The Zarathustrian Way
This is a way
That has brought happiness to me
Taught me a better way to see
That by thinking good thoughts
And saying good words
I shall lead myself
To do good deeds-
For the happiness of others and myself
On my path of self-realisation.
This short poem is about the Zarathushti motto-Good thoughts, good words and good deeds.I first heard of Zoroastrianism/the Zarathush-ti Way from an Iranian refugee who had a Zoroastrian grandparent. He told me that Zoroastrianism was Iran's original national religion and that its followers were kind people who honoured fire. When I went to university I choose the religion of Zarathustra as my subject for writing my Bachelor's and Master's essays.I became so impressed with this beautiful religion that I decided to keep studying it on my own and eventually I got into contact with Zoroastrian Yahoo groups that enabled me to contact personally the people whose articles I had so often read. So now this interest has become part of my way of life and part of my belief.I have read a lot of books and articles on the religion of Zarathustra written by many different people with different views.
The prophet Zarathustra, whom the Ancient Greeks called Zoroaster, is thought to have lived in a region now identified as BMAC:The Balkh-Margiana Complex before 1700 BC or possibly even earlier than this. He composed his famous Manthras : Melodious invocations, the Gathas, in Gathic Avestan which is a sister language to Vedic Sanskrit.The language of the Gathas is called Gathic and is older than the Avestan language. These five sections of seventeen beautiful songs which contain much wisdom were memorised and passed down accurately from father to son by many generations of priests before they were eventually written down.When reading them in translation, Zarathustra seems to come alive and his teachings are seen very clearly. Zarathustra tried to help the settlers who were living prosperous lives to overcome the nomads who were attacking them and stealing from them. He was against the priests who had forgotten the welfare of the people and were working just for themselves.He taught the people to think and reason for themselves and discover the truth.
The Gathas are the oldest part of the Zoroastrian Avesta. The Avesta also contains hymns to the Zoroastrian angels-the Yazatas, the Book of Prayer-the Khordeh Avesta,a set of daily prayers for the laity, other ritual texts-the rest of the Yasna of which the Gathas are a part,the Visperad, the Yasna of the Seven Chapters, the Vendidad and some short fragmants of the 21 Nasks that made up the original corpus.There are also later books called the Pahlevi Books written in Middle Persian which contain commentaries to ancient scriptures that are now lost.
It is a great pity that in the West we learn so little about the Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire (550–330 BCE) .This empire was as great as the Greek and the Roman empires but before these two empires who were greatly influenced by it. Alexander from Macedonia who conquered the Persian Empire copied much of their military and cultural greatness as he was greatly impressed by the many achievements of the Persian people. The Persian Empire was the greatest empire that the world had ever known.Its religion was Zoroastrianism, which is one reasons why it was so cultured and well-organised for Zoroastrianism is a religion where thinking is encouraged,the believer is asked to question, find out what is true and only then accept what he hears. The Persian Empire was founded by Kurush (Cyrus) the Great who was also the writer of the first Declaration of Human Rights, which is seen on the Cyrus Cylinder that is now in the British museum and a copy of it is in the UN building in New York. Cyrus's generosity to the conquored Babylonian people in the Cyrus Cylinder can be compared to what is written about him in the Bible as he liberated the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity and gave them money to rebuild their temple.He is called in the Bible the Anointed One because he liberated the Jews, the Persians are the only foreigner people that are spoken well of in the Bible and Cyrus's successors were also admired by the Jews.In the Cyrus Cylinder it is written that Cyrus gave peace and constructed buildings, allowing the people to have complete freedom to practise the religion of their birth. This is also what he did for the Jews when he allowed them to return to Israel and gave them money to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. This policy was continued by Darius the Great, one of Cyrus's successors, whose son Xerxes is said in the Bible to have married a Jewish woman called Esther.Like most of the rulers of this time, Xerxes had a harem and Esther was one of his wives that lived there but she probably had a higher standing than his other wives. You can read about her in the Book of Esther in the Bible.This was a time of great prosperity, roads and fine buildings were built, and the idea of a round dome over a square building is in fact an original Persian idea, this architectual feature is often seen today in Christian cathedrals and Muslim mosques.There was an effective postage service and excellent roads were built throughout the Persian Empire and a canal was constructed similar to the Suez Canal.The introduction of the gold Darric after Darius the Great may be said to be a forerunner of the US dollar. The peaceful nature of the Persian Empire meant that it was both cultured and creative, and the same can be said for the followers of the religion of Zarathustra today, they are over represented today as business men, doctors, scientists, musicians, singers etc
The many stone reliefs surviving in Persepolis, the city built by Darius the Great and his successor Xerxes, show Persians and their subjects in peaceful celebration, a sharp contrast to the fighting reliefs of the Romans and Babylonians.Indeed there were no slaves in the Persian Empire, Persepolis was built by paid workers, even women were paid for their work.This brings me to one more fact about Zarathustra's religion (or philosophy), in it women are equal to men.
