Month: December 2016

Posted in History-Culture

The Scientific Hindu

Posted on by veeskitchen

Evolution in Hindu Philosophy and Scientific Temperament in Ancient Hindu:

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva form the trinity of male Indian Gods just as their consorts Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Shakthi (Parvathi) form the female trinity. Maha Vishnu as we know, is the nurturer of this universe created by Brahma while Shiva is the destroyer. Destruction is as much part of evolutionary cycle in Hinduism as creation and survival are.

The ten Avatars of Maha Vishnu are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, (Buddha), Kalki.  (Buddha finds mention in north Indian version.  In south we include Balarama instead).

If you look at them closely, they may reveal to you the evolution pattern, which may or may not be provable scientifically for reasons I am addressing towards the end of this post.

The significance of the avatars (avatar is a sankrit word meaning incarnation) is that, Mahavishnu is Matsya (fish) (aquatic) in His first avatar. He is Kurma (tortoise) that can adapt to and dwell on both water and land (amphibian) in the second one. In the third avatar He is Varaha (boar) – the mammal that digs earth. In the fourth, He is Narasimha (half naran or human and half simha or lion). In the 5th avatar He is human – Vamana, but dwarf. Only in the sixth avatar of Parashuram, He is a complete human being still not fitting into a perfect civil society. The Varaha form of Vishnu was worshipped in temples in south until the turn of last century when finally Hindus moved to subtler avatars.

Even in Tirumala-Tirupati, there is first the shrine for Varaha avatar of Vishnu before you may proceed for darshan of Lord Balaji. Varaha and Narasimha worship continue in Andhra Pradesh (and in other southern states) till date on an even keel with Balaji worship.

http://gotirupati.com/aadhi-varahaswamy-temple/

Only in Rama avatar, we have full formed perfect human societies that are civil and disciplined as per unwritten Indian history. Ram is human form and is not defined as divine. He was the king of Ayodhya, born in a Kshatriya kula, and all the places He visited stand by the same name until today in the same geographic locations mentioned in the legend.

Krishna, the most popular form, followed next. Krishna was raised in Yadhav kula (herder) and again the places and events and characters mentioned in His life fit the bill perfectly. You can see the similarities here between Krishna and Jesus Christ. Even Christians will have to accept Krishna lived before Christ, the shepherd. So if anyone copied anyone, you may infer who copied who. The similarities do not end here. The shepherd Krishna while grazing his cattle always is playing the flute, as legends have it, surrounded by Gopikas (young lasses) none of whom He marries. In fact it is this image of Krishna that is most popular among Hindus captured in myriad media over ages. This reminds one of nuns of the church who claim to be the brides of Jesus.

Every avatar of Vishnu is supposed to be a constituent part of a Yuga after which the world stood to be destroyed by a ‘pralayam’ or what you may call Ice Age (natural catastrophe such as ocean wall crumbling over landscape or earthquake or fire for instance). Ignorance could be behind some poking fun at the scientific genius of ancient Hindu, but this is how evolution unfolded as per Hindu philosophy.  ‘Everytime you may need me when Adharma gets too much to handle, I shall return’ said Lord Krishna, an avatar of Lord Vishnu in Bhagwad Gita, in the Mahabharatha war.  (Also this is part of my everyday prayer to the Lord.)

Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam.

Dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge……..

(Loosely translated this means:

“For the up-liftment of the good and virtuous,
For the destruction of evil,
For the re-establishment of the natural law,
I will come, in every age….. “
The human face of the God  becomes more visible with each passing/progressive avatar. Rama, the seventh is most popular equaled only by the eighth avatar Krishna. Even Rama and Krishna are mortals but not Parashurama, the one before them. As per legend Parashuram lives until today, deep in meditation in the Himalayas.

Check out the Hindu Yugas:

Tretha Yuga of Rama, Dwapara Yuga of Krishna… The earliest or the first one was Satya Yuga and the last and the current one is Kali yuga. After Kali (Kalki Avatar) we will have to get back to Satya Yuga – which means we will have to begin all over from the basics: from the aquatic. So what does this convey: that human society today is capable of self and total destruction that we shall be erased off the face of earth and the earth will have to start afresh once again from the scratch – without human race. Homo sapiens may evolve in due course … the survivors after the Kali Yug catastrophe may be just the amoeba… and the organisms shall mutate and form new species with time…
It is not an exaggeration when we say we invented the Phi . The speed of light is indeed mentioned in Hanuman Chalisa. Just as we first defined the whole number ZERO
Whether all this is hoax or not is left to the individual to decide. May be not accurate working to the last decimal but closest approximation.
And I don’t even want to revisit certain established facts of how Sushrutha was the world’s first plastic surgeon or how Aryabhatta, the world’s first known astronmer probably and how Baskara invented calculus and trigonometry a long time before Pythogorus gave us the theorem.
Modern India’s first/earliest satellites’ were named ‘Aryabhata’ and ‘Baskara’ as a mark of respect and tribute to these great scientific and math brains.
Ancient Indian medicine ‘Ayurveda’ is in practice even today and India’s gift to the world YOGA requires no introduction. Although Pathanjali, the sage is credited with giving us Yoga, Hindus believe Yoga came to us directly from Lord Shiva. Just like Bharatnatyam, our classical dance which Shiva danced first. What about our classical music forms and traditional musical instruments? How do we establish to the world where and how these originated?  Hinduism is timeless.
 
