According to the theory of evolution, all life on Earth began with a single-cell organism, billions of years ago which eventually evolved into ape-like creatures over millions of years, who then evolved into human beings.

Regression in evolution, like for example humans reverting to ape-like creatures, metaphorically speaking, is not permitted, and yet, this is precisely what has happened.

Today, India is perhaps a hundred years or more behind the most advanced civilization. The article demonstrates that ancient Indians possessed knowledge that the most advanced civilizations do not yet possess, or they have acquired it only in recent years which means the theory of evolution is flawed.

The Bhagvad Geeta can accommodate this flaw. The tweaked theory of evolution is, “From time to time, civilizational evolution comes under siege due to a decline in emotional excellence that may last thousands of years. Thereafter, emotional excellence begins to rise again and the civilizational evolution continues.”

Not only does the tweaked theory conform to historical observations, it explains how the world can become more peaceful. This is because emotions can be measured and a shift from negative emotions toward positive emotions can be brought about with yoga known for thousands of years.

There is a consensus in the scientific community that all life on Earth has evolved from a single-cell organism several billion years ago and that humans have evolved from ape-like creatures over millions of years.

Studies also suggest that humans first evolved in Africa and later moved to other parts ofthe world. These studies are backed up by substantial evidence.

All of these studies suggest that human capabilities have continually improved over time,side-by-side with their evolutionary progress.

For example, as humans evolved and began to walk upright, they learned how to light a fire, to hunt, and to grow food all the way to the present time when humans have mastered the science and knowhow of how to build airplanes, send spacecraft to distant planets, build powerful computers, and self-driving automobiles, harness nuclear power, etc., etc.

This explanation of evolution implies that the most advanced civilization today has to be far more advanced than any civilization of the distant past. Just compare where humanity is today and where it was just a century ago.

In the process of evolution, the theory of evolution does not permit regression of evolutionary progress, as for example, humans regressing into ape-like creatures, metaphorically speaking, but this is exactly what has happened.

In the following paragraphs, I present several examples involving a civilization from the distant past which apparently possessed knowhow not known to the most advanced civilization today or it has been developed only in recent years, thus contradicting certain aspects of the current theory of evolution. Therefore, the theory needs to be tweaked.

1. How the universe was created.

In her 2014 New York Times best-seller, “Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn,” Amanda Gefter showed that the universe came out of nothing, a void. From that nothingness of the void evolved the energy phase of the big bang event, incredibly small (about the size of Plank length, 10 -33 cm in diameter), unbelievably hot, and immensely dense some 13.8 billion years ago, which then created the universe.

Later that year, Jim Kowall, MD (Neurology, Internal Medicine), PhD (Theoretical Physics),a friend and coauthor of an earlier book on the Nature of Ultimate Reality, published his finding that only something nonphysical must have been present in the nothingness of the void and that nonphysical entity cannot be anything else but undifferentiated consciousness. That is, undifferentiated consciousness produced the energy phase of the big bang event by its own desire, which then created the universe.

Physics can explain how the energy phase of the big bang event created the universe but cannot explain how “nothing” can create “something,” the energy phase of the big bang event.

Ancient Puranic stories assert that creation requires two things: Shiva (Undifferentiated consciousness) and Parvati-Adyashakti (primordial energy). Says Shiva, Adyashakti is incomplete without me, and I am like a corpse without her. Shiva is also known by several other names: Shunya-zero, Ardhanareshwara – half-male half female.

How life was created

The Saamkhya hypothesis states that all creation, including life here on Earth, comprises of five principal elements: Prithvi (matter), Jal (water), Agni (fire, heat), Air (oxygen) and Space, which, in turn, comprises of consciousness and energy.

Saamkhya hypothesis was probably developed sometime between the Vedic period and the time of the Bhagvad Geeta which has a chapter on Saamkhya Yoga.

Successive generations of human beings have procured their consciousness and energy from their mothers, or from the cosmos, when they were born and inhaled for the first time, but from where did the first single-cell organism get its consciousness and energy? It must have been from the cosmos just as the Saamkhya hypothesis proposes.

The theory of evolution explains how humans evolved from the single-cell organism but cannot explain how the single-cell organism sprang to life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains, “When an ordinary person dies, there is a dissolution of the five principal elements, but, when an accomplished meditator enters “thukdam,” his body can remain warm and free from decomposition for many days after clinical death implying that the Earth, Water, and Fire elements have remained.” He also tells us, the universe may end one day but consciousness will remain for consciousness is eternal. His Holiness received the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1989.

