Swami Vivekananda on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

There are some religions which do not approve of Theory of Evolution of Charles Darwin. In fact Church had to correct its position that Sun rotates around Earth after scientific discoveries and history of Church is history of religions running away from scientific truths. Most of such religions full of dogma wants “believers” to put “faith” in whatever is written somewhere; perhaps wanting us to ignore scientific discoveries and facts. But Hinduism never asks us to keep "faith" on anything and there is no concept of believers and non-believers in Hinduism.

Swami Vivekananda asked us to experiment and he asked for "direct experience" (pratyaksha anubhuti). He said there is no reason why religious principles should not be in consonance with modern science. I have also read C. Rajgopalachari who clearly declared - any religion which can't be tested by science can't be called true religion. I have seen many people from some other religions avoiding any talk about scientific facts. (some used to believe something like that universe rotated around earth and moon, stars were but dev vimaans (space carriers) - how false they were proven by science?) So I normally believe these are sects with partial truths and these stop one step behind the ultimate truth that we are all on our journey which will end with Atman becoming one with Paramatman. I have read about Adwaita, also Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna and Paramhansa Yogananda's autobiography and some other books. I know of some theories mainly by atheist religions like Jainism which say there is no God and these stop one step before what Advaita says about Paramatman and Moksha. These are considered half-truths by many and many consider them to have taken basic philosophy from Sanatan Dharma but gotten away deviating into other paths because of incorrect understanding of followers. Many of their theories are proven wrong by modern science and many can be challenged logically.

One such controversial topic is the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. I think Christianity and many other religions don’t approve it.

From what I have read Hinduism agrees with Darwin's theory of evolution and Vishnu's 10 avataras is exactly what Darwin said in that order. Even Swami Vivekananda agrees many times (I read him answering many times) that Darwin's theory is right. Here is a portion just to prove that Darwin was right:

"These technological advances were at once used to test Darwin’s hypothesis. The more it was explored the louder was the judgment in favour of Evolution! Here are some important findings. All living creatures use the same set of 20 amino acids to build their proteins. The DNA code for these amino acids is the same in all of them. For example ‘UUU’ codes for the amino acid Phenyl alanine, in bacteria, in fungi, in plants, in crustaceans, in fish, in mammals and be-it-any species! This clearly demonstrates that the blueprint for all living creatures was derived from one or few common ancestors. It doesn’t stop there. Analysis of DNA samples from different species shows direct relationship between the extent of resemblance and the proximity of their relationship in the ladder of evolution. For example human DNA is 96% similar to that of the chimpanzees, 75% similar to that of the dogs and 33% similar to that of the daffodils! This clearly shows that we are more closely related to chimpanzees than dogs or daffodils. Darwin was more than right again!"

Taken from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/11795254/Vedanta-and-Evolution-Vedanta-Kesari-Jan-2009

Swami Vivekananda makes a very important point about difference between the order of evolution in animal kingdom Vs order of evolution in human beings.

Swami Vivekananda says, "In the animal kingdom we really see such laws as struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, etc., evidently at work. Therefore Darwin's theory seems true to a certain extent. But in the human kingdom, where there is the manifestation of rationality, we find just the reverse of those laws. For instance, in those whom we consider really great men or ideal characters, we scarcely observe any external struggle. In the animal kingdom instinct prevails; but the more a man advances, the more he manifests rationality. For this reason, progress in the rational human kingdom cannot be achieved, like that in the animal kingdom, by the destruction of others! The highest evolution of man is effected through sacrifice alone."

Take from: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_7/Conversations_And_Dialogues/VIII