Here is more food for thought: Krishna is more remembered for the Mahabharatha war and Ramayana sites have been recently excavated in Sri Lanka. No culture is free of myths entwined and enshrined into its formative history and Hinduism is no exception. Myths notwithstanding, most parts and characters and places of both Ramayan and Mahabharat tally completely with written records by sages and/or information passed verbally over centuries. If this is disputable, then how do we explain Vedas for which there are no written records and everything about them and Upanishads are mere recollection from verbal recitations (vocal transitions) passed over generations for thousands of years?
This simple truth explains the antiquity of Hinduism that has no known founders and most importantly, Sanathana Dharma is not the product of private whim and fancy of any self-proclaimed prophet.
The evolution process explained in Hindu philosophy always surprised me as a kid – the parallels one can draw with Darwin’s theory. I learned of Noah’s Arc very late in life. But Hinduism predates all this by many thousands of years obviously.
The last known avatar of Maha Vishnu was Buddha (although down south we cite Balarama with Krishna as the 8th and 9th avatars of Vishnu) as per some beliefs.
And we are stated to be currently in the last Yuga – the Kali Yuga as per Hindu philosophy before Earth shall be destroyed once again in total summation when Adharma reels its ugly head beyond a decent and permissible level.
Our bedtime stories in those days as kids revolved around Ramayan and Mahabharat with their branch stories, not to leave out the pre-curser : the Dasavathar of Maha Vishnu among other things:

How world evolved and how the human form came at last after the aquatic, the amphibian, the mammal, the semi-human and the mal-formed human (Vamana): although our ancestors did not talk about genetic mutation, what they have passed on to us as Hindu history/philosophy is phenomenal and pre-dates clearly the Darwinian times.

Amazing. Ram and Krishna were the perfect ‘nara’ avatars finally when world became a civilized place inhabited by perfect human societies. Still even these worlds were annihilated when their societies fell apart due to greed, war and destruction.
My granny used to round off the stories frightening us with the finishing touch: about the impending Pralayam – or a natural catastrophe that will finally submerge the entire world. When it is time for Kalki avatar, it could be the fire that extinguishes life and not water. In the present times of Kali Yug, crimes will increase manifold and man will eat man.
But the avatars always make us realize how wise our ancestors were. When I was narrated the Dasavathar of Vishnu in the 1970s in my younger years, I had still not learned of Ice Age, Dinosaurs etc. We had no animation pictures then nor as many science fiction writers.  Steven Spielberg was still years away from making his ‘Jurassic Park’ and the information age was yet to set in (with the onset of the ’90s).

Let us consider river Saraswathi. Prayag or Allahabad(as Moghuls changed its name) is the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi.

This is what we have been believing for centuries. However Saraswathi is only by name – in actual there are only 2 rivers mingling at this point. But in last few years scientists have unearthed Saraswathi river long gone dry under the earth in Rajasthan. How can the same names continue for eons? Saraswathi is one supposeld myth scientifically disproved or rather proved ‘to have been in existence.’

Only a ‘pralayam’ (catastrophe of an unspeakable magnitude) could have submerged Saraswathi that flowed in India in ancient times of which our scriptures all speak that was lost to a trickle that finally dried up with the last ‘pralayam.’ Fragments of human civilization could have still remained to be picked up by barely surviving human race enabling us to get back to civilization as the excavations at Mohenjodaro and Harappa stand to reveal.
The link speaks of ‘movement in tectonic plates’ as the ‘pralayam’ that occured in the said age, over 10,000 years ago. Hindu history gets authenticated with the date because ‘Saraswathi’ still goes for many a girl child’s name in India and Saraswathi is worshipped as Goddess of Wisdom/Learning in the country even in this 21st century. A single name gives the clue to the prevalence and usage of Sanskrit language with proper grammatical structure and hints at an advanced and mature civilization of those times.

Hinduism is not complete myth, only there is good or perhaps even substantial exaggeration at times which is fine. Why not, when one may believe in Noah’s Ark, the Immaculate Conception and in Resurrection after death of Jesus Christ?

