What Spoke Zarathustra?
The Zoroastrian secrets to the best life
Zoroastrianism emerged from the shadows of the long ago past through the preaching of a mysterious Iranian prophet by the name of Zarathustra (aka Zoroaster). Though it is largely unknown today, it was the state religion of three Persian Empires, dominating the region until the Muslim conquests in the seventh century CE. In this article I explore the original teachings from this mysterious man and how they might apply to the modern human experience. In a nutshell, Zarathustra’s message is that each human has the possibility to transcend dissatisfaction and painful life experiences. And his method for leaving behind suffering is by merging into oneness with their great god, Ahura Mazda, through love and light.
Zarathustra’s message is that each human has the possibility to transcend dissatisfaction and painful life experiences.
But before we explore what spoke Zarathustra, we need to understand a little about who he was. Though there is no consensus on this point, scholars generally seem to place Zarathustra and the writing of his seminal text, the Gathas, somewhere in the second millennium BCE. This is about the same time that Judaism is believed to have emerged but many believe Zoroastrianism pre-dated this period.
For example, there is a persistent legend that Zarathustra lived as long ago as the 6200s BCE, which was the assumption of many of the classical philosophers from the 6th to 4th century BCE (e.g. Hermodorus, Eudoxus, Aristotle). While we don’t know if this is true, it leaves open the possibility that the old legends are right, and this great master lived long, long before any other monotheistic prophet known to modernity. If true, this means that Zoroastrianism may well have been the seed from which the great modern religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all sprung, making it all the more relevant and interesting to us today. As Ayatollah Khomeini once said about all three of these other faiths — Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism — “They are the roots; we are the branches.” (source: Washington Post)
At the very least, the Gathas were written many centuries before any of these religions’ foundational texts were conceived, including the Hebrew Bible, and are believed by scholars to have had a profound influence on the creation of all these seminal religious texts. This Zoroastrian influence continues into our world today, not just with the big religions, but with authors such as Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin who reportedly based some of his core themes on Zoroastrianism.
Whatever Zarathustra’s true origins or contemporary manifestations, I was curious to learn more about this ancient religion and to understand better the place and the people who carry forward these ancient practices to this day. While you can find Zoroastrians around the world, they are concentrated in places like Iran and, due to the refugees fleeing the Muslim conquests over 1,300 years ago, in India with the Parsis (which literally means ‘people from Persia’).
With that in mind, I recently traveled to Iran to study the Gathas and visit one of the oldest continuously practicing Zoroastrian communities left on the planet. I spent several days touring two predominantly Zoroastrian towns (old Yazd and Taft). I climbed up to the top of the famous “Towers of Silence” in the empty desert quarter where the Zoroastrian’s traditionally left their dead for the vultures and elements to devour. I visited a Zoroastrian fire temple Yazd where I was able to view the religion’s sacred eternal flame which is said to have been kept continuously burning since the year 470 CE.
So, what is this great religion about and why has it lasted so long? What are its central tenets and objectives? What does it have to say about suffering and injustice and the best way to transcend difficult life circumstances? The rest of this article explores the answers to these and similar questions. However, it should be noted that the focus of the discussion is exclusively on the Gathas, which are a small part of the overall Zoroastrian Avestan corpus. The Gathas are the only part said to have been composed by Zarathustra himself. Much of the rest, in my view, takes on more idiosyncratic and not as timeless or universal attributes and is attributed to much later followers of the religion. In this respect, the Gathas occupy a similar place that the Gospels do in Christianity, (and Zarathustra occupies a similar role as Jesus, minus the miracles and the “Son of God” bit). So, bear in mind that the following is based only on this subset of the Zoroastrian corpus.
The Zoroastrian Goal
I’ll start with the end and then back up on how to get there. Zarathustra’s greatest wish is that he and his followers be granted what he calls the blessings of Light and Love and bliss and peace. That is to say, Zarathustra believed that darkness, hatred, suffering, difficulty, pain and turmoil of any kind are all life experiences that can be transcended by faith in his program. An overarching way that Zarathustra uses in the Gathas to describe how to reach this goal and transcend life’s painful experiences is by merging into oneness with their great god, Ahura Mazda. If you are able to sense, all the time, your undifferentiated union with God, you have arrived at ‘The Truth’.
