ZARATHUSHTRA
Ushta no zato athrava yo Spitamo
Zarathushtro
Hail! Born for us is the priest Spitama Zarathushtra!
The cheer of the beneficient creations reverberated
through the universe. The world was bathed in golden light for days before
and since, as Zarathushtra, he of the golden coloured camel, made his entry
into this world with a chuckle. Legend would have us believe that Zarathushtra
in fact laughed out loud at the moment of his birth and that this laughter
so unusual in a new born babe and therefore considered miraculous, foretold
the destruction of all darkness, evil and misery in this world. A much anticipated
saviour had been born.
The life and times of Zarathushtra go back
to what is considered the prehistoric past. This was a time when the hitherto
nomadic tribes of the central Asian steppes were just beginning to lead a
more settled existence. Farming and pastoral communities were being established
and the settlers were beginning to realize the need for long term care of
their environment if they were to reap the benefits of a settled lifestyle.
These were tough and dangerous times too, as there was the ever imminent danger
of marauding nomads looting and pillaging these settlements in their seasonal
migrations across the steppes.
What we do know about Zarathushtra comes to
us enshrouded in myth and legend, the stories having been transmitted through
an oral tradition for generations before finally being committed to writing.
The core of these legends do have a sound basis in fact as they can be corroborated
by Zarathushtra’s own words and in the faithfully preserved religious
literature of his followers. Unfortunately no definitive information is available
to us with regard to the place and the time of his ministry. What can be stated
with any degree of certainty is that he lived in the north-eastern part of
Iran and at a time no later than 1500 BC.
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Part
2 :
Zarathushtra was born into the Spitama family. His father was Pourushaspa and
his mother was Dughdhova. Pourushaspa belonged to a line of hereditary priests
of the Mazdayasni religion and we know that Zarathushtra himself trained and
practiced as a priest. Many stories are told of how the forces of evil tried
to harm Zarathushtra from the moment of his conception and throughout his growing
years, but always miraculously, he was protected from harm and injury. From
an early age, Zarathushtra demonstrated a strong sense of justice, social reform
and an unswerving commitment to the truth. He saw the moral and spiritual decadence
of society around him and turning his back on the established order of the day,
he stood up for what he knew was right and proper. Needless to say he managed
to effectively upset and upstage the establishment.
At the age of 20, Zarathushtra left home to
perhaps ponder the deeper meanings of life and search for the solution to
woes of his people. There seems to have been a deep seated rot in the social
and religious fabric of the day. Zarathushtra himself tells us that the spirit
of the benificient animal and the spirit of the earth had pleaded with Ahura
Mazda to send them a deliverer, a powerful man of action that could save them
from destruction. Zarathushtra saw himself as that man. He had been born with
a mission and he was now ready and willing to carry out this mission to save
his people and save the earth.
Legend tells us that one morning as Zarathushtra
was preparing for the Haoma ceremony on the banks of the river Daiyta he was
approached by a handsome stranger whom he intuitively recognized as the Yazata
Sarosh. Sarosh Yazad led Zarathushtra to a meeting with Ahura Mazda. Zarathushtra
is said to have had seven such conferences with Ahura Mazda during which it
is presumed Zarathushtra received his training and then was finally given
the mantle of prophet.
Zarathushtra had been away for 10 years and
on his return from the realms of Ahura Mazda to real life amongst his people,
there was no welcoming committee, no sympathetic ear and no credence placed
upon his celestial conferences with Ahura Mazda. In vain did he try and preach
the message he had received from Ahura Mazda, but there were no takers. Zarathushtra
had returned to a terrorized society that was riddled with fear and suspicion,
controlled by a corrupt priesthood that had fallen on evil days. Zarathushtra’s
ancestral religion of Mazda worship had been reduced to mere superstition
and the propitiation of evil.
Divine messenger though he might have been,
Zarathushtra was all too human in his despair and dejection at the state of
his people and his land. He poured his heart out to Ahura Mazda in divinely
inspired poetic utterances. He lamented his rejection, his friendless state,
who should he consider a friend? Wither should he go? Was there anyone who
would listen to him?
The Gathas or poems of Zarathushtra have been
preserved for posterity, faithfully transmitted through the generations by
his followers. In the Gathas we find that despite his despondency at times,
Zarathushtra never lost sight of his vision and goal or ever doubted the great
spiritual power of the message he had to deliver. Eventually, first one and
then many accepted Zarathushtra’s teachings and left behind the wicked
ways.
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Part 3: With King
Vishtaspa’s acceptance of his message, Zarathushtra had finally succeeded
in making a change in the lives of his people. Under royal patronage, the message
of Ahura Mazda was proclaimed throughout the land. The corrupt priesthood was
abolished and with them went the superstition, sorcery and fear that had held
society back. Zarathushtra’s ecologically friendly guidelines ment nature
was happy too. Harmony was reestablished between man and nature and between
all the beneficent creations of Ahura Mazda.
Zarathushtra’s
was the first amongst all the prophetic voices to preach a monotheistic religion.
There was only one god and that god was Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda is the Lord
of Wisdom. Wisdom or the attainment of wisdom is the illumination that dispels
the darkness of ignorance. Walking the path of Asha or Righteousness is the
way to happiness and happiness is the natural state of existence that Ahura
Mazda intended for his creations.
Ahura
Mazda is wholly good and perfect and therefore nothing of imperfection and
evil can emanate from him. Angre Mainyu or the evil spirit is the antithesis
of everything that embodies Ahura Mazda and nothing of good can emanate from
him. These concepts of good and evil are very strongly represented in the
Gathas wherein Zarathushtra emphatically states that while each of us has
the freedom to choose between these two options, we should be fully aware
of the consequences of either of these choices. Utilizing the power of the
good mind we ought to choose good because we are assured of our reward in
this life and in the hereafter. If we choose instead to follow the wrong path,
we can with equal certainty be assured of retribution on Judgment Day. Each
of us is responsible for the redemption of our own soul through our own thoughts,
words and deeds. The gates of heaven and hell were open to all - kings and
commoners alike based upon their choices in this world. Heaven was not the
privilege of the rich and powerful nor would the poor and infirm automatically
be consigned to hell.
Zarathushtra
was a great and original thinker. The ancient Greeks immortalized him as the
philosopher’s philosopher. It is through Greek reports that the legends
of this great philosopher have been fuelling the imaginations of generations
of European thinkers, savants, writers, musicians and travelers. Imperceptibly
many of Zarathushtra’s original ideas have found their way into the
accepted thinking of many diverse cultures and religions. Ideas of heaven
and hell, reward and retribution are just a few examples. Scholars today acknowledge
Zarathushtra’s great influence on the other religions that originated
in West Asia - viz Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Prophet,
philosopher, priest, poet, politician, shaman, witch doctor, radical or reformer
- many epithets have been attributed to Zarathushtra and his larger than life
personality is as intriguing as it is elusive. The abyss of antiquity that
separates him from us today perhaps makes him a foggy figure but has not dimmed
his contributions to the enrichment of the human race as a whole.
To the
Zoroastrians, Zarathushtra is of course a prophet first and foremost - a highly
evolved spiritual being and the deliverer of Ahura Mazda’s message.
A message that is as relevant and meaningful to us today as it was to the
people of Zarathushtra’s own time and place.
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