DECODINGHINDUISM.COM

Thursday, December 26, 2013

BLACK HOLES AND BHAGVATAM

As you can see from the video above, ours is a Spiral Galaxy containing a Galactic Center, and various arms radiating outwards from it, in a spiral fashion.

Our Spiral Galaxy

As mentioned earlier, Puranic literature is full of Astronomical details and our Galaxy is quite vividly detailed in {Chapter 23, Canto 5 of the Bhagvat Puraan}.

When I went through the descriptions, I was pleasantly surprised to know that the Rishis of yore have described our galaxy EXACTLY the way it is described now by modern Astronomers!! Bhagavatam compares it with the Kundalini Chakra, the energy source seated at the base of Human Spine like a coiled serpent. As a person's Yogic Powers advance, the Kundalini Energy moves upwards from one Chakra to another ultimately leading the Yogi to complete Enlightenment just as was achieved by Gautam Buddha.

Kundalini rising through the Chakras

This celestial creature forming our Galaxy, is called Shishumar and is supposed to rest with its body wound around itself in a right-handed coil with the center formed by its tail end.

To the students of Science, this shape may be familiar as that of the Benzene Ring, which resembles a Snake biting its own tail!! Incidentally the symbol is also known by the Greeks as Ouroboros and by Chinese as the Dragon representing the never-ending cycle of Life and Death, the different Seasons, Time etc.

Shishumar/Ouroboros/Dragon

Scriptural description of the Galaxy

The Bhagvatam gives complete details of the various Lokas of the galaxy giving precise LOCATIONS of the various divine and semi-divine denizens of our Galaxy! Let us see what these locations are and try to find out a useful address or two from the descriptions ;o)

The Galactic Center, is the tail-end of the coiled serpent and is supposed to be a seat of Immense Power and Energy. According to the Bhagavatam, this Galactic Center is formed by the Dhruva Loka.

It is important to note that according to modern Astronomy, Galactic Center is made up of very large mass and density which scientists believe to be a Supermassive Black Hole. Black Holes are the evolutionary end-point of MASSIVE stars and pack within themselves the power of thousands of Nuclear bombs combined!

Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center

Now, Dhruva as we know is the Pole Star and according to Bhagavatam, it is supposed to be situated right at the CENTER of our Galaxy. At present, the Northern pole star is Polaris, which lies close to the Celestial North Pole, and is visible at the end of the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Dipper). However, after researching its location, I found that this particular Star does not lie as far as the Center of the Galaxy and it dampened my excitement a bit :o(

Present Pole Star Polaris

But, as I kept trying to find out more, I came across a phenomenon known as the Precession of Equinoxes. Simply put, it states that the role of the North Star PASSES from one star to another. This means that Other stars have occupied the position of the Pole Star before now!

Precession of the Equinoxes is slow, taking about 25,770 years to complete a cycle, hence a single star typically holds that title for many CENTURIES, and since Hindu history measures time in billions of years, One of these stars could have been located in the vicinity of the Galactic Center at some point in our Ancient History!!

Pole Stars of Past and Future

Identifying that Star is beyond my current research capacity, but I believe if we can find it, it would help us date our Scriptures in a more authentic fashion as well as give us a proof that our civilization is INDEED very ancient.

The scripture further states that Dhruv-loka is supposed to be the Supreme Seat of Lord Vishnu in the Mortal Realm where He reclines on the Divine Serpent Sheshnaag accompanied by Goddess Lakshmi in the Ocean-of-Milk called Ksheer-Sagar.

Demigods praying to Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi seated on Sheshnaag

Now, Black Holes have always been conjectured to be portals between different Universes, sort of like Gateways to different dimensions. This makes me believe that our Supermassive-Galactic-Center-Black-Hole can fit the precondition of being the Abode of Lord Vishnu amazingly well, as it would connect Him with the Spiritual Realm outside as well as the Material realm contained within this Universe!

Moving on from the Galactic Center

Near the central abode of Dhruva resides Prajâpati, worshiped by the demigods Agni, Indra and Dharma near the tail and the Holy Saptarishi Mandal at its waist.

On the right side of the Celestial Wheel are stationed the fourteen Uttarayan Nakshatras (Northern Zodiacs) from Abhijit to Punarvasu, and on its left side are found fourteen Dakshinayan Nakshatras (Southern Zodiacs) starting from Pushya and ending with Uttar-Aashadh.

The back of Shishumar is formed by stars collectively called Ajavithi and its belly is formed by the Sacred Ganges reverently known as the Akash Ganga.

If you look at the clear night sky, you'll observe a faint band of light stretching across the darkness, either through the middle or near the horizon which is considered it the symbolic representation of the Descent of Heavenly Ganges to the Mortal Realm of Earth.

Akash Ganga, the Milky Way

The stars called Punarvasu and Pushya form the right and left loins of the Shishumar; Ardra and Ashlesha form the right and left feet while Abhijit and Uttar-Aashadh form the right and left nostrils.

Shravana and Purv-Aashadh form the right and left eyes respectively; while Mula and Dhanishtha form the two ears; Magha, the group of Eight Stars form its ribs on the left side while the Eight stars of Mrigashirsha, form the ribs on its right. The stars Shatabhish and Jyeshtha form the right and left shoulders, Agasti forms the upper jaw and Yama, the lower one.

The planet Mars forms its face; Saturn forms its organ of generation; Brihaspati forms the hump on the shoulders while Surya - The Lord of the planets, (which I have taken as the reference point for the Labelled image of Shishumar below) forms its breast.

The Supreme Lord Narayan remains seated in its heart and the Moon is situated in its mind. The two Ashvins form either sides of its chest; Ushana or Venus forms its navel; Mercury is its Prana; Rahu is the neck and Ketu is all over its body in the form of different Comets.

The innumerable other stars we see are the numerous pores of its body. I have tried to label the image of our Galaxy according to the descriptions I have shared in this post. Please find below the Image that has resulted from this exercise.

Our Galaxy Shishumar

What is astonishing for me is that without access to any form of modern technology like the Hubble Space Telescope and its like, the Rishis of Yore could still fathom the extent and shape of our Galaxy in such a detailed fashion!

It was only in 1610, that Galileo used the first telescope and determined that Milky Way is formed of billions of dim stars that surround us. Before that, for centuries the astronomers had struggled with the basic questions about this band of light in the sky which were difficult to answer because of several reasons.

One, as we live within the Milky Way, trying to fathom its dimensions is like living in one tiny corner of a gigantic box and analyzing its composition and shape!
Second, the early telescopes weren't large enough and hence did not have sufficient range to clearly view the galaxy around us.
Finally, the Milky Way contains large amounts of cosmic dust that obscures distant stars when we're using regular telescopes.

However, the 20th century brought great advancement in telescope technology and large Optical, Radio, Infrared, and X-ray telescopes allowed Astronomers to peer through the cosmic dust and look further into space. With these tools, they could piece together the puzzle of our Galaxy's shape but the point to be emphasized here is that all this became apparent only after the 20th Century!

Eye-of-God Nebula caught by Hubble Space Telescope

Yet, surprisingly, ancient Vedic rishis had not only described the shape of the Galaxy, they had also identified a huge POWER SOURCE at its Center; given descriptions of most of its major STAR SYSTEMS; as well as defined the relative positions of different Lokas in our ever-expanding Universe!!

Whether it was due to their Superhuman Yogic Powers, or a result of direct observation (Space Travel?!?), I do not know. But, I hope this post opens the eyes of my readers to a brand new perception of these religious texts and would encourage them to analyze our traditional culture and beliefs with a more open and scientific approach.

I will describe the various Lokas mentioned above in more detail in subsequent postsand will try to guide you through the structure of the Universe as per ancient Hindu Science. May Lord Vishnu guide me through this journey that I have embarked upon and help me bring hidden truths from our ancient scriptures to fore.

Shri Hari Vishnu, help me cross this Cosmic Ocean

It is only fitting that I end the post with the traditional prayer to Supreme Lord Vishnu residing in this Coiled Galaxy Shishumar and also pay my obeisance to the Ancients who were able to decipher its structure on the basis of their Yogic powers..

Thou art the Substratum of all Luminaries,

Thou Createst and Destroyest all,

The Lord of all Celestials,

We meditate fully on Thee,

Planets, Galaxies and Stars are Thy body,

Divinity is established in Thee alone,

Thou art Âdipurush, the Foremost of all Beings,

All sins are destroyed by remembering Thee.

Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

CREATION BY BRAMHA

CREATION BY BRAMHA

Ganpati Bappa Morya!

With Mumbai eagerly awaiting the arrival of its favorite God, there really couldn't be a better time to write about the Beginning of Creation while waiting for the Lord of Auspicious Beginnings to arrive at our Homes :o)

There has always been an argument in the Scientific world - Whether an Intelligence created this World or, the World led to the creation of Intelligence. Sounds like a Chicken & Egg situation there! However in Hindu Cosmology, the process of creation is more purposeful than a random explosion in nothingness.

In the current post, I'm gonna share the Creation Phenomenon as per Hindu Scriptures and will take you through the Theological as well as Evolutionary details hidden in them. Swami Vivekananda, one of the most intellectual proponents of Hinduism says - Indian philosophy goes beyond both Intelligence as well as Matter and describes a Purush, or Self, of whom Intelligence is but the borrowed light.