But this idea of oneness or union is abstract and mysterious, and how to get there is ambiguous. Because of this, I will unpack what these ideas mean. I begin with the role that suffering plays in the path towards oneness with God. Then I go through how “Love” and “Light”, properly understood, provide the essential clues for how this transcendent or enlightened state of oneness can be achieved, at least according to Zarathustra. And I conclude with a discussion of free will and how that karmically important power to choose unlocks the path to a life of Love and Light.
3 Keys to Reaching the Goal: Suffering, Love, & Light
1. Suffering
Many a person throughout the ages has given up on a belief in God. And many put no stock in the notion that there is such a thing as true justice in the world. Frequently, people with these beliefs will point to the existence of suffering, and needless or apparently undeserved suffering in particular, as proof for their conviction. Zarathustra tackles this objection head on. He teaches that suffering is Ahura Mazda’s (aka “God’s”) way of guiding humans back to the “narrow path” that returns to oneness with God. That is, it is through the information conveyed in the suffering that you are guided to the best life. In an often painful irony, it is the suffering (or existence of dissatisfaction of whatever kind) that contains the secret for how to end the woe and unlock a life of peace and love and joy.
Many a person throughout the ages has given up on a belief in God. And many put no stock in the notion that there is such a thing as true justice in the world. Frequently, people with these beliefs will point to the existence of suffering, and needless or apparently undeserved suffering in particular, as proof for their conviction. Zarathustra tackles this objection head on. He teaches that suffering is Ahura Mazda’s (aka “God’s”) way of guiding humans back to the “narrow path” that returns to oneness with God.
Putting a hopeful spin on anguish and sickness, he writes that “through frustration of their evil hopes, Through suffering and pain [I, Ahura Mazda] redeem their lives” (44/14). Suffering is there as an instrument of redemption. In other words, it is a way of clearing your debts or cleansing yourself of the bad choices you have made in the past. The idea isn’t that you are punished for making bad decisions or doing bad things, though that is partially true. There is suffering as a consequence of your actions, it is true. But the punishment isn’t for punishment’s sake. It is there to alert you to when you are on the wrong path and to direct you to decisions and actions that will clear the current suffering and prevent further pain or dissatisfaction going forward.
Ahura Mazda (“God”) in this way is like a benevolent parent whose child has done something naughty or dangerous. A loving parent doesn’t punish a child to be mean or sadistic. They give an appropriate consequence so the child can learn and grow and avoid a worse situation in the future. Ahura Mazda acts in the same way towards humans writ large. For example, a woman might have married someone who turned out to be a violent person. Without minimizing the culpability of the abuser, we could say the suffering from that marriage is a sort of message to the abused to depart the marriage. Even though leaving the marriage may seem too scary or difficult, that choice is there for the abused spouse. At the risk of oversimplifying this kind of a situation, we could say that through leaving the abusive partner, the abused spouse is purified of that bad decision and given a fresh start. This cleansing happens when you realize what bad decisions or actions you have made and change your choice or action. Anything you do that brings ‘darkness’ (i.e. all the bad things of life) into your experience or those of others could be said to be an ‘evil’ in that they take you off the ‘narrow path’ of Truth and Light.
Looking at it this way allows us to completely change our perspective on the ups and downs of life. According to the Gathas, Ahura Mazda/God delivers the experience that each of us has. And God does this for our benefit. He wants the very best for us, even if what is happening in our life is painful or doesn’t in our judgement look like the best. Zarathustra makes this understanding clear when he says that “Whatever comes at [God’s] Command is best For me — whether reward or otherwise.” At life’s most painful junctures, this can seem a difficult truth to accept. But Zarathustra promises that even when we misunderstand what the Truth is (or willfully ignore it when we do), that even then Ahura Mazda wants to help us and is bringing us our experience, however bad, with our best interests at heart.
