Zarathustra: Difference between revisions

<blockquote>Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith.<ref>Mary Boyce, ''Zoroastrians, Their Religious Beliefs and Practices'' (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), p. 1.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>... one of the greatest religious geniuses of all time.... [He] was a prophet, or at least conceived himself to be such; he spoke to his God face to face.... [Yet] about the Prophet himself we know almost nothing that is authentic.<ref>R. C. Zaehner, “Zoroastrianism,” in ''The Concise Encyclopaedia of Living Faiths'', ed. R. C. Zaehner (1959; reprint, Boston: Beacon Press, 1967), pp. 222, 209.</ref></blockquote>

Zarathustra lived in a nonliterate society, whose people did not keep records. His teachings were passed down by oral tradition, and much of what was later written down about his life and teachings has been lost or destroyed. What scholars have been able to piece together about him comes from three sources: the study of the historical milieu prior to and during the time Zarathustra is believed to have lived, tradition, and seventeen sacred hymns called Gathas. Scholars concur that Zarathustra composed these hymns. The Gathas are recorded in the Avesta, the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism.  

Zarathustra was also an initiate. According to Boyce, “He ... describes himself [in the Gathas] as a ‘vaedemna’ or ‘one who knows,’ an initiate possessed of divinely inspired wisdom.”<ref>Boyce, ''Zoroastrians'', p. 19.</ref> But first and foremost, Zarathustra was a prophet, and ''he is'' a prophet and he lives today among us as an ascended master.

The significance of this cannot be overstated. Zarathustra may have been the first monotheist in recorded history. Zaehner points out, “The great achievement of the Iranian Prophet [was] that he eliminated all the ancient gods of the Iranian pantheon, leaving only Ahura Mazdah, the ‘Wise Lord’, as the One True God.”<ref>Zaehner, “Zoroastrianism,” p. 210.</ref>

After two long years, the monarch was finally converted. But Vishtaspa required one final sign before he would totally embrace the faith. He asked to be shown what role he would play in the heaven-world. In response, Ahura Mazda sent three archangels to the court of Vishtaspa and Hutaosa. They appeared as effulgent knights in full armour, riding on horseback. According to one text, they arrived in such glory that “their radiance in that lofty residence seemed ... a heaven of complete light, owing to their great power and triumph;... when he thus looked upon [them], the exalted king Vishtaspa trembled, all his courtiers trembled, all his chieftains were confused.”<ref>Dinkart 7.4.75–76, quoted in Bernard H. Springett, ''Zoroaster, the Great Teacher'' (London: William Rider and Son, 1923), p. 25.</ref>

Boyce explains:

'''Vohu Manah''', whose name means “Good Mind,” “Good Thought” or “Good Purpose.” According to Boyce, “For every individual, as for the prophet himself,” Vohu Manah is “the Immortal who leads the way to all the rest.” '''Asha Vahishta''', whose name means “Best Righteousness,” “Truth” or “Order,” is the closest confederate of Vohu Manah.<ref>Ibid., p. 22; Boyce, ''Textual Sources'', p. 13.</ref>

The Holy Spirit and the Evil Spirit are, as Zaehner puts it, “irreconcilably opposed to each other.”<ref>Zaehner, ''Dawn'', pp. 42–43.</ref>Zarathustra said: