Posted on 04/13/2011 3:52:31 AM PDT by Cronos
Zoroastrianism is one of the most ancient religions of the world.
At one time it was the dominant religion of Iran and adjoining
regions. Its popularity declined when the Islamic invaders occupied Iran and
introduced Islam. A handful few who fled from Iran,after
the fall of the Sassanid Empire, to escape persecution in the hands of
the new rules took shelter in India. They are
known today in India as Parsis, a small community that has been
persistently striving ever since to keep the tenets of the religion
alive, despite hardship and lack of following. Apart from them a few people in Iran continue
to practice Zoroastrianism. They enjoy a minority status in Iran, an
Islamic nation, with a
limited degree of freedom to practice their religion. The total number
of people practicing Zoroastrianism in the world today would be around
250000 of whom 80% live in India and the rest in various parts of the
world including the USA. Although Zoroastrianism lost its status as a
popular world religion, its study and knowledge are very useful in our
understanding of the development of religious thought in the ancient
world and how some of its important beliefs and practices have
parallels in other religions such as Judaism, Christianity,
Islam and Hinduism. The following are some of the
important beliefs of Zoroastrianism.
1. Belief in Supreme and Universal God. Ahuramazda is the supreme,
omniscient and omnipotent God, who symbolizes truth, radiance, purity,
order, justice, courage, strength and patience. He is the creator as
well as sustainer. He also protects the good from the evil and
maintains order by keeping the chaotic evil at bay.
2. Belief in the duality of existence. Zoroastrians believe
that the world is battle ground between good and evil forces. Although
the good will ultimately triumph and the evil forces would be
destroyed, Zoroastrians believe that every human has a role and
responsibility in enhancing and marinating the sanctity and purity of
our existence by staying away from evil, avoiding all possible contact
and communication with it and by enhancing the good amidst us through
religious practices and observances and adherence to the teachings of
Zoroaster.
3. Belief in the divinity of creation. Zoroastrians believe that
God created both the invisible and invisible worlds from Himself using
His astral body and His own light. His creation is therefore very
sacred and divine. It is everyone's responsibility to keep it pure and
maintain the order or asha established by Him.
4. Belief in the spiritual nature of the world and human beings.
Zoroastrians believe God created the spiritual entities and beings
before manifesting their counterparts in the material plane. The
material world consisting of fire, water, air, earth, plants, animals and
humans is very much like the body of God, while His spirit rules
supreme and pervades the whole creation in various aspects and
entities. The fravashis or guardian spirits were created in the
material plane as human beings from the primeval man, from whose seed
were born Mashye and Mashyane, the first man and first woman.
All the races of humanity descended from these two in due course of time.
3. Belief in polytheism. While Zoroastrians worship Ahura Mazda as
the highest and supreme God, they also believe in the existence of a
number of divinities who represent His good qualities and who assist
Him in containing the evil in the material world. Highest among these
are the six Immortal Beings or Amesha Spentas who personify His good
qualities individually, followed by angels, lords or ahuras and other
divinities. Sacrificial rituals called Yasnas, rituals and prayers are
used to invoke these divinities on different occasions to sanctify the
world and help the faithful in their lives.
4. Belief in the basic goodness of the humanity. Zoroastrians
believe that human beings are essentially divine in nature and share
the spiritual nature of God. So they are not born as sinners nor there
is a compulsion to be a sinful. Human beings are born pure and have a
choice either to follow the teachings of God and remain righteous or
follow the ways of the evil and be damned. Depending upon their
choices and their actions, God decides their fate in the spiritual
realm. God offers knowledge of righteous conduct and provides
instructions for the expiation of sin. Buy He does not make a promise
to take upon Himself the sins of his worshippers.
5. Belief in the sanctity of the elements. Zoroastrians believe
that God created the spiritual world before he began His material
creation. The spiritual world is beyond the power of evil to
infiltrate it and corrupt it. However the material creation of God does not enjoy the same
immunity. It is prone to attacks from evil,
who had already entered the world during the second time period and established his presence. Human
beings should therefore be aware of the dangers that lurk in the
material world and do their part to stay away from evil. They should
neither do nor encourage any actions that would result in the tainting of
the material things and the elements. Fire, water, earth and air
should be kept pure by not allowing the evil entities to pollute them.
They should do this by leading righteous lives and avoiding physical
and mental contact with evil things such as dead and putrid matter and
other impurities. The dead bodies should neither be cremated, nor thrown into
water, nor buried in the earth. They should be allowed to disintegrate
or consumed by vultures and other birds who have been created by God
for the specific purpose.
