Zarathustrianism

World Living Religions and

Feminist dimensions
 Major Tenets of Zarathustrianism

 God: Ahura Mazda

 Prophet: Zarathushtra
 Scripture: Avesta
 Observances: sudreh and kusti
 Fire
 Good thoughts , Good words and Good deeds
Major Tenets of Zarathustrianism

 Scriptures
 Fire-temples
 Saoshyant (Savior)
 Battle between Good and Evil
When Did Zarathushtra Live?

 Around 1500 BCE to 1200 BCE

 Over 3700 years ago, in the plains of Central Asia,
God called upon a man to proclaim His "Manthra"
(thought-provoking message) to humanity. The man
was Zarathushtra Spitaman. He was The "Manthran"
- the harbinger of God's thought-provoking message.
 Zarathushtra was born into the Spitama clan. His
father was Pourushaspa. His mother's name was
Dughdhova
 100 AD, they date all the way back to 6800BC
 Recent excavations record date as at least 1700 BC
 Age:30 First converts (in order of acceptance of
his philosophy): His cousin, Maidhyoimangha
His wife, Hvovi
His 6 children
And 14 others over the next few years.
 Zarathushtra encountered many difficulties and challenges
imposed on him through the opposition of the established priests
and local ruling princes.

 In the land of King Vishtaspa, he manages to get an audience with

the king.

 Manages to answer all questions to the satisfaction of the King,

who after a few days of pondering the situation, embraces this new
religion and urges his subjects to do the same.
First in many ways
 Zarathushtra was the founder of the first religion on
record.
 He was the first to preach Monotheism.
 He was the first to proclaim a message for ALL mortals - a
universal message.
 Equality of all regardless of race, gender, class or
nationality
 A leader must be "chosen" thereby for the very first time
in history, sowing the seeds of democracy!
 Zarathushtra claimed to have received a
vision from God, a God he called Mazda
Ahura, the Wise God.
 God is one who cherishes all his living
creation and wishes to promote its freshness
and preservation.
 He wants that mortals actively aid him and
work as His co-workers in this task of
promotion and preservation of His "Good
Creation"
 The concept of "ecology" some 3700 years
ago
 The Earth , water , air and Fire all should be
preserved
AHURA MAZDA
 There is an unusual significance of this. 'Mazda' ,
meaning Wisdom, or Wise, is a feminine noun but
'Ahura' , meaning literally "High Being", is masculine.
 God is sexless and abstract in nature, but at the same
time is very personal and shares both feminine and
masculine characteristics
A God realized through Good Mind
 God did not appear to Zarathushtra in bodily
form, nor as an angel
 Zarathushtra saw Him in his "Mind's Eye."

 Wise One, I realize you to be powerful and

progressive because You help with Your own
hand. You give rewards to both the wrongful
and the righteous, by means of the warmth of
your Fire, which is mighty through
Righteousness and through which the
strength of Good Mind comes to me."
(Gathas: Song 8:4)
Fire
 "Fire" in this verse (and throughout the Gathas) is an
allusion to illumination and enlightenment. It is what is
called "The Fire of Thought." It was through this Fire of
Thought (thinking, reflecting, meditating) that
Zarathushtra gained enlightenment and it is this same
Fire of Thought, that he wishes to awaken within
mankind.
Ahura Mazda is all goodness
 He has chosen good and achieved completeness and
immortality; a state of radiant happiness (Ushta)
through illumination and enlightenment.
 Zarathushtra's God is not someone to be feared
 A God who gives humans complete freedom
 Gathas (“Hymns”) of Zarathushtra

 17 Hymns

Ahunavaiti Gatha (Y28, Y29, Y30, Y31, Y32, Y33, Y34)

Ushtavaiti Gatha (Y43, Y44, Y45, Y46)
Spentamainyush Gatha (Y47, Y48, Y49, Y50)
Vohukhshathra Gatha (Y51)
Vahishtoishti Gatha (Y53)
 Most sacred prayer the Ahunavar (Choice of the Lord), Zoroastrians
are taught that their Lord and leader are to be chosen, through a
Good Mind - a mind that is a well-informed and benevolent - and
only on account of their individual righteousness. This sets the
basis for a spiritual and political democracy as far back as around
4000 years ago