Inculcation of Intuition.

Intuition is instant cognition without the benefit of the five senses and the rational mind. Modern civilizations have no means to purposefully inculcate intuition. Yogic processes exist that can enhance intuition provided the training is given at a young age. This is consequential since intuition is important to leadership as leaders are often called upon to make split-second decisions at a moment’s notice.

Sanskrit Mantras Can Bring about Positive Changes in the Human organism

The Rig Veda is the most ancient storehouse of knowledge of humanity. Scholars have found gems of wisdom in the Vedas.

One such gem is Gayatri mantra, listed in the Rig Veda, Mandala 3.62.10. A Cambridge trained scientist specializing in nuclear magnetic resonance at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi has investigated the effect of Gayatri mantra and found that it removes the asymmetry in neurochemicals between the right-half and left-half hemispheres of the human brain.

An American researcher based in Spain who specializes in brain science has published an article in Scientific American showing on the basis of MRI scans that memorizing ancient Sanskrit mantras increases the size of the brain regions associated with cognitive function. 

Ancient Indian seers developed a large number of mantras most of which remain to be scientifically investigated. They may hold the key to acquiring superhuman abilities.

CIA’s The Gateway Process

While communicating its report, “Analysis and Experience of Gateway Process” to the US Army in 1983, the Central Intelligence Agency acknowledged that the agency found it exceedingly difficult to understand why and how the process works.

The CIA report cited an ancient Indian example reflective of the profound wisdom. Said the report, “In the heaven of Indra there is said to be a network of pearls so arranged that if you look at one you see all the others reflected in it.” (The holographic principle).

The report writer continued, “I have cited this quotation because it shows that the concept of the universe which some physicists are coming to accept is identical in its essential aspects with the one known to the learned elite in selected civilizations and cultures of high attainment in the ancient world.”

The report acknowledged the choice of transcendental meditation and yogic processes as means to transcend the realm of reason for the purpose of solving problems and discussed the usefulness of audio tapes that it has developed to accelerate progress.

e =mc 2

In 1905, Albert Einstein realized that energy and matter are manifestations of the same thing. He proposed that they were related to each other through the famous equation e = mc 2 . Here, c represents velocity of light, 186,000 miles/sec. Since c is so large, a tiny amount of mass holds a tremendous amount of energy.

Since then, scientists have learned how to covert mass into energy (atom bomb) but most do not know how to transform e into m. One rare scientist who does, was the late W. A. “Bill” Tiller, renowned Professor Emeritus of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford, and a former Chair of that Department. Bill was in his nineties when he died in February 2022. He had liked my article, The Brahma Uncertainty Principle.

Indian seers have preserved the knowhow of how to transform m into e and e into m for millennia.

That said, humans can only transform one form of energy into another, but, they being creatures with differentiated consciousness, cannot create something from nothing. That privilege is reserved for the undifferentiated consciousness.

These examples are but a small sample of the accomplishments of Indians in ancient times. In contrast, modern day India is probably one hundred years behind the most modern culture.

The Bhagvad Geeta is the Missing Link

In the Bhagvad Geeta, Sri Krishna says, “All civilizations, no matter how great, eventually decline only to rise again some time later. The phenomenon of rise and decline is cyclical.” Rise and decline of civilizations occurs due to the corresponding rise and decline in emotional excellence.

Emotional excellence has nothing to do with race, religion, caste, gender or national origin.

After making profound contributions to human civilization, ancient India declined several thousand years ago, and it has only now begun to rise.

The Tweaked Theory of Evolution

The forgoing discussion leads to a tweaked theory of evolution:

“From time to time, civilizational evolution comes under siege due to a decline in emotional excellence that may last thousands of years. Thereafter, emotional excellence begins to rise again and the civilizational evolution continues.”

How the Tweaked Theory of Evolution Can Lead to a Better, More Harmonious World

The tweaked theory of evolution reveals that the X- factor for a more peaceful world is emotional excellence. Emotional excellence can be enhanced through meditation or, more generally, yoga, and since emotions can now be measured, progress can be audited. Appendices I and II shed additional light on this topic. Also, the articles listed in the References provide additional details.

The importance of emotional excellence is being recognized in America. Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence has sold 5 million copies and it has been translated into 45 languages. HBR says, Goleman’s articles on emotional intelligence are the most archived in their publication.

Emotional intelligence is the recognition of its importance in leadership and performance but the pursuit of emotional intelligence is not an intellectual exercise. Products of reason, such as sciences, laws and policies, are useful but they are inadequate. The required positive changes have to come about from within.