The God of Zarathustra in the Gathas is called Ahura Mazda which can be very roughly translated as Lord of Wisdom-and as there is one word in Persian for he and she,one can say therefore that God embraces both masculine and feminine. And what is most important is that Ahura Mazda can do no evil, only good. The creative spirit/mentality of Ahura Mazda is called Spenta Mainyu-the beneficial mentality. The opposite of this is the enemy, the destructive mentality/spirit called Angra Mainyu.There are six further attributes/emanations of Ahura Mazda called the Amesha Spentas-the Beneficial Immortals-these are called
- Vohu Mano - Beneficent-Loving Mind.
- Asha Vahishta -The Highest Truth/Reality.
- Khshathra Vairya - Benevolent Power
- Spenta Armaiti -Energetic Devotion-to purpose
- Haurvatat- Self Realisation
- Ameretat -Immortality or Non-Deathness
Haurvatat and Ameretat are desired states of being; While Vohu Mano, Asha Vahishta, Spenta Armaiti and Khshatra are virtues to be developed.In keeping with gender equality, the first three -Vohu Mano, Asha Vahishta and Khshathra Vairya are male and Spenta Armaiti, Haurvatat and Ameretat are female.
We embrace Vohu Mano when we think good thoughts, we embrace Asha Vahishta when we do good deeds and we embrace Spenta Armaiti when we show love and devotion to our fellow human beings and animals . We embrace Khshathra Vairya /Benevolent Power when we act in a spirit of love and eventually we will become Haurvatat-Perfect and Whole and we will reach Ameretat -Immortality or Non-Deathness after we have died when we will become one with Ahura Mazda forever.
Traditional Zoroastrians believe in a judgement for the soul three days after death when the good deeds of the person are measured against the bad deeds.The judges are three angels, called Yazatas, who are called Mithra,Rashnu and Srosh.Mithra is the angel who watches over contracts and sees that you keep your word to all people and fulfill your promises while Rashnu is the angel of Justice and Srosh is the angel of attentive listening and he guards the soul over the 3 days after death before the soul comes to the bridge or crossing called the Chinvat Bridge on the 4th day after death.These angels have names that are associated with virtues and goodness so one can think of them also aiding the soul in its own self-judgement.When the deeds of goodness outweigh the bad deeds, then the soul will cross over into the heavens to dwell with Ahura Mazda.If both good and bad deeds are equal, then the soul will go to a middle place called Hamestegaan, but,if the bad deeds excell, then the bridge becomes narrow and the soul goes to hell. People today associate these places with states of being in the afterlife, not geographic locations. Also the Zoroastrain hell is more like the Catholic Purgatory, it is not forever. In the end, on the Day of Judgement, all souls will be forgiven and enter into everlasting happiness.This happens during a Messanic time in the future when the Saviour or Saoshyant will ressurrect the dead and make a paradise state upon the earth, this is described in detail in the Pahlevi books.This brings me to another point,that Zoroastrianism has had a big influence on Judaism and Christianity. Also each Zoroastrian soul has a previous spiritual existence and has agreed to come into the world in a physical existence or form in order to fight evil for Ahura Mazda is a God of goodness and He creates only good, he can neither create nor do evil.
Each person and every plant and animal has a spark of the Divine or guardian spirit within called a Fravashi or Farovar.Fire is a physical representation of Ahura Mazda and is very important to the Zoroastrians and there is an ever-burning fire in every temple. Also water and earth are sacred to the Zoroastrains which is why the religion of Zarathustra is kind to the environment and each Zoroastrian follower takes ecology very seriously.
When the Initiation ceremony takes place the Zoroastrian child or adult convert is dressed in white and says the Zoroastrian creed and receives a sacred shirt called a Sudra and a sacred girdle called a Kusti, both of these are white. The Zoroastrian priests are always dressed in white, it is a colour of purity and the Zoroastrian men wear a white cap in the temple and the women wear brightly coloured head scarfs in Iran.Most Zoroastrians cover their heads while in prayer as a sign of respect in India and Iran.The services are in Avestan which is a sacred language but there are also translations available so the people can understand. There are many religious festivals that are times of joy and getting together, the most important being Nouroz or the New Year.
There is a special Zoroastrian marriage ceremony and there are special prayers said for the souls of the dead. As water, earth and fire are sacred, the dead are buried in cement enclosures that seperate the body from the earth-in Iran over the last thirty or so years as the government forbade the use of the Towers of Silence-but in India the bodies are still put in the Towers of Silence where they are eaten by vultures, but this has proved problematic today because of the lack of vultures-this burial form takes place in India where the Zoroastrians are called Parsees, they are the descendents of Iranian Zoroastrians who escaped the Muslim persecutions of the past.They did this in order to preserve their religion because of the severe persecution in Iran and they faced many dangers in the journey to India until they eventually won the respect of the Hindu authorities.
The Zoroastrian religion/philosophy is a great source of goodness in this troubled world and it inspires its followers and all those who believe in it and read about it to do good works in this world, therefore I consider the Zoroastrian religion/philosophy as an excellent healing source for our world-it stands for the greatest creative good one can do with its famous motto-good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
