides of the same

>un-graspable coin.

>

>By the same logic, you might say the Sanskrit "anantah" and "shoonya"

>might seem antonymous but in reality they mean the same thing.

>Hailing God Almighty as 'Lord Infinity' is hence no different from

>hailing Him 'Lord Zero'.

>

>Incredible logic notwithstanding, we know for a fact however that the

>'Infinite' and the 'Cipher' are never really the same thing. None of

>us would be willing to exchange one for the other if it came to a

>real choice between the two. If I go up, for instance, to a venerable

>'achArya' or 'guru' and prostrate at his feet, I would expect him to

>shower his benediction upon me saying, "May you be blessed in life,

>my son, with God's infinite Grace!". If instead the man were to say,

>"May God's zero grace be thine in life!", the blessing would stand

>transformed into a vicious curse, wouldn't it?

>

> *******

>

>So then, why is God, who is Infinite Being, being called "shoonya", a

>Zero -- the very opposite of infinity? The traditional commentators

>of the Vishnu-Sahasranamam offer us some explanation in their

>respective "bhAshyA-s".

>

>Let's take up Adi Sankara's "sahasranamam bhAshyA" first.

>

>In his commentary, Sri Sankara (6th CE) explains "shoonya" as an apt

>'nAmA' for God, the Supreme Brahman, who is "nirguNa" -- i.e. the

>Being who is totally devoid of any qualities or attributes. In other

>words, according to Sankara's school of metaphysics, God is "guNa

>shoonyan".

>

>According to this explanation, God transcends all attributes. His

>qualities like omnipotence, omniscience etc. only serve to help us in

>ascertaining His reality but they do not 'per se' define Him. The

>truth of God's existence cannot be grasped by us with reference to

>His qualities or 'guNA' alone, says Sankara. Brahman is to be

>apprehended as an Absolute Being who stands far apart from and quite

>beyond any of His infinitely ("anantah") great qualities -- i.e. He

>is 'nirguNa-brahman', a Being without qualities, a Being with 'zero'

>qualities. Hence it is fit to call Him "shoonyah".

>

>Let's turn to the other explanation found in the commentary of Sri

>Parashara Bhattar (11th CE) on the Vishnu Sahasranamam titled

>"bhagavadh-guNa-darpaNam".

>

>Bhattar explains "shoonyah" in the typical way of the school of

>VisishtAdvaita theology. According to this school, God is the Supreme

>Abode of all auspicious attributes. The Almighty is full of

>innumerable good qualities like "gnyAna", "bala", "aiswarya",

>"vIrya", "shakti" and "tejas". In VisishtAdvaita, God is

>"ananta-kalyANa-guna-gaNaan" (to use a famous expression of Sri

>RamanujAchArya) -- i.e. Brahman is Being with infinite number of

>happy and wholesome attributes. The theology next states that God, by

>corollary, is also totally devoid of inauspicious, un-wholesome or

>negative qualities.

>

>According to Bhattar, in so far as, Brahman is replete with

>infinitely good attributes, He is to be known as "anantah". And in so

>far as He is absolutely bereft of defective qualities, He is to be

>known as the God of "zero-defects" -- in other words, He is

>"shoonyah".

>

>>From a purely theological standpoint both explanations above are

>equally valid and wholly satisfying (depending, of course, upon

>which school of Vedanta -- Sankara's or Ramanuja's -- one is

>predisposed towards). All the same, for one who is not steeped in the

>various nuances and niceties of Vedantic theology, (especially for

>one who cannot really appreciate the technical difference between the

>metaphysical "nirguNa-" and "savisesha-" Brahman), the explanations

>of AdiSankara and Parashara Bhattar for "shoonya" might only seem to

>resemble the case of the proverbial bottle that got described as

>"half-empty" by one and "half-full" by another.

>

> ---------------

>

>Even leaving theological considerations aside, one can still regard

>Zero to be a remarkably apt 'nAma' for the Almighty. Common knowledge

>of the world around us reveals how all-powerful the concept of Zero,

>"shoonya", truly is. When we look at the history of Zero, we realize

>why 'shoonya' is almighty indeed!

>

>Until about 1500 years ago nobody in the world outside India could

>count numbers beyond 9 without enormous difficulty. The entire

>Graeco-Roman Western world knew nothing about the Hindu-Arabic system

>of numerals that prevails in the entire world today. The Romans

>depended upon alphabets to denote numbers -- such as I, X and C or

>with V, L and D. In their system the number 32 had to be written, for

>example, as XXXII but writing a number like 3200 or 32000 for the

>Greeks and Romans presented a huge, often insurmountable problem! For

>several centuries the Graeco-Roman civilization struggled with this

>cumbersome system of numbering. It was the principal reason why for

>almost a thousand years Western mathematics hardly advanced beyond

>being a method of elementary counting and mensuration using crude

>devices like the abacus. The Greeks and Romans had no knowledge of

>how to deal with large numbers, ratios, series, complex algebraic

>functions and calculations -- all child's play for any high-school

>student today. Western thought simply stagnated for ages since it

>could just not grapple with the mathematical problem of large numbers

>and calculations.

>

>Somewhere between 1000 and 1200 AD, the Western world came in contact

>with the Arab world and that was when the Hindu-Arabic system of

>numerals opened the eyes of the Europeans to a whole new world of

>mathematical thought.

>

>The Arabs had for long borrowed and been using the Hindu system of

>numerals that had been in use in ancient India for more than a

>thousand years earlier. The Hindu system did not use alphabets but a

>simple but versatile scheme of numeric symbols starting from "Zero"

>-- the famous 'shoonya' -- and ending with 9. These symbolic numerals

>made it so easy to represent and calculate numerate values anywhere

>from zero to infinity in quick time. They enabled complex functions

>and calculations. They made it possible to represent the most

>formidable series of values by a mere formula which in turn

>facilitated further complex mathematical functions! The Western world

>realized -- for the first time ever -- the power of the Hindu numeral

>system: a power that became the inspiration for all the mathematical

>advancements to later come out of Europe: algebra, ratios, surds,

>functions such as squares, cube and root, series and progressions,

>logarithmic tables, quadratic equations... and so on and so forth.

>

>It was the power of Zero, "shoonya", indeed that made the European

>Renaissance possible --- the Renaissance that eventually gave birth

>to all the wonderful discoveries of modern mathematics such as

>Fabionacci series, Pascal's Probability theory and even Newton's

>Calculus! "The concept of Zero unleashed something more profound than

>just an enhanced method of counting and calculating". Zero

>revolutionized the old modes of human thought. It meant firstly

>people could use only ten digits, from 0 to 9, to perform every

>conceivable calculation and to write any conceivable number.

>Secondly, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for

>abstract human thinking that had been simply unthinkable before!

>

> ********************

>

>How did the ancient Hindus discover such a powerful concept as

>"shoonya" while the rest of the world remained ignorant of 'Zero' for

>ages?

>

>To grasp the concept of "shoonya" required a very high level of

>intellectual and spiritual advancement as what prevailed in India

>during and after the Vedic period. As the English philosopher,

>A.N.Whitehead wrote: "The point about zero is that we do not need to

>use it in the operations of daily life. No one goes out to buy zero

>fish or eggs. [but] It is in a way the most civilized of all the

>cardinals, and its use is only forced on us by the needs of

>cultivated modes of thought". Vedic mathematics and astronomy of

>those ancient times clearly bear evidence to the highly sophisticated

>conceptual and ideological skills that our Indian forbears possessed.

>There was no doubt at all that the ancient Vedic Indians who gave to

>the whole world the idea of "shoonya" were indeed masters of the most

>civilized and "cultivated modes of thought".

>

> *************************

>

>There was a great mathematician in India who lived in the 10th

>century CE, He was BhAskarAchArya. He wrote several pioneering

>treatises (Sanskrit) on Vedic mathematics. In one of the treatises,

>it is said, he wrote a small dedication : "To the Supreme Brahman,

>who is Infinity, I offer my salutation". BhAskarAchArya used the

>Sanskrit word "khAhara" to denote God as 'Infinity' in the

>dedication. It is derived from "kham" which means 'Zero' and "hara"

>meaning "divided". The word "khAhara" was meant to indicate that God

>who is Infinity is related to Zero.

>

>BhAskarAchArya was the first mathematician to reveal to the world the

>intimate relationship between "shoonya" and "anantah", between Zero

>and Infinity. Any quantity divided by "shoonya" is equal to Infinity,

>he said. Take a value like 16 and divide it ("harah") with

>progressively decreasing divisors. What happens? The quotient

>progressively enlarges. For e.g. 16 divided by 4 = 4; and 16 divided

>by 2 = 8; and eventually when 16 is divided by 0 it equals

>'Infinity'! Every quantity, every value in the world, when divided by

>"shoonya", results in the same quotient or result viz. Infinity,

>"anantah".

>

>Such is the mighty power of Zero that it can raise and relate all

>values on earth to the exalted state of Infinity -- that very same

>state in which God Almighty, the Vishnu of the sacred 'Sahasranama',

>is said to eternally reside and rule!

>

>Regards,

>dAsan,

>Sudarshan

>

>

>

>

> Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook.

>http://calendar.

>

>

>

>

>Oppiliappan

>

>

>

>Your use of is subject to

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Sudharshan

 

A colleague of mine in New Zealand had presented to me a book titled "Zero"

by Charles Seife where a few of the references that you have given in this

brilliant article of yours appear.

 

Little did I expect to receive a reference for Zero from Vishnu

Sahasranamam.

 

Thanks for the beautiful work.

 

Dasan

 

Balajee Thiruppukkuzhi Narasimhan

 

 

>Sadagopan <sgopan

>Oppiliappan

>Oppiliappan, Tiruvengadam

>Re: "shoonyah": "Lord Zero" of the

>Vishnu-Sahasranamam

>Sat, 14 Jun 2003 13:08:15 -0400 (EDT)

>

>Dear SrIman Sudarshanan:

>

>The Other name for "Shoonyam" is Poojyam.

>Poojyam can be taken as Poojaneeyam or

>one that is exalted and therefore worthy of

>worship. That will take us away from the many

>not so plesant association with the many meanings of

>the word " Soonya". The Lord has also agaDitha GadanA Sakthi

>and He can be worshipped as "Soonyaaya nama:"

>as well as " ParipoorNAya Nama:"

>

>Just a little speculation !

>

>Your posting of is excellent and

>thought provoking.

>

>V.Sadagopan

>

> At 09:18 AM 6/11/03 -0700, you wrote:

> >

> >

> >Dear friends,

> >

> >One of the 'nAmA-s' in the Sahasranamam that I'm always intrigued by

> >is the name "shoonyah" given to Vishnu and as it apppears in shlOka

> >no: 79 --

> >

> > suvarna-varna hEmAngO varAngas-chandanAngadI

> > veeraha vishamah shoonyO grutAshI-rachala-chalah

> >

> >The Sanskrit word "soonya" means "zero", "nullity", "cipher",

> >"emptiness".

> >

> >It would strike anyone as extremely odd that the Sahasranamam should

> >choose to call Lord Vishnu as 'Zero'! You can understand God being

> >called "ekah", the One Supreme Being. The essence of all monistic

> >theism lies in the belief that God is One (the Upanishad says,

> >"sayaschAyam pUrUshE; yaschAsAvA'dityE; sa ekah").

> >

> >You can understand too God being addressed as "anantah", the

> >Infinite, as in the Sahasranamam stanza---

> >

> > kAma devah kAmapAlah kaamI kAntah krutAgamah

> > anirdEshyavapu-vishnur-vIrO' anantah dhananjayah (stanza 70)

> >

> >Since God is Immeasurable it seems plainly alright to name Him

> >"anantah", the Infinite. But how is one to explain hailing the

> >Almighty as 'shoonyah', the Cipher?

> >

> >There is a view that "If Infinity is immeasurable, so is Zero".

