Hymns of Zarathustra, Yasna 30
“Now I will speak to those who will hear
Of the things which the initiate should remember:
The praises and prayer of the Good Mind to the Lord
And the joy which he shall see in the light who has remembered them well.
Hear with your ears that which is sovereign good;
With a clear mind look upon the two sides
Between which each man must choose himself,
Watchful beforehand that the great test may be accomplished in our favour.
* * *
Now at the beginning the twin spirits have declared their nature,
The better and the evil, In thought and word and deed.
And between the two the wise ones choose well, not so the foolish.
And when these two spirits came together,
In the beginning they established life and non-life.
And that at the last the worst experience should be for the wicked,
But for the righteous or the Best Mind.
Of these two spirits, the evil one chose to do the worst things;
But the Most Holy Spirit, clothed in the most steadfast heavens,
Joined himself unto Righteousness;
And thus did all those those who delight to please the Wise Lord by honest deeds.
Between the two, the false gods also did not choose rightly,
For while they pondered they were best by error,
So that they chose the Worst Mind.
Then did they hasten to join themselves unto Fury,
That they might by it deprave the existence of man.
And to him came Devotion, together with Dominion, Good Mind and Righteousness:
She gave endurance of body and the breath of life,
That he may be thine apart from them,
As the first by the retributions through the metal.
And when their punishment shall come to these sinners,
Then, O Wise One, shall thy Dominion, with the Good Mind,
Be granted to those who have delivered Evil into the hands of
Righteousness, O Lord!
And may we be those that renew this existence!
O Wise One, and you other Lords, and Righteousness, bring your alliance,
That thoughts may gather where wisdom is faint.
Then shall Evil cease to flourish,
While those who have acquired good fame shall reap the promised reward
In the blessed dwelling of the Good Mind, of the Wise One, and of Righteousness.
If you, O men understand the commandments which the Wise One has given,
Well-being and suffering-long torment for the wicked and salvation for the righteous-
All shall hereafter be for the best.”
In a world, where agriculture was key, and plants were considered sacred, the prophet, Zarathustra was born. We find ourselves in the geographic realm later to become Iran, six centuries before the name Christ ever came into play. In the story of Zarathustra, his existence came to pass because of a very sacred transfer as the essence of Ahura-Mazda (the One God) passed into a plant, and further into a priest. The priest then mates with a woman of noble birth and they bear a son, Zarathustra.
Zarathustra is neither wealthy nor a great ruler; he is a humble man earnest in his endeavor to gather followers for Ahura-Mazda and lead his fellow man toward the Good Mind. Zarathustra understands himself to be a prophet. He speaks to Ahura-Mazda with respect but as a friend. It is said they exchange covenant, honoring the existence of one another with commitment. “Each declared himself to the other. They exchanged promises, doctrines, and commands.”1
As Zarathustra begins to write the Avesta (the Sacred Scripture for Zarathustrianism) he radiates throughout, the spirit that all who actively honor the Good Mind are Redeemers to their people. “The future redeemers of the peoples are they who through the Good Mind strive in their deeds to carry out…Righteousness.”1 However, his prophecy is not readily accepted by his own people and his aim as he leaves his pastoral society is to find a Prince that will propagate his sacred truths. Thus begins his Road of Trials.
At this time, pantheistic, polytheistic, or aesthetic views are recognized. Zarathustra eliminates all other gods but Ahura-Mazda by negating the practices of blood sacrifices and liquor offerings, thus “starving” the gods. The aspects of these once “fed” gods augment into shadow layers of Ahura-Mazda.
As one reads the Gathas, the pervading spirit aligns itself to man’s choice between the better and evil, truth and the lie, the Best Mind and the Worst Mind. “He who first by the mind filled the blessed spaces with light, He created Righteousness by his will, by which he upholds the Best Mind.”1
The Gathas are believed to have survived well due to their poetic cadence which when framed in the primitive time-set when they were written, allowed for ease of memorization. The Gathas inspire all who read it to follow Asha (the Spirit of Truth) and be blessed with perfection and immortality. Those who do not would be met with the consequence of eternal misery.
Unlike the turn-the-other-cheek philosophy that pervaded proscribed Christian nature, in Zarathustrianism, evil is met with evil. Ahura-Mazda is a god of justice, not mercy. The urvan (soul) is accompanied in this life by a guardian spirit (fravashi). On the Bridge of the Separator, Ahura-Mazda ultimately judges the urvan that is passing to the other side. Those urvans that have chosen to actively participate in the battle between truth and falsehood and have honored the Best Mind, will continue on into perfection and immortality. However, those who have chosen to follow the Lie, will be met with an Abyss (relate to the Christian Hell).
Zarathustra was pronounced a “saoshyant” (savior) due to his urgent need to speak the truth, gather followers, and warn of the coming Apocalypse. However, he pleaded, “May we be those who make existence brilliant.”3
He certainly had attained his status as Master of the Worlds. He translated fluidly speaking for the people to Ahura-Mazda and for Ahura-Mazda to the people. His humility perpetuated an aura that many feel around his name still today.
There are less than 200,000 Zarathustrians recognized as practicing in the World today. However, after a recent trip to Iran, Paul Kriwaczek stated, “…nobody could have helped noticing an undercurrent of something else…the Spirit of Zarathustra still powerful after thirteen hundred years of Islam.”2 That is one powerful Ren (Egyptian name that lived on long after the bearer had crossed over).
The dualism represented in Zarathustrianism and the moment by moment conscious belief that our free will offers man a choice to either follow the Best Mind or the Worst Mind; to either be blessed with perfection and immortality or suffer eternal misery really excites my sense of spirituality.
As I look at my reflection in the face of Zarathustra, I see a prophet(ess) ready to rise in order to honor the Best Mind. I see a woman who is in turn able to inspire that all beings rise to the occasion of being the best version of themselves they are capable of reaching.
In the words of Zarathustra, “May we be those who make existence brilliant.” May we all find the Freedom to Live and become heroes unto ourselves. May we inspire others to their greatness. It is our time to rise!
1. The Hymns of Zarathustra by Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin. Beacon Press. Boston 1952.
2. In Search of Zarathustra by Paul Kriwaczek. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. 2003
3. Zoroastrianism: World Religions. Updated Edition. Paula R. Hartz. Facts on File, INC. 2004
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