As already suggested, the Golden Age conditions of Nature are the physical manifestation of a higher sphere. According to the Hindoo Scriptures there are Seven Spheres (Lokas) or Heavens. People in the West speak of the Seventh Heaven. Few know where the expression has come from, fewer that it has come from the Hindoos who believe in the Seven Heavens. The first is the Earth. (Bhur) which is counted as a heaven because heavenly joys can be tasted on the earth plane. Above the Earth is the Bhuba Sphere, the Second Heaven. Above Bhuba is Swar the Third; above Swar is Mahar the Fourth; above Mahar is Jana the Fifth; above Jana is Tapa the Sixth, and above Tapa is the Satya Loka (Seventh). The Golden Age state of the earth is but a reflection of this Satya Sphere on it's Sattwa (Transparently Illuminated) surface. The men and women are angels on earth meet and have communications with gods and angels; and at times even Brahmā, the Shiva, the Destroyer, and Vishnoo the preserver, come down on earth and hold converse with these perfectly pure human beings. Earth then is "Heaven Below," and it is hard to tell, when men mingle with the gods and angels when the latter come down to meet them, which are the gods and angels and which are the men.
Saint John's Revelation 21 in the Holy Bible attempts to give some glimpse of this picture of the Golden Age:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
"2. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
"4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."
What St. John describes as "a new heaven and a new earth" is the illuminated heaven and earth—illuminated by Sattwa, which destroys the darkness (Tama) of the preceding Kali (Iron) Age which pervades Nature during its sway. The "holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven," is the reflection of the Satya Loka (the Heaven of Truth), which comes down as it were and mirrors itself on earth. The Golden Age earth is really a bride adorned for her husband, God, for, in the Hindoo Scriptures, Earth has been called the Bride of Vishnoo (God). The meaning of the third verse can be more easily understood as it speaks of the spiritual condition of the Golden Age I have described already.
The fourth verse supports the fact of the unbroken peace and happiness which dwells on earth during the Golden Age. Men know no sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. They are happy and are ever filled with joy. "And there shall be no more death"—this is very important testimony to the one statement in the Hindoo Scriptures about the Golden Age men and women which is more apt to be discredited than any other. In them it is said that in the Golden Age men and women can live for one hundred thousand years and die at will, which is corroborated by St. John, who says, "and there shall be no more death." Life in the Golden Age, say the Hindoo Books, is sustained by the marrow of the bones; man lives as long as there is marrow in his bones. Death and disease are caused by accumulation of sin, which is the result of improper, unnatural living, living, that is, in violation of Nature's spiritual laws. The Golden Age men live in absolute harmony with these laws, and are therefore liable neither to death nor to disease. Men are filled, in this age, "in full measure of virtue" and sin has no place in it, not a trace of it anywhere.
This is the state of Nature and human society which is reproduced in the beginning and first quarter of every Golden Age, which forms the first largest section of every Divine Cycle. This is real Universal Brotherhood, the union of soul to soul being brought about by the general recognition of the One Spirit which is the root, sustenance and life of all manifestations in Nature. Spirit only makes man brotherly, and the feeling of the One and the Same spirit is the source of true brotherhood, and until One Love is for all, souls shall be separated and countries will war with countries. Every one in the Golden Age looks upon every one else as himself, as it were. It is more than Ideal Brotherhood in this state of society; it is real, practical, spontaneous brotherhood, brought about by the Attribute of Illumination having full play within all created matter, objects and beings. They are united from within, not through outside forces, and so close and natural is the union that they do not realize that it is anything unusual at all, even in the deep demonstrations of spontaneous love which they feel for one another.
If such is the high state of perfection which men attain in the Golden Age, the animal and the vegetable kingdoms also share the benefit of the predominance of illumination in Nature, of which men and animals and vegetation are but different phases of manifestations. We have read in the so-called fables and fairy-books of a time in which animals were wont to speak, and as in our day they do not speak at all, we regard such statements and stories as myths. But they are not myths, however absurd they may strike us, viewed from our practical experiences of animals in our Kali Age life. If the animals of this Kali (Dark) Age cannot speak, that is no reason why animals of an enlightened age should not be able to speak. But this is what forms the chief difficulty in the way of our believing in such stories. We have been hypnotized by our conceit into believing that ours is the most enlightened age and that we are far ahead in enlightenment and advancement of intellect of our remote ancestors of, what we complacently term, the "primitive" ages, meaning thereby ages in which men were either savages or half-savages. If this were true, the animals of those ages could be imagined as worse in habits, powers and instincts than those of our "advanced" age. Alas, however, it is not true! Our remotest ancestors, whom we, in our dense ignorance of facts of that remote past, love to call savages, were such giants in intellect, spirituality and moral force that our average best spiritual, intellectual and moral men cannot be compared with them. We are indeed fast losing our moral depth which was the sheet-anchor of their character. Why? Because our minds are getting more and more dense than those of even the near past, not to speak of those of the remote ages. Why? Because Nature herself is getting denser and denser every day with the growing influence of Tama (Darkness) which is the ruling attribute of this Iron Age. We are the products of Nature—we all, men and beasts and trees and grass. Our density is to be traced to our parent—Dame Nature. This growing density which pervades our minds is daily making us less spiritual and intellectual than our forefathers. No wonder it has affected the body and senses of animals as well.