Many people today, whether they are part of ISKCON or not, believe that while the Vedic tradition is full of spiritual knowledge, technical material knowledge is either absent or inaccessible to the modern person. In his essay collection, Vedic Mathematics and the Nature of Time, Vasyl Semenov (Dvija Govinda Das) systematically takes us through mathematical aspects of the Vedic tradition that are equivalent to the techniques in the Western World, and in some cases predate them by centuries.

The first essay, “Vedic Mathematics,” highlights contributions by Indian mathematicians dating as far back as the second century BCE with Pingala, “the founder of combinatorics and the first scientist to use the binary number system.” Semenov also reveals early Vedic innovations in the areas of Arithmetics, Geometry, and Trigonometry.

Not stopping there, in “The Nature of Time,” Semenov delves into time and consciousness, topics of much interest but little understanding within the modern scientific community. He shows that the notion of time, if studied in enough depth, leads one to consider the ultimate question: How do we free ourselves from the influence of time? This essay explores philosophy from Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita to help guide the reader toward a solution to this age-old query, which may ultimately lead them to the practice of Krishna Consciousness.

In the final essay, “Artificial Intelligence: Can a Computer Possess Consciousness?”, after giving a brief historical review of this controversial issue, Semenov combines the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita with the insightful analysis of Sir Roger Penrose to suggest that “no computer program is capable of simulating manifestations of consciousness.”

Dvija Govinda’s collection of essays provides a good introduction for a way to approach the topics of time and consciousness that stands in opposition to the modern mechanistic philosophy prevalent today. These two topics tend to baffle materialistic thinkers, and books that are written from a devotional perspective, such as Vedic Mathematics and the Nature of Time, explaining the spiritual alternative, contribute valuable information for those who wish to introduce others to the practice of bhakti-yoga.

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About our Reviewer

Jack Dodson (Kala-Svarupa Das) earned a Master’s in Particle Physics from Temple University in 2022. He started working with the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) in 2021, and is currently involved in several BIHS research projects in cosmology, fundamental physics, and neuroscience.