Even as India revels in the giant strides its scientists made with the success of its second mission to the moon, it has not forgotten its Vedic roots. It has now emerged that before the launch of Chandrayaan-2, scientists from ISRO sought the advice of Puri Shankaracharya Nischalananda Saraswati for his expertise in Vedic math. As the 145th Shankaracharya, he is also a reputed Vedic mathematician.

"There is a link between Earth, water and moon as explained in the Vayu Puran. We can also find mention of the distance between Earth and Moon in Vishnu Puran and Bhagvad Gita. As per the Bhishma Parva or the Book of Bhishma, the sixth books in the epic Mahabharata, the diameter of the Moon is 11,000 yojana (1 yojana = approx 12.2 km), and its circumference is 33,000 yojana. These were some of the Vedic calculations that the scientists hoped to incorporate into the lunar mission," said the Shankaracharya.

Zee Media Newsroom