61 - My First Visit to India

VEDIC MATHEMATICS NEWSLETTER

ISSUE No. 61

A warm welcome to our new subscribers.
Vedic Mathematics is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people are introduced to the beautifully unified and easy Vedic methods. The purpose of this Newsletter is to provide information about developments in education and research and books, articles, courses, talks etc., and also to bring together those working with Vedic Mathematics. If you are working with Vedic Mathematics - teaching it or doing research - please contact us and let us include you and some description of your work in the Newsletter. Perhaps you would like to submit an article for inclusion in a later issue or tell us about a course or talk you will be giving or have given.
If you are learning Vedic Maths, let us know how you are getting on and what you think of this system.

This issue's article is by Kenneth Williams, the editor of this newsletter, who recently returned from two weeks in India

 

FIRST VISIT TO INDIA

This was my first visit to India and I arrived in Kolkata on 9th July and was greeted by Gaurav Tekriwal, President of the Vedic Maths Forum India who had carefully arranged every detail from then until my departure on 22nd July. The same evening we boarded an overnight train to Puri.

The next morning, avoiding the many cows standing everywhere, we found our hotel and later met Mr Upadhyay, an expert in all matters Vedic, and his wife. We also met Alex Bellos, a young journalist writing a book on mathematics which was to include a chapter on Vedic Maths and India. Later we met Professor Srivasa, whose vast knowledge and experience is a great asset to us, and Mr Unkalkar. These two are both from Bangalore and have given many talks and courses on Vedic Mathematics. Unkalkarji is also the author of an excellent book: "Magical World of Mathematics (Vedic Mathematics)", and he is a first rate teacher.

The main reason for us all coming together in Puri was to meet His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati ji of Govardhan Matha, Puri, and Alex and myself were to ask questions about VM. Initially we met the Shankaracharya's chief disciple Dhananjayaji who discussed the arrangements with us. He also showed us around the ashram, a fascinating place with a hospital, a beautiful herd of special cows and many plants with unique properties.

In the evening we had our first meeting with His Holiness and Alex put questions about VM which His Holiness answered thoroughly. The Shankaracharya is the 145th in the line of Shankaracharya's starting with Adi Shankara who founded the order centuries ago. He has written five books on Vedic Mathematics which follow on from the work of Bharati Krsna Tirthaji, who was the 143rd Shankaracharya. Three of these five books have recently been put into one and translated into English, and on the last visit to the ashram Alex and myself were presented by the Shankaracharya with a copy. The book is called "Ganitacintamani or The Fabulous Gem of Mathematics".

We had time to visit some temples while in Puri: the extraordinary Sun Temple at Konark, the Lingaraja Temple a complex of 108 temples, and a Gold and White Buddha Pagoda called the Dhavalgiri Stupa.

The annual chariot festival also occurred when we were in Puri. Here three huge chariots are constructed and pulled from one temple to another to commemorate an event in the life of Krishna. This is an awesome event and I later learnt that I may have made history as no-one can remember a foreigner ever getting onto a chariot (only Hindus are permitted).

Of course with all these Vedic Mathematics experts gathered together there was much discussion about how to further promote VM, and a Conference early next year was favoured. Also the setting up of a regular journal that could attract and publish research papers.

After four meetings with the Shankaracharya I took another train ride back to Kolkata with Gaurav, Unkalkarji and Alex and the following day we had the good fortune to meet another Vedic Maths expert I have been in touch with for some time but never met, Sujaritha, and her daughter. Sujaritha has done much good work promoting Vedic Maths in Chennai where she used to live, and now in Muscat, Oman. She must be an excellent teacher as she is always much in demand.

Next Unkalkarji and myself were filming for a set of advanced DVDs. During this time we also did workshops at two schools, much appreciated by the students, a press conference and visits to the Kali Temple and the Birla Temple in Kolkata.

This trip was an amazing experience for me and I must warmly thank Gaurav for his care and generosity in organising everything so perfectly.

