INDIA: THAT LAND of mystery. It is a place where the spiritual arts flourish and the material arts wane. It is a country where nearly all life is held sacred, yet millions starve. To many people, the nation of India and the religion of Hinduism seem almost inseparable, as though they were created together and together they may one day die. The Hindu religion is adhered to by nearly 85% of India's almost 800 million population, yet the India we have come to know and most of the religion it practices today were not created in India at all. The caste system, the majority of the Hindu gods, the Brahmin rituals, and the Sanskrit language were all brought in and imposed on the Indian people by foreign invaders many centuries ago.
Somewhere between 1500 B.C. (the time of Thutmose in in Egypt) and 1200 B.C. (the time of Moses), the Indian subcontinent was invaded from the northwest by tribes of people known as "Aryans." The Aryans made themselves India's new ruling class and forced the native Indians into a servient status.
Precisely who the Aryans were and exactly where they came from is a puzzle still debated today. Historians have generally used the word "Aryan" to denote those peoples who spoke the Indo-European languages, which include English, German, Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, and Sanskrit. "Aryan" also has a narrower racial meaning. It has quite often been used to designate mankind's non-Semitic white-skinned race.
There are many theories about where Aryans first came from. A common hypothesis is that Aryans originated in the steppes (plains) of Russia. From there they may have migrated to Europe and down into Mesopotamia. Others believe that the Aryans arose in Europe and migrated eastward. Some theorists, occasionally for racist reasons, claim that Aryans were the founders of the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations and were therefore the world's first civilized peoples. This theory was promoted during the brutal Nazi regime of Germany to bolster its "Aryan supremacy" idea. The Nazis even claimed that Aryans were originally created by godlike superhumans from a different world. A similar belief was expressed earlier in history. When Spanish conqueror, Pizarro, invaded South America in 1532, the South American natives referred to the Spanish invaders as Viracochas, which meant "white masters." Native legends in South America told of a master race of huge white men who had come from the heavens centuries before. According to the legends, those "masters" had reigned over South American cities before disappearing again with a promise of return. The South American natives thought that the Spaniards were the returning Viracochas and so they initially allowed the Spaniards to seize the Americans' gold and treasures without resistance.
Whatever the true origin of the Aryan race may or may not have been, many religious and mystical beliefs have been expressed throughout the world about the supposed superiority of the Aryan race over other races. Such beliefs are sometimes labelled "Aryanism." Aryanism is the elevation of white-skinned Aryans over other races based on the notion that Aryans are the "chosen" or "created" race of "God" (or Custodial "gods"), and Aryans are therefore - spiritually, socially and genetically superior to all other races. Considering the dismal purpose for which mankind was reportedly created, Aryanism would simply mean that Aryans were, at best, superior slaves. There is little glory in that. Other races, however, such as the Japanese, also possess similar legends of having been born of extraterrestrial "gods."
Aryanism should be distinguished from simple pride in racial heritage. It is natural for people to group together on the basis of common heritage, interests, or aesthetics. Every such group tends to have a certain amount of pride in the thing which holds them together. This will be true of stamp collectors joining a philatelic society or of black people participating in a black consciousness group. People will band together on the basis of almost anything they find mutually important or enjoyable. There is no harm in people feeling pride in their racial heritage. The harm comes when this pride turns into prejudice against those who do not share the same traits. After all, skin color is ultimately superficial. When we recognize individuals as spiritual beings, the bodies they animate become no more important than the cars they drive. Despite this, racial distinctions are one of the easiest ways to polarize people into factions. Racism has been one of the most successful tools used on Earth to keep humans disunited. The type of Aryanism described above has contributed greatly to this polarization and has done much to promote the nonstop racial conflicts which have plagued mankind throughout history.
Not all Brotherhood organizations had an Aryan tradition. In the many that did, being an Aryan was considered vital to spiritual recovery. This belief hastened materialism by twisting the urge for spiritual survival into yet another obsession with the body, this time concerning skin color. The fact is, skin color appears to have no bearing whatsoever upon one's inherent spiritual qualities, or upon one's ability to achieve spiritual salvation.
The Aryans invaded India just before monotheism was created in the Brotherhood, but at a time when the Brotherhood had already begun sending out missionaries - and conquerors. In India, the Aryan conquerers established a complex religious and feudal system known today as "Hinduism." Hinduism proved to be yet another branch of the Brotherhood network. Some Brotherhood organizations in the Middle East and Egypt maintained close ties with the Aryan leaders in India and frequently sent students to be educated by them. Because of the Aryan invasion, India became an important world center of Brotherhood network activity and remains so today.
