ZARATHUSTRA

This ancient religion, from Iran, survives in isolated areas and also has an effect on the people of the Islamic (Shia) faith who reside in Iran (Persia). More importantly, it prospers in India, where descendants of Zoroastrian-Iranian (Persian) immigrants are known as the Parsis, or Parsees. This religion is small in size but it still has major impact because of its ancient origin and its strong good ethical content. It is one of the oldest and most storied religious traditions.

Said to be founded by the prophet and reformer Zoroaster in the 6th century BC, the religion has both monotheistic and dualistic features. It may have even more ancient origins in that the Zoroaster of 600 BCE was said to be the third Zoroaster in that there were two before going back to about 3500 BCE. The facts are unclear. It has influenced the other major Western religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The ancient Greeks saw in Zoroaster's cosmic view the archetype of the dualistic view of the world and of man's destiny. It has been said that Zoroaster instructed Pythagoras in Babylon and that he inspired the Chaldea doctrines of astrology and magic. It is likely that Zoroastrianism influenced the development of Judaism and the birth of Christianity. The portrayal of the Three Wiseman (Magi) at the birth of Jesus may be an acknowledgement of that debt by the early church fathers. Christians, following a Jewish tradition, identified Zoroaster with Ezekiel, Nimrod, Seth, Balaam, and Baruch, and later with Christ himself.

On the other hand, Zoroaster, as the presumed founder of astrology and magic, could be considered the arch-heretic. In more recent times the study of Zoroastrianism has played a decisive part in reconstructing the ancient religion and social structure of the early Indo-Europeans who migrated to Persia and onward to the Indus valley of ancient India.

Zoroaster asked, "Who established the course of the sun and stars' Through whom does the moon wax and wane' Who has upheld the earth from below and the heavens from fallings' Who harnessed swift steeds to wind and clouds' What craftsman created light and darkness' What craftsman created both sleep and activity' Through whom exist dawn, moon, and eve' (Yasna 44, 3 -6)

Zoroaster Answered: the Father of Order, God.

What then created evil and is disorder' Zoroaster believed that Evil co-existed with Good. Angra Mainyu is the source of pollution, misery, suffering and death and everything like mold and rust that eats into things otherwise good. There is a constant conflict between Ahura Mazda (God) and Angra Mainyu (Evil) and both have armies to assist them in this conflict. The world is a battleground between good and evil - an example of dualism. But since evil is only real in the world when it gains possession of material things, the human body becomes the focus of conflict. Humans are at the forefront of the battle against evil, which mean that Zoroastrianism is a deeply moral religion.

For the West, one of its most important seminal ideas was that good and evil fight an unequal battle in which the former is assured of triumph. God's omnipotence is thus only temporally limited. Man must join n this struggle because of his capacity of free choice. He does so with his soul and body, not against his body. It was seen that the opposition between good and evil is not the same as the one between spirit and matter. Contrary to the Christian or Manichaean dualistic religion founded by the Iranian prophet Mani, the attributes of fasting and celibacy are proscribed, except as part of purificatory rituals. Man's fight has a negative aspect, nonetheless: he must keep himself pure; i.e., avoid defilement by the forces of death, contact with dead matter, etc. Thus Zoroastrian ethics, although lofty and rational do have a ritual aspect that pervades. On the whole, Zoroastrianism is optimistic and has remained so even through the hardship and oppression of its believers. Though Zoroastrianism was never as aggressively monotheistic as, Judaism or Islam,it certainly represents an originating attempt to unify beliefs under the worship of one supreme god while retaining the trappings of the polytheistic religions as in those of the ancient Greeks, Indians, and other early peoples. Its other salient feature, namely dualism, was never perceived in an absolute,rigorousway.HistoryPre-Zoroastrian Iranian Religion

The religion of Iran before the time of Zoroaster is not directly accessible, for there are no reliable sources more ancient than the prophet himself. It has to be studied indirectly on the basis of later documents and by a comparative approach. The language of Iran is closely akin to that of northern India, and hence the people of the two lands probably had common ancestors,the Indo-Iranians, or Aryans. The religion of the latter has been reconstructed by means of common elements contained in the sacred books of Iran and India: mainly the Avesta and the Vedas. Both collections exhibit the same kind of polytheism, with many of the same gods, notably the Indian MITRE (the Iranian Mithras), the cult of fire, sacrifice by means of a sacred liquor ( soma in India, in Iran haoma ), and other parallels. There is, moreover, a list of Aryan gods in a treaty concluded about 1380 BC between the Hittite emperor and the king of Mitanni Important changes, then, must have taken place on the Iranian side, not all of which can be attributed to the prophet.

The Reformation by Zoroaster

The Indo-Iranians appear to have distinguished, from among their gods In Sanskrit, Ahura is a kind of demon, because of the baleful aspect of the asura's invisible power. In Iran the evolution must have been different: the ahuras were extolled, to the exclusion of the daevas, who were reduced to the rank of demons. The Reformation by Zoroaster

Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was a priest of a certain ahura, Avestan equivalent of Sanskrit asura) with the appellation Mazda, "wise," Zoroaster mentions Asura Mazda once in his hymns with "the [other] ahuras." Similarly, Darius I  522 to 486 BCE and his successors worshipped Aura Mazda (Ahura Mazda) "and the other gods who exist" or "Ahura Mazda, the greatest god." The two though separated in time seem historically related and are evidently parallel. These are strong indicators of the presence of the rudiments of monotheism. Though the form was more elaborated by the prophet Zoroaster.

Ahura Mazda

Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord") was probably the chief god of the pre-Zoroastrian pantheon. In both the religion of Zoroaster and that of Darius and Xerxes. Worshiped as the supreme god., First he is the creator of the universe and the one who establishes and maintains the cosmic and social order, "the great god who created this earth, who created yonder heaven, who created man, who created happiness for man."

Zoroaster uses the ancient Indo-European poetic device of interrogative discourse as Zoroaster asks, "Who is the original father of ahura" Who established the paths of the sun and the stars? Who is it through whom the moon now waxes now wanes? Who supports the earth below and (keeps) the heavens (above) from falling down? Who yokes the two steeds to the wind and the clouds? Who fashioned honored Devotion together with Dominion? Who made a son respectful of his father?

It is critically important to observe: Ahura Mazda is not identified with a natural phenomenon. His presence is everywhere. This was a giant leap forward in the use of human imagination from the tangible to the abstract. Still, in the conflict of good against evil God is there along side humans in their never ending struggle for good. Greek sources commonly equate Zeus with Oromazes (Ahura Mazda), because of Ahura Mazda's position as father and chief god of the pantheon. As his name implies, he seems to have been sought by his worshipers for wisdom and insight, and, to judge by the intense experiences of Darius (whether or not his professions are genuine) and also of Zoroaster, Ahura was the object of a personal devotion that appears to have been lacking with other deities.

Mithras

Beside Ahura Mazda, Mithras is the most important deity of the ancient Iranian pantheon. Mithras, together with Anahita, is the only other deity specifically mentioned. Mithras has a hint of connection with the sun, more specifically with the first rays of dawn as Mithra drives forth in his chariot. In western Iran the identification was complete, and the name Mithras became a common word for "sun." In spite of his connection with the sun, Mithras functioned preeminently in the ethical sphere.

The word mithra was a common noun that meant "covenant, contract, or treaty". Mithra was the god Covenant, the celestial deity who oversaw all solemn agreements that people made among themselves and who severely punished anyone who broke the terms of a covenant, whether it was between individuals or between countries or other sociopolitical entities.

In his capacity to seek and find out the covenant breaker, Ahura Mazda's Mithra is described as sleepless, ever-waking, having 1,000 ears, 10,000 eyes, and a wide outlook. He is portrayed as a great warrior who intervenes on behalf of those faithful to treaties by throwing the treaty-breakers into panic and defeat. As a sovereign deity, Mithra bore the standing epithet of one who keeps under his protection the territories of those who worship him and abide by their covenants. Anyone may observe, here, the beginnings of the institution of the Law and the concomitant use of force to enforce Mithras's demand that covenants be honored. The foundations of fair dealing and living up to your promises are apparent. The stele of the Hammurabi Code is a clear derivation.

It is certain that Zoroaster had identified one of the basic human drives, the need for trust and its obverse the need for the avoidance of betrayal. Any student of the modern jurisprudence of Agency law can see the transcendent importance of the basic contract's covenant in the rules of the agency fiduciary duties such as honesty, fidelity, loyalty, accountability, commitment to the objectives, in effect, the paramountcy of the covenant's obligations. A person of good character will be scrupulous in complying as a point of honor.

(Tangentially, it should be mentioned that some how Mithras's name was used by the important Roman mystery religion, Mithraism, which was popular throughout the Roman Empire especially among the centurions. It had rituals including the sacrifice of a bull for its blood. But Roman Mithraism seems disconnected to the Iranian origins. At least it is difficult if not impossible to trace because of the fundamental differences.)

Zoroaster had a clear vision of humanity's moral choices. He counseled good words, good thoughts and good deeds.

Today, this ancient faith still counsels:"Our basic beliefs are simple. Choose truth and oppose lies. Always strive for good words, good thoughts and good deeds."

Zoroaster can truly be called the first prophet. Though Egyptian beliefs are even older, that religion died with the Pharaohs of old. Zoroaster's novelty was the obvious concern for good spiritual growth during life. The importance of his mission was that he offered a solution to the question of: Why' Why does evil exist in a God-ordained world' It seemed that either God was not all good or he was not all powerful. Zoroaster saw in the world a clear sign that evil was an independent force that must be confronted and combated Hasn't recent history given us good cause to adopt this Zoroastrian view' Truth supports what is good, creative, while falsehood leads to what is bad, negative, and destructive. The eternal battle of good versus evil should be main objectives of religious institutions.

Blind Faith versus Healthy Skepticism: Though faithful believers are usually blind to the truth when the slick fawning, yes-men (and women) purvey their lies (it should be acknowledged that the truth is hard to identify.) It is a great flaw of religions that the faithful are not eternally vigilant. They must always be ready to root out those very able sycophants of the Leading Liars who are "spinning" their frauds to grasp greater power and more money. Too many of them pose as church leaders when they are liars worse than the hypocrites. Most of us are aware that juries, psychiatrists, lawyers, television viewers, etc., have a very difficult time separating the evil-liars from the virtuous others who are telling the truth. Strange as it may seem the believers among church goers seldom consider the possibility that the preachers, and their stooges, may be misrepresenting God because they can profit from the false visions that they conjure. It is a happy hunting ground for hypocrites.

Zoroaster warned that life would continuously call upon humans to separate the self-seeking liars from those who truly believed and who also supported the truth. Though most human institutions suffer from this very serious problem, religions are particularly susceptible to this rotting disease. Though skepticism is a healthy human quality, under the circumstances of a religion where "proofs" and "evidence" are hard to come by, church leaders are quick to attack doubters as just wrong-headed. They will even try to scapegoat them. Those who are spiritual but not religious have often had bad experiences with misleading church leaders who use their authority to demand obeisance not only to God but also to themselves.

For centuries church leaders have demanded blind faith to their version of the scriptures in spite of the clear contrary evidence of biblical scholars that should cause a modification of what is taught so we will adhere to the truth The failure to separate the good and honorable church leaders from the purveyors of perfidious fraudulent lies about God has driven million away from the churches. These merchants of mendacity use their false visions to gain power over their followers. The mendacious, tyrannical Bishop of Lyon Irenaeus - was a classic power grabber who cloaked mere personal opinion and self-promotion as the gospel truth. They then send their money spongers out to soak up donations from the blind-faith believers.

As in days of old, this flaw continues to be a main weakness of religious institutions because the "men of the cloth" are too often impersonators of the truth-sayers. The hypocrites tend to rise to the top as they support each other. Those who are spiritual but not religious have chosen their own path to God and they seek to serve God by helping other humans rather than work through such tainted religious institution. This is in part, because even when the defrauders are discovered the faithful rarely defrock them and do not remove them from leadership positions. Religions should be the golden standard in that regard by setting an example for other institutions in our world community of humans.

The prophet of old, Zarathustra, taught that each individual had a free choice between good and evil. Following the path of asha righteousness would lead to salvation even for lay worshippers. Until his time, heaven was the preserve of the upper classes; hell was reserved for the laity. Zoroaster, condemned animal sacrifice; denounced the use of drugs and the adoration of fire. The ritual of fire was to come later. His basic doctrine was rational, anti-ritual and anti-sacrifice encouraging followers to come to personally experience God.

The clear simplicity of Zoroaster's message was to worship only one God, to seek happiness in this life, and choose well good over evil, always. It is only human that the careerists who hustled for employment took this precious jewel that had been dropped into the ocean of life and soon encrusted it with weeds and barnacles of idols, other gods and duties to the priesthood and obscured the way to find God. Though the fire cult has great appeal, it can not be found in Zoroaster's hymns. However, among the semi-literate such symbolism may have been a necessary way to explain. The Magi who had the role of keepers of the Zoroastrian flame did manage to restore the principles of Zoroastrian faith along with their magical, mystical rituals.