This Adi-Purush or Original Being, according to the Bhagavat Puraan, is the Supreme Lord Vishnu.

Adi Purush, Shri Hari Vishnu

We saw in the first post {A for Astronomy} that there exist two different Realms in this Creation - Spiritual and Material. While Spiritual Realm is the abode of pure souls living on the Vaikunth Planets, the materialistic souls (like You & Me) take birth on different planets in different galaxies of different Universes of the Material Realm.

There is one important concept that we need to understand here - In the Material Realm, there exist, not One, not Two, but THREE different forms of Lord Vishnu and all the three forms exist only in the Material Realm.

The Three Forms of Lord Vishnu

The first and foremost form of Lord Vishnu in the Material Realm, is that of Shri Karanodak-shayi Maha Vishnu or Narayan (One-who-lies-on-Water). The Lord reclines on Cosmic waters of the Causal Ocean (That-Causes-Everything) known as Karan-Odak that emanates from His own body and fills the lower half of the Material Realm.

Shri Maha Vishnu, lying on the Causal Ocean generated from His own Self

Shri Maha Vishnu is the ONLY Living entity present in the Material Creation right now and this form of the Lord has been called Kaal-Swabhavah or the foundation of the Space-Time Continuum. He forms the basis of Quantum Physics that runs this Universe at Sub-Atomic as well as Super-Galactic levels.

With the emergence of this first form of the Lord, CREATION begins in this Material Realm. The as yet unmanifest stage of material nature is called Pradhan.

Till this stage, there is no Words or Expression, no Mind or Elements, nor the three modes of Goodness, Passion and Ignorance. There is no Life or Intelligence, no Pleasures or Pains and no Demons or Gods. There is no Ether, Water, Earth, Air, fire or Sun nor the different stages of Consciousness - sleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. Yet, this Pradhan is the original substance of Material Nature and the basis of all further Creation.

Creation Begins in the Material Realm

The First Step in Creation is called the FIRST Sarga:

Because of the Wish of Maha Vishnu, there arises a disturbance in equilibrium of the 3 qualities of Satva, Rajas and Tamas which results in the formation of subtle imperceptible matter called the ‘Mahat-Tattva’.

This subtle matter can not be perceived by our material senses yet it forms the basis of all that follows! It is from this Mahat Tattva, that Intelligence or ‘Buddhi’ manifests alongwith the sense of ‘Aham’ or Ego.

Mahat Tattva emanating from Shri Maha Vishnu

(Images courtesy Sri Madhav Priya Dasi)

Hence, the previous debate can now be put to rest stating that - It is Purush who results in the formation of both Subtle Matter and Intelligence which further gives rise to the Mind or ‘Mann’.

In the SECOND Sarga, the Mind gives rise to 5 Basic Elements, the Panch-Mahabhoot which, like the three Primary colors, give rise to Matter in its various forms through their different permutations and combinations. These Famous Five are:

The THIRD Sarga consists of the Dash-Indriyan which include the 5 Sensory Perceptions - Vision, Hearing, Smell, Touch and Taste & 5 Organs of Action - Mouth, Hands, Genitals, Anus and Feet.

These THREE Phases of Creation are collectively are known as PRAKRITIK Sarga as they are NOT a creation of Brahma and come into being from the Natural Energy of the Lord, known as Prakriti. Now all this detail may be too much to handle in the first instance but if you have managed to grasp the above, feel relieved for the difficult portion is out of the way :o)

Creation of OUR Universe

After these basic building blocks, the stage was now set for the creation of our Universe (and indeed other Universes too!).

As we learnt in the previous post, Multiple Universes emerge from the Infinite pores of Shri Maha Vishnu's cosmic body each time He exhales. The Lord again enters EACH of these egg-shaped Universes in His SECOND form of Shri Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu.

Each Universe emerging from Maha-Vishnu contains a Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu

This second form of the Lord reclines on the Great Serpent Anant (Without-an-End) and is the Maintainer for His respective Universe. To use an analogy, consider Him sort of a Governor for His Province while Maha-Vishnu is like the Head of the Nation! This particular form of the Lord is also known as Hiranyagarbha (Born-of-The-Golden-Egg) because He takes shape inside the Universal Egg or Brahmand.

Shri Garbhodakshayi Vishnu, First LIVING Being in EACH Universe

After a period of 1000 Maha-Yugas, a lotus bud emerges from the navel of the Lord, inside which is Brahma or Ka, the First MORTAL Being in each Universe.

