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Thread: Evolution?

  1. #1

    Evolution?

    I had a guy ask me yesterday if Hindus accept the theory of Evolution? or the Big Bang? I didn't know what to say

  2. #2
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    Re: Evolution?

    Yes, from Advaita point of view !

    OM
    "Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"

  3. #3

    Re: Evolution?

    I don't see why Hinduism wouldn't. The only religions that don't are those which believe humans are god's special creation, the center of the universe, made in his image, and no other animals are.

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    Re: Evolution?

    Vannakkam:

    There are many viewpoints on this matter. For example, I accept evolution, but not the Darwinian version.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Evolution?

    I know very few Hindus who are educated in these matters, and who don't believe in evolution and the Big Bang. I'd hope that there aren't many such Hindus, because these theories are on very sound scientific ground.

    To be fair to the evolution-denying Abrahamic religions, we Hindus are not without our share of pseudo-science. Indian astrology is very popular among Hindus. My mom is quite superstitious in this regard. And about a decade ago, I remember reading that some Indian universities were actually setting up astrology departments. Sometimes I find it discouraging. But Hindus tend to be reasonable, so I'm hoping that this is just a fad.

  6. #6

    Re: Evolution?

    Namaste

    This is purely my personal view.

    Evolution as we scientifically understand goes hand in hand with creation as per Vedic scriptures.

    Manushya(human) species (and all 84 crore species of Padma PurAN) existed in BhagavAn's database, but at one point it took eons for majority apes to evolve into humans. i.e. the guNa-karma effect was happening in huge masses rather than individually ? So its only a qn of perception over a window of time - earth years versus Kalpa and Yuga.

    The probability of an insect turning into a human in the next life or vice-versa is extremely low to the point of nil. Also, purANas mention turning into snakes and back into a DevtA (VidhyAdhar). This could be over a much much bigger window of time i.e. kalpas, yugas, rather than earth years.

    Let us not forget that 1 day of Lord BrahmA (the creative wing of BhagavAn) = 1 'Kalpa' of 1000 Chaturyugas [14 manwantaras]

    1 Chaturyuga = 4 Yugas (Krit, Treta, Dwapar, Kali Yuga)
    and lasts for 4,320 million earth yrs = 4.32 billion earth yrs


    BhagavAn/Ishwar has a system which He would rather leave on auto-pilot, and not have to monitor it too much. Even if we look at it as His inherent existential nature. Things "fall in place" by their very nature, nature of Brahman.

    sarvam khalvidam Brahman

    praNAm

    P.S. Astrology may not be as much of a pseudo-science as one may think. It has astonishing accuracy. It is looked at as a Vedic science, but i would say its outcome for laymen falls under the catagory of worldly occurences. Its a matter of interest too.

    However, jyotish appearntly gives insight to the jyotishi.

    Yajvanji is into it. He may want to enlighten us about it , or already has many times in the jyotish folder.
    Last edited by smaranam; 27 March 2010 at 07:57 PM. Reason: typo
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  7. #7
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    Re: Evolution?

    Some do, some don't. ISKCON in particular rejects evolution - two devotees wrote a book called The Hidden History of the Human Race, which, while disproving evolution, proves or attempts to prove the opposite of what many Christian creationists believe - that humans have been on this earth for much longer than modern science knows about.

    I believe in the evolution of the soul - a soul can take a fish's body, a bird's body, a sheep's body, a cat's body, a human's body and eventually attain liberation. However, I don't believe in biological evolution.

    The crux of the evolution argument is as follows:

    There are two types of evolution:

    1. Micro-Evolution. Micro-evolution is changes among the same species or kinds of animals. For example, the peppered moth of England.

    2. Macro-Evolution. Marco-evolution is where one kind of animal changes into another.

    There is no proof for macro-evolution, so scientists get proof for micro-evolution and use it as "proof" for macro-evolution. They also claim that mutations are what causes evolution, but a mutation is simply a shuffling of genetic information. Mutations cannot create new, different genetic information. You might get a five-legged horse (the genes got shuffled around a bit and it made an extra leg, but the genetic code for 'leg' was already present), but you won't get a winged horse, because the genetic code for 'wings' is not present in horses. No matter how much you shuffle around Romeo and Juliet, you're never going to get a Chinese text, because Chinese uses a different alphabet, and none of the characters in the original text is Chinese.

  8. #8

    Re: Evolution?

    Quote Originally Posted by ScottMalaysia View Post
    There is no proof for macro-evolution
    Namaste

    I think this boils down to perception, observation over a window of time.

    Is the length of your observation window in years, OR in Kalpa or Yugas.

    I do not know the contents of these books at all, but they are written by disciples of Swami PrabhupAd (ISKCON).
    http://www.thekrishnastore.com/Detail.bok?no=1785&bar=
    http://www.thekrishnastore.com/Detail.bok?no=4609&bar=


    praNAm
    Last edited by smaranam; 27 March 2010 at 02:13 PM. Reason: added ref to books
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

  9. #9

    Re: Evolution?

    Namaste

    Just to clarify my earlier posts ...
    I do not know a lot about this, but what i am trying to say is (in #6 and 8) , is it not possible , that humans existed long long ago, but many apes also turned into humans due to common guNa-karma effects considering environmental factors ?

    i.e. biological evolution is a result of matter and spirit, karma, environment (Adhibhautik, Adhidaivik, AdhyAtmik).

    Probability is also involved. There is absolutely no reason for karma to take such a sharp turn that a dinosaur suddenly be born, when the environment is not suitable for its birth. Certainly Prakrti takes care to see that ?

    Karma of apes could have given rise to microscopic changes over years ?

    Where modern science falls short is in the length of the observation window.

    praNAm
    || Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

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    Re: Evolution?

    Quote Originally Posted by Eastern Mind View Post
    Vannakkam:

    There are many viewpoints on this matter. For example, I accept evolution, but not the Darwinian version.

    Aum Namasivaya
    EM, may I ask what you mean by your acceptance of evolution, but rejection of the Darwinian version? I'm not aware of any evolutionary theory besides Darwinian evolution. Are you referring to Charles Darwin's atheistic beliefs?

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