The occurrences of your life, good or bad, show you the path for your healing or redemption. He writes that “when Untruth threatens us with hate” (46/7), who does Ahura send to protect and guide you through? He sends his very own divine Fire (a form of light) and Love. “When both these [purifying Fire and Love] are aroused within our hearts, Asha [i.e. Truth/Righteousness] shall be fulfilled.” (46/7).
Like clean, fresh water flowing from a nearby spring, God’s Light and Love is just waiting for you to choose to drink it in. If you are off the path he has chosen for you, you will experience suffering as the signal that you’re off track. If you choose not to drink from the ‘spring’ you will find yourself growing more and more thirsty. Otherwise, how would you know you have gone astray and what would be the incentive to devoting yourself to a greater good?
Like clean, fresh water flowing from a nearby spring, God’s Light and Love is just waiting for you to choose to drink it in.
2. Love
If suffering is Ahura Mazda’s code language for telling us to change the way we are thinking or going about things, how do we know what is the right way to understand our situation? If what we are doing is the wrong thing, how do we know what the right thing to do is? In answer, Zarathustra teaches that we can “solve these Mysteries [of how to transcend suffering] through Love.” (46/9)
Before delving into what ‘Love’ is it is worth mentioning the striking view he has that the enlightened state of being is available to you in your human life, not in some paradise after you die: “This Prize most precious shall, O Mazda, sure be gained by Souls in mortal bodies clothed.” (34/14). Despite being ignored by much of the Christian world, Jesus taught this same truth that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us (Luke 17:21, Thomas 113), not up on the clouds or only there after we die. In the same way, Zarathustra is saying that you can experience “this prize” (34/14) of peace and bliss in your bodies in a single human lifetime. “Within the space of this ONE life on Earth, Perfection can be reached by fervent Souls.” (51/12). No need to wait until the second coming or a day of final judgement or after death. This transcendent state can be achieved by people of passionate and intense devotion in a single lifetime. But devotion to what or by doing what? “By deeds of Love,” he writes (34/14).
This brings us to what is perhaps the most famous of Zarathustra’s teachings, the tripartite exoneration to think good thoughts, speak good words, and do good deeds: “Led on by thoughts and words and deeds of Truth, Perfect Eternal Life shall man attain” (47/1). He is saying that by acting from Love all the time, by practicing good thoughts, words and deeds moment to moment, that an enlightened state awaits you. What does this love-induced, peace-drenched or enlightened state look like? The gifts of Love are a life that is renewed and fresh and creative. Practicing good words, good thoughts, and good deeds connects you with your true self more deeply and strengthens your understanding of who this true self is (48/6). Your true self is loving, peaceful and blissful so returning to it or remembering who you really are means love and peace and bliss will be your experience of life.
He is saying that by acting from Love all the time, by practicing good thoughts, words and deeds moment to moment, that an enlightened state awaits you. What does this love-induced, peace-drenched or enlightened state look like? The gifts of Love are a life that is renewed and fresh and creative. Practicing good words, good thoughts, and good deeds connects you with your true self more deeply and strengthens your understanding of who this true self is.
Zarathustra’s recipe for ending suffering exemplifies how universal the religion is. Most people associate Christianity as requiring baptism to secure entrance to heaven. Judaism was begun with the idea of the Universal God choosing the tribe of Abraham specifically to be God of, apparently to the exclusion of other tribes or at least in primacy to all other peoples. Islam also has this exclusionary sentiment, making much of the non-Muslim ‘infidels’ (with variants of the word appearing nearly 500 times in the Koran). In contrast, Zarathustra proclaims Ahura Mazda as the Universal God of all nations, clans and tribes. Good thoughts, words, and deeds is a practice that anyone can follow, and to whom the benefits will flow, regardless of who you are or where you are from.
This gift or power of cultivating loving thoughts and actions for their own sake (rather than hoping for something from other people in return) is an act that restores your consciousness to this true self. It awakens you to your higher, best self. Through that understanding and connection with your true self you will be guided on the path through the world that will bring you the best possible life. Zarathustra calls this understanding of the right thing to do and the right identification with your higher self the “Truth.” He writes, “Mazda, Thou hast laid down that man shall choose The Path of Truth and thus frustrate Untruth; The Path of Truth is but the Path of Love, Therefore, should man commune with Vohu Man [i.e. good purpose/thought], And should renounce all contact with Untruth.” (49/3) Truth, then, is found in Love.