Zoroaster's Hymns

It has not yet been possible to place Zoroaster's hymns, the Gatha s, in their correct historical context. Not a single place or person mentioned in them is known from any other source. All that may safely be said is that Zoroaster lived somewhere in eastern Iran, far from the civilized world of western Asia, at a time before Iran became unified under Cyrus II the Great. If these sources ever heard of him, they did not see fit to mention his name in their inscriptions. Nor did they allude to the symbolic beings who surrounded the great god and later to be called the amesha spentas, or "bounteous immortals", an essential feature of Zoroaster's doctrine for the laity.

Darius, when he seized power in 522 CBE owed his throne to the support of some noblemen, thus he could not help favoring their cult, although he adopted Aura Mazda as a means of unifying his empire. Xerxes, successor to Darius, mentioned in one of his inscriptions how at a certain (unnamed) place he substituted the worship of Aura Mazda for others. It indicates that he eradicated somewhere, probably in Babylon, the cult of deities' alien to the religion of the ahuras. It points to a change of attitude, compared with Cyrus' tolerance of alien religions, such as the Babylonian for the Jewish religions.

Later, in consequence of Alexander's conquest, the Iranian religion was almost totally submerged by the wave of Hellenism Then the Iranian religion gradually emerged again in the middle of the 1st century BC. The gods bear combinations of Greek and Iranian names such as Apollo Mithras.

The first proof of the use of a Zoroastrian calendar, implying the official recognition of Zoroastrianism, is found some 40 years earlier at Nisa (near modern Ashkhabad in Soviet Turkmenistan). Zoroastrianism was known as a fire cult and is seen to use a fire altar in its rituals to this day. In Persia from the beginning of the Christian era to the advent of the Saracens (early 3rd century AD), any allusion to the fire cult disappeared. The coins seem to indicate, in not showing the fire altar, that the powerful had lost interest in the Iranian religion.

Islam won a decisive victory in 635 CE. Islam in principle, tolerated the ancient religion, but conversions by persuasion or force were massive in many provinces. Zoroastrianism fomented rebellion and persecutions resulted. Books were produced to save the essentials of the religion from a threatened disaster. The disaster did occur. But exactly why and how is not known. Zoroastrians, called Gabars by the Muslims, survived in Iran as a persecuted minority in small enclaves at Yazd and Kerman.

The Parsis in India

From the 10th century onward, groups of Zoroastrians emigrated to India, where they found asylum in Gujarat province.. Their connection with their co-religionists in Iran seems to have been broken until the end of the 15th century. Reestablished in 1477, the connection was kept up by way of an exchange of letters until 1768. Under British rule, the Parsis started to enrich themselves through commerce, then through industry. They became a leading prosperous and "modern" community, centered in Bombay. At an earlier time they had adopted the language (Gujarati) and the dress of their Hindu neighbors. Later they adopted British customs, British dress, the education of girls, and the abolition of child marriage. In their enterprises as well as in their charities they followed the example of the West while setting a high standard of business ethics from the 19th century on, they helped their less favored brethren in Iran, either through gifts or through diplomatic intervention with the government. They assimilated somewhat to their Indian culture by minimizing what was repugnant to the Hindus, namely, blood sacrifice. They placed less emphasis on the vogue of astrology and to also theosophy. Because of attacks from Christian missionaries for their dualism, they have emphasized the monotheistic aspects of their doctrine.

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BELIEFS AND MYTHOLOGY

Sources

Only the hymns, or Gathas, are attributable to Zoroaster. All these texts are embedded in the Yasna, which is one of the main divisions of the Avesta and is recited by the priests during the ceremony of the same name, meaning "sacrifice."

The Visp-rat ("All the Judges") is a Yasna invocation and offerings to the ratus (lords) of the different classes of beings. The Videvdat recognize how the law was given to man, followed by 18 The Yasht s (hymns) which are each addressed to one of 21 deities such as Mithras, Anahita, or Verethraghna. The Hadhoxt Nask ("Section Containing Sayings") describes the fate of the soul after death. The Avesta, therefore, is a collection of texts compiled in successive stages until it was completed.

Other works in Pahlavi include, besides a translation and commentary on the Avesta, are the Bundahishn ("Primal Creation"), a cosmology.

Most Pahlavi books are anonymous, such as Menok-i Khrat ("Spirit of Wisdom"). It is a lucid summary of a doctrine based on reason, and the Book of Artay Viraf, which describes Viraf's descent into the netherworld as well as heaven and hell and the pleasures and pains awaiting the virtuous and the wicked. There is an apology of the Mazdean religion directed against Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam

Finally, there are Zoroastrian books written in Persian, either in verse or in prose, the latter include the correspondence exchanged between Zoroastrians of Iran and India. 

God

Zoroaster's silence on Mithras is not easy to interpret. Since this god was closely associated with Varu'a in India and with Varu'a's likely substitute in Iran, Zoroaster can hardly have ignored one-half of this divine pair without a definite purpose. Otherwise, it might be presumed that Mithras was included in the formula "Mazda and the [other] ahuras". However, Mithras is called in the Later Avesta (non-Gathic) an ahura; so is Apam Napat, a fire or brightness in the waters that corresponds to the Vedic Apam Napat. As for Verethraghna (the entity or spirit of victory), it seems that since he took over the function of Indra, who was a daeva, he could not be called an ahura; but in order to mark his belonging to the world of ahuras he was called ahuradata, "created by an ahura."

It is in the framework of the religion of the ahuras, hostile to the cult of the daevas, that Zoroaster's message should be understood. He emphasized the central importance of his god, the wise Ahura, by portraying him with an escort of entities, the powers of all the other gods, in an array against the forces of evil.

The moral dualism expressed in the opposition AshaDruj (truthfalsehood) goes back at least to Indo-Iranian times, for the Veda knows it too. The Twin Spirits made an ominous choice. The Bounteous One becomes in thoughts, words, and deeds a partisan of Asha, ashavan, while the other became partisan of the Druj.

After them it was the daevas' turn; they all chose wrongly. Ever since, the daevas have tried to corrupt man's choice also. To the army of the ashavans, headed by the Bounteous Spirit, was counterposed the host of the dregvants, under the Destructive Spirit, Angra Mainyu. Each combatant faced his exact counterpart: the Good Mind opposing the Bad Mind and Aramaiti being countered by Taromaiti.

In this battle, the whole material universe is, through the entities, potentially enrolled. The Bounteous Spirit is the patron of man, Asha of fire, the Good Mind of the Ox, the Dominion of the metals, Aramaiti of the earth, Integrity, and Immortality of the waters and plants. Moreover, since the entities are at once divine and human (because both the spiritual and material qualities of man partake of divine), everyone faithful to the wise Ahura can commune with him. Thus the hymns of Zoroaster set forth the cosmic battle and its effect on the souls of humans.

After Zoroaster's time, considerable changes occurred in the theology he had professed. The entities were reduced to mere deities, which were even separated into male and female. Never again were their names used to designate human faculties. This is probably a consequence of the resurgence of the ancient gods. By logic it seems contrary to what Zoroaster intended.

It is not known to what extent Zoroaster's system was meant to be exclusively the cult of Ahura Mazda. In the Later Avesta all the gods he had ignored emerged again, such as Mithras, Airyaman (whom he had replaced by Sraosha), Anahita, Apam Napat, Verethraghna, and Vayu. This vast pantheon, still nominally headed by Ahura Mazda, is similar to the compromise that Darius, the King, according to interpretations, made between the cult of Auramazda and that of the gods of the nobility. These later changes evolved without Zoroaster.

Thereby Zoroaster's theology lost its exclusive position, but, also, an internal change modified its equilibrium and even threatened its very essence. The Bounteous Spirit was through time almost completely reabsorbed into Ahura Mazda. Whereas in contrast in a Yasht the two Spirits fought each other. Also, in the Videvdat Ahura Mazda and the Destructive Spirit opposed each other -.thereby creating, respectively, the good and the bad things. Unfortunately, this profoundly affected Zoroaster's system because Ahura Mazda could no longer be the father of the Twin Spirits. Thus, Ahura now faced, on equal terms so to speak, a sort of antigod. This fundamental alteration probably dates back to the 4th century BC, because Aristotle said in the Peri philosophias ("On Philosophy") that the Magi preached the existence of two principles, Oromasdes and Areimanios implying a co-equality that Zoroaster never intended.

In the cosmogony as expounded, the Good (Ahura Mazda) and Evil (Ahriman) are separated by the void. They seem to have existed from all eternity, when Ahriman's invidious attack initiates the whole process of creation. The question of their origin is ignored, but it was implied because Ormazd had taken the place of his Bounteous Spirit in the struggle against the Destructive Spirit. Since Ahura Mazda could no longer be the father of the two adversaries, the question of their origin was inevitably of great interest. A solution was provided by Zurvanism.

It is Zurvanism (Time) who is the father of Ormazd and Ahriman. But this solution upset the very essence of Mazdaism and was therefore condemned by many as heretical. Still, Zurvanism was widely accepted, however, perhaps even prevalent, in Sasanian times. Traces of it are found in Mazdean orthodoxy, some features of which cannot otherwise be explained.

