While the Cow was at the height of her glory and the Religion of the Aryans was developing apace along the ‘sattvic’ path of Purity and Light towards its ultimate goal-Spirituality, both the progress of Religion as well as the position of the Cow met with a great setback.

Dark adverse forces of ‘Antariksha’ inspiring and acting in close union with certain non-Aryan sects practicing low cults, consisting mostly of gross sensuality and wholesale ‘himsa’ (violence) in the form of animal sacrifices, broke in upon the serenity of the ‘sattvic’ life of the Aryans with unprecedented force and fury. Disrupting the even tenure of their life and causing violent upheavals in the Society itself, they destroyed that congenial atmosphere so necessary for any kind of genuine religious progress. This undesirable impact arrested the even growth of the Aryan Religion for a long time and the interpolations superimposed by these sects based on their own barbaric customs and obnoxious ways of life have not only marred the inner consistency of the Vedas but have also left their awkward marks affecting their future development as well.

Their aggressive attitude as reflected in their wild, coercive demands to be treated as ‘Atithi’ with fantastic privileges of a guest without any responsibility to the host, in every house they visited, struck terror in the hearts of the Aryans and harassed them beyond words. Religion, instead of being a unifying force became and oppressive power. Instead of enabling men to cross the bar or worldliness onto the open Seas of the Spirit, it came on the other hand to confine men’s lives to the backwash of superstitious customs and superficial minutiae solemnly performed.

For a while, things looked dark and foreboding as though the cults of these savage sects would extinguish forever, the light kindled by the Aryans. Although this was not to be, they had to wait till the closing of the period of the ‘Brahmanas’ (Brahmins) down to the middle of the ‘Aranyakas’, that the long-eclipsed Religion of the Aryans could free itself from this alien influence as well as from the trammels of elaborately ritualized sacrifices, innocent (like the pristine ones of old) or degenerate, (like the animal immolating of later times) and picking up the rhythm of Spiritual thought, could begin in right earnest the inquiry into the nature of ‘Brahma’, ‘Maya’, ‘Jiva’, ‘Jagat’, ‘Atma’ etc., which reached its culmination in the Upnishads. Yet, even the Upanishads are not, on the one hand, all or in every respect free from this alien influence*, and on the other, from the totally life negating attitude caused by the excesses of these cults.

In order however to understand how all this happened in the early history of the Aryans in India during this crucial and critical period, that decided to an extent its future density as well, it is necessary to know the barest essentials of the nature of Man, the World of Worlds he inhabits, the kinds of Cults followed by these Sects together with a correct understanding of the nature of God and of Spirituality.

Starting with the simple observation that Man is not merely a physical body, it may further be pointed out that neither is he a body with a mind only. For, he is a ‘Jiva’ endowed with a ‘Soul’, which although incipient at the present stage of mankind’s development, is nevertheless a part of man’s complete personality. Further, it is only through the development of this transcendental Self-called the Soul*, that Man can hope to establish union with Brahma.

Similarly, the World he inhabits is not only this gross sphere called the Earth, but also the subtle region called ‘Antriksha’, which is not, it may be pointed out, what is commonly identified thought enveloping the earth, similar to the outward atmosphere surrounding it. And just as the atmosphere is divisible into the lower troposphere and the higher stratosphere, the ‘Antariksha’ too can be further divided into the comparatively outer region called ‘Bhuvan’ or the ‘Antariksha’ proper and the inner region called ‘Swarg’ or the ordinary heaven.

[1] The ‘Antariksha’ which touches and surrounds earth is inhabited by those disembodied souls or ‘Jivatmas’ of people departed from this earth who are unable to go to higher spheres on account of their gross earthly desires and attachments to things of the world.

The ‘Swarg’ or the ordinary heaven on the other hand, is the temporary abode of those souls who have done some altruistic acts of religious merit during their life on earth with a desire however, no enjoy their fruits in the next World. Both the regions have their sub-divisions or Circles, the lowest of the ‘Antariksha’ being inhabited by evil spirits that often frequent the earth[2], while the highest of the ordinary heaven is the abode of Devas such as, Agni, Vayu, Varuna, etc.

