This refers to the article, “Indian minds, alien calculations” (July 9) by CK Raju. The article is confusing. I have practiced mathematics (with all its formal proof systems etc) as a yog since childhood, and found it to be great help in understanding the meaning of aum as explained in the Upanishads. The formalism of modern mathematics has nothing to do which church dogma. Many great mathematicians have been Jewish, with no connection to Christian dogma.
Most practicing mathematicians, like myself, observe the real world, and make an abstraction out of it, to build a rigorous theory. This formalism is actually closely related to the Upanishads’ teachings, helping us to sort out the essential from the inessential.
I am strongly against adopting everything Western but equally strongly resist rejecting everything Western. To me, mathematics is the ultimate brahman, to the extent that we can grasp it through human intelligence.