In Mazdean orthodoxy, when Ormazd created the material world, he first produced it from Infinite Light a form of fire, out of which all things were to be born. One is struck by the similarities to Einstein's perceptions of light, mass, energy and time. This form of fire is "bright, white, round, and visible from afar." Gayomart, the Primal Man, was conceived as spherical, in the image of the sky. "Ormazd, the lord of all things, produced from Infinite Light a form of fire whose name was that of Ormazd and whose light was that of fire." The Mazdean quaternary can not be fully explained.

The idea is also called in Manichaeism the god with four faces. Among the various forms under which the Zurvanite quaternity manifested itself, the one associating Zurvan with Light, Power, and Wisdom seems to be the origin of the Mazdean quaternity Ormazd. To obtain this quaternity, it was sufficient to replace Zurvan by Time, Light by Space, Wisdom by Religion, and Power by Ormazd and to put the latter at the end of the series.

Cosmology

In order to vanquish Ahriman, Ormazd created the world as a battlefield. He knew that this fight would be limited in time,it would last 9,000 years,and he offered Ahriman a pact to that effect. After they had created their respective material creations, Ahriman's first attack was defeated by Ormazd with the help of the Ahuna Vairya prayer which is the most sacred of the Zoroastrian prayers. He lay prostrate for another period of 3,000 years, the second in a total of four.

He was then stirred up by the prostitute (Primal Woman) and went back to the attack, this time within the material universe. He killed the Primal Bull, whose marrow gave birth to the plants and whose semen was collected and purified in the moon, where it would produce the useful animals. Ahriman then killed Gayomart, the Primal Man, whose body produced the metals and whose semen was preserved and purified in the sun. A part of it would produce the rhubarb from which the first human couple would be born.

The first human couples were perverted by Ahriman, and it is only with the advent of Zoroaster, after 3,000 years, that Ahriman's supremacy came to an end. Ormazd and Ahriman then fight, again, on equal terms until Ormazd, at the end of the last 3,000 years, finally will triumph. One can perceive echoes of this legend in the story of Genesis of the Old Testament. .

Concepts of Man

The idea of man as a microcosm, already illustrated in the cosmogony, is further developed in the Bundahishn . As a result of the aggressor's attack, man is mortal. But he does not die altogether. There are five immortal parts in him: ahu ("life"), daena ("religion"), baodah ("knowledge"), urvan ("soul"), and fravashi ("pre-existent souls"). The latter term may mean literally "pre-eminent hero." This originally aristocratic notion seems to have been vulgarized in the same way as, in Greece, where any dead person came to be considered a hero, or, in Egypt, an Osiris. Zoroaster ignored the fravashi, but he was familiar with the daena. The latter term meant "religion" in both its objective and subjective senses.

Indian and Iranian beliefs in the afterlife have many features in common, dating back to the Indo-Iranian period. In the ancient Indian texts, the Upanishads, the soul is welcomed in heaven by 500 apsaras (cloud maidens).

In Iran the soul meets his own religion (daena) in the form of a beautiful damsel if he has lived justly; otherwise, he meets a hideous hag.. (Note: There are those in Iran who know in their hearts that Ayatollah Komheni is the consort of a hag who has captivated him.) Either before this encounter or after, the soul must cross a bridge. One hopes that it is with the young girl and the gods, It is attested in India in the Yajurveda and the Upanishads. In the Gathas it is called the Bridge of the Requiter. It leads the good souls to paradise, but the bad ones fall off the bridge into hell.

The soul also undergoes a judgment day. The soul appears before Mithras and his two companions, Sraosha and Rash nu.

Finally it ascends through successive stages representing respectively good thoughts (the stars), good words (the moon), and good deeds (the sun) and onward to the paradise (of infinite lights).

In the Veda it is said only that the sojourn of the good deed is beyond the path of the sun. In paradise the soul is led by Vohu Manah, the Good Mind, to the golden throne of Ormazd.

Hell also has, a balanced, symmetrical four levels. There is, for the souls whose good actions exactly balance their evil ones, an intermediate place which they find.

PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS

Cultic Places

In Persia temples have been found. Some are in the shape of terraces or towers or square rooms. Chahartaq s (sacred buildings with four gates or doors) are scattered over most of Iran. In addition, permanent altars exist from the Sasanian period and are depicted on old coins with a burning fire.

Sacred Fires were maintained. The Farnbag, Gushnasp, and Burzen-Mihr fires were connected, respectively, with the priests, the warriors, and the farmers.

