Zarathustra's message to humanity-8

[To those not very familiar with blogs, one word of advice. In blogs, the posts run in reverse order; chronologically, the current post is placed first, the first/earliest post is at the bottom, (see the Archives on the left). It is necessary to point this because, as far as this blog is concerned, the contents will be better understood by reading the 'end' post first (which is the first/earliest post!), then read the next post above the post read; please read in 'reverse' order.]

The 15 verses below form the final Yasna /chapter, Yasna 34 of the Ahunavaity (Sacred Word)Gatha. The Ahunavaity is the first of 5 Gathas. (Details of how these Gathas are arranged are given in "Zarathustra's message to humanity 7 and 3.)

The Ahunavaity Gatha, Yasna 34, verses 1 to 15.


Zarathustra says he brings a message to mankind, expressed not just with words, but which can be better understood and lived by the doing of good deeds; adhering to this message will ensure immortality and righteous living for mankind in God's perfect kingdom; but, he asserts, all these good intentions should first be offered to God:

These deeds and these words are,
for thine worship whereby Immortality,
with Righteousness I do bring to mankind,
and Thy Dominion of Perfection, O Mazda, I bring,
these are yours, O Ahura,
may we offer these (to you)most ardently.


Zarathustra affirms our thoughts should be for God, pure/good thinking comes naturally to good people, their actions are truthful; and Zarathustra hints good actions are hymns to God!:

Our thoughts are for Thee alone,
all these enlightened through Pure Mind,
are the good thoughts of righteous people
whose souls work with Righteousness,
they approach near to Thee
O Mazda, singing hymns in Thy praise.

Again, Zarathustra pleads, all righteous work is done with devotion to God alone; he hopes all mankind will achieve perfection by being truthful. Only by this can right thinking persons, succeed to get closer to God for all time:

And what is yours, Ahura, to Thee
and to Righteousness we will render with adoration,
may all the living in Thy Dominion
achieve perfection through Truth,
and Thy exalted presence near them
is assured for all time to the right thinking, O Mazda.

Ahura Mazda's infinite symbol in the Universe is Fire, greatly beneficial to the good person; before whom the deeds of the wicked stand fully exposed:

And Thy Fire, O Ahura,
mighty through Truth, we yearn for,
most to be desired, filled with power,
ever helpful to those with faith;
but, O Mazda, to the followers of Untruth
He sees through them at a mere glance!

Your Dominion is supreme! How deeply I desire
to serve Thee, O Mazda, and be in union with Thee,
with Truth and with Love!
so I may shelter the poor,
and reveal You, as above all else, (You) are apart from,
and far from the Daevas and wicked men.


Zarathustra realizes God is Righteousness and Pure Mind-Love; the prophet urges God to unfetter his soul, throw out all doubts, and guide him throughout his life, worshiping God and singing his praises:

Since Thou art so, truly indeed,
O Mazda, Righteousness and Love,
grant me in all stages of my earthly life,
as Your worshiper
and Your praiser,
freedom from all the fetters of the soul.

Zarathustra wants to seek out those who know of all religious teachings from ancient teachers, and who abide by these even in times of distress. We don't know if he found these ancient knower's of truth, but he, instead, turns to God and asks for His shelter:

Where, O Mazda, are these devotees,
who comprehend Pure Mind Love,
through Teachings from truth of the ancients,
in woe and even in distress, and have found enlightenment?
None other but Thee do we recognize,
through Truth, therefore do Ye shelter us.


Zarathustra knows the corrupt are in fear and guilt, they use oppressive means on the weak and defy God, but all goodness/Godliness is far from them-they are the actual losers:

Indeed of our actions, they fear,
amongst these peril is near at hand,
they use strong means to oppress the weak,
defying Thy Law, O Mazda,
those who heed not Righteousness
Pure Mind Love is far from them.

