One of the great philosophers of the West hailed form Greece.,who influenced Plato and Aristotle, the other to giants of the western thought.
And Aristotle was the teacher to King Philip of Macedonia and his son Alexander, The Great.
Thales was a contemporary of Pythagoras and Thales was a philosopher in his on right. He advised┬а Pythagoras to study in Egypt.
Following is the history from Greek sources
‘Pythagoras was revered in India as Pitar Guru, Father and Teacher, and as Yavanacharya, the Ionian philosopher. He was known by other names in ancient Egypt where he spent twenty years in preparation before, at the age of fifty-six, he founded the School at Crotona in Magna Graecia, with great deliberation and in accord with the wisdom and the vision of the mighty Brotherhood he represented. He taught an entire emerging community, seeking four hundred pure souls who might constitute a small brotherhood for the sake of making that polis a city of souls in search of wisdom in harmony with the larger fellowship of man. His School was based upon the most stringent rules for admission, including a probation lasting five years and a requirement of total silence in the presence of those in the assembly who had been longer in the school. He initiated those who had passed all the preliminary trials, making themselves channels for the divine fount of omniscience, towards which he always pointed and upon which he enjoined an absolute, reverential silence.
The influence of Pythagoras is so widespread, and coupled with the fact that no writings of Pythagoras exist today, this short article will attempt to guide the reader through the life of this most remarkable teacher.
He traveled widely in his youth with his father Mnesarchus, who was a gem merchant from Tyre. His family settled in the homeland of his mother, Pythais, on the island of Samos, where he studied with the philosopher Pherekydes. He was introduced to mathematical ideas and astronomy by Thales, and his pupil Anaximander in Miletus when he was between 18 and 20 years old. Thales advised Pythagoras to travel to Egypt to learn more of these subjects. Leaving Miletus, Pythagoras went first to Sidon, where he was initiated into the mysteries of Tyre and Byblos. It is claimed that Pythagoras went onto Egypt with a letter of introduction written by Polycrates, making the journey with some Egyptian sailors who believed that a god had taken passage on their ship. Arriving in Egypt, Pythagoras tried to gain entry into the Mystery Schools of that country. He applied again and again, but he was told that unless he goes through a particular training of fasting and breathing, he cannot be allowed to enter the school. Pythagoras is reported to have said, ” I have come for knowledge, not any sort of discipline.” But the school authorities said,” we cannot give you knowledge unless you are different. And really, we are not interested in knowledge at all, we are interested in actual experience. No knowledge is knowledge unless it is lived and experienced. So you will have to go on a 40 day fast, continuously breathing in a certain manner, with a certain awareness on certain points.” After 40 days of fasting and breathing, aware, attentive, he was allowed to enter the school at Diospolis. It is said that Pythagoras said,”You are not allowing Pythagoras in. I am a different man, I am reborn. You were right and I was wrong, because then my whole standpoint was intellectual. Through this purification, my center of being has changed. Before this training I could only understand through the intellect, through the head. Now I can feel. Now truth is not a concept to me, but a life.”
The most famous of mystic philosophers, born at Samos, about 586 B.C., Pythagoras┬аseems to have travelled all over the world, and to have culled his philosophy from the various systems to which he had access. Thus, he studied the esoteric sciences with the Brachmanes of India, and astronomy and astrology in Chaldea and Egypt. He is known to this day in the former country under the name of Yavan├вch├вrya (тАЬIonian teacherтАЭ). After returning he settled in Crotona, in Magna Grecia, where he established a college to which very soon resorted all the best intellects of the civilised centres. His father was one Mnesarchus of Samos, and was a man of noble birth and learning. It was Pythagoras. who was the first to teach the heliocentric system, and who was the greatest proficient in geometry of his century. It was he also who created the word тАЬphilosopherтАЭ, composed of two words meaning a тАЬlover of wisdomтАЭтАФphilo-sophos. As the greatest mathematician, geometer and astronomer of historical antiquity, and also the highest of the metaphysicians and scholars, Pythagoras has won imperishable fame. He taught reincarnation as it is professed in India ..
Egypt had its origin in Sumerian civilization and Sumerian from the Sanatana dharma and Tamils.
I have posted an article that Lord Rama and BharataтАЩs names are found in the Kings List of Sumerians chronicling their Kings.
‘Not only Rama and Bharata, but the names of other Hindu Puranic figures find a place in the Kings List.