In order to understand the vicissitudes of the Vedic religion in the course of history particularly during its early phases, and the factors responsible for it, it is essential to bear in mind that the Powers of the ‘Antariksha’, in view of their being able to remain invisible to the common people, are often in the habit of impersonating the ‘Devas’ or event god and are thus capable of playing endless mischief and causing infinite harm to people on earth[3].

* The Hindu idea of this Soul or the Atma proper is fundamentally different from the Greek concept of ‘Sukhe’, which though ordinarily translated as ‘a Soul’, is actually used for mind, as for instance, in ‘psychology’.

[1] This heaven again should also be distinguished from the highest Heaven-the divine abode of the spiritual God-the Pure Brahm in its universal, personal aspect.

[2] That such entities capable, of doing immense harm through voices and inspirations including even leading to wars among men do exist, is proved by occasional photographs of such entities haunting the auras of some persons or voices caught on a sensitive tape-recorder in the stillness of night.

[3] A Ghengis Khan for instance, at the time of setting out abroad on a career of conquest and loot and hearing from the ‘Antariksha’ to “go and destroy the Kafirs” might, believing it to be God’s voice, be led to put the entire population-men, women and children-of a defeated city to fire and sword, as recorded by history with regard to the city of Delhi.

About to depart with his loot from the city he had defeated and asked what was to be done with its population, Ghengis Khan remembering ‘the Voice’ he had heard, ordered at once to set fire to the entire city with express instructions, not to spare anyone who tried to escape the fire.

Again while ‘Antariksha’ is proverbially known for its lawlessness and anarchy, the ‘Swarg’ on the other hand, is orderly and is ruled by Indra. This Indra however, must be distinguished from any beguiling entity of the Antariksha impersonating ‘Devraj’ (king) Indra.

Nothing has created more confusion in understanding and scrupulously following religion than the failure to discriminate between voices, visions and inspirations coming from the ‘Antariksha’, but taken by the unvary, to have been wafted from the highest heaven or God.

The ‘Antariksha’ being a place for ‘Jivatmas’ immersed in low things of life, the degenerate among them are the causes of greatest disturbance on earth. They tempt men to establish communion with them and are known to have given rise to dark cults practiced by various sects from the dawn of history, down to this day. There is thus a two-way traffic between unscrupulous men on earth, trying to establish communication with these dark spirits, with a view to gain some worldly ends and such entities on the other side, trying to use them or lure unvary souls for their own purposes leading to most-difficult-to-redeem degeneration on the part of both.

Since such forces cannot establish power over people of ‘sattvic’ nature, the relinquishment of non-violence, truth, and continence is a condition precedent for membership of such cults. Again, since they relish and desire flesh-food and love sensuality, animal sacrifices and phallus-worship have been their normal paraphernalia.

The obvious explanation for the flourishing of such sects from the dawn of history down to this day is the fact that it suits the lower nature of men who are ignorant of a higher life. The other reason is that such sects being without any moral principle or scruple of conscience and possessing the extra advantage of striking the opponent from a distance with the help of such dark entities, have made themselves so formidable that to oppose them is at best to stir a hornest’nest and at worst to invite even more serious consequences.

That such entities come particularly in the way of genuine incarnations of God-the Parbrahm Ishwar functioning on earth and trying to bring spiritual enlightenment to people, can be seen from an excerpt from the ‘Puranas’, as quoted by Prof. Zimmer:

“Whenever the,. Sustainer of the world, Shri Vishnu (Bhagwan) is implored to appear in a new incarnation, the beseeching forces leave Him no peace until He condescends. Nevertheless, the moment He comes down (taking birth, on earth) self-willed demonic forces set themselves against Him. For, there are those who hate and despise Him. They have no room for Him in their systems of expansive egoism and domineering rule. These do everything within their power to hamper His career.*

*Heinrich Zimmer’ “Philosophies of India” edited by Joseph Campbell, Princeton University Press-1951, p-2