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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00105 Jun 2003

 
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Dear Devotees,
 
That was an excellent, thought-provoking posting from Shriman M.K. Sudarshan.
 
Zero in mathematics is a symbol used to represent the absence of a count in the number-system. Its value is defined as the limit to which the series of values of 1 divided by n when n tends to infinity. Like the murthi (idol) representing God, zero serves to represent the ultimate value of 1/n. It is smaller than the smallest we can grasp: anoraneeyana and the nAma shUnya thus effectively communicates the underlying concept to us ; it is also greater than the greatest.
 
In the binary system of counting, there are only two numbers 0 & 1 -- not present & present. Using this simple notation has led to great developments in the field of computer-programming.
 
The Sahasranamam is replete with names in juxtaposition, stating two opposite characteristics simultaneously to describe the sarva-vyapi Vishnu - both 0 & 1, shoonya and poornam.
 
In this context, I may be allowed to mention two quotes from outside Sri Vaishnava literature:
 
A famous quote from Western philosophy:
"The nature of God is a circle
of which the center is everywhere
and the circumference is nowhere."  
 
A quote from The Vijñâna Bhairava  (Kashmir Shaivism):
"The Highest Reality is called shoonya or void,
not because it is not Real
but because it is free of all characteristics with which we are familiar."
Dasan
Krishnaswamy M.K.
 
 


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