The Kali yug is the most critical of all and it seems we as universe, are heading to the climax, with ‘adharma’ (injustice) rearing up its head like never before, with crimes soaring and with man killing man with a vengeance.
We do not know when precisely Kali Yuga will come an end – actually there are date calculations if we bother to learn. Every avatar supposedly lasted for a few millions of years.
This is copy & paste job from Quora: It shows with clarity how evolution progresses and how more evil human kind gets with each successive yuga.
  1. Matasya Avatar – > Life originated in sea , fish is the first Vertebrates
  2. Kurma – > This represents Amphibians , could survive on both and and water
  3. Varaha -> Wild land animal – complete transition from water to Land , next milestone in evolution
  4. Narasimha -> conceptualisation of Homo Sapiens , the next big thing on the part of evolution
  5. Vaman -> Short human being , Still not complete evolved
  6. Parsuram -> Living in Jungles , Started Using weapons
  7. Ram -> Moving to civil societies , learning to living as community , Various Skills developed , still not corrupt
  8. Krishna -> Society advancement in Political field , more complexity added , manipulation , greed .
  9. Budha \ Mahavir \ Balram\ Jagannath \ Mohini > On the path of enlightenment , more evolved human being , trying to find answers within (many people blasting me for incorrect representation of this avatar. Avatar is not important, the message is.)
  10. Kalki ->Human advanced to the level of self – destruction .

https://www.quora.com/How-real-are-the-10-avatars-of-Vishnu-dasavathara

Interesting discussions out there. However I believe in the 10 avatars although I may not believe in Buddha as an avatar. Balarama is who is more acceptable to me.

As for someone (Himanish Ganjoo)’s comments on everything being a loose weaving of legends, the commentator must be aware by now of the discovery of Dwarka also under the Gujarat coast.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/ramayana-actually-happened/#.cfrz6o34m

http://www.peppystory.com/articles/photographs-that-prove-the-existence-of-ramayana-1278

Another comment by ‘Anonymous’ clarifies why there are no evidences (like skeletons) excavated: for the simple reason Hindus/Indians cremated their death. Our philosophy is NOT to be a burden on Earth for an extra moment once we pass through our time in this mortal world. Nothing of us must remain on earth. Leave without evidence.

Besides, upto Ramavatar, the other avatars of Vishnu may be termed somewhat ‘pre-historic.’

No lie can be propagated without an element of truth in it for tens of thousands of years. Those faiths that were founded by mortals/individuals who commanded desert tribes and cults today are more in human memory for the reason they are recent developments and therefore it became possible to record their scientific history in a medium acceptable to us in this 21st century.  Hinduism crossed this stage long, long back that we outlived our own history and evolution into a decent society many, many times since then. We have been reborn in last 5000 years to get to where we are today.

None of this however will find its way into our history text books and none of this will be authenticated by western scholars either for obvious reasons: it debunks the Aryan-Dravidian theory and makes the semetic cultures sound feeble and foolish. Over all it makes the Indian/Hindu History morally and intellectually superior that none wants to admit to. All civilizations go through phases and India was in the grip of such a terror reign for 800 years under Islamic invaders and another 300 under the British.

Picked up this link on Takshasheela, the world’s oldest university (now in Pakistan) which is a world heritage site:

 http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/history/takshashila-the-worlds-first-and-oldest-university/

Kailasa Temple at Ajanta and Ellora Caves for instance: advanced for the age that foretells of a very mature and intelligent civilization. How many millenniums must the structure be old contrary to the archeological beliefs that it is from between 5-10th CE. While parts of the complex could date back to 5th century, the most ancient Kailasa temple belies all archeological theories and is estimated to have belonged from another age, and probably from another plane of time? Could it have been an elusive survivor from a previous catastrophe/’pralayam’ that for instance swallowed Dwarka that lies under the sea today and buried river Saraswathi?

The question raised in the documentary is whether Kailasa was then created by Aliens/supernaturals? Now we have the legend of Ravana’s ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ that could fly. So when Kailasa was indeed possible for ancient Hindus, why could not Ravan have his Pushpaka Vimana.

Could the producer of the video have been reluctant to give credit to a superior Hindu civilization that pre-dated all other civilizations and was much more advanced to be lost forever to be founded over once again – whose remnant is the Kailasa temple we have until today? This is a very much plausible and likely scenario given the findings of Dwarka and Saraswathi.

This is what the Christian/Islamic cultures/thoughts have been trying to do to Hindus/India : undermining us of our scientific genius, unwilling to give our ancestors credit for their glorious civilization and denying the world authentic Hindu history.

The Kailasa temple bears an ‘X’ mark for aerial view, which means is it from an age when someone could fly over? In an other plane of time, an other age, when legends say, Ravana took Sita in Pushapaka Vimana to Sri Lanka, does it ring like myth now to your ears (after Kailasa)? Was India’s unwritten ‘itihaas’ the real lost world?

Where on earth you have a precedent like you have in India with a culture/civilization dating back to over 10,000 years easily? Can you pin down Hinduism with an exact date of birth or founder?

If I am a proud Hindu today, this is why I am. If I believe in Pushpaka Vimanas and in Hanuman Chalisa, this is the reason. Inspite of relentless conversions and demonizing of Hindu Gods, the fact is Christians and Muslims of India have a strange attachment and belief with/to Hinduism and their Hindu ancestors. The awe of Hinduism never ceases from caressing their soul.