> >Mathematically speaking, one could define 'zero' to be

> >'anti-infinity'. If 'Infinity' is immeasurable plenitude, 'Zero' is

> >immeasurable emptiness. If you were to imagine, say, an interminable

> >series of values, from zero to infinity, floating somewhere out there

> >in endless space, then, surely, Zero would be at one end of it while

> >Infinity would be found at the other end... wherever, that is, the

> >two ends may be found, if at all. And if you reflect upon it deeply,

> >that would make out 'Zero' and 'Infinity' to be two sides of the same

> >un-graspable coin.

> >

> >By the same logic, you might say the Sanskrit "anantah" and "shoonya"

> >might seem antonymous but in reality they mean the same thing.

> >Hailing God Almighty as 'Lord Infinity' is hence no different from

> >hailing Him 'Lord Zero'.

> >

> >Incredible logic notwithstanding, we know for a fact however that the

> >'Infinite' and the 'Cipher' are never really the same thing. None of

> >us would be willing to exchange one for the other if it came to a

> >real choice between the two. If I go up, for instance, to a venerable

> >'achArya' or 'guru' and prostrate at his feet, I would expect him to

> >shower his benediction upon me saying, "May you be blessed in life,

> >my son, with God's infinite Grace!". If instead the man were to say,

> >"May God's zero grace be thine in life!", the blessing would stand

> >transformed into a vicious curse, wouldn't it?

> >

> > *******

> >

> >So then, why is God, who is Infinite Being, being called "shoonya", a

> >Zero -- the very opposite of infinity? The traditional commentators

> >of the Vishnu-Sahasranamam offer us some explanation in their

> >respective "bhAshyA-s".

> >

> >Let's take up Adi Sankara's "sahasranamam bhAshyA" first.

> >

> >In his commentary, Sri Sankara (6th CE) explains "shoonya" as an apt

> >'nAmA' for God, the Supreme Brahman, who is "nirguNa" -- i.e. the

> >Being who is totally devoid of any qualities or attributes. In other

> >words, according to Sankara's school of metaphysics, God is "guNa

> >shoonyan".

> >

> >According to this explanation, God transcends all attributes. His

> >qualities like omnipotence, omniscience etc. only serve to help us in

> >ascertaining His reality but they do not 'per se' define Him. The

> >truth of God's existence cannot be grasped by us with reference to

> >His qualities or 'guNA' alone, says Sankara. Brahman is to be

> >apprehended as an Absolute Being who stands far apart from and quite

> >beyond any of His infinitely ("anantah") great qualities -- i.e. He

> >is 'nirguNa-brahman', a Being without qualities, a Being with 'zero'

> >qualities. Hence it is fit to call Him "shoonyah".

> >

> >Let's turn to the other explanation found in the commentary of Sri

> >Parashara Bhattar (11th CE) on the Vishnu Sahasranamam titled

> >"bhagavadh-guNa-darpaNam".

> >

> >Bhattar explains "shoonyah" in the typical way of the school of

> >VisishtAdvaita theology. According to this school, God is the Supreme

> >Abode of all auspicious attributes. The Almighty is full of

> >innumerable good qualities like "gnyAna", "bala", "aiswarya",

> >"vIrya", "shakti" and "tejas". In VisishtAdvaita, God is

> >"ananta-kalyANa-guna-gaNaan" (to use a famous expression of Sri

> >RamanujAchArya) -- i.e. Brahman is Being with infinite number of

> >happy and wholesome attributes. The theology next states that God, by

> >corollary, is also totally devoid of inauspicious, un-wholesome or

> >negative qualities.

> >

> >According to Bhattar, in so far as, Brahman is replete with

> >infinitely good attributes, He is to be known as "anantah". And in so

> >far as He is absolutely bereft of defective qualities, He is to be

> >known as the God of "zero-defects" -- in other words, He is

> >"shoonyah".