Indra,Pururavas,Dasaratha,Parashurama,Satyavrata,Iksvahu,Kakusha,Janaka,Vasishta, Janamejaya,Dushyanta(Father of Bharata,after whom India is named as Bharatavarsha),Rishis Gautama,Dundhu,,Muchukunda,Drupada,Harischandra,Sagara,Bhagiratha, Lava, Kusha(RamaтАЩs sons),Aja and Raghu(RamaтАЩs ancestors),Pundarika,
Curious enough тАШ all of them belong to Solar Dynasty mentioned in Puranas.
Sumerian texts repeatedly refer to three important centers with which they traded: Magan, Dilmun, and Meluhha. Magan is usually identified with Egypt in later Assyrian texts; but the Sumerian localization of Magan was probably Oman. Dilmun was a Persian Gulf civilization which traded with Mesopotamian civilizations, the current scholarly consensus is that Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Failaka Island and the adjacent coast of Eastern Arabia in the Persian Gulf.[1][2]
The location of Meluhha, however, is hotly debated. There are scholars today who confidently identify Meluhha with the Indus Valley Civilization (modern South Asia) on the basis of the extensive evidence of trading contacts between Sumer and this region. Sesame oil was probably imported from the Indus River region into Sumer: the Sumerian word for this oil is illu (Akkadian: ellu). In Dravidian languages of South India, el or ellu stands for sesameтАЭ
Ancestors of the Syrians were the Halaf and Ubaid.
They date back to 6100 BC.
They had connection with the Tamils and this is reflected in the ruins of ┬аNagar.*
These people traded with the Tamils.
тАЭNaram-Sin traded with Meluhha (almost certainly corresponding to the Indus Valley civilization), and controlled a large portion of land along the Persian Gulf. He expanded his empire by defeating the King of Magan at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, and conquering the hill tribes to the north in the Taurus Mountains.
5.AkkadianтАЩs( Forefathers of the Sumerians) Moon God was Naram Sin, Narasimha
Pythagoras studied in Egypt, which learned from Sumerians and they leaned from Sanatana Dharma.
No wonder Pythagoras is respected as Yavanacharya in India.
I shall be writing on Yavanas mentioned in Mahabharata, Puranas and in Tamil classics as there is a lot of information on this and of course controversies.
It is very difficult to know much about China and its Religion than what is allowed to be spread by the PRC, with the result many of us have a vague idea about Buddhism is practiced in China and we have heard Lao Tse.
But prior to the advent of Gautama the Buddha what Religion was practiced in China?
Oldest Hindu temple in China.
Carving of Shiva from a Hindu Temple at Quanzhou
Chedian shrine Chiba
This is possibly the only temple in China where we are still praying to a Hindu God,тАЭ says Li San Long, a Chedian resident, with a smile. тАЬEven though most of the villagers still think she is Guanyin!тАЭ Mr. Li said the village temple collapsed some 500 years ago, but villagers dug through the rubble, saved the deity and rebuilt the temple, believing that the goddess brought them good fortune тАФ a belief that some, at least, still adhere to. The Chedian shrine is just one of what historians believe may have been a network of more than a dozen Hindu temples or shrines, including two grand big temples, built in Quanzhou and surrounding villages by a community of Tamil traders who lived here during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties.
тАЬFor the residents of Chedian, a few thousand-year-old village of muddy by-lanes and old stone courtyard houses, she is just another form of Guanyin, the female Bodhisattva who is venerated in many parts of China.
But the goddess that the residents of this village pray to every morning, as they light incense sticks and chant prayers, is quite unlike any deity one might find elsewhere in China. Sitting cross-legged, the four-armed goddess smiles benignly, flanked by two attendants, with an apparently vanquished demon lying at her feet.)The Hindu)
One gets the idea that the culture of China must be of a very high order and date quite some time back in History.
Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA once said тАЬIndia conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.тАЭ
Mahabharata, Book 6, chapter 9 (MBh.6.9) mentions like this:-
Among the tribes of the north are the┬аMlecchas, and the Kruras, the┬аYavanas, the┬аChinas, the┬аKamvojas, the Darunas, and many┬аMleccha┬аtribes; the Sukritvahas, the Kulatthas, the┬аHunas, and the Parasikas; the Ramanas, and the Dasamalikas. Chinas were mentioned along with Chivukas and┬аPulindas┬аand┬аKhasas,┬аHunas,┬аPahlavas,┬аSakas,┬аYavanas,┬аSavaras,┬аPaundras,┬аKiratas,┬аKanchis,┬аDravidas,┬аSinhalasand┬аKeralas.
They were described as the protectors of sage┬аVasistha┬аand his cow against the attack of king┬аViswamitra.