Being devoted to God, Zarathustra reveals, is greatly treasured by the wise ones, but the wicked are defiant with their gross ignorance of good thinking; all good is lost on them, they are the real ignorants:

Thus Bountiful Devotion
is prized highly, O Mazda, by Thine enlightened sage,
but held in defiance by the evil doer,
his ignorance of Pure Mind so causeth;
from such indeed Devotion withdraws with Truth also,
just as the unlettered evil doer does from us.

But again, Zarathustra is concerned for those who stray from God, he earnestly hopes good people will convince them to become devoted to God- a change of heart; if they regret their bad deeds and seek the truth (just plain confession and no desire to be good won't work!) they then have the gates of heaven ( in Zoroastrianism, the House of Pure Mind,) opened to them:

But to these the workings of Pure Mind Love
the enlightened one exhorts to uphold,
and reveals Bountiful Devotion
is ever the root of Eternal Commands (of Ahura);
and, O Ahura, they all will retrace their steps
back to Thy Kingdom, O Mazda, through enlightenment!

Perfection and Eternity lead to enlightenment- strive to be perfect, with good deeds; this will lead the person to an eternal life in the Kingdom of God; there, one has to continue, devotedly, to know the higher truths, and fill our souls with power, which will lead to the defeat of evil:

And both these, Divine Perfection
and Eternity, lead to enlightenment,
through the Kingdom of Pure Mind;
and Bountiful Devotion joined with Truth assures
Life renewed and the Soul filled with power,
surely through these, O Mazda, our opponents will be overcome!

Zarathustra inquires of God what is His desire and His commandments; only His blessings can lead to enlightenment. And, following the path of truth leads to a pure mind:

What are Thine commandments, what Thy Will,
whether to sing Thine praises, or to worship Thee,
declare this to us, for our enlightenment;
let the blessings of Thy instructions be our due,
show us the path of Righteousness,
leading to realization of Pure Mind.

The path of love, revealed by the wisdom of the righteous saviors, turned into righteous deeds, leads to the ultimate reward- being near God. Inspired with love, good deeds are more righteous-this is a teaching understood by the wise:

That path, O Ahura,
of Love, which Thou has revealed,
the Wisdom of the Saviours,
that every good righteous deed leads us further-
this teaching is for the Wise,
and the reward, O Mazda, is reaching You, the destined goal!

This reward of being close to You, God, that gives strength to the soul, for good work done with pure intentions. Deeds that serve the world fulfill His divine plan and truth increases thereby:

This reward, O Mazda, surely,
be given to that soul which strengthens the body,
for deeds done through Pure Mind;
those who indeed serve this beneficent Earth,
and Your divine Plan,
through Thine Will shall fulfill Truth.

Therefore, O Mazda, reveal the noblest
words and deeds of Your teachings;
I yearn to pray to Thee through
Love and through Truth;
through Your Power, O Ahura,
regenerate my life as best You desire.

Concluding, in this last verse of the Ahunavaity Gatha, Zarathustra yearns that God reveal His teachings-both words and actions that bear out these words. He wants to pray to the Divinity with love and truth, and indeed, God's spiritual power will renew life.

Zarathustra's message to humanity-7

[To those not very familiar with blogs, one word of advice. In blogs, the posts run in reverse order; chronologically, the current post is placed first, the first/earliest post is at the bottom, (see the Archives on the left). It is necessary to point this because, as far as this blog is concerned, the contents will be better understood by reading the 'end' post first (which is the first/earliest post!), then read the next post above the post read; please read in 'reverse' order.]

The earlier post "An Interregnum from the posts 'Zarathustra's message to humanity" covered a very small portion of the broad and sweeping spectrum of beliefs and religious literature that make up this religion. It was a small exercise to give the reader an idea of the full range of things religious and secular covered by Zoroastrianism over several centuries, from around 1500 B.C to the 9th century A.D. with beliefs and ritual practices going back to earlier times.