The stem of this cosmic lotus connecting Brahma to the Navel of the Lord, signifies the Umbilical Cord that binds a baby to its mother! In a sense, Lord Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu is the Father as well as Mother of ALL creation beginning first and foremost with Lord Brahma.

Lord Brahma, First MORTAL Living Being in EACH Universe

Imagine the plight of the Creator-god when he would have opened his eyes for the first time.. He must have been as lost and clueless as a new born baby coming into this world!!

Lord Brahma did not know the purpose of his being. Trying to look all around him simultaneously, he sprouted 5 heads to enable him to spot even a hint of an activity in any direction yet could not see anything except darkness all around him.

To clear his confusion, he then decided to explore the stem of the Lotus from which he had emerged but came to a dead-end. Thereafter, he went into meditation for a 100 Maha-Yugas and to clear his confusion and provide him guidance, Lord Garbhodak-shayi Vishnu made Himself VISIBLE to Brahma.

Shri Garbhodakshayi Vishnu becomes visible to Lord Brahma

Lord Brahma was transfixed with the divine spectacle of the Supreme Lord resplendent in Blue and Gold, lying on the Great serpent with a thousand hoods on the mighty waters of the Garbh-Ocean!

Shri Hari Vishnu, then told Brahma his purpose of existence and realizing the magnitude of work that lay ahead of him, Brahma was (quite understandably) left speechless! It's sort of like being asked by the Boss to create a new Business Model when you dont even know which industry you are working in :o)

Fortunately, the BIG-BOSS here was Lord Vishnu, the Adi-Purush who in the noblest of sacrifices asked Brahma to use portions of Lord's own body for beginning the process! It is from here that actual Creation by Lord Brahma begins.

Creation within EACH Universe

We FINALLY begin with the Creation of our Universe as we know it. To give it some perspective, I should inform you that my calculations give the staggering number of 155.524752 Trillion Solar Years ago as the time of occurrence of this event!

Another point to be noted here, is that EACH Universe has a personal form of Lord Vishnu AND an Individual Brahma as well. Ergo, there are billions and billions of Brahmas in the Material Realm each taking care of Creation in his OWN Universe!!

Lord Brahma begins Creation

Brahma first creates the Immovable objects such as Planets, Land, Mountains, etc. which do not have any inherent power of Motion (Remember that Planets also move due to Gravity and do not have an intrinsic motion of their own).

This is the FOURTH phase of Creation known as the Mukhya Sarga.

In the next phase called the Tiryak Sarga, Brahma creates 6 different types of Vegetation covering trees/herbs/creepers etc., 12 different varieties of Birds and 28 different broad classifications of Animals which I'm not detailing here to prevent a system overload and subsequent crash ;o)

The SIXTH Phase saw Creation of Demigods and other Advanced Species of life and is therefore known as the Deva Sarga. Most important Divinities were created in this Phase of Brahma's Creation.

First come the 4 Eternal Kumars, the First Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. These cherubic kids remain the same in appearance throughout their lifetime which is as long as that of Brahma himself! But all of them chose to follow the path of Spirituality instead of following Brahma's command for beginning procreation.

This frustrated Brahma so much that from his forehead, (the region of the third eye) emerged a dark red and blue child bawling at the top of his voice! This crying baby was named Rudra (The Howler)!

Rudra born from Brahma's Forehead

However, Rudra too decided to follow the path of Tapas or Penance and Brahma was sorely disappointed. After a lot of cajoling by Brahma, Rudra agreed to help and manifested 10 more beings with the same appearance as him (Binary Fission?!?). These are known as the 11 Rudras, ONE of whom is Lord Shiva.

On Brahma's request again, Rudra appeared as Ardhanarishwar and generated a female principle (Asexual Reproduction??) which was the Rudrani.

Each of the 11 Rudras similarly obtained a consort thus providing Brahma some satisfaction of seeing his creations multiply. However, the Rudras were all fierce since they represented the Supreme Lord's power of Destruction!

The 11 Rudras

Realizing that the progeny of Rudra was not what he really wanted to populate the world with, Brahma then created 10 Manas Putras by just visualizing them in his mind! (Neat, eh? I wish I could finish all my work by just thinking about it!!)

The First Rishis - Brahma's Manasputras

Images courtesy Grant Morrison's 18 Days

{Artist - Mukesh Singh}

These Mind-born sons of Brahma are - Atri, Angiras, Atharva, Bhrigu, Daksh, Marichi, Pulah, Pulatsya, Vasishtha and the youngest one Narad.

When all these sons preferred to follow footsteps of the Kumars, by refusing to get entangled in the process of procreation, Brahma again filled up with Negative energy.

