Zarathustra's message to humanity-4

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The Ahunavaity Gatha- Yasna 30 verses 1 to 11

Zarathustra begins preaching.

Now, to those eager shall I speak of the two, (principles/beings/forces)
O Mazda, all these teachings are for the wise;
and I shall sing hymns to Ahura,
and praises for Pure Mind;
I shall reveal the sacred lore of Righteousness,
so that you all may attain perfection in the Realms of Light!

Now listen with your ears to the highest truths,
consider these with an illumined mind,
before deciding between the two choices,
each man for himself;
before this great call
awake ye each one and spread this word!

Now, in the beginning there were two Mainyus, (beings/mentalities/forces/principles)
who had revealed themselves as twins
and in their thoughts, and in their words
and also in their deeds, these two
show themselves Good and bad;
and of these two the wise chose right, not so the unwise!

Now, when these two Mainyus come together
they created first, before everything else,
the one (created)Life and the other Not-Life;
and thus shall be fulfilled Creation's plan-
the worst for the followers of untruth,
but for the truthful, the Best (Supreme) Mind!

Of these the twin Mainyus,
he, the false one, chose doing the worst actions,
but the Holiest Spirit embraced Truth;
whoso chooses to wear Imperishable Light,
and whoso would please Ahura,
through deeds of truth, let him make a path to Mazda!

Of the two, the Daevas (the wicked) chose falsity,
for near to them came the Being of delusion;
and they (all) chose the worst thinking,
and with evil they rushed around in wrath,
and thus they so afflicted our mortal lives.

But to the person who comes to (the) good Kingdom,
together with Love and Righteousness;
comes endurance of the physical (bodies),
all these shall belong to Thee,
because they have endured the fiery test.

(there is forgiveness for the wicked!):

But when upon the others the reckoning,
for their bad actions, descends,
then, O Mazda, upon them the Kingdom
shall be revealed by the Pure Mind;
unto them, O Ahura, the revelation come,
so they deliver the False One to Righteousness.

But may we be among those who are Thine,
who anew refresh this world,
O Lords of Creation and Life;
living, through Righteousness, as Thine companions,
thus we ever be single minded,
whenever reason is confronted with doubt.

For, when on the False One,
destruction of his false triumph is brought about,
then these shall hark back on their desires,
shall yearn to reach the heavenly abode
of Pure Mind, Mazda and Righteousness,
(repent) and strive to reach the good.

If ye all understand these Laws,
which Wisdom Mazda has ordained on mortals,
the laws of happiness and of pain,
an eternal suffering for the wrong-doers
and lasting good for the truthful,
then through these laws shall ye attain illumination!

(To the readers who might be mystified by all the repeated stress on righteousness, wisdom, pure mind, the gap between the good and wicked folk, one must remember, where any repetition seems unnecessary , it's possible his listeners and disciples picked up everything Zarathustra said to various groups-thus some repetition of .

But a closer look will show the subtle differences in the content in his various verses. It might need to read verses more then once and then note the ever so subtle difference in what he is trying to convey.

It must also be remembered Zarathustra speaks from a time when writing for his people was not available, his utterances remained in dialect verbal form for several centuries before committed to writing. Besides, he speaks to a world where in all civilizations at that time, the upper class, with their elaborate rituals, were assured of a heavenly afterlife.

Against such heavy opposition, proclaiming a new unheard set of ideas, where righteousness, pure mentality and love, devotion and wisdom etc, are qualities that will enrich people, that total rejection of bad and evil is neccessary, you must imagine the great effort Zarathustra has to put in, to literary 'drill' these new ideas into people.

This is 1500 B.C. with people more concerned with finding pastures or new regions after a realisation this is a vast unexplored world, and fighting off invasions and local marauders. Not to count out false teachers and cheats bent on hoodwinking people with beliefs in a huge group of gods and mindless rituals.)

In this situation a prophet comes along, has to use very persuasive means to tell them how to go about life the right way! Imagine, a belief in One God, when for thousands of years gods in various circumstances were worshiped, this new concept of One God might have puzzled and confounded most people.)