In the earlier posts titled "Zarathustra's message to humanity" 1 to 6, we have covered Yasnas/chapters 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 of Zarathustra's own composition, the Gathas-songs. Here, we continue now with Yasna 33.

(For those coming in now, the Gathas, Zarathustra's own songs, are part of the 72 Yasnas, which are the older portion of the Zoroastrian sacred book, the Avesta.)

The Gathas, in 5 sections, within the 72 chapters of the Yasna, comprise of:

Ahunavaity (Sacred Word) Gathas- Yasnas/chapters 28 to 34
Ushtavaity (Illumination)Gathas- Yasnas/ chapters 43 to 46
Spentomenid (Holy Spirit) Gathas-Yasnas/chapters 47 to 50
Vohu Xshathra (Best Dominion) Gathas-Yasna/chapter 51
Vahishta Isti (Best Wish) Gathas-Yasna/chapter 53 )

The Ahunavaity Gatha Yasna 33, Verses 1 to 14.

Zarathustra reveals this creation, this life, is the source of God's laws, needed to sustain good life by ensuring justice to all- the good will get their rewards, the wicked will be meted out their dues, and even those whose good actions are mixed with some bad deeds will get their justice:

(Thus) in accordance with these Laws of Existence,
the laws that spring from Life,
the Judge shall he dispense perfect justice
to the followers of falsehood as well as the truthful,
and even to those whose false deeds
are mingled with their merits!

But those who steadfastly frustrate the work of the wicked by words and deeds(good actions are paramount in Zoroastrianism,) and those who guide others to be good persons, then all these are fulfilling God's plan, out of love of Him!:

And whoso frustrates the followers of Untruth,
by their words and steadfast purpose,
and through actions with their own hands;
or instructs his companion onto the path of good,
they fulfill Thy Plan,
out of love for Thee, O Ahura Mazda!

Whoever befriends the good, whether of any position in society, these bring joy to life. Their reward is an eternal righteous life in a heaven filled with love:

And whoso is good to the righteous,
whether be he a great personage or a commoner,
or a friend, O Ahura;
who furthers Life with zeal,
such will dwell most endearingly with Righteousness,
and in the fair pastures of Love!

Zarathustra will fight evil, the false worshiper, the evil minded- he is not afraid of nobles and upper classes, they will get the same dues as common folk who espouse evil; he yearns to protect his friends from the corrupt and his settled folk whose possessions are at peril from thieves:- in ancient days neighboring marauding tribes would ruthlessly pillage good settled folk, a situation which greatly saddened Zarathustra:

Thus, O Mazda, from Thy worshiper, one who is wanting in faith,
and all with evil purpose, will I drive away;
from the nobles all corrupt thoughts,
from the commoners all those who disobey Thy Law,
from the friend the capricious slanderers,
and from the cattle those who defile the pastures!
(will I drive away!)

The great angel Sarosh Yazad(angel) stands as a personification of Obedience to God's Will; in later tradition he is the guardian of good folk. Zarathustra considers this angel God's best treasure, and calls on him to guide his path to heaven-God's Kingdom of Purity where God rules supreme; but all this needs to be done through righteous living, through righteous deeds:


Thus the greatest of all Thine own,
Sarosha,* shall I call upon, on my path to the goal,
of long enduring existence
in the Kingdom of Pure Mind;
through Righteousness I shall tread the straight path,
to where Mazda Ahura rules supreme!

(*Sarosha, the High Angel Obedience, personifies as the angel of all good obedience to God's Will/Divine Plan.

Note: to Zarathustra heaven is "the Kingdom of the Pure Mind"! As explained earlier, Pure Mind means much more, an infinite heightened state of pristine purity, represented as Bountiful Spirit Vohu Manah, Pure Mind.)

Thus, with my steadfast call to Asa*,
with all my being, from the best spirit within me,
I invoke Thee for Thine loving grace-
that I may fulfill my calling as ordained by Thee,
thus I beseech Thee, O Ahura Mazda,
a vision of Thee, and communion with Thee.

(*Asa, the Zoroastrian Bountiful Spirit/[Archangel] Righteousness.)

Come unto me, O Best One,
Your Vision before me, O Mazda, unmistakably,
O Righteousness, O Pure Mind, let me behold Thee;
in order that I be heard beyond this fellowship,
may there be revealed to us
our clear destiny, set aside for You!

Be the judge of my purpose,
which inspired by Pure Mind (Love) I pursue,
thy devoted worship, O Mazda,
and words of praise through Truth;
grant me Immortality when,
I renew life and bring it to blessed Perfection!

Thine indeed, O Mazda, are these Two Beings*,
these two are mighty promoters of Righteousness,
may I reach, through Enlightenment and Wisdom;
bring down O Best Pure Mind (Love,)
from the heavens the blessings of these Two
whose souls work as one.

*see earlier verse-the Two are Perfection and Eternity, the last two attributes of Ahura Mazda.

All those who lead lives with good purpose,
indeed those in the past, those who do so now,
and those, O Mazda, who will do so in the future;
through Thy grace let these partake,
a heightened state of enlightenment
through Pure Mind, through Thine Kingdom and through Truth.

Thou art the Almighty Ahura,
Through Mazda, through Holy Devotion,
through Truth who bless our Life;
O Pure Mind, O Bountiful Dominion (the Kingdom,)
take heed of my plea, show me compassion,
while apportioning your grace to each one of us.

Reveal Thyself in my heart, O Ahura,
through Devotion grant me spiritual strength,
through Thy Highest Spirit, O Mazda,
make me pure in goodness for my supplications;
through Truth grant me full vigour,
and all-embracing love through Pure Mind.

That I may be blest, O Far Seeing One,
reveal a vision to me, Your priceless gift,
of Thine Kingdom, O Ahura,
with the blessings of Pure Mind-
clearly, O Holy Devotion,
through Righteousness reveal this Faith.

Thus Zarathustra offers
his own life, his whole self,
dedicates the fruits of his efforts
and also his loving thoughts to Mazda;
all his best deeds to Righteousness
his words and his obedience with all his strength!

These last three verses above, are "borrowed" as the opening statements in the great hymn to Atash Yazad, the Angel(Yazad) of Fire(Atash), the prayer known as Atash-Niyash, meaning a Litany/Hymn to the Angel of Fire. This is not an exception, other verses from these Gathas are implanted in other daily prayers, and form part of daily prayers in the sacred book the Khorde Avesta, used both by priests and the laity in their daily personal prayers to the Supreme Being.

Any suggestion that Zoroastrians are fire worshippers, would be considered an affront, a sacrilege. Fire is sacred, an element that forms a great part of Ahura Mazda's creation, and is a living symbol of His majesty and grandeur.

An interregnum from posts "Zarathustra's message to humanity."

[To those not very familiar with blogs, one word of advice. In blogs, the posts run in reverse order; chronologically, the current post is placed first, the first/earliest post is at the bottom, (see the Archives on the left). It is necessary to point this because, as far as this blog is concerned, the contents will be better understood by reading the 'end' post first (which is the first/earliest post!), then read the next post above the post read; please read in 'reverse' order.]

The current posts "Zarathustra's message to humanity" will continue for some time, so I felt, some break in this thread by a short write up on interesting information might prove a good interregnum.

Firstly, here are a few of the Gatha verses transliterated to English, to give the reader an idea how 'unique' these jewels are in the original. Below each verse is the translation into English and the syllable structure is shown ie the number of vowel sounds in each line, from each word in each line.