 Only an informed and unbiased mind is capable of making a truly

righteous choice and this is precisely, the invitation of Zarathustra,
 “Listen to the best things with your ears, reflect upon
them with an unbiased mind. Then let each man and
women for him or her self choose between the two
ways thinking. Awaken to my doctrine, before this
great event of choice comes upon you"
[Avesta: The Gathas: Song 3:2
Gathic Concepts
 Spenta Mainyu: Zarathushtra sees the world as
creation of a Divinity, whom he calls Ahura Mazda
which He created with his Spenishta Mainyu, His
Most Progressive Mentality.
 To understand this concept of "Spenta" or
"Progressive" one needs to understand 'progressive',
in the sense of incremental, augmenting, evolving,
growing, uplifting and edifying.
 The antithesis of this Progressive Mentality is the evil,
wrongful, retarding, hindering, destroying Mentality
which is termed as Aka Mainyu.
Amesha Spentas: Outstanding attributes of
Ahura Mazda
 3 Masculine father types--- Asha, Vohu Manah,Kshatra
 3 Feminine Immortals---Armaiti,Haurvatat, Ameretat
Asha: Knowledge of the law of God and law
it self
 Asha is the Ordering Principle of Creation.
 In the physical world Asha is what can be defined as
an amalgam of laws that uphold the Cosmos. But in
human lives Asha translates as what is
Righteousness, Order and Truth.
Vohu Manah: Love
 According to Zarathushtra human beings are endowed
with Vohu Manah (the Good Mind), which enables
them to comprehend Asha, and make the right choices
that make the living world progress towards Asha.
Khshathra Vairya: Loving service

 This is Ahura Mazda's Ideal Dominion. In our world it

may be translated as the ideal social order which Man
must strive for.
Haurvatat: Wholeness or perfection

 It is that state of perfection on Earth, that ideal that

God wishes mankind to achieve.
Ameretat: Immortality
 A state of immortality, non-deathness is referred to in
the Gathas as Ameretat.
Armaiti Piety
 She is the personification of holy devotion

 Associated with the earth and in that capacity she is the

embodiment of fertility and the dead, who are buried in the
earth. The fifth day of every month and the twelfth month are
dedicated to her
Good and Evil
 most misunderstood and the most misperceived one
 The Doctrine as given in Gathas - Song 3
in Verse 3:1 of this Song, he introduces what he calls
"Principles" to "those who wish to hear" and tells us
that these principles are "important to the wise."
 Discernment
First of all in Song 3:2 he calls these principles,
"discernments" which we have to choose between,
after listening, or perceiving them and pondering on
them with a bright, clear mind.
 Mentalities
In Song 3:3 Zarathushtra calls them "Mentalities."
(Mainyus), for the mind is the human faculty which makes
Man capable of this discernment. He says that these two
'mainyus' are twins.
 The better, progressive, creative, augmenting, edifying
mentality is Spenta Mainyu and the opposite twin is "Aka
Mainyu" the wrongful, retarding, evil mentality.
 It is pertinent to note here that in the latter literature
these twin mentalities ended up being two "spirits" and
eventually two entities "Ohrmazd" (God) and
"Ahriman" (Devil) during the Sassanian dynasty, and
gave rise to the misconception that there is Cosmic
Dualism in Zoroastrianism.
Choices
 In Song 3:5 we are told that the wrongful mentality chooses worst
actions, while the most progressive (Spentatoish) chooses
Righteousness. The Gathas also assure us that those who will please
the Wise One choose Righteousness by 'true actions." Conversely in the
next verse, Song 3:6, the choice of Aka Mainyu is identified directly with
a wrong choice - "the choice of the worst mind."
 Those who choose Spenta are the Righteous and those who choose Aka
are the wrongful.
Consequences
 In Song 3:4 these two are pictured as creating "LIFE" and "NOT
LIVING", thereby implying that when we choose the Spenta way, we
choose the right way of living and conversely when we choose the Aka
way, it is indeed the wrong way of living……..which is synonymous with
not living at all. The verse further warns of "…..until the end of existence
('angheush' - which can also be defined as 'world') the worst mind (or
mentality) is for the wrongful, and the best mind, shall be for the
Righteous"
Conclusion
 that Evil in Mazdayasna is placed inside mortal minds.
It is produced by wrong, retrograde, evil choices. On
the other hand Good is also a product of righteous,
Spenta choices. Evil and Good are clearly ethical
edicts, which have no real existence outside Man's
minds, mentalities and choices.
 There is no Evil in nature.
 Hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and sicknesses, which humans
believe to be Nature's wrath or a manifestation of Evil, or punishment for
Man's misdeeds, are in Zoroastrianism ethically neutral.

