A friend sent me this:
"Mom, I am a genetic scientist. I am working in the US on the evolution of man. Theory of evolution. Charles Darwin, have you heard of him? " Vasu asked.
His Mother sat next to him, smiled and said, "I know about Darwin, Vasu. But Have you heard of Dashavatar? The ten avatars of Vishnu?"
Vasu replied yes.
"Ok! Then let me tell you what you and your Darwin don't know.
Listen carefully-
The first avatar was the Matsya avatar, it means the fish. That is because life began in the water. Is that not right?"
Vasu began to listen with a little more attention.
She continued, "Then came the Kurma Avatar, which means the tortoise, because life moved from the water to the land. The amphibian! So the Tortoise denoted the evolution from sea to land.
Third avatar was Varaha, the wild boar, which meant the wild animals with not much intellect, you call them the Dinosaurs, correct?" Vasu nodded wide eyed.
"The fourth avatar was Narasimha, half man and half animal, the evolution from wild animals to intelligent beings.
Fifth, the Vaman avatar, the midget or dwarf, who could grow really tall. Do you know why that is? Because, there were two kinds of humans, Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens and Homo Sapiens won that battle."
Vasu could see that his Mother was in full flow and he was stupefied.
"The Sixth avatar was Parshuram, the man who wielded the axe, the man who was a cave and forest dweller. Angry, and not social.
The seventh avatar was Ram, the first rational thinking social being, who practised and laid out the laws of society and the basis of human relationships.
The Eighth avatar was Balarama, a true farmer who showed value of agriculture in the life.
The Ninth avatar was Krishna, the statesman, the politician, the diplomat, the Ambassador, the sutile interpreter, the lover who played the game of society and taught how to live and thrive in the adhaarmic social structure.
And finally, my boy, will come Kalki, the man you are working on. The man who will be genetically supreme."
Vasu looked at his Mother speechless. "This is amazing Mom, how did you .... ? This makes sense!"
She said, "Yes it does, son! We Indians knew some amazing things, but just didn't know how to pass it on scientifically. So we made them into mythological stories. Mythology creates faith and makes man sensible. It is just the way you look at it - Religious or Scientific. Your call."
That's evolution explained from Hindu religion. yet it's all about Vishnu (no Shiva).
Now, what does this story, told by mother to son, prove?
- That the ten avatars of God existed? No, where is this proved?
- That the Gods knew about evolution? No, if God's existence or His avatars aren't proved, where is the question of His knowing about evolution? Of course God being omniscient, He knows everything including evolution. You dontd need the Dashavatar story, as told by the mother, to prove it.
- That our Rishis knew about evolution and they created the story of the Dashavatars which follows the same path as organisms did in evolution? Maybe so or maybe it's just an accident. Even then how fish evolved into tortoise is not explained.
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