There is a
strange mantra that is normally recited in the beginning of many Upanishads
(philosophic parts of ancient Indian scriptures, namely Veda).
Literally
translated, the mantra says
“That is
complete. This (too) is complete. (This) complete has come from (that)
complete. When complete is removed from complete, what remains is also
complete”
On the face
of it, it sounds absurd. If something is complete, how can it remain complete
when something is removed from it!
Scholars
have given varieties of interpretations to this apparently absurd mantra. Many
chant it with religious fervor without bothering much about its meaning and
implication. But it does have very profound meaning.
In the
subsequent posts, I am going to use this mantra to explain several such seeming
absurdities, be it in mathematics or philosophy.
Let me
start next with a case in mathematics.
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