The Aryan leaders of India claimed obedience to the same type of space age Custodial "gods" found in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Many of the humanlike "gods" worshipped by the Aryans were called "Asura." Hymns and devotions to the Asura are found in a large collection of Hindu writings known as the Vedas. Many Vedic descriptions of the Asura are intriguing. For example, the Hymn to Vata, god of wind, describes a "chariot" in which the god travels. This "chariot" has a remarkable similarity to Old Testament descriptions of Jehovah. The first four lines of the Hymn declare:
Now Vata's chariot's greatness!
Breaking goes it,
And thunderous is its noise.
To heaven it touches,
Makes light lurid [a red fiery glare], and whirls dust
upon the earth.'
The rest of the Hymn describes wind in a very literal and recognizable manner. The four lines quoted above, however, seem to describe a vehicle which travels rapidly into the sky, makes a thunderous noise, emits a fiery light and causes dust to whirl on the ground, i.e., a rocket or jet airplane.
Other remarkable translations of the Vedas have been published by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKC), a worldwide Hindu sect founded in 1965 by a retired Indian businessman and devoted to the Hindu deity, Krishna. ISKC translations depict ancient Hindu "gods" and their human servant kings traveling in spaceships, engaging in interplanetary warfare, and firing weapons which emit powerful beams of light. For example, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Sixth Canto, Part 3, we read:
One time while King Citraketu was travelling in outer
space on a brilliantly effulgent [shining] airplane
given to him by Lord Vishnu [the chief Hindu god],
he saw Lord Siva [another Hindu god].. ..
The Srimad Bhagavatam tells of a "demon" race which had invaded three planetary systems. Opposing the demons was the Hindu god Siva, who possessed a powerful weapon that he fired at enemy airships from his own:
The arrows released by Lord Siva appeared like fiery
beams emanating from the sun globe and covered the
three residential airplanes, which could then no longer
be seen.2
If accurate, these and other translations of the Vedas give us humanlike "gods" centuries ago who cavorted in whizzing spaceships, engaged in aerial dogfights, and possessed fatal beam weapons.
As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, many Hindu gods were obvious fabrications and the apparently real "gods" had an enormous mythology woven about them. Behind the blatant fictions, however, we find important clues regarding the character of mankind's Custodial rulers.- Hindu writings indicate that people of diverse races and personalities made up the Custodial society, just as they do human society. For example, some "gods" were portrayed with blue skin. Others displayed a kinder and more benevolent attitude toward human beings than others. By the time of the Aryan invasion, however, the oppressive ones were clearly the dominant ones. This was evident in the social system imposed on India by the Aryans. That system was unmistakably designed to create human spiritual bondage. As elsewhere, this bondage was partially accomplished by giving spiritual truths a false twist. The result in India was a feudalistic institution known as the "caste" system.
The Aryan caste system dictates that every person is born into the social and occupational class (caste) of the father. An individual may never leave that caste, regardless of the individual's talent or personality. Each stratum has its own trades, customs, and rituals. Members of the lowest caste, who are known as "outcasts" or "untouchables," usually perform menial work and live in abject poverty. Untouchables are shunned by the higher classes. The highest castes are the rulers and Brahman priests. During the Aryan invasion, and for a long time thereafter, the highest castes were composed of, naturally, the Aryans themselves. The caste system is still practiced in India today, although it is no longer quite as rigid as it once was and the plight of the untouchables has been eased somewhat. In northern and some parts of western India, the lighter-skinned Indians who descended from the original Aryan invaders continue to dominate the upper castes.
Force and economic pressures were the initial tools used by the Aryan invaders to preserve the caste system. By the 6th century B.C., distorted religious beliefs emerged as a third significant tool.
The Hindu religion contains the truth that a spiritual being does not perish with the body. Hinduism teaches that upon the death of the body, a spiritual being will usually search out and animate a newly-born body. This process is often called "reincarnation" and results in the phenomenon of so-called "past lives." Many people are capable of recalling "past lives," sometimes in remarkable detail.
Evidence accumulated from modern research into the phenomenon of "past lives" indicates that highly random factors usually determine which new body a spiritual being takes on. Such factors may include a person's location at the time of death and the proximity of new bodies (pregnancies). Whether a person chooses a male or female body may depend upon how happy she or he was in the life just ended. Because of these variables, the taking of a new body by a spiritual being is a largely random and unpredictable activity in which sheer chance often plays a role. The Aryan religion distorted an understanding of this simple process by teaching the erroneous idea that rebirth ("reincarnation") is governed by an unalterable universal law which dictates that every rebirth is an evolutionary step either toward or away from spiritual perfection and liberation. Each Hindu caste was said to be a step on this cosmic staircase. If people behaved according to the laws and duties of their caste, they were told that they would advance to the next higher caste at their next rebirth. If they failed in their duties, they would be born into a lower stratum. Spiritual perfection and freedom were achieved only when a person finally reached the highest caste: the Brahmans. Conversely, the caste into which a person was born was considered an indication of that person's spiritual development, and that alone justified whatever treatment the person received.
The purpose of such teachings is clear. The caste system was designed to create a rigid feudalistic social order similar to the one created in Egypt under the pharaohs, but carried to an even greater extreme in India.
Hindu reincarnation beliefs accomplished two other Custodial aims. Hinduism stressed that obedience was the principle ingredient bringing about advancement to the next caste. At the same time, Aryan beliefs discouraged people from making pragmatic attempts at spiritual recovery. The myth of spiritual evolution through a caste system hid the reality that spiritual recovery most probably comes about in the same way that nearly all personal improvement occurs: through personal conscious effort, not through the machinations of a fictitious cosmic ladder.
Symbolism had a limited, yet important role in Hinduism. One of Hinduism's most important mystical emblems is the swastika—the "broken cross" symbol which most people associate with Naziism. The swastika is a very old emblem. It has appeared many times in history, usually in connection with Brotherhood mysticism and in societies worshipping Custodial "gods." While its exact origin is unknown, the swastika appeared already in ancient Mesopotamia. Some historians believe that the swastika may have also existed in India before the Aryan invasion. This is possible because several pre-Aryan cities of India were engaged in trade with other parts of the world, including Mesopotamia. Whatever its origin may have been, after the Aryans invaded India, the swastika became a prominent symbol of Hinduism and Aryanism.
As for the swastika's meaning, we discover that the swastika was a symbol of good luck or good fortune. It is ironic, therefore, that nearly every society using it has suffered rather calamitous misfortune. An intriguing study of the swastika was published in 1901 in the Archaeological and Ethnological Papers of the Peabody Museum. According to the author, Zelia Nuttall, the swastika was probably related to stargazing. Ms. Nuttall points out that the swastika has appeared in civilizations with a developed science of astronomy and has been associated with calendar-making in some ancient American civilizations. On page 18 of her article, the author states:
The combined midnight positions of the Ursa Major or Minor [two constellations visible from Earth, usually called the "Big Dipper" and "Little Dipper," respectively], at the four divisions of the year, yielded symmetrical swastikas, the forms of which were identical with the different types of swastika or cross-symbols ... which have come down to us from remote antiquity. …
Because of the swastika's frequent association with Custodial "gods," it may have begun as a symbol representing the home civilization of Earth's Custodial masters somewhere within the Big or Little Dipper.
Hinduism is a curious religion in many ways. It tends to absorb and incorporate almost any new religious ideas imposed upon it, but without throwing away the old ideas. For this reason, the Hinduism of today is actually a mishmash of several major religions which had swept through India in the past, such as the Aryan religion which still predominates, and Buddhism and Mohammedism which both arrived later. There is evidence that a tradition of wisdom existed in India long before the Aryan invasion and that that tradition also constitutes a portion of the Vedas.
The Aryans' violent gods, strange mystical practices, and oppressive feudalism did not go unchallenged. In the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, we noted the attempt of early Homo sapiens to obtain the knowledge they needed to escape enslavement. In the seventh century B.C., another attempt was made. A popular nonviolent movement emerged in India to challenge the Aryan system. This movement was one of the few major efforts by human beings to replace Custodial religions with practical methods designed to bring about spiritual freedom. The leaders of the new movement wanted to replace garbled mysticism and blind faith with a realistic approach to spiritual recovery rooted in tested principles, much like the approach used by the original uncorrupted Brotherhood. For lack of a better term, I will refer to this pragmatic type of religion as "maverick" * religion. Maverick religions are those which have broken from Custodial dogma and have attempted a practical or scientific approach to spiritual salvation. Although no maverick religion in the past brought about wide-scale spiritual recovery, they nonetheless kept the hope alive while perhaps pointing out a few of the steps needed to get there.
- pages 94-101, The Gods of Eden, by Willaim Bramley
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