The document discusses the theory of evolution in the Sankhya philosophy and its comparability to Darwin's theory of evolution. It states that the Sankhya philosophy speaks of one species transforming into another through the influx of nature, which is a spiritual explanation of evolution. Good and fitting circumstances can cause man to manifest or the god to manifest in man, similar to Darwin's idea of natural selection and adaptations leading to evolution. The document explores evidence of ongoing human evolution through genetic variations and changes driven by cultural evolution, such as adaptations for lactose tolerance and bacterial resistance. It references the ideas of Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobindo that evolution may culminate in a higher state of divine consciousness or super

1. Our theory of evolution and of Akasha and Prana is
exactly what the modern philosophies have. Belief in
evolution is among our yogis and the Sankhya philosophy.
Patanjali speaks of one species being changed into
another by the infilling of nature . His explanation of
this evolution is spiritual
In the animal, man was held in abeyance; but as soon as
good circumstances came, he was manifested as man and
as soon as fitting circumstances came,
the God Manifested in Man
- Excerpts from Swami Vivekananda’s reply to the question
“Is Sankhya Thought anatgonistic with Western Science”
(The Graduate Philosophical Society of Harvard University, March 25,
1896)

2. Is
the Spiritual evolution in the Sankhya Philosophy
comparable to the
Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin?

3. A Subject of Evolution - Homo spiritualis

4. In the animal, man was held in abeyance; but as
soon as good circumstances came, he was
manifested as man and as soon as fitting
circumstances came,
the God Manifested in Man
Circumstances giving rise to changes – Adaptations
Sequential adaptations give rise to – Evolution
The process of ‘evolution’ as a result of sequential
‘adaptations’, could be termed as
‘Natural Selection’

5. ‘good circumstances’ & ‘manifestation of man’
Could be synonymic to
The Evolution of Man by way of Natural Selection
Ramapithecus
Australopithecus ramidus
Australopithecus afarensis
Australopithecus africanus
Australopithecus robustus
Australopithecus boisei
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens sapiens

6. Did or has the Human Evolution come
to a halt ?
“There’s been no biological change in humans in 40,000
or 50,000 years. Everything we call culture and
civilization we’ve built with the same body and brain”
- Stephen Jay Gould (paleontologist)
we no longer adapt to infectious diseases through natural
selection; rather, we adapt culturally through the
development of vaccines, antibiotics, and public health
policies
- advocates of human evolution having stopped

7. Rationale for the cessation of human evolution
has three fundamental flaws
• cultural evolution eliminates adaptive
evolution via natural selection
• false premise that evolution is the same as
adaptive evolution
• a neutral trait can evolve due to selection on
another trait

8. Hence, cultural change can actually spur on adaptive
evolution in humans.
Human culture has dramatically changed the relative
strengths of the evolutionary mechanisms, once
again spurring on much recent and ongoing human
evolution.
Templeton, Alan R. "Has human evolution stopped?."
Rambam Maimonides medical journal 1.1 (2010).
Departments of Biology and Genetics, Washington University,
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

9. So what are these cultural changes that spur
adaptive evolution in humans and what is
the result of it ?

10. Alvin Toffler's wave theory
• CULTURAL CHANGE 1 : The First Wave is the settled agricultural
society which prevailed in much of the world after the Neolithic
Revolution, which replaced hunter-gatherer cultures.
• CULTURAL CHANGE 2 : The Second Wave is Industrial Age society.
The Second Wave began in Western Europe with the Industrial
Revolution, and subsequently spread across the world. Key aspects
of Second Wave society are the nuclear family, a factory-type
education system and the corporation
• CULTURAL CHANGE 3 : The Third Wave is the post-
industrial society. Since the late 1950s most countries have been
transitioning from a Second Wave society into a Third Wave society.
The third wave is the Information Age.

11. Evolutionary evidences cannot be seen in the
physical framework of the current species
the Homo sapiens
but genetical variations ??

12. Lactose tolerance - the ability to tolerate the sugar,
lactose, in milk
In most parts of the world, adults are unable to drink milk because
their body switches off the intestinal production of lactase, an
enzyme that digests the sugar in the milk, after weaning.
Yet, more than 70 per cent of European adults can tolerate lactose.
they carry a regulatory change in the region of DNA that
controls the expression of the gene that codes for lactase.
This DNA change enables the lactase gene to be switched on and
lactase production to continue, even after weaning.
This genetic change appears to have happened between 5,000 and
10,000 years ago, which is around the same time domestication
of milk-producing farm animals, such as cows, was established in
Europe.

