Most of the students dread mathematics. It is very methodical subject and there is no margin of error. A slight mistake or oversight gets one a wrong answer and no marks.
Either one is right or wrong with no gray areas.
But mathematics was Tirthram’s favourite subjects. He loved it because it proved one’s perfect correctness. Sometimes Tirthram would solve mathematical riddles as the most interesting and entertaining way to use the spare time.
One day four of his friends arrived with a set of four mathematical challenges and said, “Friend, these are four very tricky problems. We failed to solve them. Even our teacher shied away when we sought his help. Now we come to you as our last hope. We think that you can do it. Can you?”
“Show me the problems. I will try to find the answers,” Tirthram said matters of factly.
The friends gave him the problems written on a paper. They were complicated and tricky indeed. The friends departed.
Tirthram started to solve the problems. They were tough indeed involving long processes of calculations. He forget to eat and drink. The day slipped away but the solutions defied our mathematical genius. He didn’t give up and kept working out different routes to the solutions. At last by midnight he solved three of them.
The fourth one was trickiest of them all. No formula was proving helpful in its solution. It was frustrating.
Then, he picked up the sharp edged kitchen knife from the corner used by his wife for cooking food and kept it by his side.
He made a resolve that if he failed to solve the problem by the dawn he would cut his own throat to end his life.
The dawn was approaching yet the solution was still not in sight. Every now and then he would glance at the knife to remind himself of the consequences of the failure.
The day broke. Tirthram picked up the knife and put its edge on his wind pipe to slash it in one go. He mind narrowed down to a thin line. Thoughts shrank to a dot to blink out for good. Suddenly the dot exploded instead of blinking out. And in a flash the solution came to his mind.
He put it down on the paper in the proper written form. It was a strange revelation, a kind of reward for remaining true to one’s resolve.
It the morning when the friends arrived he handed them the solutions. They stared at him. The friends took him to their mathematics teacher. The teacher looked at the solutions and then at Tirthram.
He patted the pupil saying, “You indeed are a mathematical genius, my boy. I hope you will make a name for yourself in the field of mathematics one day. Keep it up.”
He had to take B.A. examination again because of his previous year’s failure in the quest of learning Sanskrit.
The Arithmetic paper contained twelve questions. The examinees were asked to solve any eight. Tirthram easily solved all the twelve questions much before the time allotted ran out. On his answer sheet he put the remark—‘Mark any eight answers.’
He passed the B.A. exam with merit rating and topped the list in mathematics.
The Professor of the Mathematics Department of the University, Mr. Gilbertson was very proud of Tirthram and loved to interact with his favourite student. A scholarship was granted to Tirthram for his further studies.
On the advice of Mr. Gilbertson he decided to do M.A. in mathematics.
He truly was a mathematical wizard. All the mathematical theories, laws, formulae, equations and principles he knew by heart. The most of the problems he solved without any calculations on the paper.
One day a friend asked, “Goswami, do you use some magic to solve mathematical problems?”
“No. It is concentration of mind and the practice. You too can learn it if you sincerely try and don’t give up.”
His faith in God never wavered. For him mathematics was his love next only to God.
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