Pahlavas┬аand the┬аDaradas┬аand the various tribes of the┬аKiratas┬аand┬аYavanas┬аand┬аSakas┬аand the┬аHarahunas┬аand┬аChinas┬аand┬аTukharas┬аand the┬аSindhavas┬аand the Jagudas and the Ramathas and the Mundas and the inhabitants of the kingdom of women and the Tanganas and the┬аKekayas┬аand the┬аMalavas┬аand the inhabitants of┬аKasmira┬аwere mentioned at (3,51) as bringing tribute to┬аPandava┬аking┬аYudhisthira.
China is mentioned in the travel-descriptions of the Pandavas.
The passage below, describes these Chinas, to be located somewhere in the high┬аHimalayas: Mahabharata book 3, chapter 176 (MBh 3.176):-
Leaving the place called Badari (Badrinath┬аin┬аUttarakhand) and crossing the difficult┬аHimalayan┬аregions, and leaving behind them, the countries ofChina,┬аTukhara,┬аDarada┬аand all the climes of┬аKulinda, rich in heaps of jewels, those warlike men viz the┬аPandavas, reached the capital of Suvahu, the king of┬аPulindas┬а(Kiratas).
Bhima mentions a China king Dhautamulaka, who caused the destruction of his own race (5,74). The name тАЬDhautamulakaтАЭ translates to тАЬclean rootтАЭ, and might be a reference to the last Xia emperor Jie[citation needed] (1728тАУ1675 BC), whose name means тАЬcleanтАЭ in Chinese.
Deer skins from China┬аis mentioned at (5,86). King┬аDhritarashtra, wanted to give as present, a thousand deer-skins from China, to┬аVasudeva Krishna:-┬аI will give him a thousand deer-skins brought from China and other things of the kind that may be worthy of his praise.┬аDuring the┬аHan Dynasty┬а(between the 2nd century BC and 2nd century AD),┬аdeer skins┬аwere used to make token money notes representing 400,000 coins
In the Sabhaparvan this king is described as surrounded by the Kiratas and the Cinas. In the Bhismaparvan, the corps of Bhagadatta, consisting of the Kirtas and the Cinas of yellow color, appeared like a forest of Karnikaras.
It is significant that the Kiratas represented all the people living to the east of India in the estimation of the geographers of the Puranas.
Even the dwellers of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago were treated as Kiratas in the Epics.
The reference to their wealth of gold, silver, gems, sandal, aloewood, textiles and fabrics clearly demonstrates their association with the regions included in Suvarnadvipa.
Thus, the connection of the Kiratas and Cinas is a sure indication of the fact that the Indians came to know of the Chinese through the eastern routes and considered them as an eastern people, having affinities to the Kiras, who were the Indo-Mongoloids, inhabiting the Tibeto-Burman regions and the Himalayan and East Indian territories, the word Kirata being a derivation from kiranti or kirati, the name of a group of people in eastern Nepal.
The story of Sun Hou Tzu, the Monkey King, and Hsuan Tsang.
It is a vicarious and humorous tale, an adventure story akin to the Hindu epic of Ramayana, and like Ramayana, a moral tale of the finer aspects of human endeavor which come to prevail over those of a less worthy nature.
The book ends with a dedication to India: I dedicate this work to BuddhaтАЩs pure land. May it repay the kindness of patron and preceptor, may it mitigate the sufferings of the lost and damnedтАж.тАЩ ..
In early Indian literature China is invariably shown to be connected with India by a land-route across the country of the Kiratas in the mountainous regions of the north.
In the Vanaparvan of the Mahabharata the Pandava brothers are said to have crossed the country of the Cinas in course of their trek through the Himalayan territory north of Badri and reached the realm of the Kirata king Subahu.
The Cinas are brought into intimate relationship with the Himalayan people (Haimavatas) in the Sabhaparvan also.
The land of the Haimavatas is undoubtedly the Himavantappadesa of the Pali texts, which has been identified with Tibet or Nepal.
In the Sasanavamsa this region is stated to be Cinarattha. Thus, it is clear that China was known to the Indians as lying across the Himalayas and was accordingly included in the Himalayan territories
. In the Nagarjunikonda inscription of Virapurusdatta, China (Cina) is said to be lying in the Himalayas beyond Cilata or Kirata.
These references to the proximity of China to the Himalayan regions, inhabited by the Kiratas, show that there were regular routes through the Tibeto-Burman territories, along which the Indians could reach China.
Some such land-route is implied in the remark of the Harsacarita of Banabhatta that Arjuna conquered the Hemakuta region after passing through Cina.
Sources.
The beautiful bronze statue of Avalokitesvara from the pagoda of ChтАЩung Sheng Ssu near Ta-li is an index to the high standard of culture and craftsmanship attained by the Buddhists of Yunan.
You must be logged in to post a comment.