> >

> >>From a purely theological standpoint both explanations above are

> >equally valid and wholly satisfying (depending, of course, upon

> >which school of Vedanta -- Sankara's or Ramanuja's -- one is

> >predisposed towards). All the same, for one who is not steeped in the

> >various nuances and niceties of Vedantic theology, (especially for

> >one who cannot really appreciate the technical difference between the

> >metaphysical "nirguNa-" and "savisesha-" Brahman), the explanations

> >of AdiSankara and Parashara Bhattar for "shoonya" might only seem to

> >resemble the case of the proverbial bottle that got described as

> >"half-empty" by one and "half-full" by another.

> >

> > ---------------

> >

> >Even leaving theological considerations aside, one can still regard

> >Zero to be a remarkably apt 'nAma' for the Almighty. Common knowledge

> >of the world around us reveals how all-powerful the concept of Zero,

> >"shoonya", truly is. When we look at the history of Zero, we realize

> >why 'shoonya' is almighty indeed!

> >

> >Until about 1500 years ago nobody in the world outside India could

> >count numbers beyond 9 without enormous difficulty. The entire

> >Graeco-Roman Western world knew nothing about the Hindu-Arabic system

> >of numerals that prevails in the entire world today. The Romans

> >depended upon alphabets to denote numbers -- such as I, X and C or

> >with V, L and D. In their system the number 32 had to be written, for

> >example, as XXXII but writing a number like 3200 or 32000 for the

> >Greeks and Romans presented a huge, often insurmountable problem! For

> >several centuries the Graeco-Roman civilization struggled with this

> >cumbersome system of numbering. It was the principal reason why for

> >almost a thousand years Western mathematics hardly advanced beyond

> >being a method of elementary counting and mensuration using crude

> >devices like the abacus. The Greeks and Romans had no knowledge of

> >how to deal with large numbers, ratios, series, complex algebraic

> >functions and calculations -- all child's play for any high-school

> >student today. Western thought simply stagnated for ages since it

> >could just not grapple with the mathematical problem of large numbers

> >and calculations.

> >

> >Somewhere between 1000 and 1200 AD, the Western world came in contact

> >with the Arab world and that was when the Hindu-Arabic system of

> >numerals opened the eyes of the Europeans to a whole new world of

> >mathematical thought.

> >

> >The Arabs had for long borrowed and been using the Hindu system of

> >numerals that had been in use in ancient India for more than a

> >thousand years earlier. The Hindu system did not use alphabets but a

> >simple but versatile scheme of numeric symbols starting from "Zero"

> >-- the famous 'shoonya' -- and ending with 9. These symbolic numerals

> >made it so easy to represent and calculate numerate values anywhere

> >from zero to infinity in quick time. They enabled complex functions

> >and calculations. They made it possible to represent the most

> >formidable series of values by a mere formula which in turn

> >facilitated further complex mathematical functions! The Western world

> >realized -- for the first time ever -- the power of the Hindu numeral

> >system: a power that became the inspiration for all the mathematical

> >advancements to later come out of Europe: algebra, ratios, surds,

> >functions such as squares, cube and root, series and progressions,

> >logarithmic tables, quadratic equations... and so on and so forth.

> >

> >It was the power of Zero, "shoonya", indeed that made the European

> >Renaissance possible --- the Renaissance that eventually gave birth

> >to all the wonderful discoveries of modern mathematics such as

> >Fabionacci series, Pascal's Probability theory and even Newton's

> >Calculus! "The concept of Zero unleashed something more profound than

> >just an enhanced method of counting and calculating". Zero

> >revolutionized the old modes of human thought. It meant firstly

> >people could use only ten digits, from 0 to 9, to perform every

> >conceivable calculation and to write any conceivable number.

> >Secondly, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for

> >abstract human thinking that had been simply unthinkable before!

> >

> > ********************

> >

> >How did the ancient Hindus discover such a powerful concept as

> >"shoonya" while the rest of the world remained ignorant of 'Zero' for

> >ages?

> >

> >To grasp the concept of "shoonya" required a very high level of

> >intellectual and spiritual advancement as what prevailed in India

> >during and after the Vedic period. As the English philosopher,

> >A.N.Whitehead wrote: "The point about zero is that we do not need to

> >use it in the operations of daily life. No one goes out to buy zero

> >fish or eggs. [but] It is in a way the most civilized of all the

> >cardinals, and its use is only forced on us by the needs of

> >cultivated modes of thought". Vedic mathematics and astronomy of

> >those ancient times clearly bear evidence to the highly sophisticated

> >conceptual and ideological skills that our Indian forbears possessed.

> >There was no doubt at all that the ancient Vedic Indians who gave to

> >the whole world the idea of "shoonya" were indeed masters of the most

> >civilized and "cultivated modes of thought".

> >

> > *************************

> >

> >There was a great mathematician in India who lived in the 10th

> >century CE, He was BhAskarAchArya. He wrote several pioneering

> >treatises (Sanskrit) on Vedic mathematics. In one of the treatises,

> >it is said, he wrote a small dedication : "To the Supreme Brahman,

> >who is Infinity, I offer my salutation". BhAskarAchArya used the

> >Sanskrit word "khAhara" to denote God as 'Infinity' in the

> >dedication. It is derived from "kham" which means 'Zero' and "hara"

> >meaning "divided". The word "khAhara" was meant to indicate that God

> >who is Infinity is related to Zero.

> >

> >BhAskarAchArya was the first mathematician to reveal to the world the

> >intimate relationship between "shoonya" and "anantah", between Zero

> >and Infinity. Any quantity divided by "shoonya" is equal to Infinity,

> >he said. Take a value like 16 and divide it ("harah") with

> >progressively decreasing divisors. What happens? The quotient

> >progressively enlarges. For e.g. 16 divided by 4 = 4; and 16 divided

> >by 2 = 8; and eventually when 16 is divided by 0 it equals

> >'Infinity'! Every quantity, every value in the world, when divided by

> >"shoonya", results in the same quotient or result viz. Infinity,

> >"anantah".

> >

> >Such is the mighty power of Zero that it can raise and relate all

> >values on earth to the exalted state of Infinity -- that very same

> >state in which God Almighty, the Vishnu of the sacred 'Sahasranama',

> >is said to eternally reside and rule!

> >

> >Regards,

> >dAsan,

> >Sudarshan

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook.

> >http://calendar.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >Oppiliappan

> >

> >

> >

> >Your use of is subject to

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

 

_______________

Chill out. Win a Himalayan holiday!

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[Guest guest]

Oppiliappan, Sadagopan <sgopan@c...> wrote:

> Dear SrIman Sudarshanan:

>

> The Other name for "Shoonyam" is Poojyam.

> Poojyam can be taken as Poojaneeyam or

> one that is exalted and therefore worthy of

> worship.

 

 

Dear SrimAn Sadagopan,

 

Is this the reason perhaps why venerable 'achAryA-s' in Vedantic

tradition are often referred to as "poojyashri" So-and-so? For

instance, the Kanchi ParamachArya was referred to sometimes as

Poojyashri Chandrasekherendra Saraswati. However, I have not come

across any of the SriVaishnavite 'achAryA-s' or 'gurus' being

addressed with the prefix "poojyasri". Wonder why?

 

Perhaps you could throw some light?

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

[Guest guest]

Dear friend,

 

Thank you for the kind feedback.

Any good book on the history of mathematics should give a good

account of the history of 'zero'. My own favourite book is by Peter

Bernstein's "Against the Gods" which is a very good work on the

history of Risk management using mathematical tools/techniques.

 

Nothing in my piece on "shoonya" is really original. It is only

reflection on ideas and thoughts that I have come across in other

books including our ancient scriptures like the Sahasranamam.

 

Glad you liked the piece.

 

Thank you,

regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

--- "Sudarshan M.K." <sampathkumar_2000 wrote:

> Oppiliappan, "balajee thiruppukkuzhi"

> <teeyenbee@h...> wrote:

> Dear Sri Sudharshan

>

> A colleague of mine in New Zealand had presented to me a book

> titled "Zero"

> by Charles Seife where a few of the references that you have given

> in

> this

> brilliant article of yours appear.

>

> Little did I expect to receive a reference for Zero from Vishnu

> Sahasranamam.

>

> Thanks for the beautiful work.