What is Love, exactly? And how do you know it when you see it? Love is not love. The love with a lowercase ‘l’ is of this world and has an opposite, which we might call hate. Lowercase love is a sensibility that we all know and is an echo of Love with an uppercase ‘L’. Capital ‘L’ Love is not of the physical or phenomenal world. Your five senses, your emotions, and your mental faculties can’t help you perceive this Love. Zarathustra calls the physical world the “Home of Falsehood” because even though it appears so real, it isn’t. So the love that we experience with our bodies and minds and emotions isn’t the ‘real’ Love. This way of seeing the nature of the world is similar to Taoism, best expressed in the first line of the Tao Te Ching which goes: “The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao.” The Tao (i.e. the Truth or the Way) is ineffable. Like the Tao, you have to use faculties that are not of this world in order to tap into the Love that Zarathustra is talking about.
Love is not of the physical or phenomenal world. Your five senses and mental faculties can’t help you perceive this Love. Zarathustra calls the physical world the “Home of Falsehood” because even though it appears so real it isn’t. It’s just like the first line of the Tao Te Ching “The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao.” You have to use faculties that are not of this world in order to tap into this Love
As in so many other traditions, the connection to Love and to God is through your “heart” (43/7 & 9). So, as a practical matter, when seeking the loving thing to do, you can consult your heart. The heart is commonly understood to be a symbol for intuition. “Since Good found entrance to my heart through Love; This taught me that for steady inner growth, Quiet and silent meditation is best” (43/15).
You can turn to this capacity of your intuition for guidance on what the ‘Path of Truth’ or ‘Love’ is in any particular situation in your life. If you do that, what is on offer? Ahura Mazda promises “The Best” that life has to give to those “who helps the best he can in this my work; — My blessings and my love I send to him.” (46/18–19). So, when you act with Love or from Love, this is what the world and Ahura Mazda feeds back towards you. Put Love out into the world and Love will come back to you and be the underlying experience of your life.
As we have seen, however, this mechanism works both ways, for those who don’t work with Mazda/God will suffer greatly. Those who don’t follow the ‘Path of Truth’, those who do NOT seek to align themselves with the flow that Ahura Mazda is directing a person’s life towards will feel their suffering soar.
In Ahura Mazda’s words, “I oppose the man opposing me” (46/18–19). The one who helps Ahura, on the other hand, will be richly rewarded. How richly? “He shall inherit all that the Earth confers.” And as if that weren’t enough, “He gains Eternal Life as his rewards” (46/18–19). That is an amazing promise. If you are able to follow your intuition, be still enough to connect with “Love” and act in accordance with “Truth” and “Wisdom”, you “shall inherit all that the Earth confers,” you will receive Ahura’s “blessings” and “Love,” and gain “Eternal Life.” What more could you ask for?!
This ‘heart connection’ has one other aspect that helps illuminate how to use the heart to live the best possible life. Foreshadowing by as much as two thousand years the practice made famous by the Sufis of the Islamic Golden Age, Zarathustra advises you to act towards Ahura Mazda “As Lover to Beloved” (46/2). Taking this posture of gentle but ardent and persistent love, longingly seeking God’s help will be rewarded with guidance to the best that life has to offer. This kind of ‘lover towards a beloved’ attitude with Ahura Mazda will unlock the mysteries of life’s purpose, showing those who stray from the path of peace and ease and love how to return.
3. Light
Understanding what Zarathustra means by “Light” is another way we can get a better idea of the substance of the Zoroastrian path to self-mastery and peace. Zarathustra’s message, again, is that humans can reach a state of bliss on earth, become En-light-ened so to speak. The light of God (as Jesus called it), Enlightenment (as Buddha called it), or Illumination (as the medieval Islamic mystics called it), is to be understood literally as well as figuratively.
