Pythagoras by Hindu unity.org

[Guest guest]

PYTHAGORAS: A GREAT HINDU GENIUS

 

History of knowledge in Europe starts with Pythagorus. Pythagoras,

in the 6th century BC was the first European( Greek) who brought

Indian knowledge and mathematics to Greece in an organised way. He

was the first European to convert completely to Hinduism also.

Pythagorus was born around 560 BC , on Samos an island not far from

the coast of the Asia Minor .His mother was probably a native of

Samos but his father was probably a Phoenician. His life history

was recorded from oral traditions a couple of centuries after his

death, and even that information has survived only in fragments.

 

After studying the very best available in his country (music and

gymnastics) he set out for more. He went to Egypt which had already

received Indian Geometry through its contact with Indians as well as

with Indo-Iranians and had then scholars teaching geometry and a

bit of astrology. During his stay in Egypt, Egypt was invaded by

Iran and he was brought to Iran as a captive , where he stayed at

Babylon and other cities. Babylon was no more a Semitic city by that

time, and it had been thoroughly Indo-Iranized in language, religion

and knowledge at least a century earlier, when the Medes and the

Persians thoroughly overran the country of Babylon, and it was now a

part of Persian Empire and culturally a part of Indo-Iran. Probably,

Pythagorus went to the Punjab and thence to the Himalayas as well.

It thoroughly changed his life style and thinking. He permanently

rejected the long Greek robes, and adopted trousers turning away

from Ionian culture and identifying himself strongly with the East.

Before Pythagorus, trousers were not known to Europe. Woollen

trousers were worn by Indians living at high altitudes in the

Himalayas, like people of Nepal, Laddakh, Tibet, Kashmir etc. ( The

statue of Indian king Kanishka, found in Afghanistan, is wearing a

long double-breasted coat and trousers). Variants of trousers like

pyjamas and shalwar were worn in the northern plains of Indo-Iran.

The costume which Pythagorus introduced into the Europe was going to

become the ethnic costume of the West!!

Having lived twenty years in the east, he returned to Europe and

settled in Croton, a Greek speaking town of South Italy. He formed

an order of ascetics devoted to develop a sense of community with

the help of religious injunctions and instructions. This was aimed

to give the members a real insight into the concordant nature of

universe. He preached that the world, like human society, was held

together by the orderly arrangement of its parts, and it then became

their clear duty to cultivate order in their own lives. He was now

acting as an ambassador of Hinduism to the West.

Pythagorians believed in transmigration of life through different

life forms. His contemporary poet Xenophanes writes: Pythagoras

was once passing by when a man was beating a dog .He took pity on

the animal and said, Stop it; Indeed it is the soul of a friend of

mine; I recognised it when I heard its voice. Pythagoras was even

able to recall the details of his own previous incarnations.

Pythagorus preached the essential unity and kinship of all forms of

life which is the fundamental principle of Hinduism (and also of

other later Indian religions) . He preached non-violence and banned

killing and eating animals in his order of ascetics. He was a firm

believer in Karmic law and preached immortality of existence. The

human body is temporary ,therefore one must purify the soul by

abstaining from bodily pleasure. By these means soul would

ultimately win release from the wheel of becoming and realise its

true divine status. Pythagoreans believed that anyone who downgraded

his life by immoral and impure acts will be born as animal in his

next life.

A particular type of sayings, he named akousmata (things heard)

which were probably Greek translation of the shruti ( Sk. Things

heard). In his brotherhood, members were of two kinds. Acousmatics

would visit him and seek guidance on how to lead a simple ,non-

violent and virtuous way of life. Others called Mathematikoi lived

inside the math (monastery) and studied the nature of reality more

deeply. From mathematik is derived the word mathematics.

Pythagorians studied and further developed the science of

mathematics and philosophy which was brought to them from India by

their great Guru.

 

The reaction started by Pythagorus resulted in a boom of scholarship

in Greece and finally we find authorities like Socrates, Plato,

Aristotle, Descartes, Heraclides, Eratosthenes, Archemedes, Euclid

etc. During this whole period transfer of knowledge from India to

Greece was never interrupted. This may be assumed from the fact that

whatever theory was given in India e.g. atomic theory, theory of

micro-organism, theory of non-dualism, Brahman, atman, the five

elements ( the Greeks accepted only four, and did not include

space ), medicine, the three doshas or whatever; it appears in Greek

translation soon after. It was a good thing. A living and growing

civilisation is always ready to find out and assimilate whatever

valuable it notices in other civilisations.

[Guest guest]

Tony,

 

It may not be appropriate to say 'converted' to Hinduism. Hinduism does not believe in conversions, because it does not believe in differences in the first place. It sees the same God principle everywhere, in everyone, including those who don't call themselves Hindu.

 

Sachin

 

 

 

----

 

 

Tony OClery

12/01/05 22:03:49

advaitajnana

Pythagoras by Hindu unity.org

PYTHAGORAS: A GREAT HINDU GENIUSHistory of knowledge in Europe starts with Pythagorus. Pythagoras, in the 6th century BC was the first European( Greek) who brought Indian knowledge and mathematics to Greece in an organised way. He was the first European to convert completely to Hinduism also. Pythagorus was born around 560 BC , on Samos an island not far from the coast of the Asia Minor .His mother was probably a native of Samos but his father was probably a Phoenician. His life history was recorded from oral traditions a couple of centuries after his death, and even that information has survived only in fragments.After studying the very best available in his country (music and gymnastics) he set out for more. He went to Egypt which had already received Indian Geometry through its contact with Indians as well as with Indo-Iranians and had then scholars teaching geometry and a bit of astrology. During his stay in Egypt, Egypt was invaded by Iran and he was brought to Iran as a captive , where he stayed at Babylon and other cities. Babylon was no more a Semitic city by that time, and it had been thoroughly Indo-Iranized in language, religion and knowledge at least a century earlier, when the Medes and the Persians thoroughly overran the country of Babylon, and it was now a part of Persian Empire and culturally a part of Indo-Iran. Probably, Pythagorus went to the Punjab and thence to the Himalayas as well. It thoroughly changed his life style and thinking. He permanently rejected the long Greek robes, and adopted trousers turning away from Ionian culture and identifying himself strongly with the East. Before Pythagorus, trousers were not known to Europe. Woollen trousers were worn by Indians living at high altitudes in the Himalayas, like people of Nepal, Laddakh, Tibet, Kashmir etc. ( The statue of Indian king Kanishka, found in Afghanistan, is wearing a long double-breasted coat and trousers). Variants of trousers like pyjamas and shalwar were worn in the northern plains of Indo-Iran. The costume which Pythagorus introduced into the Europe was going to become the ethnic costume of the West!!Having lived twenty years in the east, he returned to Europe and settled in Croton, a Greek speaking town of South Italy. He formed an order of ascetics devoted to develop a sense of community with the help of religious injunctions and instructions. This was aimed to give the members a real insight into the concordant nature of universe. He preached that the world, like human society, was held together by the orderly arrangement of its parts, and it then became their clear duty to cultivate order in their own lives. He was now acting as an ambassador of Hinduism to the West.Pythagorians believed in transmigration of life through different life forms. His contemporary poet Xenophanes writes: Pythagoras was once passing by when a man was beating a dog .He took pity on the animal and said, Stop it; Indeed it is the soul of a friend of mine; I recognised it when I heard its voice. Pythagoras was even able to recall the details of his own previous incarnations. Pythagorus preached the essential unity and kinship of all forms of life which is the fundamental principle of Hinduism (and also of other later Indian religions) . He preached non-violence and banned killing and eating animals in his order of ascetics. He was a firm believer in Karmic law and preached immortality of existence. The human body is temporary ,therefore one must purify the soul by abstaining from bodily pleasure. By these means soul would ultimately win release from the wheel of becoming and realise its true divine status. Pythagoreans believed that anyone who downgraded his life by immoral and impure acts will be born as animal in his next life.A particular type of sayings, he named akousmata (things heard) which were probably Greek translation of the shruti ( Sk. Things heard). In his brotherhood, members were of two kinds. Acousmatics would visit him and seek guidance on how to lead a simple ,non-violent and virtuous way of life. Others called Mathematikoi lived inside the math (monastery) and studied the nature of reality more deeply. From mathematik is derived the word mathematics. Pythagorians studied and further developed the science of mathematics and philosophy which was brought to them from India by their great Guru.The reaction started by Pythagorus resulted in a boom of scholarship in Greece and finally we find authorities like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Heraclides, Eratosthenes, Archemedes, Euclid etc. During this whole period transfer of knowledge from India to Greece was never interrupted. This may be assumed from the fact that whatever theory was given in India e.g. atomic theory, theory of micro-organism, theory of non-dualism, Brahman, atman, the five elements ( the Greeks accepted only four, and did not include space ), medicine, the three doshas or whatever; it appears in Greek translation soon after. It was a good thing. A living and growing civilisation is always ready to find out and assimilate whatever valuable it notices in other civilisations.