These texts in fact give the component by which one can reach eternity in this material world. In the material world our eternity is the glory. A virtuous person understands that he/she does not possess independence in this world. We are connected with people by familial bonds and our glory is their honor and our disgrace is their dishonor. Upon a closer view, it can be seen that actually in human society honor plays a great role. The sense of dignity which is felt by a well-reputed person cannot be changed for anything. Good reputation makes the life of a person and his/her family comfortable. Honor, thus, in the Aryan society was more valuable than wealth. For the sake of honor, people without a moment of hesitation gave their lives. The most disgraceful act of the Aryans was so called “civil death”. This ceremony was very humiliating. In the Aryan society, honored men wore ancestral jewelry, grew long hair and moustache. When a man acted inappropriately in his position, he was taken off his jewelry, got bald-headed, got his moustache and eyebrows cut off. This ceremony was very difficult to pass through. Mostly such persons left the Aryan society and became members of less developed communities. Aborigines found these persons divine but in fact they were only human driftwoods of the Aryan society. It took only a little time for such outcasts to exhibit their vicious nature. As a rule, these persons mixed with natives and eventually completely lost their pious (Aryan) nature. But natives composed legends about them and handed them down from generation to generation. The Eastern wisdom tells, “The camel, even when dead, is the burden for seven donkeys”. Similarly, these persons even though they had been expelled from the Aryan society and could not fit to live in it, for those who lived outside the Aryan society were simply gods. There are many examples when such “fallen” Aryans came to some societies and impart to local aboriginal people the knowledge that they had got and became authoritative persons alongside with gods. In some cases such an event even became the basis for the whole civilization still in existence until now. We would avoid giving specific examples in order not to raise discontent of representatives of this civilization. The greater importance is placed on the positive attention to the values of the Aryan society than the necessity for an unprepared person to accept an unusual truth requiring historical evidences. We have mentioned it only for the purpose to note this very fact as we are interested only in the ethical value system of the Aryans. Therefore, please kindly forgive us dear readers that we have not proved the above said by examples.

What is the reason for loss of sublime qualities? It usually happens under the influence of pride or lust. The guna of goodness gives rise in a person a peculiar superiority complex and it is dangerous. If a person does not use the power of mind to overcome this superiority complex (pride), he/she becomes vulnerable. Pride or, in other words, contempt to other living beings makes a person cruel. Acts of cruelty cannot keep one under the influence of the guna of goodness. One’s heart is filled with improper amount of lust which triggers degradation. This happens because the material nature has got the educational function. Once a living being in the material world overestimates some fact, the nature acts in such a way so as to devaluate it. It is a very important secret when perceived it helps a person to be fixed on the guna of goodness. The pious activity starts from the self-control when one freely accepts instructions of the Vedas as regulating principles for behavior. If one uses happiness and enlightenment coming from the guna of goodness as the privilege and the chance to humiliate and despise others, he/she degrades.

Virtuous people understand that everybody wants to realize his/her desires. But they also understand that one should not be ruled only by animal instincts because one has got the intellect. Impious people use their intellect to achieve more “perfect” methods for fulfillment of their desires but pious people use it to get relief from the claws of material miseries and have successful ending of life in the human form. What did the Aryans consider as successful ending of life? They thought it was the successful performance of their duties in accordance with their social position and reaching a higher position in the next life. Aryans’ holy scriptures state that one who has lived the life in goodness after death will go to heavenly planets and live there enjoying justly from the viewpoint of a human life nearly eternally. Heavenly planets also are located in the material world, they are simply a place where there are born virtuous people, sages, ascetics, religious people who strive for piety (they are not transcendentalists who deal only with the divine, spiritual energy). They receive rather comfortable bodies which remain healthy for life, have various mystic powers (for instance, the ability to fly, to appear in any place, to dictate desires to others and affect others’ desires, to become lighter than a feather and heavier than a planet and so on), that means that demigods have such bodies which practically do not give them any trouble. The only suffering they have got is mental anxiety. Demons constantly claim possessions, positions and powers of demigods. For this reason demigods are sometimes concerned how to maintain all these. There are multiple descriptions coming from the remote past which point out that demigods visited our planet very often and even had children with earthly women. Generally, descriptions of such events are called epics, though it is not very clear to us why ancient scriptures known as the Old Testament are accepted as descriptions of true events but similar scriptures of other nations are considered epics. This violation of principles of equal acceptance of ancient scriptures does not contribute to uncovering the truth. Meanwhile, we only acknowledge that according to the Vedic scriptures the best of the Aryans were descendants of demigods from heavenly planets.

As for people who are under protection of the guna of goodness, it can be stated that knowledge, enlightenment, modesty, soundness, justice are the best jewels of the character of such persons.

This guna appears in consciousness from the moment when one understands that dependence on feelings leads only to suffering and chaos. It is very important to understand inevitability of suffering as a consequence of uncontrolled sensual pleasures. If a living being suffering from life to life simultaneously accumulates a reserve of virtuous activities, he/she is able to accept regulating principles of behavior. This system of principles is called varnashrama-dharma. It is the basis of the social order of the Aryan society, but when misunderstood and applied incorrectly, it forms the unjust caste system of privileges and humiliation. This happens because of the wrong perception of internal values of the Aryans when there are only attempts to imitate external form of behavior. In such case in the value system of the Aryans there appear components of passion (the desire to use the system to affirm one’s own superiority) and ignorance (the system is used to apply force) which will turn it (varnashrama-dharma) into a source of suffering for those whose position is lower. And sooner or later suffering leads to rebellion which as a rule ends up breaking the system. The basis of varnashrama-dharma is knowledge and development ways given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead for harmless existence in this world and its goal is to satisfy this very Personality. That is, the Aryans were well aware that without religion there would be no piety or virtue. But by “religion” they meant the desire to satisfy the Lord. The Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 17, Verse 2) says: