Re: evolution & hinduism
Although Hindu creation theory (chiefly in Srimd BhAgavatam) states that the gods were created first, then the worlds, man and only after that the animals, birds, and plants, Hinduism believes in evolution--not of the physical form but of the spirit, or rather the consciousness of the individual soul.
The Hindu view of evolution takes into account the truth of reincarnation. Thus an individual soul takes birth among lakhs of physical forms and 'evolves' towards Self-Realization. When Hinduism says that man has six senses, the animal kingdom has just five and the vegetable kingdom less than that, what is meant is that the consciousness of the Self is veiled by various levels of density of matter--the smaller the number of senses, the less the channels of consciousness for the Self to assert itself.
This is the reason that Hinduism regards human birth as the highest and most suitable for Self-Realization, and exhorts the humans towards it through 'shravaNa, manana, nididhyAsa' and satsangha (learning, chiefly through listening, contemplation of what is heard and read, meditation and keeping the company of the wise).
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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