This resulted in the creation of Asurs, who in common parlance are known as Rakshas or Demons. When Brahma let go of this Tamsik Dark aspect of his being, it resulted in the creation of Night-time.

Asuras or Demons

Focusing his positive energy again, Brahma took a Satvik form and created the Deities or Devas. These are the illumined effulgent demi-gods who became the care-takers of different aspects of the Material Creation. This Bright aspect of Brahma's personality also led to the creation of Day-time.

Devas or Demigods

The point to be noted here is that Asurs came into existence before Devas (!!) and the former's defeat reminds somewhat of the defeat of the Greek Titans who were thrown out of Heaven by their younger brothers, the Olympians.

The next creation of Brahma was the Pitras or Manes. It may be worthwhile to mention that the planet of the Pitras has one day and night equal to a fortnight each of the humans. (In a later post I'll discuss how this relates to Einstein's Theory of Relativity!!)

Pitras or Manes

Brahma now manifested other divinities such as the Goddesses Saraswati and Gayatri; the Four Vedas; the goddess of deliveries Prasuti; elements such as Emotions, Music and Rishi Kardama (Ka's Shadow).

Prasuti became the consort of the eldest Mana-putra Daksh, and this is where Copulative creation began! It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit word for parturient labour is also Prasuti, probably a recognition of her being the FIRST woman to give birth to a child by normal delivery!!

Thus, Daksha became the Second Prajapati after Brahma; the Guardian and Custodian of All Creation. With this, the Deva Sarga came to a close and Lord Brahma, who must have been completely exhausted by now, decided to take a break.

He sat ruminating about the direction his work had taken till now, and took a body which was Rajsik or in the Mode-of-Passion. Suddenly, from his body, emerged a creature who looked a lot like him!! This was the First Man, Swayambhu Manu (Born-on-his-Own) who was born with the Kaya of his father Brahma (Ka-Brahma, ya-form). Interestingly, the same incident is noted in Bible as well - 'Man was created in the Image of His Maker!'

Swayambhu Manu, the First Man

It is also interesting to note that the Germanic tribes call their ancestor Mannus which is also the root of the English word - Man just as Manu is the root of the Hindi word Manushya!

Along with Manu, emerged the female Shatrupa and Brahma assigned for them the planet Earth. Thus, Human-beings, the progeny of Manu and Shatrupa were given the sanction for populating the globe and till date we show ABSOLUTELY no sign of stopping! ;o)

Manu and Shatrupa - Hindu Adam and Eve

In this context, I wanna mention the beautiful similarity drawn by the character called Agent Smith in the super-hit movie Matrix, where he tells Neo - Humans are like viruses.. multiplying till they exhaust all resources of a particular place and then moving on to greener pastures.. Guess we and viruses have the same level of Evolution then!!

Since the SEVENTH Phase saw the creation of Human-beings, it is known as the Manushya Sarga.

In the EIGHTH Phase called the Anugrah Sarga, other species with magical powers were created such as the Yakshas, Gandharvs, Sarpas, Apsaras etc. Some of these species are in the mode of goodness while others in the mode of darkness.

The NINTH and FINAL Phase of Brahma's Creation is called the Kaumar Sarga wherein the four Eternal Kumars considered re-appeared in this day of Brahma.

With this ends the exhausting process of Creation. If you as a reader and me as a chronicler are both boggled by the details and technicalities of this, imagine the condition of Lord Brahma!

Brahma looks at His creation with relief

Yet, in my personal opinion, it would be a golden opportunity for any artist to get the freedom to express his creativity without any restraints, utilizing no less than the sublime form of Adi-Purush Himself!! How noble the Sacrifice and how Liberating the experience!

It would be worthwhile to note that the 4 Kumars as well as the 10 Manas Putras are older than the Devas and Asurs both, therefore, they are held in deep respect by both the clans. Also, I can't help but notice that Brahma's Creation closely follows actual appearance of elements in our Universe -

First to appear are the intangible elements like the protons, neutrons etc. followed by matter in gaseous form; followed by the immovable planets and landmasses; then the vegetation; birds, aquatics and animals; and finally the Higher species.

Also, the Mode of reproduction is clearly ASEXUAL in the beginning (as seen with the generation of Rudras and Rudranis) and becomes COPULATIVE only after the germination of Daksha and his consort Prasuti!

Before winding up, let me just mention the Third and the Final form of Lord Vishnu in the Material Realm. This is Shri Kshirodak-shayi Vishnu present in each atom of the creation as 'Parmatma' or the Super-soul.

His vehicle is the Golden-eagle Garuda and it is from Him that all the Avatars take origin! The Lord resides on planet Shvet-dvip in the Dhruv-Loka, reclining on the Sheshnaag (One-that-remains) with His consort Lakshmi and supervises this ENTIRE Creation that we discussed above!