The Ahunavar prayer below, is not part of the 5 Gathas, but along with three other principal prayers are in the Gathic dialect:

Yatha Ahu Vairyo
atha Ratus asat-chit hacha;
vanghaush dazda mananho,
syaothananam angheaus Mazdai,
Xsathrem ca Ahurai a
yim drigubyo dadat vastarem

Just as the (Supreme) Lord is all powerful,
so the Teacher, on account of his store of righteousness;
the gifts of a Pure Mind
are received by good deeds done for the Lord;
the Kingdom of God is upon
him who clothes the poor!

the syllables/ vowels' sounds, in each Gathic line are : 7 9 7 9 7 9
for example:
the first line vowel sounds add up to 7:----Ya-tha A-hu Va -ir-yo
the second line add up to 9 and so on.

there are words above still in use in other languages:

vairyo- victory, mananho-mind, Ratus -teacher is Rishi in Hindi; vastarem - to clothe-in Hindi vaster: cloth.

Scholars, Zoroastrian, European etc relied on the Vedic content of the Indian Rig Vedas translations to translate the Gathas of Zarathustra, the Gathic is only slightly different phonetically from the Vedic language. (At the time of composition, both were spoken dialects, and putting them down in writing came much later)

the first line, above, for example,
"Yatha Ahu Vairyo," in the Vedic would be "Yatha Asu Vairyanam."

Now, the verse Yasna 28:1 from the Ahunavaity Gatha transliterated to English:

Ahya yasa namanha.... ah-ya ya-sa na-man-ha 7 syllables

ustana zasto refedhraya.... us-ta-na zas-to re-fedh-ra-ya 9 syllables

Mainyus Mazda pourvim
Spentahya .... main-yus maz-da pour-vim spen-tah-ya 9 syllables

Asa vipang syaothana.... as-sa vi-pang syo-tha-na 7 syllables

Vanghaus xsratum mananho.... vang-haus xsra-tum ma-nan-ho 7 syllables

ya xsnevisa Gaus ca urvanem... ya xsne-vi-sa gaus ca ur-va-nem 9 syllables


Translated to English:

To Him, I pray, in humble adoration,
With hands outstretched for perfect bliss,
(I pray) to Thy Holy Spirit, Oh Mazda, first of all,
through deeds, inspired by Righteousness,
and for the wisdom gained from Pure Mind,
do I pray-to bring solace to the Soul of the World!

These lines, crying out to His God, not for his own sake but for the world's soul, seem to have impressed his disciples, enough for them to compose a later prayer, where God is entreated to keep all evil away from themselves!

This prayer, below, is a portion from the daily prayer ritual, where the faithful unties and ties back the Zoroastrian sacred girdle around the waist.

From the Khorde Avesta-Book of Common Prayer:

Ohrmazd* Lord! Ahriman He keeps at bay, He holds him back. May Ahriman be struck and defeated, with devs and drujs, sorcerers and sinners, kayags and karbs, tyrants, wrongdoers and heretics, sinners, enemies and witches! May they (all) be struck and defeated! May evil rulers not exist, (or) be far away! May enemies be defeated! May enemies all not exist, (or) be far away!
O Ohrmazd, Lord! I am contrite for all sins and I desist from them, from all bad thoughts, bad words and bad acts which I have thought, spoken or done in the world, or which have happened through me, or have originated with me. For those sins of thinking, speaking and acting, of body and soul, worldly or spiritual, O Ohrmazd! I am contrite, I renounce them.
(from avesta.org)

*Ormazd/Hormazd is a 'later' name of God, evolving from Ahura Mazda.

For those who have landed on this page and not inclined to visit the earlier posts, here is some basic information:
Briefly, the Zoroastrian sacred scriptures, collectively called the Avesta, (the Lore) of Knowledge, comprise of
The Yasnas, 72 chapters of invocations and ritual prayers said at the time of performing the Yasna(Vedic yajna) rituals, the central liturgy which can be recited only by ordained priests, on specific occasions, celebrating God's creation. Within the 72 chapters of the Yasna, chapters 28 to 34, 43 to 46, 47 to 50, and 51, and 53 comprise the 5 Gathas, Zoroaster's own compositions, faithfully memorised and passed down from father to son.

The Avesta is a huge compilation of sacred writings and prayers, some of the latter are further compiled as the Khorde Avesta (the Little Avesta, actually very voluminous in themselves) as common prayers for the priests and laity to recite on a personal basis. Besides the 72 Yasnas, and the Khorde Avesta, other books of the Avesta are the Visperad, invocations to various spiritual beings, the Vendidad, "the Law Against Devils," a compendium of laws for correcting various "sins" and transgressions by believers, and in the environment.

The first chapter in the Vendidad lists the perfect lands made by Ahura Mazda (which are sullied and made imperfect, for now, by the Devil-Ahriman) and these lands cover present day north-eastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea.

To the far north is, the first perfect land created by Ahura Mazda, Airyana Vaeja, the Aryan 'Valley' -Land of the Aryans, with 10 winter months and 2 summer months!

Devout Zoroastrians believe the entire Avesta, not just the 5 Gathas, are the work of Zarathustra; in any case, all portions were most definitely composed by High Priests and spiritually advanced individuals, who predate or follow the Prophet, with beliefs, forming the contents, from times even earlier to the Prophet!

With the Avesta, as the 'basics,' later writings, right down to the early Islamic times, include a huge lore of philosophical treaties, including cosmology-the events through a Zoroastrian Timeline, all written in Pahlavi- Middle Persian, and later in modern Persian...........see avesta.org

These later writings contain many gems of religious and secular beliefs, for example, from the Denkart, a 9th century seven volume treatise on various studies of the religion, here is a fine example:

From Denkard, Book 3 :

A student questions the wise holy sage:

"The question was put: It is declared that by repentance the path to hell does not remain at all: what is the reason of this?
ANSWER.
Be it known that, by the soul becoming impure through sin, the road (for it) is to hell; and the remedy for the remission of sin and for obtaining purity is through the dastur (learned priest) possessing a knowledge of the good religion, who knows to prescribe medicine for the soul and is a great purifier of it from sin. For, as in the profession of the physician, medicine and other things are potent in each disease, and the giver of explanation about them is the physician of the body, and the ailing body is relieved and renovated through the instrumentality of the physician and the surgeon who are the pointers out and doers of remedies for the ailments of the diseased constitution and the deformed body; so, for the soul that is rendered unholy and polluted by sin, if, by the injunction of the dastur of the good religion, it be a hearty repenter for sin, a seeker of pardon by speech, and repenter by deed, there is remission of committed sin through the physician of the soul, the dastur of the good religion, and the soul becomes purified of the unholiness and pollution of sin, and thus the road to hell is cut off."

The fifth question put was this: Which among the deeds of men is most beneficial to the world, the cause of much pleasure to the yazads (Divine Beings-angels), the cause of much pain in the (wicked) world, and is the highest in rank of all?

ANSWER.
Be it known, that among the deeds of men, the deed that is highly beneficial to the world is the remaining in submission to one's meritorious master and just king, who is a giver of commands for the improvement of the people (the deed that is); the producer of pleasure to the yazads is the remaining firm in the Mazdayasnian religion and the keeping people righteous. And the deed that is highest in rank of all is the imparting of knowledge to worthy students, the originators of all righteous deeds.(!)"

From Denkard, Book 4 :


"Be it known that the One God is the cause of the beginning (of creation) and is the causer of causes. Cause is not for Him (i.e. He is uncaused.)

2. (ref. to) Cf. Vendidad. 22nd chap., and the Ohrmazd Yasht. "I who am Ohrmazd is the Creator of the good creation." "Mine is the name of the creator, nourisher, and preserver."

4. Among those connected with (God) the second as the second (if we regard Ohrmazd as the first), (and) first among the original creation is Vohuman (Pure Spiritual Being-Pure Mind [of God])
(5) The commencement of creation was with Vohuman. And the origin adverse to him (i.e. Vohuman's adversary) is (Ahriman) the blemish giving cause of the creation."

from Avesta.org digital copyrights fully acknowledge by me herewith.)