The Farnbag fire was at first in Khwarezm, Zoroaster's protector then transported it to Kabulistan. Then Khosrow ttransported it to the ancient sanctuary of Kariyan in Fars the Gushnasp fire, located at Shiz, was the ancient fire of the Magi (in Media). Later, it came to be the symbol of the monarchic and religious unity. The Burzen-Mihr fire never ranked as high as the other two because the peasants, unlike the kings and the clergy, never possessed any sovereignty.

Priesthood

The Magians, though not originally Zoroastrian, became acquainted with the prophet's teachings circa the 4th century BC. They had the monopoly on religion at the Achaemenian court. Under the Sasanians, a hierarchy developed, with the creation of the magupat, or chief of the magi, later, its superlative magupatan magupat (coined on the model of shahanshah, "king of kings"). The ehrpat, usually a religious teacher, was especially entrusted with the care of the fire. Priesthood is hereditary, but all priests have to go through one or more ceremonies of investiture over and above those practiced by all the faithful.

Ceremonies

All young Parsis in India must be initiated when they reach the age of seven or 10 (in Persia). They receive the shirt (sadre) and the girdle (kusti), which they are to wear their whole life.

Purification There are three types of purification, in order of increasing importance: the padyab, or ablution; the nahn, or bath; and , finally, the bareshnum , a complicated ritual lasting several days , performed at special places with the participation of a dog,whose left ear is touched by the candidate and whose gaze puts the evil spirits to flight.

Penance entails reciting the patet, the firm resolve not to sin again, and the confession of sins to a dastur or to an ordinary priest if a dastur is not obtainable.

The chief ceremony, the Yasna, essentially a sacrifice of haoma (the sacred liquor), is celebrated before the sacred fire with recitation of large parts of the Avesta. In addition, there are offerings of bread and milk and, formerly, of meat or animal fat.

The sacred fire must be kept burning continually and has to be fed at least five times a day. Prayers also are recited five times a day. The founding of a new fire involves a very elaborate ceremony. There are also rites for purification and for regeneration of a fire.

Burial rites - After death, a dog is brought before the corpse; A "four-eyed" dog (i.e., it should have a spot above each eye), as this is said to increase the efficacy of its look). The rite is repeated five times a day. After the first one, fire is brought into the room where it is kept burning until three days after the removal of the corpse to the Tower of Silence. The removal must be done during the daytime.

The interior of the Tower of Silence is built in three concentric circles, one each for men, women, and children. The naked corpses are exposed within. Vultures sense what they are to do and circle downward. The vultures do not take long, an hour or two at the most, to strip the flesh off the bones, and these bones, dried by the sun, are later swept into the central well of the Towerr. (Formerly the bones were kept in an ossuary, the custodan, to preserve them from rain and animals.)

The morning of the fourth day is marked by the most solemn observance in the death ritual. This is because it is then that the departed soul reaches the next world and appears before the deities who are to pass judgment over it.

Festivals

Festivals, in which worship is an essential part, are characteristic aspects of Zoroastrianism because it is a faith that conjoins man; and woman the pleasant duty of being happy. The principal festivals in the Parsi year are the six seasonal festivals, Gahanbar s, and the days in memory of the dead at year's end. Also, each day of the month and each of the 12 months of the year is dedicated to a deity. The day named after the month is the great feast day of that particular deity. The New Year festival, Noruz, is the most joyous and beautiful of Zoroastrian feasts. There is a spring festival in honour of Rapithwin, the personification of noonday and summer. The festival to Mithra, or Mehragan, is traditionally an autumn one, as honored as the feast of Noruz.

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ETHICS

The precepts of Mazdean ethics focus upon the maintenance of life and the fight Against evil. In order to maintain life one must earn one's living by a good and proper vocation, in the past, cattle raising and agriculture. One is expected to procreate.

To fight against evil is to combat the demons and whatever beings, men or animals that belong to them. The two points of view seem to coincide, considering that the forces of evil are the forces of death: good is opposed to evil as light is to darkness, as life is to non-life. The life precepts can be transposed into fight precepts; for instance, eating and drinking are interpreted by Zatspram as a part of the struggle against the she-demon Az - woman's power to cause a want that is inordinate desire. The two points of view, however, are also contradictory: how can man fight the forces of evil without suppressing certain lives, such as baleful looking animals and people. The second viewpoint prevails. Iranians ignore, it even in theory. The universal respect of life that is preached by Buddhism justifies the vegetarian diet of Brahmanic India. An unresolved problem is the requirment of intrafaith marriages. It may be for social reasons (e.g., the desire to maintain family privileges) but over time there has been the development of consanguineous marriage, an acute form of endogamy. Such an excellent religion might find it both good and healthy to welcome new converted members. It could be that, like the Hebrews, they have fears based on persecutions.

An After Life' Future life should be determined by the balance of the good and evil deeds, words, and thoughts of the whole life. This principle, however, is tempered to allow for human weakness. All faults do not have to be registered or weighed forever on the scales. There are two means of effacing them: confession and the transfer of supererogatory merits (the equivalent of the Roman Catholic "Treasury of Merits" of Christ and the saints). The latter is the justification for the prayers and ceremonies for the departed.

Iconography

There is no Zoroastrian art. Only one god is represented during the first period It is Auramazda, as a winged disk hovering above the king. It is known, however, that Artaxerxes II introduced statues of Anahita into her temples, after the Greek fashion. In the Arsacid period, Greek models also served for the representations of Iranian gods. The kings ordered bas-reliefs and coins.

Relation to Other Religions

The debt of Israel to its Eastern neighbors in religious matters is obvious here and there but less so in the more important points, such as dualism, angelology, and eschatology. Isaiah 4048 offers striking parallels with the Zoroastrian Gatha 44:35. There is the notion of a god who created the world and, notably, light and darkness. The idea of a creator god appears to be common to all of the western part of the Semitic world. But the notion that God created light and darkness first appears in Zoroaster, then to Isaiah. Both prophets contribute to the power of this profound idea. It is true that Zoroaster associates light and darkness only to waking and sleeping and that no Iranian text says that God created good and evil. Nevertheless, the juxtaposition, in Isaiah, of lightdarkness with goodevil seems derived from the Iranian cultures to the East.

The salvation of Israel was essential, but it had to come about in the framework of a general renewal of spirit.

The appearance of a messiah, savior, would mean the end of this world and the birth of a new creation; this judgment on Israel would become a general judgment, dividing mankind into good and evil. This new concept, at once universal and ethical, recalls Persia so strongly that many scholars attribute it to influences from that area. The obvious similarity to the New Testament book of Revelations should not be ignored. It is unfortunate that American Evangelicals are not students of any religion except their own. Scholars have seen the Iranian influence especially in the savior's defeat of the demons. His gathering of men for the judgment scene., His raising of the dead, and his final administration of the judgment. There was occasion for this influence found in the contacts between the Jews and the Parthian that were initiated in the 2nd century BC which reached their climax in the middle of the 1st century BC.

Although Pythagoras could not have been a pupil of Zoroaster, still, there are striking similarities of doctrine between Iran and Greece. Anaximander's world view corresponded to that of the Avesta. Heraclitus while in Ephesus seems to have been impressed by the practices of the Magi This would account for the emergence, in 5th-century Greece, of the belief in the heavenly fate of the soul.

The search for an Iranian background to Gnosticism must be placed in a new perspective if the recent view that Gnosticism is really a Christian heresy. The relation of the book The Gospel of Mary found among the Hammadi scrolls to Gnostic knowledge encourages further investigation.

Today, Iran's leadership presents this ancient land as fundamentally Islamic a bastion of Shea. One wonders if any trace of that ancient openness to covenants and diversity exists. With two-thirds of the population under 26 years, there is little sense of history among the younger. In spite of the Islamic façade, moderation is as deep in Iran as extremism.

While early leaders in other lands banned the religions of their enemies, Cyrus, the great Persian leader, respected the religions of others. One asks why Cyrus's ideas derived from Zoroaster are largely forgotten. This is in part a failure of archaeologists to excavate in this land of origins. Though Cyrus is extolled in the Old Testament he is ignored today. The main idea presented by Zoroaster was not the celebration of war but the pursuit of happiness. So when Isaiah called Cyrus "an anointed one" we should take heed today. Cyrus and his idea of mingling diverse ways to praise God and seek happiness in a climate of truthful covenants confirm Zoroaster's realistic view of the struggle of Good versus Evil.

There are few Zoroastrian practitioners in Iran. The Zoroastrian community of 200,000 souls centers in the Guanajuato province of India among the Parsis. The Parsis of India, and elsewhere, have been the preservers of Zoroastrianism for today and the future. They are well respected as an ethical, hard working group. May their tribe increase' Perhaps, they could be more tolerant of conversions and inter-marriages so their religion could grow in numbers. We at the MeetingHouse are hopeful that Zoroastrianism will spread its fine, moral and ethical ideas to others.

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Recommended Web Sites:

A Book Recommended to Westerners is:

• In search of Zarathustra- The first prophet and the ideas that changed the world, Paul Kriwaczek, Knopf, New York, 2003
  (See Library B1)

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