Evolution in the Bhagavad-gita

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation." The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you, and thus, by cooperation between men and demigods, prosperity will reign for all. In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], will supply all necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.

- Bhagavad-gita 3.10-12

I am in everyone's heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular deity. Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.

- Bhagavad-gita 7.21-22

Those who are devotees of other gods and who worship them with faith actually worship only Me, O son of Kuntī, but they do so in a wrong way.

- Bhagavad-gita 9.23

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.

- Bhagavad-gita 18.66

My Commentary:

This may be understood as the stages of evolution of an individual through progressive levels of realization in one lifetime or over a number of lifetimes; as the stages of evolution of religious/metaphysical thought of a culture over many generations; or as the evolution of an idea in Sri Krishna's exposition in Bhagavad-gita.

Initially Krishna tells Arjuna, and the more general audience of humanity, to worship the demigods in order to achieve the necessities of life. This is directed at those whose concept of the self is firmly rooted in the body, and whose concept of existence is limited to the phenomenal world and the duration of time between birth and death. For those people they should practice some religious faith which relates to this conception of reality.

Krishna then explains that he gives them this faith, so that they may practice this religion. Therefore this religion is not to be dismissed or dismantled. It is always necessary and beneficial for these people.

However, Krishna also explains that ultimately He is behind this idea or reality of the demigods. The demigods are not an ultimate reality, therefore whether or not they exist in an objective sense is an immaterial debate, as their existence is not concrete: "Whatever exists does not change, and whatever changes does not really exist." (Bhagavad-gita 2.16).

Krishna then goes on to condemn the idea of demigod worship, or rather to extend it by revealing this flaw. The demigods are not real (in the sense of the definition given in Bg.2.16). The Supreme Absolute Truth, Sri Krishna, is.

Finally Krishna gives the ultimate recommendation: to abandon all varieties of religion and simply surrender directly to the Supreme Lord.

Individually and collectively, living entities pass through the different stages of evolution demonstrated by the evolution of this idea in Bhagavad-gita. Worship of the demigods is encouraged (by Sri Krishna and by a culture based on the principles He outlines in Bhagavad-gita) for the faithless. And further development of their faith and understanding from that point is a natural stage of spiritual evolution.

C.S. Lewis recognized polytheism as a favorable spiritual development toward ultimate realization. [citation needed] I read that an article about him somewhere (not his wikipedia entry, it seems), then re-read his book from the Chronicles of Narnia "The Horse and His Boy" [wikipedia]. While a metaphor for Christian monotheism, in Lewis' book Aslan (who represents God) commands a prince from an Eastern land to return to his kingdom and stand in the temple of Tash (their local Deity) "before the altar at the time of the autumn feast". Aslan then commands him to live within a ten mile radius of the temple and not leave it (otherwise he will be turned into a donkey).

Through this, Lewis recognizes that each person must worship according to the faith they have, but not be so zealous as to impose that faith on others through force. Worshiping Tash is good for the prince, but the combination of this faith with his war-mongering nature is not good.