​Why do scriptures give mathematical knowledge – is it needed to go back to godhead?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Why is the value of Pi given in scriptures? See, we don’t need mathematical knowledge to go back to Godhead but mathematics is one way in which you can appreciate the intelligence of the divine as it manifested in this world so certain mathematical for example Shilva Sutras the value of Pi and Pythagorean theorem and things like that are given in the Shilva Sutra Shilva Sutra is a book is a mathematical treatise which focuses primarily on building sacrificial altars normally when we perform yajna, we think of a small yajna kunda and some fire is there, but in the past there were huge yajna kundas and for different purposes different kind of yajna kundas were described so for example we have a yajna kunda which is a rectangle which is for a particular kind of yajna then we can have a yajna kunda which is a trapezoid which is for a particular kind of yajna we have a yajna kunda which is like a parallel pipe that is for another kind of yajna and the dimensions of this, the proportions of this, all these need to be precisely calculated and for that purpose mathematics was used so mathematics was used for mathematical knowledge was given so that certain religious rituals could be precisely performed but yajnas are not the primary mode of religious performance talked about in this age, that is not Vedic Dharma so for chanting Hare Krishna we don’t need any advanced mathematical knowledge we just need to attempt the Hare Krishna Mahamantra with a mood of devotion but for people who have mathematical inclinations for them to facilitate their mathematical inclinations the scriptures do contain mathematical knowledge also, they can use that to appreciate the glory of God and the mathematical knowledge is also used to perform certain rituals which are requiring mathematical precision