6. Belief in the tradition of prophets. Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of
Zoroaster or Zarathushtra, the first prophet. According to legend God
manifested Himself to him in a vision and revealed him the secrets of
creation and the religious instructions to be followed by
people on earth to pursue the path of righteousness. The teachings of Zoroaster are available to us in the
Zend Avesta, the main scripture of Zoroastrians. Followers of Ahura
Mazda believe the birth of Zoroaster heralded the beginning
the current cycle of creation, which would last for 3000 years. During
this period a prophet would appear on earth at the end of each
millennium to preserve the teachings and guide the humanity. The third
prophet, will be a future son of Zoroaster, whose name would be
Shoshyant, who would herald the Judgment Day and the eventual
destruction of evil powers in the material world.
7. Belief in afterlife. According to Zoroastrian beliefs
death is as a result of the spirit leaving the body. The sanctity and
purity of the body is lost once the spirit leaves it. Having left the
body the soul would remain on earth for a three days and nights,
hovering near the body. Then it would depart
to the spiritual realm, led by Daena, the guardian spirit, where it would be greeted with a vision of the
thoughts, words and actions it performed when it was inside the human
body upon earth. It would then be led to the Chinawad bridge, where an
angel would assess its actions and decide whether it should go to the heaven or
hell for a temporary residence till the Last Judgment Day. Zoroastrianism
believe in the
final judgment day, on which God would resurrect all the dead and
subject to a second scrutiny. All the good souls would be given a
permanent place in heaven and the rest will be condemned into a
purgatory till eternity. Some Zoroastrians also believe that the souls
are born in the material world as per the decree of God to overcome
their defects and achieve perfection. Life upon the earth is therefore
a great opportunity for the souls to refine their character and become
perfect beings of light. Zoroastrian texts describer heaven as a place
of pure joy and happiness inundated with the light of God and hell as
a cold and dark place where the evil spirits subject the sinners to
gruesome punishments.
8. Belief in sin and expiation of sin. Zoroastrians believe that
life upon earth is fraught with dangers because of the presence of
evil. People can commit sin by not following the religious
instructions of God, by not practicing the three commandments declared
by Zoroaster, namely good thoughts, good words and good deeds, by
indulging in sinful activities such as adultery, sodomy, theft,
pollution of elements, practicing other faiths, not disposing of the
dead according to the prescribed method, touching the dead matter, not
offering prayers and rituals to God, performing sacrificial rituals
for the daevas or evil spirits, not wearing kusti, the sacred thread
and kadre, the upper garment in the prescribed manner, doing business
with malicious intention or evil thoughts, not marrying according to
the instructions given in the scriptures and so on. The scriptures
also prescribe procedures to be followed for the expiation of certain
sins, while for certain mortal sins death is recommended penalty.
Heinous
sins are listed in some Zoroastrian texts such as the Menog-i Khrad
(Ch. 36)
9. Belief in the Judgment day. Zoroastrians believe that at the end
of current cycle of 3000 years, God will destroy the evil forces in a
final conflagration and herald the Judgment Day . On that day He would
resurrect the dead and subject their lives to another scrutiny. Those who prove to be pious
and obedient to his instructions would be suitably rewarded with
an eternal life in heaven and the rest will be condemned to an eternal
suffering in
a purgatory.
10. Belief in the efficacy of sacrificial rituals. Zoroastrians
believe in the performance of sacrificial rituals called Yasnas as an
important part of their religious observance and the best means to
communicate with God and His entities. The rituals constitute an
important aspect of righteous conduct. The rituals are meant to
purify the world and also the people involved in it. They are usually
performed by qualified priests, to the accompaniment of chants from
the Avesta, inside a fire temple. Zoroastrian scriptures emphasize the
importance of maintaining ritual purity while
performing the rituals for obtaining best results. Zoroastrians also
offer five prayers every day, during different times. In addition to
these they also perform an
initiation ceremony called Naujote for both boys and girls before induct
them into the Zoroastrian path. They also celebrate some popular
festivals in honor of God and His entities.
11. Belief in the efficacy of sacred chants. Zoroastrians believe
in the ritual chanting as the means to establish order and purity in
the world and in the lives of the worshippers. Manthras or sacred
verses from the religious texts, usually in Avestan, a sister
language of Sanskrii, are chanted in a particular manner to
please God and the spiritual entities. Chanting mantras is considered
to be a form of practicing the three commandments, namely good
thoughts, good words and good deeds.
12. Belief in the importance of righteousness. In the Zoroastrian
world view, the material word is a battle ground between the good and
evil forces. Human beings have a sacred responsibility to remain on
the side of the good and assist God in getting rid of evil from
creation permanently. Men should therefore practice righteousness, aim
to cultivate the qualities of God as represented by the six Immortal
Beings and promote Asha or order, Truth and righteous conduct
everywhere.
“It also derives from the name of our founder, Jujiro Matsuda.
I know, and its the same reason products made by Matsushita Denki is made by Panasonic here in America...no one can pronounce the ‘tsu’ without sounding like a weirdo.
*snort*
It's alien to everyday human experience, isn't it?
Thanks! I wondered about that as I read the article! I know that Subaru is taken from the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster.
Right it superseeded the Bab.
I remember studying this in my world religins class. I think the prof said there was a link to christianity and Judaism. I also remember him saying it was one of the first monotheistic religons
I knew quite a few Bahais when stationed at Ft Lewis in the early 70s., and went to a few of their ¨Firesides¨, or gatherings at members homes. ¨The Dawnbreakers¨ is the tract that IIRC traces the Bab´s prophecy of Bahaullah. Interesting. With the Protestantism and Catholicism of my youth, I added it to my overall religious experience which is more at home these days with the Jews and Torah.
God´s grace....
Thanks for the ping.
The overall (emphasis on “overall”) philosophy mentioned in the article is correct. Some of the details are not, or at least, in my take, have not been communicated correctly.
The basics include:
No one knows for certain where or when Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) was born. Most prominent scholars (such as Mary Boyce) believe he was born in Central Asia (Eastern part of Iran) or most likely in what we now know as Tajikistan. His birth is estimated to be around 1200 BC. He is said to be an Aryan of the Vedic age.
Zoroastrianism is a Monotheistic religion (believes in worshipping One God). It also advocates the concept of duality (good vs evil). Good & Evil are states of mind & choices one makes in life, either thru good thoughts, leading to good words & then good deeds (actions). Or, thru evil (negative) thoughts, words & deeds. Good and Evil, thru our choices & state of mind, can also manifest themselves as Chaos vs Order, Truth vs Lie. Symbolically, Darkness represents Evil; Light represents Good or Goodness.
Based on the previous paragraph, in original Zoroastrian teachings (the Gathas), there is no person called the Devil (Satan vs God) or Shaytan vs Allah as the case is in Islam. That is to say, the Devil is not a person.
If one is keen to understand the core of Zarathushtra’s (Zoroaster’s) teachings (spoken by himself), then it is best to study the Gathas. The Gathas do not mention any other “deity” or “divinity”, or personality except Ahura Mazda; Mazda means the “Wise”. Ahura Mazda meaning the “Wise one” or Most Wise.
Noteworthy is that the first group of Zoroastrians, who reside in India (altho originally were of Persian/Iranian heritage known as Parsis & Iranis), mostly immigrated to India some 13 centuries ago, after Arab-Moslem invasion of Iran. The second & third group of Zoroastrians from Iran immigrated there in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, due to persecution by Moslem converts during the the latter part of Safavid & later the Qajar dynasties in Iran.
As a result:
1. Many have retained parts of the branch of Zoroastrianism created during the Sassanid period, instead of purely practicing the original form of Zoroastrian teachings based on the Gathas.
2. Many if not most have adopted Indian customs, practices & traditions, along with Hindu practices & beliefs. These can not be considered Zoroastrian teachings.
Finally, Zoroastrianism, originally, as taught by Zarathushtra, is a “reflective” religion, not “prescriptive”. The standard Zoroastrian teachings nowadays increasingly is reverting to Gathic teachings, instead of being mixed w/ Zurvanism, Mazadaism, and all sorts of other branches or schools which are misunderstood & mistaken for Zoroaster’s teachings.
Translation of the Gathas by Mobed (priest) Firouz Azargoshasb
http://www.zarathushtra.com/z/gatha/az/The%20Gathas%20-%20FAZ.pdf
Other good/clear info on Zoroastrianism:
http://www.zarathushtra.com/z/article/overview.htm
http://www.avesta.org/zfaq.html
About the current *estimated* number of Zoroastrians worldwide:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2691973/posts?page=38#38
>>>”This is the first time Ive ever heard that zoroastrianism taught polytheism “<<<
That’s because Zoroastrianism does Not teach polytheism. See #48
Thank you both for keeping the accuracy ... accurate. And Thanks for the ping.
I couldn`t read the whole article because almost all the things i was reading was false.Don`t believe anyh of this it`s not true
it isnt accurate, its false
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