Sacred geometry: What’s so great about 108?

Today I am feeling tired and irritable. I blame menopause, Donald Trump, and having to work on my income taxes. So I’m pulling out a mood-neutral-interesting-fact for your edification.

When Jenn and I met yesterday she pointed out that our facebook page has 108 followers (we were up to 109 but someone unliked us…probably because I’ve been irritable lately). I thought 108 is an auspicious number in yoga. I should look up why that is.

As it turns out, there are multiple reasons: some that are widely accepted, and some that are only posited. The number 108 is divisible by three (which is an important number in most spiritual traditions), and its components add up to nine, which is also divisible by three. When you tally up 1+0+8 it equals 9, which also divides nicely into 108. Apparently, a number that is divisible by the sum of its digits is known as a Harshad number (Harshad is Sanskrit for “great joy”).

Traditional malas or yoga necklaces are made up of 108 beads plus one extra that serves as a reminder to give thanks to your teachers. The mala is used as a tool for the recitation of mantras as a form of meditation. This practice is called Japa, and it is believed that the crusaders who visited the East during their “holy” wars brought back the practice in the form of the rosary. The word “Jap” means to speak quietly, in a low voice, or to repeat something internally. The mantra is often a prayer or a divine name. (Note: in Sanskrit the “a” is pronounced like the word “father,” so Jap or Japa sounds more like “Jop”).

Some of the other explanations I came across include: There are twelve constellations and nine arc segments (9 x 12 =108). The diameter of the sun is 108 times the diameter of the earth. The average distance of the moon from the earth is 108 times the diameter of the moon. The angle formed by two adjoining lines of a pentagon is 108.

I haven’t had the time to research any of these claims to certify if they are really true, and I also came across dozens of others. Regardless, next time you encounter the number 108 you can appreciate what is sometimes called “Sacred Geometry”: the tendency of certain numbers and geometric patterns to occur spontaneously in the natural world. There is something awe-inspiring about that if you’re given to contemplating such things. Doing it just now has made me feel a lot less irritable,