13. The Caspase-12 gene - Caspase-12 works as a part
of our immune system, responding specifically to
bacterial infection.
The active gene can result in a poorer response to bacterial
infection.
People with fully functional caspase-12 were at a much higher risk
of a fatal bacterial infection (sepsis), if bacteria entered the
bloodstream, than people with the inactive version of the gene.
In a study carried out by researchers at the Wellcome Trust
Sanger Institute in 2005, it was suggested that the caspase-
12 gene was gradually inactivated in the human population
because the active gene can result in a poorer response to
bacterial infection.

14. The 1000 Genomes Projects
The International Genome Sample Resource
launched in January 2008, was an international
research effort to establish by far the most
detailed catalogue of human genetic variation.
sequence the genomes of at least one thousand
anonymous participants from a number of
different ethnic groups
(26 groups all over the world)
Probably a way to map evolution ?

15. HAR 1 declares by its very existence that there is a
genetic distinction that makes us human. It is not in
any other creature, no other mammal.
HAR1, is part of a noncoding RNA sequence expressed
in the developing brain
8.3% of HAR substitutions are not shared between
modern humans and Neanderthals.
In-depth study of the evolutionary patterns in the
working of the Endocrine system (Pineal to
Pituitary) in nexus with the Nervous system is
warranted.

16. Information Age
In a post-industrial society, the share of the
people occupied in agriculture does not
exceed 15%, and the share of city laborers
occupied in the services sector exceeds 50%.
Thus, the share of the people occupied with
brainwork greatly exceeds the share of the
people occupied with physical work in post-
industrial society.

17. The cerebral cortex, the largest part of
the brain, is the ultimate control
and information-processing center in the
brain.
the cerebral cortex plays an important role in
Consciousness.

18. A stage in the evolutionary process called the
Homo superioris
(The Superman race ???)
• A taxonomic species within
the family Hominidae.
• ‘Hypothetical’ next evolutionary step
beyond Homo sapiens.

19. Information Age
to
Age of ‘Information Overloaded’
Technological interventions & Cultural shock
Survival of the Savviest
“too much change in too short a period of time”
Society experiences an increasing number of changes
with an increasing rapidity, while people are losing the
familiarity that old institutions (religion, family, national
identity, profession) once provided.

20. As per the theory of Natural Selection, adaptations
to particular change have to be long standing to
give raise to adaptive evolution.
Although adaptations do take place, owing to
rapid technological upgradations (that the world
has experienced in the past 2 centuries), these
adaptations are not long standing and therefore
do not give raise to observable physical
evolutionary patterns at the face of it.
So where are we heading to ?

21. Sri Aurobindo
and
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
both describe a progression from inanimate matter to a future
state of Divine consciousness.
Teilhard de Chardin refers to this as the
Omega Point,
and Sri Aurobindo as the
Supermind.
Is this a reference to the evolutionary stage of
Homo spiritualis ??

22. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
• conception of the evolution of the species, a collective
identity begins to develop as trade and the
transmission of ideas increases.
• Knowledge accumulates and is transmitted in
increasing levels of depth and complexity.
• This leads to a further augmentation of consciousness
and the emergence of a thinking layer that envelops
the earth.
• Teilhard calls the new membrane the “noosphere”
(from the Greek “nous”, meaning mind)
• The noosphere is the collective consciousness of
humanity, the networks of thought and emotion in
which all are immersed.

23. evolution will culminate in the Omega Point, a
sort of supreme consciousness.
Layers of consciousness will converge in Omega,
fusing and consuming them in itself.
The concentration of a conscious universe will
reassemble in itself all consciousnesses as well
as all that we are conscious of.
Teilhard emphasizes that each individual facet of
consciousness will remain conscious of itself
at the end of the process

24. Given the fast changing global scenario, be it ecological,
environmental, economical, social, political or what
ever,……………. is it valid to say that the effect of biotic
and abiotic factors, giving way for evolution have
increased to many folds in terms of numbers and
strength and more so is likely to grow further in the
times to come and therefore evolution will be more
profound in the future than ever before ?
If so when does this end… till we go extinct ? What will
we evolve to be ? If Intelligent Design is to be
considered, where and how does the designer expect
us to move to ? Will Religion be the place to look for
ways or answers ?

25. “As a short response to your important question, I think
the book I would commend is 'The Human
Phenomenon' by Teilhard de Chardin.”
“He envisages evolution continuing, so that humans
will evolve, becoming more intelligent and able to
change their environment.”
“Thus the human species, as such, will not last. But our
evolutionary successors will be vastly more powerful
and intelligent - in a word, more fully personal, and -
one hopes - more loving and tolerant.”
Prof. Keith Ward

26. “…the ultimate purpose of the creator is likely to
be a union of personal beings with the Self of
All (with God, who underlies all things).”
Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man

27. Prem Saran Tirumalai
Department of Botany
DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE