Pythagoras Mysteries of Numbers

Pythagoras is famous for his theorem in Geometry that the sum of the squares on two perpendicular sides of a right angled triangle is equal to the square on the third side called hypotenuse. The world knows him only as a Mathematician while the other and more important side of his nature and life is not generally known.

Pythagoras and his students believed in the transmigration of souls. He saw his ninety-nine thousand incarnations in a row. He and his students although not abstaining from meat-eating completely, were essentially vegetarian in their diets. While initiating his students he used to give a secret formula which was known to only two of them.

Pythagoras advocated that each planet had a peculiar sound of its own. But the resultant sound from all planets in the Universe is a peculiar ‘vibration’ which is an ‘unstruck sound’. This sound was called a ‘harmonious cosmic octave’ or the ‘music of the spheres’ which is heard during successful states of mediation though inner ears. This sound once generated in the body of a person leads him or her to liberation. The same sound is referred to by Christ in the Bible as the ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ and by Hindu Scriptures as ‘Anahat Shabd’ or ‘Aum’. Muslims called it ‘Kalma-I-Ilahi. This sound is the goal of meditation in all religions and it is the one which is responsible for breaking the cycle of death and rebirth.

According to him every sound has a peculiar number and this discovery could lead to uncover the mysteries of the Universe. He and his followers commonly used the symbol which meant that one could choose either the right path of Divine Wisdom or the left path of Worldly Wisdom. Some of his invaluable teachings were captured by Plato before they were destroyed in Crotona. Iamblichus gathered his verses and Thomas Taylor translated them from the Greek. The most important of his saying is the following: –

Pythagoras believed that at the exact moment of an individual’s birth the Universe has a peculiar ‘vibration’ which affects his character and destiny in life. He assigned a particular number to each alphabet in the natural way and gave its salient features alongside.