 That is they are neither good, nor bad in themselves. They are either the
products of chance, the existence of which is necessary to allow
freedom of choice, or they are a function of Asha, necessary to uphold
creation
EXAMPLE
 Earth quakes and volcanoes do cause consequences
that are destructive and disastrous to human
existence, in reality they are necessary to relieve the
inner pressure of the Earth's crust. Without this relief
of pressure, the Earth would explode.
Humata, Hukhata, Hvarshta
 Every evil thought evil word evil deed which in this world I may
have thought, I may have uttered or been the cause of;
From all such things against good thoughts, good words and good
deeds, against my body and soul against this world or the spiritual
world I repent with three words and TURN BACK
May the glory of Ahura Mazda be high
May contempt be for evil mind.
This is the wish of those who adhere to righteousness.
I praise righteousness
Eschatology: Belief in the end of the world
 Developed a complete eschatology which was consistent with
the theology of free choice
 Soul stays in body for 3 days
 4th day journeys to a place of judgment
 Crosses Chinvat Bridge
 Paradise is place of beauty light pleasant scents and noble
souls
 Hell not everlasting as souls will be purified and resurrected
Importance of Sudreh and Kusti
 The word Sudreh mean good path and reminds us
not to abandon the good path of life. It is made of
white muslin (cotton) as white stands for purity.
 9 parts of the Sudreh:

 The Kusti, or the pathfinder leads us in the direction

of light and truth and it is a symbol of service to God.

 We wear the Kusti in the middle of our body

suggesting that we follow the middle path. The Kusti
is knotted 4 times on the Sudreh Kshothenanam
meaning that we will follow Ahura Mazda’s path in
“action”
Equality of sexes
 Zarathushtra goes out of his way, in many subtle ways, to show he
considered women on an equal footing with men.

 He identifies not only some Aspects and Attributes of the Deity as

female, but even the main Aspect of Deity, Mazda, by which God is
named more than any other in the Gathas, is feminine.
 very careful with the pronouns, either using generic ones, that imply and
apply to both female and males, or using the female pronouns profusely.
 As a matter of fact, he does not make difference among men either, but
only on the basis of their righteousness, or
lack of same.
 In his last song he tells of his third daughter's Pouruchista wedding and
he calls on both brides and grooms
 It is his daughter who chooses her husband, something unheard of at
that time.

 "These words I speak to the charming brides and to you, bridegrooms. Do bear them in
mind. Comprehend them with your conscience. Master the life which belongs to good
mind. May you each win the other through righteousness." Zarathushtra tells them to
remain united and to strengthen and promote the universal fellowship of the Good
Religion. (S 17 = Y 53, sts 3-7)
 Several women are mentioned among the
teachers and preachers of the religion and a
fragment of a now lost book reveals, that there
were women priests.
 "May good rulers, not bad rulers, rules over us with
actions of good understanding and serenity (S 13 - Y
48, st 5)," and his immediate successors rightly added
: "May a good ruler, man or woman, rule over us in
both the (mental and physical) existences." (H 7 - Y
41, st 2).
 "The more a man or woman knows the truth, the better. He or she should
zealously practice it and preach it to others so that they practice it
accordingly." (H 1 = Y 35, st 6). It venerates the "womenfolk, ... who
belong to You, God, on account of their righteousness. (H 4 = Y 38, st 1).
Indeed it venerates the helpful law-abiding righteous, "born in whatever
land, both men and women, whose good consciences are growing, have
grown, or shall grow ... good men and women (who are) incremental,
eternal, ever-gaining, ever-growing, ... who live a life of good mind." (H 5
- Y 39, st 2-3).
 "May the desired Fellowship come for the support of
the men and women of Zarathushtra, for the support of
good mind, so that the conscience of every person
earns the choice reward -- the reward of righteousness
-- a wish regarded by the Wise God. (Y 54.1)
 "We venerate the righteous woman who is good in thoughts, words, and
deeds, who is well-educated, is an authority on religious affairs, is
progressively serene, and is like the women who belong to the Wise
God.
 "We venerate the righteous man who is good in thoughts, words, and
deeds, who knows well the religion he has chosen, and who does not
know blind following.
 "It is these people who, with their actions, promote the world though
righteousness." (Aiwisruthrem Gah 9 and Vispered 3.4)
Number of Zoroastrians Today

 140,000