Shri Kshirodakshayi Vishnu, the benefactor of all devotees

There are many more complexities involved in the Creation Process but I hope I was able to make it simple enough for your understanding! I'm gonna conclude this post with the verses of Purush Sukta, that extoll the Supreme Sacrifice of the Adi-Purush that resulted in the commencement of Creation:

A Thousand heads has Purush,

A thousand eyes, A thousand feet,

Manifesting Earth and the World,

He extends beyond countability.

Purusha is all that Exists,

What Was and What shall Be,

He Consumes and is Consumed,

The Hidden Lord of Immortality.

What's visible is but One-quarter;

Beyond destruction lies a Quarter and Three!

From Purusha was born the Universe;

Even the Creater was born of Thee!

In this Srishti-Yagnya performed,

Purusha Himself became the Havis,

Summer lent the fire-wood, And

Spring became the pouring Ghee.

Birds that travel in the air,
Beasts of forest were thus born,

Village dwellers, Humans came forth;

Hymns of Vedas came from Thee.

From His face the Brahmins rose,

Men-of-arms from His arms,

His thighs became the Trader creed,
Shudras rose from His Holy feet,

From His Navel spread the Sky;

From the Head, Heavens sprung,

From His feet Earth was born;

From the Ears, directions decree.

From the Waters and the Earth,

He forged Creation, the Divine smith,

Lord of Universe; Unborn; Omnipresent;

Lives within; Yet only the Wise can see.

Request we Lord, Greenery for Earth,

Request we the good of Community,

Request we the good of ALL living beings,

May Peace Envelop our Destiny.

Aum Shanti: Shanti: Shanti:

EVOLUTION IN BHARATIYA SCRIPTURES.

EVOLUTION IN INDIAN SCRIPTURES.

The reason why the Universe is Eternal,
Is that it does not live for Itself,
It gives life to others as it transforms,
And thereby lies the process of Evolution.

Change, they say, is the only thing Constant. All of us experience change in our life - our views take shape, thoughts mature, perceptions get molded, and if ever we sit and reflect, we wonder how it could be that we are so different from the way we were just a few years back!

Similar change in the life of our planet is evidenced by the process of Evolution. The current post deals with the 'Theory of Evolution' as proposed by the Biologist Charles Darwin and compares it with similar thoughts in the Hindu tradition.

Origin of Species

As discussed in the 3rd post CREATION BY BRAMHA, our Universe required at least ten billion years of Evolution before life was even possible!

Yet, the formation of the Nuclear furnaces of our Stars was a slow but indispensable prerequisite for the generation of life. Even on our own planet, the process has only progressed by taking baby steps. After all, it took millions of years of trial and error to provide us with the backbone!

Evolution by Carl Sagan

Evolution is indeed visible in the huge diversity of species on our planet. Many species like the Dinosaurs have come and gone and many new are being discovered every single day by Botanists and Zoologists. Today, most of us consider Evolution to be an undisputed fact, yet there was a time when the concept was brand new and quite controversial.

And the controversy began with one man - Charles Darwin. Darwin (1809-1882), was an English Naturalist, who wrote the immensely popular thesis Origin of Species in the year 1859 CE, thereby rocking the foundations of both scientific as well as religious world of that time!

Charles Darwin

What was stated in his book, went totally against accepted beliefs of the Church and Darwin had to face a lot of criticism for his revolutionary theory. Yet, it is by this theory alone, that we can understand the full purport of Evolution on our planet, and have it stored in the collective consciousness of Mankind today!

The spirit of adventure had gripped the imagination of most European nations at that time and there were expeditions organized from different countries to chart and explore the world around them. On one of these trips, our guy Charles Darwin landed at the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. These are a group of 12 disjointed atolls with the sea separating all of them, so that the flora and fauna in each is isolated from outside intervention.

Darwin's Voyage

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Darwin began to study the different species present there and to his surprise, observed huge variations in the species present in each of these islands!! In Darwin's own words,

"When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as a Naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent...

Darwin began to ask himself why some birds on these islands had beaks different from others, and why some turtles had upright necks while others had their necks pointed down! Could all these differences be a result of the ENVIRONMENT these animals lived in and the circumstances in which they had to obtain food?

A note from Darwin's Diary

Despite suffering badly from sea-sickness, Darwin wrote copious notes while on board the ship. He found that the mockingbirds from different islands of the Galpagos group differed in shape and color and collected 12 different species of finches from each of them!

