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गणितसारसंग्रह
(३) पुनः, मांस भक्षण निषेध की शैली में आत्मा की नियत संख्या के रूप में गणित का प्रवेश है,
"The thought of all the souls they might have left shivering in the void by devouring their own goats and swine made the good Samians extremely unhappy. A few weeks more of these upsetting suggestions, and they would all be strict vegetarians-except for beans. Equally upsetting was the ghastly thought that some of their
n might be malicious little monsters with no souls to restrain their bestial instincts, For Pythagorus had assured them that the total number of souls in the universe is constant".*
आत्माओं के पुनर्जन्म तथा आत्मा की अमरता का उपदेश देने वाले पिथेगोरस के वर्ग बन्धुत्व में, गणित की महत्ता दर्शाने वाला उल्लेख निम्नलिखित भी है:
"The Pythagoreans thus have purification and initiation in common with several other mystery-rites. Ascetic, monestic living, vegetarianism, and common ownership of goods occur also in other sects. But, what distinguishes the Pythagoreans from all others, is the road along which they believe the elevation of the soul and the union with God to take place, namely by means of mathematics, Mathematics formed a part of their religion. Their doctrine proclaims that God has ordered the universe by means of numbers. God is unity, the world is plurality and it consists of contrasting elements. It is harmony which restores unity to the contrasting parts and which moulds them into a cosmos. Harmony is divine, it consists of numerical ratios. Whosoever acquires full understanding of this number-harmony, he becomes himself divine and immortal.”+
अभी यह कहना कठिन है कि पिथेगोरस ने वही प्रतिपादन किया जो वर्द्धमान महावीर के तीर्थ में परम्परा के आधार पर किया गया प्रतीत होता है । परन्तु, धवला ग्रंथों (विशेषकर, षटखंडागम पु. ३) को देखने पर यह अवश्य प्रतीत होता है कि इन दोनों वर्गों के लक्ष्य प्रायः एक से रहे हैं। इसकी पुष्टि, पुनः, निम्नलिखित उद्धरण से होती है,
"According to Heraclides of Pontus, Pythagorus said that,
"Beatitude is the knowledge of the perfection of the numbers of the soul". Mathematics and number mysticism mingle fantastically in the Pythagorean dootrine. Nevertheless, it was from this mystical doctrine that the exact science of the later Pythagoreans developed."'()
* The magic of Numbers, p. 92. † Science Awakening p. 93. (Ibid p. 94.