Zaratustra
Atualmente, este cargo da Hierarquia é ocupado por aquele que encarnou na Pérsia antiga como fundador do Zoroastrismo. Ele é o mais alto iniciado do fogo sagrado do planeta e a autoridade responsável pelas energias do fohat. Zaratustra coordena os sacerdotes do fogo sagrado e o sacerdócio de Melquisedeque.
Todos os membros da Grande Fraternidade Branca servem na Ordem de Melquisedeque, assim como servem o fogo sagrado, mas somente os que alcançaram um certo nível de iniciação podem ser chamados Sacerdotes da Ordem de Melquisedeque. Os outros membros servem os propósitos da Ordem, mas não recebem o título de sacerdotes.
O registro histórico
O Zoroastrismo é uma das religiões mais antigas do mundo. Zaratustra, o seu fundador, foi um profeta que conversava diretamente com Deus. Ele viveu em uma sociedade inculta, que nada registrava. Os seus ensinamentos foram transmitidos oralmente e muito do que foi escrito mais tarde sobre a sua vida e os seus ensinamentos perdeu-se ou foi destruído. O material que os estudiosos conseguiram reunir sobre o Iniciado proveio de três fontes: o estudo do meio social, antes da época e na época em que se acredita que ele tenha vivido; a tradição e os Gathas, dezessete hinos sagrados supostamente compostos por ele. Os Gathas estão registrados no Avesta, as escrituras sagradas do Zoroastrismo.
Acredita-se que Zaratustra tenha nascido na região leste do Irã atual, mas não há uma certeza sobre isso. A sua data de nascimento ainda é mais difícil de estabelecer. Os eruditos calculam que seja algo entre 1700 a.C. e 600 a.C., mas o consenso geral é de que ele tenha vivido por volta de 1000 a.C.. Os Gathas registram que Zaratustra pertencia à família Spitama, uma família de cavaleiros. O equivalente grego para o nome Zaratustra é Zoroastro, que significa “estrela dourada” ou “luz dourada”. Ele era da classe dos sacerdotes que desenvolviam mantras.
Segundo a tradição, aos vinte anos, Zaratustra deixou pai, mãe e esposa para ir em busca da Verdade. Dez anos mais tarde, teve a primeira de muitas visões: “Em uma margem, ele viu um Ser resplandecente que disse chamar-se Vohu Manah, ‘o Bom Propósito’. Esse Ser levou Zaratustra à presença de Ahura Mazda e de outras cinco figuras radiantes e, diante delas, ‘ele não conseguia ver a própria sombra projetada na terra, por causa da sua grande luz.’”[1]
Ahura Mazda significa “Senhor Sábio” e Zaratustra reconheceu em Ahura Mazda o Deus Verdadeiro, o Criador do universo. Logo após a primeira visão, Zaratustra tornou-se o Seu porta-voz e passou a divulgar a Sua mensagem. Promoveu uma reforma religiosa de longo alcance cujo principal objetivo era eliminar o mal, pregando contra os “daevas” (demônios) da antiga religião.
No início da sua missão, Zaratustra não teve sucesso. Os sacerdotes e os seguidores dos “daevas” perseguiam-no e, segundo a tradição, tentaram matá-lo inúmeras vezes. Somente após uma década Zaratustra conseguiu a primeira conversão: a de um primo seu. Depois, foi conduzido divinamente, até à corte do Rei Vishtaspa e da Rainha Hutaosa.
Vishtaspa, era um monarca honesto e simples, mas vivia rodeado de karpans, um grupo de sacerdotes manipuladores que só se preocupavam com eles mesmos. Eles convocaram um conselho para confrontar as revelações do novo profeta, e conseguiram mandá-lo para a prisão. De acordo com a história, Zaratustra ganhou a liberdade quando, por milagre, curou um cavalo negro, o favorito do rei. Vishtaspa deu-lhe permissão para ensinar a nova fé à sua consorte, a rainha Hutaosa. A bela Hutaosa tornou-se uma das principais protetoras de Zaratustra e ajudou-o a converter Vishtaspa.
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.”[2]
Radiating a blinding light and the sound of thunder, they announced that they had come on behalf of Ahura Mazda in order that the king might receive the fullness of the message of Zarathustra. They promised Vishtaspa a life span of 150 years and that he and Hutaosa would have an immortal son. The archangels warned, however, that if Vishtaspa should decide not to take up the religion, his end would not be far away. The king embraced the faith, and the entire court followed suit. The scriptures record that the archangels then took up their abode with Vishtaspa.