He traveled throughout the world and collected specimens wherever the ship docked. The same were handed over to experts when he landed in his mother country for further analysis.. The research conducted on these specimens by various Anatomists, Ornithologists, Zoologists and Geologists, made the entire scientific world sit up and take notice of this radically NEW notion that Darwin had proposed.

Inspired by the geographical differences in the wildlife (past and present), Darwin finally conceived of the Theory of Natural Selection. Today, the 'Origin of Species' is a widely acknowledged classic, and Evolution is universally and casually accepted as a truth of life..

Stages of Evolution

Today, based on all the evidence available, scientists describe four zoological eras namely - Arshean, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and the Cenozoic which have led to the current plant and animal life on this planet.

Evolution in Hinduism

Ancient Indians believed that Life evolves only from pre-existing Life. As discussed in the 3rd post (Creation by Brahma), Hindu Creation closely follows actual appearance of elements in our Universe-

First appear the intangible substances followed by the tangible matter; followed by the immovable planets and landmasses; then the vegetation; birds, aquatics and animals; and finally the Higher species.

Taking an example from Hindu Philosophy, one of the most important concepts in Hinduism is of Sansaar/Samsara. All religions of Indian origin viz. Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism and the numerous other sects, believe in this concept and I'm sure most of you are aware of it as well. The concept is also known as the Transmigration of Soul, and refers to an endless cycle of re-incarnation that a soul must undergo in order to fulfill its Karma.

Transmigration of Soul through different Species

A soul takes birth in different species of life until it attains the form of a Human-being that enables it to strive for Nirvana. Compare this concept with the diagram above and you will immediately observe the similarity with Evolution!!

Another point to notice is the mention of 84 Lakh (8.4 million) different forms that a soul is obliged to take in order to reach a Human form which is remarkably close to the 8.7 million Eukaryotic species that scientists believe exist today!!

Different species are an evidence of Evolution

Sir John Woodroffe (1865-1936), Advocate General of Bengal and Legal member of the erstwhile Govt. of India, had the same revelation after the study of Sanskrit texts. He said and I quote,

"Ages before Lamarck and Darwin, it was held in India that man has passed through 84 lakhs births as plants, animals, inferior species and then came the ancestors of developed man existing today. The theory was an act of brilliant deduction in which observation may also have had played part!"

Is it just co-incidence or were the ancient Rishis actually aware of all the complexities of their environment around them?? While the above theory by itself may not be sufficient for some to believe in what I'm saying, I'll elucidate it further through an analysis of the order of Ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

Dashavatar

For the sake of the Neophytes, I'm listing the Ten Avatars below:

Matsya, the Fish

Kurma, the Turtle

Varah, the Boar

Narasimha, the Half-man/Half-lion being

Vaman, the Dwarf

Parashurama, Rama with the axe

Rama, Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya

Krishna in Northern traditions and Balrama in Southern ones.

Buddha, the Spiritual Master, and lastly,

Kalki, expected to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga.

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It would be worthwhile to note that originally, there were 24 Avatars of the Lord listed in Srimad Bhagvatam. Why then, were only 10 selected by the Rishis for glorification? To a student of Biology, it may be quite apparent that these incarnations bear a STARTLING resemblance to the Concept of Evolution!

If you remember your basic science well, you may be able to spot the similarity yourself if you just sit and reflect on it a little. In the Dashavatar, we start with the aquatic Matsya, the Savior of the World; move on to the amphibian Kurma, the Support of the World; and follow it up with the Protector of the World, the terrestrial Varah.

Compare this with the diagram below to see how the current understanding of Evolution exactly matches this description. (The numbers in the image refer to millions of years ago (mya) that these animals had existed on our planet)

Evolution of Amphibians and Terrestrials from Aquatics

(Images courtesy Rima Chadha)

Now, the Eusthenopteron in the diagram above is a good example for demonstrating evolution. This particular animal looked and behaved like modern fish for all practical purpose, YET within its fins were precursors of arm and leg bones of the four-limbed land animals!

To add weight to this Out-of-Water theory, we next have the Tiktaalik, a half-fish, half-amphibian animal discovered in the Canadian Arctic in 2004. This animal was a further step towards TERRESTRIAL life with early wrists and finger bones that allowed it to prop itself up and poke its head above the water!

Evolution through animation

There are also indications that the animal breathed both through gills (like the earlier Eusthenopteron), as well as by means of a lung-like structure like the later amphibian Ichthyostega! This is just one of the many example that confirm Paleontologists' theories about land-dwelling animals evolving from fish ancestors and co-relates well with the Dashavatar sequence of Kurma after Matsya.

