The avatars of Vishnu,Darwinism and evolution

[niranjan]

The famous scientist , J B S Haldane, who gave up his British citizenship and became an Indian and settled in Calcutta, observed that the Dasavataras are a true sequential depiction of the great unfolding of evolution.

If you analyse the avatars of Vishnu , you can observe an uncanny similarity to the biological theory of evolution of life on earth.

The first avatar of Vishnu is Matsya or fish.( According to science, life originated in water).

The second avatar of Vishnu is Kurma or tortoise.( the evolution of the fish to the amphibean tortoise)

The third avatar of Vishnu is Varaha or the boar.( the evolution of the amphibean to the strictly land animal).

The fourth avatar of Vishnu is Narasimha or the man-lion.( the evolution of the land animal to a humanoid form with animalistic charecterestics ).

The fifth avatar of Vishnu is Vamana or dwarf ( the evolution of the animal-man to purely human in dwarf form).

The sixth avatar of Vishnu is Parashurama ( the evolution of the dwarf to a physically well-developed and ferocious warrior).

The seventh avatar of Vishnu is Rama ( the evolution of the ferocious warrior to Rama, who is considered as the ideal man or the maryada purushottama and the embodiment of morality , ethics and righteousness).

The eighth avatar of Vishnu is Krishna ( the evolution of Rama , the ideal man to Krishna who is considered as the ideal yogi, the superman who is known for his manysidedness and allrounded character , as I have stated in the thread ' Krishna: Zorba the Buddha' in the Hinduism forum.)

The animal evolution and development connotations bear striking resemblances to the modern scientific theory of Evolution.

[niranjan]

From the code of Manu.

"The first germ of life was developed by water and heat" (Manu, book i., sloka 8).

"Water ascends toward the sky in vapors; from the sun it descends in rain, from the rain are born the plants, and from the plants, animals" (book iii., sloka 76).

"Each being acquires the qualities of the one which immediately precedes it, in such a manner that the farther a being gets away from the primal atom of its series, the more he is possessed of qualities and perfections" (book i., sloka 20).

"Man will traverse the universe, gradually ascending, and passing through the rocks, the plants, the worms, insects, fish, serpents, tortoises, wild animals, cattle, and higher animals. . . . Such is the inferior degree"(Ibid.).

"These are the transformations declared, from the plant up to Brahma, which have to take place in his world" (Ibid.).

[Francis king]

fifth brahmana of the brhad-aranyaka upanisad...

"... in the beginning this universe was just water. that water produced the true Brahman is the true... brahman produced prajapati and prajapati produced the gods. those gods meditated on the real..."

maitri upanisad- chapter v...

"...thou art Brahma, and Visnu, and Rudra and Prajapati; thou art Agni, Varuna, Vayu, thou art Indra and though art Chandra, thou art food, thou art Yama, thou art the earth, thou art all, thou art the Imperishable..."

[AndrewX]

Tat Tvam Asi, Svetaketu ... (Thou art THAT)

Neti, Neti (wait, what am I again?? )

(Who said that!?! )

[Francis king]

om tat sat, tat tvam asi...

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by niranjan

The animal evolution and development connotations bear striking resemblances to the modern scientific theory of Evolution.

It's not a huge leap of imagination to say that peoples earlier in time where able to to recognise that there was some kind of heirarchy at work in nature with regards to complexity, etc.

Some Creationist Christians make similar claims regarding a literal reading of Genesis, pointing out that much of it mirrors Cosmology.

I figure religious literature needs reading within the literary and religious context it was written in - claims that religious literature are in actual fact scientific rarely finds acceptance outside of a rather enthusiastic religious minority.

2c.

[niranjan]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

It's not a huge leap of imagination to say that peoples earlier in time where able to to recognise that there was some kind of heirarchy at work in nature with regards to complexity, etc.

Some Creationist Christians make similar claims regarding a literal reading of Genesis, pointing out that much of it mirrors Cosmology.

I figure religious literature needs reading within the literary and religious context it was written in - claims that religious literature are in actual fact scientific rarely finds acceptance outside of a rather enthusiastic religious minority.

2c.

Well, you have to understand that it is J.B.S.Haldane , the British scientist, who first pointed this out, not some religious zealot.

And Haldane is a world famous authority in population genetics, mathematics, and biology.

Interestingly, Haldane, in protest against the British imperialistic policies against Egypy , renounced his British citizenship and became and Indian.

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by niranjan

Well, you have to understand that it is J.B.S.Haldane , the British scientist, who first pointed this out, not some religious zealot.

Well, you have to understand that you posted this topic and pointed it out, so I presume you thought there was something worthy of discussion in the thread.

Originally Posted by niranjan

And Haldane is a world famous authority in population genetics, mathematics, and biology.

Richard Dawkins is an even more world famous authority on genetics and biology, and he regards all spiritual belief as nonsense at best, and at worst, no better than temporal lobe epilepsy.

[niranjan]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Well, you have to understand that you posted this topic and pointed it out, so I presume you thought there was something worthy of discussion in the thread.

No problem with that.

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Richard Dawkins is an even more world famous authority on genetics and biology, and he regards all spiritual belief as nonsense at best, and at worst, no better than temporal lobe epilepsy.

Well , Haldane is also a scientist of a very high order, who have contributed substantially to evolutionary biology and population genetics. So I think his views are also important. Perhaps if Dawkins himself saw the avatars, he would have said the same thing.