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NEWS

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VM TO BE TAUGHT AT UK'S FIRST FULLY STATE FUNDED HINDU SCHOOL

Britain is all set to get its first fully state-funded Hindu school by September 2009.
The Krishna Avanti Primary School in Harrow in north-west London, will have Scripture Reading, Vedic Math, Sanskrit and Yoga as part of its curriculum.
On Saturday, a traditional bhumi pujan ceremony was held before starting the construction of the £13.5-million project.
"This gives Hindu parents a choice. Parents from other religions have a choice so it's fair that the Hindu parents, too, have an option," says Nitish Gor of I-Foundation, a Hindu charity closely associated with the Hare Krishna Movement, which will run the school.
The school, spread over five acres of land, will have a total capacity of 240 students. The first batch of 30 students will start their term in September. They will study the national curriculum, but Hindu ethos and philosophy will be included into all aspects of school life.
Excited local Hindus feel this new school is a significant step in "spreading Indian culture."
"For me it is important that students eat only vegetarian food in the school and learn more about our culture. In a Western country, the child will interact with the locals anyway, so it's important that he learns about our culture in someway or the other," says a delighted parent, Usha.
Source: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/london-to-get-its-first-fullystate-funded-hindu-school/66812-2.html

WORKSHOP AT INDIA HABITAT CENTRE - AN OVERVIEW

Motilal Banarsidass the largest Indological publisher in the world in association with India Habitat Centre-New Delhi (Capital of Republic of India) recently arranged a 5 day workshop on Vedic Mathematics. The said workshop was conducted by Debmalya Banerjee-a faculty of World Academy for Vedic Mathematics- the central body working for the cause of Vedic Mathematics across the world. The workshop which spanned 5 days (23rd - 27th June 2008) was inaugurated by distinguished academician and Industrialist Shri L.N.Jhunjhunwala (Chairman Emeritus-LNJ Bhilwara Group).

It was attended by students from the elitist schools of the country capital like Delhi Public School-R K Puram, Sri Venkateshwara, Amity; Doon School etc.The response of the crowd was absolutely overwhelming. Lot of questions were asked as the workshop had interactive session too. The expert not only explained the various kinds of Vedic Methods of Calculation (like Nikhilam, complements, Nikhilam Method of multiplication, addition, subtraction, digital roots, Rule of 9/11,Ekadhikena Purvena etc) but also gave a brief introduction of the subject too.

The expert also explained a number of mathematical problems with a comparative analogy with Western system of Mathematics. Most of the participants collected books on Vedic Mathematics which were available at the workshop venue.
The most interesting observations of the Workshop are as follows:
In the feedback worksheet that was given, most of the participants gave the rating as excellent due to the quality of the workshop.
The participants openly confessed that they never felt bored at any time during the entire session.
The parents of the participants regularly discussed their children's understanding and progress with the teacher.
Motilal Banarsidass in association with India Habitat Centre-New Delhi is interested to organize more such workshops in the future as there is a growing demand for the same.

MULTIPLYING CONSECUTIVE DIGIT NUMBERS BY 9
I saw the next newsletter issue no.60. Sujaritha's method of multiplication of two consecutive numbers by 9 was good. So I just shared it with my son Vivek Sridhar who has just completed his XII Std.
He immediately came up with an extension to three, four, five etc. consecutive digits when multiplied by 9 yielding the following results -

123 x 9 = 1107 1234 x 9 = 11106 12345 x 9 = 111105
234 x 9 = 2106 2345 x 9 = 21105 23456 x 9 = 211104
678 x 9 = 6102 3456 x 9 = 31104 34567 x 9 = 311103
789 x 9 = 7101 6789 x 9 = 61101 56789 x 9 = 511101

The answer is obtained by repeating the1st digit of the multiplicand. The second last digit will be a 0. The last digit will be the Complement of the units digit of the Multiplicand from 10. While the other digits would be just 1 for 3 digit multiplicand, 11 for a 4 digit multiplicand 111 for a 5 digit multiplicand and so on.

Thought of sharing it with you and the other interested readers of our newsletter.
Regards, hema

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CORRESPONDENCE
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From Raji Sharma

Glad to keep getting the VM Newsletters. It is wonderful to know that VM sutras and methods are inspiring engineering students to develop better algorithms for computer programming. Wishing them all the best.
I am busy developing about 8 levels in Vedic Maths for Career Launcher, India. They are in the educational field and approached me to develop a year long course for each std., from std, I to std. VIII.
About 4 levels are over and I am about to do the pilot run for level V. I do the pilot run for each level and then train teachers to carry on from there. The teachers are very enthusiastic and devoted. There has been very good response and appreciation for our efforts. We hope to make some difference in the lives of children and make maths a wonderful subject to learn.

From Christopher McDaniel
thanks so much for the site! a great and easy to understand introduction to vedic math. this is truely fascinating stuff, I now understand how my mom did enormous math equations in her head and even why she did math problems for fun. i never liked math until now! good work!

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Editor: Kenneth Williams

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19th August 2008

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