Puranas and Social Darwinism

[socialdarwinist]

Hello Everybody, I am new here, this is my first post. The reason for my interest in Hinduism is due to the puranaswhere the constant battle between good (deva) and evil (asura) is depicted. This represents the truth of social darwinism, which believes in the survival of the fittest. Besides vishnu's incarnation fits well into the description of evolution. I am wondering whether there are hindus who feel the same way. Do you believe in the eternal fight betwen superior and inferior forces? Does this include superior and inferior men as well, apart from other forms of nature? Do you believe that war is the only reality in life, as its only through conflict one can evolve? Thanks.

[sm78]

Hello Everybody, I am new here, this is my first post. The reason for my interest in Hinduism is due to the puranaswhere the constant battle between good (deva) and evil (asura) is depicted. This represents the truth of social darwinism, which believes in the survival of the fittest. Besides vishnu's incarnation fits well into the description of evolution. I am wondering whether there are hindus who feel the same way. Do you believe in the eternal fight betwen superior and inferior forces? Does this include superior and inferior men as well, apart from other forms of nature? Do you believe that war is the only reality in life, as its only through conflict one can evolve? Thanks.

Namaste,

how does survival of the fittest relate to battle between good and evil ? Does good, evil at all make any sense in darwinism ?

At a cosmic level this asura represents the tamasic force of destruction while deva denotes the force of preservation and hence an eternal struggle is on cards.

However, my understanding of devasura sangrama is in the context of human psychology as it is more useful that way. AsurvAda is the worst humanity can generate (we have many examples) while devavAda / shaktivAda denotes the opposite pole. asurvAda leads to chaos, brutality and destruction of spirituality and as devas, the duty is to try keep it at bay. (However as catch 22, you cannot get rid of it --- ).

It is my firm belief that on proper understanding of devAsura sangrama hinges the fullfillment of the first 3 of the purusha chatushtaya (dharma-artha-kama). Moksha vidya / vedanta may or may not have any bearing. But again my personal belief is it is difficult if not impossible for the mumukshu to be a mute spectator of social brutality and work for his liberation.