Messenger of Sanat Kumara
In a dictation given January 1, 1981, the ascended master Zarathustra spoke of King Vishtaspa and Queen Hutaosa:
I AM come to deliver the sacred fire of the Sun behind the sun to raise you up and to establish in you the original teaching of Ahura Mazda, Sanat Kumara, delivered long ago in the land of ancient Persia unto me and unto the king and queen who received the conversion of archangels and of the sacred fire and of holy angels by the descent of light. Thus, by their lifestreams’ acceptance of my prophecy, there came to pass the multiplication of the bread of life from the heart of Sanat Kumara, whose messenger I was, whose messenger I remain....
The teaching of the hosts of the LORD and the coming of the great avatar of light, the teaching of betrayal and the consequent warfare of his hosts against the evil ones, was understood and propagated. The law of karma, the law of reincarnation, and even the vision of the last days when evil and the Evil One would be vanquished—all of this went forth by the conversion of the king and the queen and the reaching out of the faith to all of the subjects of the land. Thus, the tests were given by the archangels through my office unto these two chosen ones. Thereby passing the tests, they became blessed as secondary emissaries of Sanat Kumara. And therefore, I the prophet and they holding the balance in the earth manifested a trinity of light and the figure-eight flow.
Realize the necessary ingredients for the propagation of the faith throughout the earth. The archangels send their messenger with a gift of prophecy that is the Word of Sanat Kumara to every culture and in every age. Thus, the prophet comes forth with the vision, with the anointing and with the sacred fire. But unless the prophet find the fertile field of hearts aflame and receptive, the authority of the Word does not pass unto the people.[3]
Legacy
According to tradition, when Zarathustra was seventy-seven, he was assassinated by a priest of the old Iranian religion. Some accounts say that he perished by lightning, or a flame from heaven. Much of what happened after Zarathustra’s death is shrouded in mystery. Scholars say that his successors reintroduced back into the system the old gods that he had dethroned.
By the time the Medes came to power in the seventh century B.C., Zoroastrianism was a major force in Persia. When Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 331 B.C., he killed the priests and burned down the royal palace, destroying whatever may have been recorded of Zoroastrian tradition.
About A.D. 225, Zoroastrianism reemerged in Persia and was the state religion until around 651, when the Muslims conquered Persia. Although Zoroastrianism was officially tolerated, the Arab conquerors encouraged conversion to Islam through societal pressures, economic incentives or force. Many Zoroastrians converted or went into exile. Loyal Zoroastrians who remained in Persia were taxed for the privilege of practicing their faith. In later centuries, persecution of Zoroastrians escalated. As of 1976, there were only 129,000 Zoroastrians in the world. However, much of what Zarathustra taught lives on in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
His service as an ascended master
Today Zarathustra is an ascended master whose consciousness bears as an auric emanation of fire that is an all-consuming love, a piercing light that goes to the core of whatever is unreal. We call him a Buddha because he has the attainment of the expansion of the threefold flame and of the Christ mind at the level of initiation that we call the buddhic level.
Being in the presence of Zarathustra is like being in the presence of the physical sun itself. The mastery he has of spiritual fire and physical fire is, if not the highest, among the highest of any adept ascended from this planet. If you want to keep the flame of Zarathustra, visualize him keeping the flame, the divine spark, in your own heart. He is the greatest ‘fire-tender’ of them all, if you will. And when you call to him, remember that when you are engaged in the battle of Light and Darkness and you give your call for the binding of the forces of Antichrist, there is no greater devourer of the dark forces than Zarathustra himself. He is an ascended master with buddhic attainment whose auric emanation is one of an all-consuming love.
Retreat
► Main article: Zarathustra's retreat
Zarathustra’s retreat is patterned after the secret chamber of the heart, which is the place where the threefold flame burns on the altar of being. Your high priest, who is your Holy Christ Self, retires to that secret chamber to keep that flame. He and other ascended masters can and do visit you there and tutor your soul. Zarathustra has said that we may be welcomed in his retreat when you have the necessary development of the heart. He has not revealed its location.
Sources
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Masters and Their Retreats, s.v. “Zarathustra.”
- ↑ Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians, Their Religious Beliefs (London: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1979), p. 19.
- ↑ Dinkart 7.4.75–76, quoted in Bernard H. Springett, Zoroaster, the Great Teacher (London: William Rider and Son, 1923), p. 25.
- ↑ Zarathustra. “A Moment in Cosmic History—The Empowerment of Bearers of the Sacred Fire,” Pearls of Wisdom, vol. 24, no. 13, March 28, 1981.