Varuna (water), Surya the sun and Kama the god of passion.  These gods lived in Indra’s heaven, a region above the world but lower than Vaikuntha, the heaven of Vishnu.  Dancing-girls and musicians lived with them and the whole heaven resembled a majestic court on earth.  From this heaven the gods issued from time to time intervening in human affairs.  Demons, on the other hand, were their exact opposites.  They represented powers of evil, were constantly at war with the gods and took vicious pleasure in vexing or annoying the good.  Below gods and demons were men themselves.

In this three-tiered universe, transmigration of souls was still the basic fact but methods of obtaining release were now much clearer.  A man was born, died and then was born again.  If he acted well, did his duty and worked ceaselessly for good, he followed what was known as the path of dharma or righteousness.  This ensured that at each succeeding birth he would start a stage more favourably off than in his previous existence till, by sheer goodness of character, he qualified for admission to Indra’s heaven and might even be accounted a god.  The achievement of this status, however, did not complete his cycle, for the ultimate goal still remained.  This was the same as in earlier centuries—­release from living by union with or absorption into the supreme Spirit; and only when the individual soul had reached this stage was the cycle of birth and re-birth completed.  The reverse of this process was illustrated by the fate of demons.  If a man lapsed from right living, his second state was always worse than his first.  He might then be born in humble surroundings or if his crimes were sufficiently great, he became a demon.  As such, his capacity for evil was greatly increased and his chances of ultimate salvation correspondingly worsened.  Yet even for demons, the ultimate goal was the same—­release from living and blissful identification with the Supreme.

Dharma alone, however, could not directly achieve this end.  This could be done by the path of yoga or self-discipline—­a path which involved penances, meditation and asceticism.  By ridding his mind of all desires and attachments, by concentrating on pure abstractions, the ascetic ’obtained insight which no words could express.  Gradually plumbing the cosmic mystery, his soul entered realms far beyond the comparatively tawdry heavens where the great gods dwelt in light and splendour.  Going “from darkness to darkness deeper yet,” he solved the mystery beyond all mysteries; he understood, fully and finally, the nature of the universe and of himself and he reached a realm of truth and bliss, beyond birth and death.  And with this transcendent knowledge came another realization—­he was completely, utterly, free.  He had found ultimate salvation, the final triumph of the soul.’[5] Such a complete identification with the supreme Spirit, however, was not easily come by and often many existences were required before the yogi could achieve this sublime end.