Kurma Avatar of Lord Vishnu

If you are intrigued by this similarity between science and religion, wait coz there's more to come :o)

After Kurma, we have the Varah and the story of this incarnation has many sub-layers.. At one level, it signifies the next level of evolution moving from Water to Land while at a deeper level, it shows that Humans can not survive on the planet without the help of animals!

Lord Varah is followed by the half-man-half-lion Nar-singh signifying the development of Man from the beasts. The victory of Narsingh/Narasimha over Aasurik ambitions of Hiranyakshipu also signifies that Humanity can be born only if we manage to subdue our demonic tendencies!

Narsingh, the Man-beast who tames Asurik tendencies

Varaha, the savior of Earth

{Image courtesy - Vimanika Comics}
Dashavatar Volume 2

Scientifically, there are numerous specimens recording this development from 'Water to Land' and from 'Beasts to Man' and many so called Missing Links have been found to corroborate the same.

However, for our purpose, let us shift focus to a new animal that was spreading slowly out from the African heartland about 120,000 years ago. There was no evidence, as yet, that it would prosper or even survive on this world where so many mightier beasts had passed away. However, it DID survive and DID prosper enough to become the most populous and dominant species on this planet - this was the Human-being.

The Evolution of Humans from an ape ancestor is supported by DNA and fossil evidence of over 20 species of Hominids! The complete genomes of several primates have been sequenced and they provide ultimate proof of our relatedness to apes and other Primates.

Evolution of Early Man

Dryopithecus in the image above, was a common ancestor to humans as well as other apes, and walked on all fours. The next guy in the image, Australopithecus afarensis, retained remnants from his quadrupedal past (such as hind toes suited for climbing and a wrist joint indicating it could knuckle-walk).

However, its thigh bone, the femur, was shaped like that of the later Homo erectus to bear the stress of upright movement! In addition, both the proto-humans' femurs were also angled inward to help maintain balance on two legs, just like we do today.

Video showing skull changes from primates to modern Humans

Hindu mythology also finds the mention of these proto-humans in the form of the Vanars but that's a topic for a future post so I'll leave it at that for now. Thus, in the Dashavatar sequence, we first have the pygmoid Vaman followed by the fully developed but jungle-dwelling man represented by Lord Parashuram.

This stage represents Early Man who had started using tools and weapons and quite fittingly, Prshuram is the FIRST of the ten incarnations to posess primitve ARMS (Axe and Bow).

Parshuram represents Jungl dwelling man who used tools

{Image courtesy - Vimanika Comics}

As the famous sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke describes - The stone club, the toothed saw, the horn dagger, the bone scraper - these were the inventions which the Early Man needed in order to survive and hunt.

No longer were they faced with starvation when their teeth became damaged or worn; even the crudest tools could add many years to their lives. And as their fangs diminished, the shape of their face started to alter; the snout receded, the massive jaw became more delicate, the mouth able to make more subtle sounds to enable Speech.

In using the Tools, their hands developed a dexterity found nowhere else in the animal kingdom permitting them to make still BETTER tools, which in turn helped develop their limbs and brains yet further. It was an accelerating, cumulative process; and at its end was the Modern Man.

Soon, mankind discovered Fire and Agriculture, and civilization began. Hence, next in the list we have the civilized man with a strong moral code - Shri Rama followed by Balrama, the Man-who-can-tame-Nature. In the image below, we can see the modern human represented by Shri Rama accompanied by the proto-human Vanars.

Maryada Purushottam Shri Rama

Next in line, Buddha, represents man with a spiritual drive and the need for infusing fresh thoughts in age-old traditions to keep religion and spirituality within the reach of the Masses.

The final Avatar, Kalki, refers to the techno-humanoid man of tomorrow wielding mechanical contraptions and riding the steed of fire perhaps hinting at the technological advancement yet to come, maybe somewhat similar to Arnold from one of my childhood favorites, the movie Terminator :o)

The 10 Avatars certainly represent much more than just the incarnations of Lord Vishnu and as we saw above, are an allegory for the Process of Evolution which is evident in nature and within our own beings as well.

Lord Vishnu and the Ten Avatars

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I hope I was able to suitably present before you another aspect of Science uncovered from the depths of the treasure trove of Hindu Mythology. I again bow down to the intellect of the ancient Rishis and culminate this post with the Dashavatar Stotra, translated from the Geet-Govind, and dedicated to the 10 glorious Incarnations of Lord Vishnu:

In the Great Deluge, You kept Vedas safe,

Like a ship undeflected, from its original course,

Hail Keshav in the form of Matsya,

Glories to Hari, Lord of the Universe!

On Your expansive back, You let the Mountain rest,

Like a Cosmic pivot, for churning the Ocean,

Hail Keshav in the form of Kurma,