The Theory Of Evolution

When Charles Darwin proposed a theory that mankind didn't just drop from the Heavens or Eden garden and God didn't create man in his own image. That it took rather millions of years of evolution through a chain of tiny variations generation by generation to appear how we and other species look today. That it's a survival of the fittest. And the most adaptable continues to live and the unfit would perish.

This theory at his era disrupted, defied and shook the core foundations of religions across the world. There was one religion however which, despite its multiple sects and variations, didn't resist this idea as it wasn't drastically different from its core values. Hinduism has had its own brand of evolution theory- Dashavatar. Not the idea from Kamal Hassan movie, but the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu- one of the three central deities in Hinduism.

Back in my childhood, we used to watch every Sunday morning Ramayana, ShriKrishna and other religious TV serials. They made me think like an IT engineer at that age itself you know. I visualize it now as whenever an Asura (demons) attack was imminent on Devas, they used to run to Lord Bramha- the creator and all-father. Lord Brahma most likely would have caused all this tension in the first place by granting divine boons to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Think of this sequence like reporting of a critical Bug, discovered by the Testing team and escalated for fixing back to the Developers- individuals who caused this bug in the first place. Unable to fix the bug, production manager (Brahma ji) would sheepishly hail the Customer relationship manager (Lord Shiva in this case), worshiped by both the sides. Unfortunately, as was the case more often than not, this manager would be out of office, ie, in his trance state and out of coverage area as conveyed by his personal assistant bovine god Nandi.

Eventually, this whole group would now approach their chief trouble shooter. The guy who knows some guys, the high profile consultant playing golf with CEOs at heavenly on-sites, the expert who has illustrious experience in diffusing escalations like these- Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu in as many as ten such situations saved the day for poor devas. There is a brilliant theory which relates around the order of these incarnations. Here it goes in exact order below:

1. Matsya- a gargantuan fish who saved Manu (Noah when sent to Bangalore) from the great flood

2. Kurma- a giant tortoise who bore weight of the mountain used during churning of immortality nector- Amrit

3. Varah- a wild boar who restored Earth back in its axis from bottom of ocean on its tusks

4. Narsimha- half man/ half lion who fulfilled the prophecy to kill the tormentor demon Hiranyakashyap

5. Vamana- a dwarf whose three strides covered whole trilok and broke pride of noble Lord Bali

6. Parashurama- an immoortal warrior saint who cleansed Earth of vile Kshatriyas 21 times

7. Rama- a perfect son, an ideal king and an epitome of Dharma himself

8. Krishna- a great diplomat and leader who steered chariot of Dharma during the great war

9. Buddha- the one who attained Nirvana, pinnacle state of human evolution

10. Kalki- the one will destroy the reign of evil and chaos, so Dharma can blossom again in a new age

As you can observe in above order of appearance, life symbolically began within oceans in an Aquarian form. Once the water receded and Earth emerged from oceans, Aquarian creatures evolved to survive both on land and sea as amphibians. From there, first the wild beasts came into being and then these beasts (primates in our case) started adapting towards the modern day homosapien traits some 50,000 years ago. Till this phase, it was called a Satya-Yuga, the age of awakening the true consciousness. It was in the second phase as Treta-Yuga, when the cave man, half the size of today's man evolved into a stone and bronze age man- a hunter, gatherer, builder of communities. In the next step he build vast kingdoms and benign empires. When Mahatma Gandhi proposed Ram-rajya as a model state, he was just giving voice to a deep rooted belief we have preserved, way before ancient Greek philosophers were even born.

In the third phase of Dwapar-Yuga, a duty bound ruler now evolved to a clever leader who employed his tact to uplift his subjects and alleviate their hardships. Lord Krishna is believed to have run away from his own home state (hence named Ranchhod), not making it a matter of pride, just so he could avert a confrontation and war with neighboring Magadha. He advocated for an impossible peace treaty till the last minute before a family feud eventually left a blood soaked land and countless widows weeping behind it.

After speaking the truth of life in form of 'Gita Upadesh', Lord Vishnu reincarnated as Buddha. A prince who left all the pleasures of flesh and attained Nirvana- the highest state of self actualization a human can achieve. He became free of the vicious cycle of Life & Death and left a path for mankind to follow.

We are right now in the fourth phase of this kalpa called Kali-Yuga, and if one goes by the Hindu mythology, there is no going higher from here. If we can't learn and imbibe the essence of humanity from the previous reincarnations even now, the final avatar- Kalki is awaiting us. Kalki is the symbol of annihilation, destruction and yet- spawning a new era.

The whole cycle is bound to restart all over again. A Noah (as Christianity believes) or Manu will be bound again to preserve the essence of all lives before the great flood sweeps it all. Will we miss this symbolic boat or will we get fit enough to survive this phase too as Darwin proposed?

Religion, despite all its charades, isn't far from the absolute truth, if deliberated scientifically and rationally. Isn't it?

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