Science of Knowledge & Wisdom

A common belief among ancient cultures was that the laws of numbers have not only a practical meaning, but also a mystical or religious one. This belief was prevalent amongst the Pythagoreans. Prior to 500 B.C. E., Pythagoras, the great Greek pioneer in the teaching of mathematics, formed an exclusive club of young men to whom he imparted his superior mathematical knowledge. Each member was required to take an oath never to reveal this knowledge to an outsider. Pythagoras acquired many faithful disciples to whom he preached about the immortality of the soul and insisted on a life of renunciation. At the heart of the Pythagorean world view was a unity of religious principles and mathematical propositions. In the third century B.C. E. another great Greek mathematician, Archimedes, contributed considerably to the field of mathematics. A quote attributed to Archimedes reads, "There are things which seem incredible to most men who have not studied mathematics." Yet accordi...

Tilak is a mark of auspiciousness. It is put on the forehead with sandal paste, sacred ashes or kumkum (red tumeric). The devotees of Siva apply sacred ashes (Bhasma) on the forehead, the devotees of Vishnu apply sandal paste (Chandan), and the worshippers of Devi or Shakti apply Kumkum, a red tumeric powder. The scriptures say: "A forehead without a Tilak, a woman without a husband, a Mantra the meaning of which is not known while doing Japa (recitation), the head that does not bend before holy personages, a heart without mercy, a house without a well, a village without a temple, a country without a river, a society without a leader, wealth that is not given away in charity, a preceptor without a disciple, a country without justice, a king without an able minister, a woman not obedient to her husband, a well without water, a flower without smell, a soul devoid of holiness, a field without rains, an intellect without clearness, a disciple who does not consider his precep...

The brain gets a continuous flow of stimulus from the sense, organs, through the nervous impulses to the specific region of the cerebral cortex, as well as the consciousness. Partly, the message is also conveyed to a unique system within the spinal cord and the brain. This is designed to interpret the stimulus as a danger signal or one of pleasure and enjoyment, by exciting the nervous system. The reticular formation develops to gather messages from the sense organs, and coordinates them to get a complete picture of the threat. This takes place on a continuous basis. The messages are exaggerated or suppressed depending upon the importance of the threat. The interpretation as to when a particular threat is important and needs to be exaggerated or when it is of less importance in comparison to another message and needs to be suppressed, is also the task performed by the brain. The ordering of priorities depends on a number of factors which the brain takes into consideration. The ...

By Swami Satyananda Saraswati Today stress is being considered as one of the prime causes of disease. A great deal of research has been done on this subject by scientists throughout the world and they have concluded that tensions, anxieties and disturbed mental conditions can cause serious physical ailments. There is a very long list of diseases, such as blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and asthma, which are known as stress-born diseases. If you study this list, you yourself can conclude that 89% of all the ailments today are stress-born. Science today is beginning to relate psychological behaviour to these stress conditions and therefore it is very necessary to study what stress is, and how it can affect the various aspects of human life. In order to do this we have to first of all understand the nature of stress and from where it originates. One of the most important factors that can be concluded from our studies, of both ancient yogic literature and modern scie...