Thus, during the first quarter of the Golden Age, covering 1,000 divine years, which are equal to 360,000 lunar years, its predominant spirituality sustains itself in its full vigor. The next quarter is almost equally powerful in spirituality. But after the middle is passed, a little decline is perceptible, not so much in spirituality as in the outward habits of the people. During this period the Vedic truths reveal themselves through the mediums of the entranced minds of some of the highly illuminated men. Now, what is a Vedic truth? It is an expression in sound-form of one of the inmost laws of Nature. Before this period the Golden Age people breathe, move and have their being in these laws—as sensitive embodiments of these laws. They are, as it were, moving Vedas—human flesh-vehicles moved and manipulated from within by the basic laws of all Existence. The predominant Sattwa in its extreme purity, which is the essence of physical Nature in the Golden Age, blends with these laws so harmoniously that they form the self-acting mechanism of all motion of its materialized counterpart. So long as these people are in perfect unison with these inner laws, vibrating spontaneously with their vibrations, they are quite unconscious of the operations of these laws, or even of the laws themselves within them: so long they live as unconscious moving manifestations of the laws. But the moment they become conscious of them, then that consciousness expresses itself in the form of thoughts, and these thoughts find expression in words through the medium of some entranced minds. These are called the Eternal Truths of the Veda, truths which are the foundations and sources of all truths promulgated by the illumined sages of all climes and times ever afterwards. Just as, so long as we are perfectly healthy, we remain unconscious of our health and enjoy the blessing of health most; but when some disorder creeps into our system, we become conscious of it and feel indisposed and try to adjust its lost equilibrium. Towards the end of the third quarter of the Golden Age, a slight disorder is felt in the spiritual health of the people. Then a readjustment of the slight loss of the equilibrium is made with the aid of contemplation of the meaning of these Vedic truths which are revealed through the still perfectly spiritual souls. Before this time all of them live the truths unconsciously; now they live the truths consciously. This indicates their fall from their absolutely healthy state of spirituality. The degeneration increases with time at a very slow rate, however, for Sattwa is still predominant, although Rāja (Activity) has begun to assert itself more and more until the end of the Golden Age is reached, when the action of Rāja becomes fully perceptible.