From the reports that have come down to us from ancient masters like Zarathustra (as well as a few contemporary ones), at a certain stage of spiritual development, you will actually perceive light as part of your moment to moment experience of living, both actual light (as in photons or something akin to that) and a lightness or buoyancy of being and body. In order to reach this effortless stage of lightness and Light, Zarathustra advises you to attend to this combination of literal and figurative devotion to light. Indeed, light is so important that it is the central ritual element of the religion, with fire being used as the ceremonial stand in for Ahura Mazda himself.
Light, or fire, is ingrained into the Zoroastrian religion in the same way that the cross is in Christianity. If you seek God, Zoroastrians advise turning to the open, sunlit sky or if it is night (or if you are in a place without windows), turning toward fire. Light with a capital “L” is not the same as the photons of sunlight or fire. Like Love (with a capital “L”) it is Light that transcends having an opposite and therefore is something that cannot be understood intellectually. But you have to start with something tangible. Thus, in order to experience Light, you can use light (with a little ‘l’) as a jumping off point. Lowercase ‘light’ means light in the sense of photons, lightness of your emotional state, and the metaphorical lightness of being easy in the world which you can think of as analogous or similar to the ineffable ‘Light’ of Ahura Mazda/God (or the light of Enlightenment in Buddhism).
This idea of cause and effect in the quest for Light recurs again and again in the Gathas. If you want the effect of experiencing Light (or becoming Enlightened), the cause of this will be a steady devotion to Light. He writes, “Striving for Light himself shall see the LIGHT” (43/2). Zarathustra is saying that the way to see the Light (that is, the way to become ‘enlightened’ or ‘illuminated’ in the sense of reaching a higher or better state of consciousness) is to direct yourself towards light/Light. The Zoroastrians take this literally, placing a sacred, ‘eternal’ fire as the focus of their temples and recommending turning towards the sun to pray if it is daytime. These temple fires are kept burning continuously, extending this continuity through the ages. The one in Yazd that I visited (pictured below) has supposedly been burning day and night without interruption for over 1,500 years!
In spite of the importance of the Eternal Flame, the admonishment to go to the light must ultimately be understood as an inner directive. As simple as it sounds, cultivating the image and the sense of facing towards or being in the light, of being composed or filled with light, of feeling weightless and illuminated will have the effect, over time, of transforming the human experience for the better, at least according to Zarathustra. These physical associations with light resonate with and unfold into metaphorical lightness in your interactions with others. Lightness here can mean that you aren’t attached to outcomes in relationships or ownership in the division of assets, or to credit in the recognition of work done in groups or alone. When this sort of light touch in connection with outcomes, ownership, credit, and so on is practiced, you naturally begin to behave in a loving and compassionate way towards others.
As simple as it sounds, cultivating the image and the sense of facing towards or being in the light, of being composed or filled with light, of feeling weightless and illuminated will have the effect, over time, of transforming the human experience for the better, at least according to Zarathustra.
And when you can do this, something magical happens, for there is a positive feedback loop that is established with Light. In the Gathas it is written that “Who brings to others Light, himself gets LIGHT, Bestowed by Mazda Ahura, the Lord.” (43/1). Paralleling (or foreshadowing?) the Hindu concept of Karma, we see the idea that if you act with metaphorical lightness, that is, acting selflessly and in the service of others, these actions will rebound back to you and your life will be helped along in good ways by God himself. And it is all couched in terms of light (‘bring others Light and you will get Light yourself’). As we have seen, Zarathustra teaches that this mechanism, like karma, works in a positive as well as a negative direction. For, when someone is hateful to others, “on his own head this hatred shall recoil.” (46/8)
Free Will
Linking Zarathustra’s teachings about suffering and his understanding of Light and Love is the underlying message that there is a right way to think and behave and a wrong way. A good way to go and a bad way. A healthy way to speak to others and an unhealthy way. This doesn’t mean every situation has the same solution as similar ones for other people. Unlike most other religions, in the Zoroastrian bible (aka, The Gathas) there aren’t a series of very specific, proscriptive commandments that apply to every situation. Rather, in Zarathustra’s distilled down version of this, you have ‘truth’ and you have ‘false’ and humans have the ability to choose one or the other. You can choose good thoughts and words and deeds, or bad ones. Rather than a dictum, he lays down principles that humans can choose to follow or not. In following these principles, it is in the act of choosing the truth over the false that brings darkness or light into your life.
This idea of two poles or choices is so central to Zarathustra’s teaching that the very story of creation in the Gathas is the story of the birth of good and bad, true and false, light and dark. This Zoroastrian version of creation suggests that the underlying architecture of the “real” world is defined by the existence of opposites and this architecture naturally underlines the potential for a choice between the two. This structure of opposites, this polarity of reality, is the foundation of conscious experience and the ability we as humans have to choose between these poles governs what our life is like. The tension and see-sawing or transition between these poles in the universe as well as an individual life (summer/winter, hot/cold, high/low, happy/sad, building/destroying, day/night, birth/death, etc.), is the very definition and nature of “reality”.
So, when he talks about “Telling the Truth” or adhering to “the Good” as the key to ending suffering, Zarathustra is speaking about something much more profound and impactful than the simple “don’t tell a lie” or “don’t be naughty” that schoolchildren learn. The way he phrases it is that the “Laws of Happiness” and the “Laws of Pain” teach that through ‘truth telling’, you can reach a “fuller, higher Life,” (30/11). Indeed, he says that “Upon all [who practice Truth] the Light Divine shall dawn.” (30/11). In contrast, in karmic fashion, “Falsehood brings on age-long punishment.” (30/11). Again, avoiding “Falsehood” is not the simple avoiding of lying. It is about understanding and intending and speaking and living the Truth of this teaching. It is about making the conscious choice to do the right thing and making that choice leads to a life filled with Light and Love.
According to the Gathas (i.e. the Zoroastrian equivalent to the Christian Gospels), the great universal God Ahura Mazda, in making this world we call reality, didn’t just create these two poles as the defining and driving features. He gave everyone the power and the strength to make choices and act on them. Moreover, he endowed humans with words to communicate wisdom about what is a good choice and what isn’t. That is to say that he gave you the power to give and receive guidance for how to act. You do this with words and concepts, with thoughts and reason. Using wisdom, these higher mental faculties, and intuition or the guidance of the heart, “we freely choose the Path we tread.” (31/11). Ahura Mazda (aka, God) gave “to all that live the choice of Paths — Whether to leave the Shepherd’s sheltered side [i.e. follow the dark or immoral path], Or else to turn aside from Shepherd’s False [and instead choose the truth and wisdom of God’s love].” (The Shepherd here is either Ahura Mazda or his teachings or his Prophet Zarathustra.)
Those who are wise and “who follow the Soul-healing Lord,” Zarathustra writes, “the LIGHT ETERNAL shall be their abode.” (31/20). This is the same enlightened state or “kingdom of heaven” promised by so many traditions and prophets throughout human history. This type of life, according to master after master, Zarathustra included, is on offer for every human being simply through the choices that are made each moment of each day. Those who ignore the wisdom of love, those who follow “False Ones shall for ages long reside In light obscure, uttering words of woe: To such lives, reft of hope, are they condemned By their own Selves, through their own wicked deeds.” (31/20) In other words, if you are suffering, it is you who have condemned yourself to a hell of your own making. It is through your own choices, your own decision to align with “Shepherds False”, or the darkness, that you create and sustain a life experience of suffering.
Zarathustra is making the point that each human being has a choice. God (aka Ahura Mazda) is emanating his love and peace and bliss like the sun shines its light. This is the Good in the world. There is a flow towards bliss and light and peace (these are the best words we have to capture the idea of capital “L” Love). This Loving flow in the Zoroastrian faith is acting always and everywhere, like light from the sun or water flowing from a fresh spring. You can get in the way and “pervert the working of the Good” (32/4); you can avoid the sunlight or choose not to drink from this metaphorical spring. Or you can see the Truth and act in accordance with the Good. If you can do that, you will reap the rewards of Light and Love that come from being in the flow or direction Ahura Mazda is guiding you. But this takes faith that the system is set up in this way. If you don’t have this faith, you won’t be able to accept the apparently bad things that happen in your life. You won’t be able to stomach the apparently good things that happen to apparently bad people. You won’t believe that these happenings, even though they don’t appear as just or right or fair to you, are part of Ahura Mazda’s overall long-term design of Goodness and Love.
Zarathustra acknowledges this difficulty of when we see something as bad or unjust that is actually good. He notes that people who are immoral or unkind sometimes appear to be more successful or get away with terrible things. For example, Zarathustra at one point asks Ahura Mazda, “Why are the wicked powerful?” (44/20). Such a condition seems to suggest that being wicked is rewarded by Ahura Mazda. But Zarathustra puts his trust in the workings of Ahura Mazda/God and takes the long view. He writes “Deluded thus a sinner may succeed At first, and even high renown attain; Still, O Ahura, in Thy Mind Supreme All is remembered, and the motives judged; For truly, Mazda, … the Truth prevails” (32/6). This is the faith that, taking the big picture, justice is served. In Zarathustra’s words, the wicked person “meets his retribution at the end” (51/6). When “the end” is, exactly, is left ambiguous but the timing isn’t important. It is the point that balance is restored that is important. It is this direct karmic or cause/effect connection between your thoughts, words and deeds today and your ultimate experience of life that matters. “Those who obey not Mazda’s Holy Word, For them the only end of Life is woe” (45/3). When retribution finally comes to the False or wicked person, “And all his triumph is brought to naught by Truth, From that time shall his mind retrace its steps, His heart shall yearn to reach the best abode” (30/10) that is only provided to those who follow the righteous path.
He is saying that Ahura Mazda alone is the judge, not you. Ahura Mazda alone is the one who does the sentencing as well. It is Ahura Mazda who chooses when to make that judgement, what the sentence looks like and how and when it is carried out. Your job isn’t to try to figure this out and play god by pretending you have all the information and sit in judgement over others. Instead, your job is to strive to understand and act in accordance with Ahura Mazda’s Truth and Wisdom (which is another way of saying living a life of Love). You are given a choice between good and evil, so you choose your destiny. Those who follow the wise, loving, righteous path will be granted Ahura’s grace, “shall triumph and shall gain Life Everlasting; but the False shall find Pain e’er renewed” (45/7). You begin with the small choices around doing “good” (lowercase ‘g’), keep building on that through your thoughts and words and actions, and the “Good” will emerge in your life. If you choose to be selfish or mean or lie or steal or any other “bad” action, word or thought, these choices will keep the Good from your life.
Zarathustra acknowledges that sometimes making these bad decisions or taking the path of darkness can seem easier or more attractive. In spite of the fact that sometimes it does seem “pleasanter” to do things that are not in the long run good for you, you must keep your eye on the consequences of these choices. Going “astray” will rebound back to you as a life of darkness and suffering and sickness and strife.
Zarathustra acknowledges that sometimes making these bad decisions or taking the path of darkness can seem easier or more attractive. He assures that “Even in life on Earth these Truths hold good, O men and maids” (53/6) but then goes on to say that, “attracted by Untruth, You find it pleasanter to go astray; But this drags you away from your true Self; The Light in earth-bound hearts shines dim and dark, Where Rays of Truth can scarcely penetrate, And this prevents all growth to Higher Life” (53/6).
In spite of the fact that sometimes it does seem “pleasanter” to do things that are not in the long run good for you, you must keep your eye on the consequences of these choices. Going “astray” will rebound back to you as a life of darkness and suffering and sickness and strife. If you don’t follow Ahura Mazda’s Truth and Love you will be one of those “whose Inner Light continues dim, Who have not yet beheld the Light of Truth” (49/11). In this darkness, you cannot grow spiritually and your life will reflect this darkness in your experiences. The consequence is suffering and the suffering is not just in your current life, either. If you ignore the Truth, then “Unto this Home of Falsehood [i.e. upon this Earth you] shall return.” (49/11) That is, you will be reincarnated again and again until you figure out how to follow the Truth.
But what exactly does it mean to follow the “Truth” and deny the “False”? What does he mean by “Light” and “Dark”? Almost as though in response to the question that probably comes up for most people seeking to follow this advice, he has some practical tips for how to live in accordance with this “Truth” or what “Truth” looks like in action. He writes, for example, that “good deeds done for their own sake lead far” (34/13) as will self-sacrifice (49/5). But Zarathustra understands that life isn’t black and white and every situation is different. So rather than laying down simple commandments, he suggests that you can have guidance from on high if you just pay close enough attention. This guidance he describes as coming in the form of “Divine Sparks” (language reminiscent of the sparks that must be collected or restored according to the Tikkun in the Jewish Kabbalah). These Divine Sparks in Zoroastrianism are “the Strength Divine, most precious gift, [which] Droppeth ‘like gentle rain’ upon Earth, Urging the Inner Self to serve mankind” (41/1). Through stillness and communing with good purpose/thoughts; through our intuition and heart connection, you can sense these “Divine Sparks” gently raining down upon you.
Summing that up, we can say that Zarathustra advises the seekers of the best life to act selflessly, do good deeds, and serve humanity. Good advice on a grand scale but how do we apply his teaching to everyday situations? Following this wisdom is what he calls “the narrow Path” (33/5) meaning that it isn’t always easy to know what to do; that is, most directions or choices in life will lead you off this narrow path.
How do you release your hang ups and change those old habits that seem to always be diverting you from the path and aligning you with Darkness? Long before Buddha (~500–400 BCE) taught mindfulness, Zarathustra (at least 1000 BCE) opines on the practice of meditation and stillness as the method to receive these “Divine Sparks” or perceive the gentle rain of “Truth.” He writes, “for steady inner growth, Quiet and silent meditation is best” (43/15). Ancient words of wisdom yet they resonate so strongly through the millennia: to grow into a better person practice “quiet” and “silent meditation.” He sums it up by saying, “So let each with his Inner Self commune, And through Armaiti [Devotion] intuition gain” (53/3). Again, we see the importance of connecting with your true self and that reference to intuition. Intuition is accessed by devotion to the Wisdom of Ahura Mazda (through the heart and love/Love and light/Light). And this is accessed through stillness and meditation.
In confirmation of the value of this advice about the need for stillness and meditation, research documented in the recent book “Altered Traits” have shown that those people with many cumulative lifetime hours of meditation actually experience a change in the physical structure of their brains and that this healthier, more youthful brain tissue corresponds to a more peaceful and loving experience of life for these long term meditators. Zarathustra understood this truth long ago. He writes “That man, indeed, who makes his every act An act of worship, led by [the Truth], Is deemed as best by Mazda Ahura” (51/22). In other words, if you can bring ‘worship,’ or shall we say ‘mindfulness’ to your every waking moment and be led by this intuitive sense of the Truth or the Good, then the best that life has to offer you will be yours.
Through Love, Light and Suffering I have given a window into a very early method of achieving peace and bliss proposed by the ancient Prophet Zarathustra. Through the power of choice, humans shape their own destiny. This is why Zarathustra viewed a human lifetime as a “Fiery Test of Truth” (30/7). It is this life of yours here on Earth with all its temptations and diversions and choices where you are put to the test. Though Zarathustra performed no miracles and was never described as being the miraculously conceived son of God, I think is words have a value and a power that resonates even today.
Taking on board Zarathustra’s life lessons, we can say that life is a theater, except unlike a real playhouse, you get to choose the direction that the narrative takes in the future through the choices and attitude that you take now. It is through the choices that you make today that your tomorrows are created. He calls the world or the reality you perceive as your life “The Test of Molten Metal” (32/7). Using this wonderfully vivid and empowering metaphor, he is saying that you are able to mold and reshape yourself through how you choose to respond to the challenges and fears and lures of this world. Just like a liquid metal, the die is not cast until your choices are made. The shape your life takes depends on you. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Z.R.
<end>
Zebediah Rice’s “Serena” website:
The Serena meditation system:
