Origins and Sanctity of Life

Some Hindus also accept evolution as an explanation of how human bodies developed. Belief in a spiritual dimension to life does not necessarily mean rejecting a scientific account of bodily origins. To understand this, it helps to distinguish the body from the spiritual self.

The body and the spiritual self

Hindu teachings distinguish the physical body from atman, the spiritual self or soul. A living being is therefore more than its material body.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches Arjuna about the relationship between the body, the soul and God. Bhagavad Gita 2:17 states: “No one can cause the destruction of the imperishable soul.” The body can be harmed and eventually dies, but the atman cannot be destroyed. This gives human existence a spiritual dimension that is not limited to one physical lifetime.

The soul’s indestructibility does not make bodily life unimportant. Rather, a living body is the dwelling place of a spiritual being and should be treated with respect.

Why life is sacred

Sanctity of life means that life is sacred, with a value beyond its usefulness to other people. In Hindu teaching, this is connected to the presence of atman: spiritual life is not restricted to humans but is present in all living beings.

Bhagavad Gita 18:61 teaches: “The Supreme Lord dwells in the hearts of all living beings.” It also describes souls inhabiting bodies made of material energy, with their wanderings directed according to their karma. Karma concerns actions and their consequences. Bodily existence is therefore understood within a spiritual relationship between the soul, God and the consequences of actions, rather than simply as an accidental physical event.

The two verses make connected but distinct points. 2:17 concerns the indestructibility of the soul; 18:61 concerns God’s presence in all living beings. Together, they provide reasons to respect life. If an animal also has atman and God dwells within it, its life cannot be dismissed as spiritually worthless merely because it is not human. This helps explain the importance of avoiding harm in Hindu ethics.

Darwin’s explanation of evolution

Evolution explains how living populations change over many generations. Charles Darwin published his account of evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species in 1859. His observations of animals, including birds on the Galápagos Islands, helped him develop an explanation of how organisms become suited to different environments.

The mechanism is natural selection. Individuals within a population differ. Some differences are inherited, and some make survival and reproduction more likely in a particular environment. Individuals with those advantages are more likely to leave offspring, which can inherit the advantageous characteristics. Over many generations, those characteristics can become more common.

For example, suppose birds vary in their inherited beak shapes. Where the available food is easier to eat with one particular beak shape, birds with that shape may survive and reproduce more successfully. Their offspring can inherit it. The population gradually changes; an individual bird does not choose to grow a different beak.

Evolution places human bodily origins within the development of animal life, rather than requiring humans to have appeared separately in their present form. It explains changes in living populations, not how the first life originally began.

Dawkins and a non-religious understanding of life

Richard Dawkins is a scientist and atheist who supports Darwin’s explanation of evolution. He rejects the idea that a creator God planned human existence and rejects belief in an immortal soul given by God. In this view, humans belong to the animal world, and their origins can be explained through natural processes rather than a divine plan.

There are two claims to distinguish here. Evolution is a scientific explanation of biological development. Atheism is a belief about whether God exists. Dawkins connects the two, arguing against the need for a creator, but accepting evolution does not automatically mean accepting all his religious conclusions.

Comparing the explanations

The central contrast is between an account of life with a spiritual dimension and an account that does not require one. Hindu creation accounts connect human origins with divine activity, while teachings about atman and God address spiritual identity, purpose and sacred value. Evolution explains how physical characteristics develop across generations.

This distinction matters when judging whether the explanations conflict. Evolution challenges an account in which humans appeared separately and unchanged in their present form. However, explaining how bodies developed does not by itself settle whether those bodies have atman or whether God works through natural processes. Some Hindus therefore accept evolution while retaining their spiritual beliefs. Dawkins’s rejection of a creator and an immortal soul conflicts more directly with those beliefs than the biological mechanism alone does.

Equally, belief in atman does not describe the biological mechanism of natural selection. A justified comparison should identify which question each explanation answers, rather than assuming that explaining the body has also answered every question about life’s meaning.

• Human origins: many Hindus attribute creation to Brahma; one account describes him splitting into male and female. Other accounts name Prajapati or creation at Vishnu’s command. Some Hindus accept evolution.
• Atman: the indestructible spiritual self, present in all living beings.
• Bhagavad Gita 2:17: no one can destroy the imperishable soul.
• Bhagavad Gita 18:61: God dwells in the hearts of all living beings; souls inhabit material bodies and their wanderings relate to karma.
• Sanctity of life: atman and divine presence give reasons to respect human and other living beings.

Darwin and Dawkins

• Darwin: On the Origin of Species, 1859; evolution through natural selection.
• Inherited variation → differences in survival and reproduction → advantageous characteristics become more common over generations.
• Dawkins: supports evolution; rejects a planned creation by God and an immortal, God-given soul.

Essential distinction

Evolution explains biological development; Hindu teachings also address spiritual origins, identity and sacred value. Some Hindus accept both evolution and spiritual beliefs. Evolution and atheism are not identical.