Science > Physics > Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu
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Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" |
| Date: |
13 Aug 2005 02:45:52 AM |
| Object: |
Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu |
4. Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/133.htm
History of knowledge in Europe starts with Pythagoras.
Pythagoras, in the 6th century BCE was the first European
(Greek) who brought Indian knowledge and mathematics to
Greece in an organized way. He was the first European to
convert completely to Hinduism also. Pythagoras was born
around 560 BCE; 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. (In fact, the Ancient
Greek civilization was not really European. The first
Greek city, Miletus was established around 1100 BCE in
Asia Minor. Samos, an island adjoining Asia Minor was
inhabited in 1000 BCE. From Milesia, Greeks spread to
establish colonies round the Black Sea founding the
cities of Sinope, Trapezus and Olbia etc. They also
crossed the Aegean Sea to establish colonies in Macedonia
and then south of that to the land what is called Greece
today. Cyrenaica (Cyrene) and Carthage were other
colonies of these people, which was at the coastal Libya
in Africa. The famous Troy (of Helen fame) was in the
Asia Minor. These colonies were not united into a nation
state but were autonomous, and bound to the metropolis<
metro, mother; polis, city; in Sanskrit matripuri>.
Hence, Greek culture, far from being European, was
actually Asian.).
At that time, Greeks did not have mathematics or
sciences. Education was limited to music and gymnastics.
After studying the very best available in his country
(music and gymnastics), Pythagoras 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 at that time, 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. It is probable that
Pythagoras went to the Punjab and thence to the Himalayas
a s 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
Pythagoras, trousers were not known to Europe. Woolen
trousers were worn by Indians living at high altitudes in
the Himalayas, like people of Nepal, Laddakh, Tibet, and
Kashmir etc. (The statue of Indian king Kanishka, found
in Afghanistan, is wearing a long double-breasted coat
and trousers). Variants of trousers like pajamas and
shalwar were worn in the northern plains of Indo-Iran.
The costume, which Pythagoras introduced into the Europe,
was going to become the ethnic costume of the West!!
(Wertheim, Pythagoras’s Trousers)
Having lived twenty years in the east, he returned to
Greece, 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. It is the order in any system,
which sustains it. He was describing the concept of
Dharma, which means the order, which sustains the system.
He was now acting as an ambassador of Hinduism to the
West. Pythagoreans 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 recognized it when I heard its voice. Pythagoras was
even able to recall the details of his own previous
incarnations. Pythagoras 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 realize its true divine status. In
other words, he was preaching karma, samsara and moksha.
Pythagoreans believed that anyone who downgraded his life
by immoral and impure acts would 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 (Sanskrit, 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,
mutt) and studied the nature of reality more deeply. From
mathematik is derived the word mathematics. Pythagoreans
studied and further developed the science of mathematics
and philosophy, which was brought to them from Indo-Iran
by their great Guru. The chain reaction started by
Pythagoras resulted in a boom of scholarship in Greece
and finally we find authorities like Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, etc. The background provided by the
Pythagoreans provided sound basis of logic to enable
these thinkers to arrive at sound conclusions. 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), it
appears in Greek literature as well soon after. The three
doshas of Indian medicine are present in exactly the same
way. It was a good thing. A living and growing
civilization is always ready to find out and assimilate
whatever valuable it notices in other civilizations.
More at:
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/133.htm
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
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information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
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Since newsgroup posts are being removed
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| User: "mountain man" |
|
| Title: Re: Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu |
13 Aug 2005 05:24:17 AM |
|
|
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" <usenet@mantra.com> wrote in message
news:GOalu5260aQZME@MgoEb...
4. Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/133.htm
History of knowledge in Europe starts with Pythagoras.
Pythagoras, in the 6th century BCE was the first European
(Greek) who brought Indian knowledge and mathematics
Knowledge was required to construct (in a consistent
fashion) the thousands of megalithic structures scattered
across western europe and the british isles. Construction
of these megalithic structures (eg: stone henge, newgrange)
is thought to have been in the period 4500BCE to 3300BCE.
You'll find it likely that the Indus-Sarasvati civilisation was
in place at that time, and sometime during that period first
committed the Rig Veda to writing (previously passed down
via oral tradition).
This apparently oldest of civilisations was integrated with
the Sarasvati River system. Geological and geosatelite info
shows the river died as a result of land upheaval towards
it source in the Himalayan foothills, cutting it off.
Water ceased flowing around 1900BCE according to
recent studies, so in the millenia prior to this, the signs
were on the wall for the stability of the river civilisation.
99.9999999999999% of history is unwritten, and of the
remnant that is, evidence favors the cradle of knowledge
to coincide with the Indus-Sarasvati civilisation.
--
Pete Brown
Falls Creek
OZ
www.mountainman.com.au
.
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| User: "Dr. Jai Maharaj" |
|
| Title: Re: Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu |
13 Aug 2005 03:43:19 PM |
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4. Dawn of knowledge in the west with Pythagoras turning Hindu
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/133.htm
History of knowledge in Europe starts with Pythagoras.
Pythagoras, in the 6th century BCE was the first European
(Greek) who brought Indian knowledge and mathematics to
Greece in an organized way. He was the first European to
convert completely to Hinduism also. Pythagoras was born
around 560 BCE; 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. (In fact, the Ancient
Greek civilization was not really European. The first
Greek city, Miletus was established around 1100 BCE in
Asia Minor. Samos, an island adjoining Asia Minor was
inhabited in 1000 BCE. From Milesia, Greeks spread to
establish colonies round the Black Sea founding the
cities of Sinope, Trapezus and Olbia etc. They also
crossed the Aegean Sea to establish colonies in Macedonia
and then south of that to the land what is called Greece
today. Cyrenaica (Cyrene) and Carthage were other
colonies of these people, which was at the coastal Libya
in Africa. The famous Troy (of Helen fame) was in the
Asia Minor. These colonies were not united into a nation
state but were autonomous, and bound to the metropolis<
metro, mother; polis, city; in Sanskrit matripuri>.
Hence, Greek culture, far from being European, was
actually Asian.).
At that time, Greeks did not have mathematics or
sciences. Education was limited to music and gymnastics.
After studying the very best available in his country
(music and gymnastics), Pythagoras 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 at that time, 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. It is probable that
Pythagoras went to the Punjab and thence to the Himalayas
a s 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
Pythagoras, trousers were not known to Europe. Woolen
trousers were worn by Indians living at high altitudes in
the Himalayas, like people of Nepal, Laddakh, Tibet, and
Kashmir etc. (The statue of Indian king Kanishka, found
in Afghanistan, is wearing a long double-breasted coat
and trousers). Variants of trousers like pajamas and
shalwar were worn in the northern plains of Indo-Iran.
The costume, which Pythagoras introduced into the Europe,
was going to become the ethnic costume of the West!!
(Wertheim, Pythagoras’s Trousers)
Having lived twenty years in the east, he returned to
Greece, 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. It is the order in any system,
which sustains it. He was describing the concept of
Dharma, which means the order, which sustains the system.
He was now acting as an ambassador of Hinduism to the
West. Pythagoreans 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 recognized it when I heard its voice. Pythagoras was
even able to recall the details of his own previous
incarnations. Pythagoras 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 realize its true divine status. In
other words, he was preaching karma, samsara and moksha.
Pythagoreans believed that anyone who downgraded his life
by immoral and impure acts would 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 (Sanskrit, 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,
mutt) and studied the nature of reality more deeply. From
mathematik is derived the word mathematics. Pythagoreans
studied and further developed the science of mathematics
and philosophy, which was brought to them from Indo-Iran
by their great Guru. The chain reaction started by
Pythagoras resulted in a boom of scholarship in Greece
and finally we find authorities like Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, etc. The background provided by the
Pythagoreans provided sound basis of logic to enable
these thinkers to arrive at sound conclusions. 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), it
appears in Greek literature as well soon after. The three
doshas of Indian medicine are present in exactly the same
way. It was a good thing. A living and growing
civilization is always ready to find out and assimilate
whatever valuable it notices in other civilizations.
More at:
http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/133.htm
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.
.
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