Evolution
Hinduism was well aware of the theory of evolution some 4000-5000 years before Charles Darwin. This is attested by the Vishnu avatars (nine incarnations of God as Vishnu), which can be seen in many Hindu temples and in Hindu literature.
The nine Vishnu avatars are as follows, in the exact same sequence as they appear in the Puranas. Observe that each represents an advancement in the evolutionary ladder that parallels the theory of evolution proposed by modern science:
- Matsya – the fish (water borne/amphibian)
- Kurma – the tortoise (reptile)
- Varaha – the boar (mammal)
- Narasimha – the half man, half lion (ape man/pre-hominid)
- Vamana – the dwarf (australopithecus, cave man)
- Parasurama – man with an ax (homo erectus, neanderthals, hunter/gatherer/tools)
- Rama – the evolved/civilized man (homo sapien)
- Krishna – the enlightened/advanced intellect man (homo sapien sapien)
- Buddha – the enlightened/compassionate man (seated in Self-Awareness)
- Kalkin – the next logical evolution of man; transcends man; the restorer – to appear towards end of Kali Yuga. I believe this last one is the Self itself (you don’t have to wait for it – because it is within you).
The most important thing to take away from this, is that Krishna or Buddha for example, do not refer to the actual Krishna or Buddha but representations of that stage of evolution.
In other words, most of mankind today is still at the Parasurama stage. A few in the Rama stage. A very few in the Krishna stage. And fewer in Buddha stage, in their level of evolution. When man’s evolution reaches an impasse, when it starts devolving instead of evolving… then it will collapse on itself. Man will be in the Kalkin stage — self-destructive, to the point that there will be only one or a handful of evolved human beings, the Kalkin avatar, that will be his only saving grace from total annihilation.
Note that in evolution, the order/sequence is no indicator that one is better than the other (as we are used to thinking).