>

> Dasan

>

> Balajee Thiruppukkuzhi Narasimhan

>

>

>

>

>

> ------------------------ Sponsor

>

> Namo VenkateshAya namah:

>

>

> To Post a message, send it to: tiruvengadam (AT) eGroups (DOT) com

>

> To Un, send a blank message to:

> tiruvengadam- (AT) eGroups (DOT) com

>

> Your use of is subject to

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees,

 

That was an excellent, thought-provoking posting from Shriman M.K. Sudarshan.

 

Zero in mathematics is a symbol used to represent the absence of a

count in the number-system. Its value is defined as the limit to

which the series of values of 1 divided by n when n tends to

infinity. Like the murthi (idol) representing God, zero serves to

represent the ultimate value of 1/n. It is smaller than the smallest

we can grasp: anoraneeyana and the nAma shUnya thus effectively

communicates the underlying concept to us ; it is also greater than

the greatest.

 

In the binary system of counting, there are only two numbers 0 & 1 --

not present & present. Using this simple notation has led to great

developments in the field of computer-programming.

 

The Sahasranamam is replete with names in juxtaposition, stating two

opposite characteristics simultaneously to describe the sarva-vyapi

Vishnu - both 0 & 1, shoonya and poornam.

 

In this context, I may be allowed to mention two quotes from outside Sri Vaishnava literature:

 

A famous quote from Western philosophy:

"The nature of God is a circleof which the center is everywhereand the

circumference is nowhere."

 

A quote from The Vijñâna Bhairava (Kashmir Shaivism):"The Highest

Reality is called shoonya or void, not because it is not Real

but because it is free of all characteristics with which we are familiar."

Dasan

Krishnaswamy M.K.

[Guest guest]

Our Lord rules the modern world and science also.

 

Black Hole is a big zero and some thing black hole

and its proposed counterpart "worm-hole" could be

the source of all material. Scientists ask the

question

what happens to the material consumed by a black hole.

The theory is that outside the realm of this universe

there is another universe and the material goes into

this.

 

Carl Sagan salutes hindu seers for their vision

of multiple universe etc..

 

Similarly the Big Bang before which time and nothing

existed is also a cosmic concept.

 

Understandign Big Bang is like playing Purusha Sukta

in front of your eyes.

Big Bang says that which was nothing, imperceptible

sprang forth in all directions and the material was

itself. There was no other material. material cause

is also this.

 

Our Narayana is seated within us and is very close to

us unfortunately we are not equipped to enjoy HIM.

I am told that a new born can hear mom's footsteps

but over time we cannot hear someone talking to us.

Such is our propensity.

it is no wonder.

--- "M.K. Krishnaswamy" <surfings wrote:

> Dear Devotees,

>

> That was an excellent, thought-provoking posting

> from Shriman M.K. Sudarshan.

>

> Zero in mathematics is a symbol used to represent

> the absence of a count in the number-system. Its

> value is defined as the limit to which the series of

> values of 1 divided by n when n tends to infinity.

> Like the murthi (idol) representing God, zero serves

> to represent the ultimate value of 1/n. It is

> smaller than the smallest we can grasp: anoraneeyana

> and the nAma shUnya thus effectively communicates

> the underlying concept to us ; it is also greater

> than the greatest.

>

> In the binary system of counting, there are only two

> numbers 0 & 1 -- not present & present. Using this

> simple notation has led to great developments in the

> field of computer-programming.

>

> The Sahasranamam is replete with names in

> juxtaposition, stating two opposite characteristics

> simultaneously to describe the sarva-vyapi Vishnu -

> both 0 & 1, shoonya and poornam.

>

> In this context, I may be allowed to mention two

> quotes from outside Sri Vaishnava literature:

>

> A famous quote from Western philosophy:

> "The nature of God is a circle

> of which the center is everywhere

> and the circumference is nowhere."

>

> A quote from The Vijñâna Bhairava (Kashmir

> Shaivism):

> "The Highest Reality is called shoonya or void,

> not because it is not Real

> but because it is free of all characteristics with

> which we are familiar."

>

> Dasan

> Krishnaswamy M.K.

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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