ZOROASTRIANISM

[G N]

Like with every other religion it’s so very difficult where to start, what to say that would encapsulate it’s teachings, and the fear that something important is left unsaid

It’s now almost irreversibly unfortunate that the ancient cultures of the steppe regions of Eurasia are not as well known as say the Egyptian culture....some excellent scholars and archaeologists are piecing togather the vast findings of burials, remains of villages and towns, identifying the residents the descendants of ProtoIndo European cultures like the Cordedware culture from which sprung the Sinshasta, Abdronovo, Abashevo cultures that populated the steppes from Ukraine to the western reaches of China, all this before 3000 BC.
One people from this vast group went south to regions east of the Caspian and Aral seas and settled in what is known as Bactria and Margiana, with cities with huge fortified battlements and temples palaces strung along the Oxus river. The immigrants known now as Aryans settled within these places already occupied by older peoples from Iran just south.
The Aryans brought along their beliefs, the veneration of gods and veneration of natural elements led by Fire, and the waters the stars...Vega and Sirius known to them, the Earth, Wind etc etc.....the belief was there is a mainyu a force within each that gives it its character and energy and they were worshipping the mainyu within these elements.
Very briefly this eastern wing of IndoEuropeans the Aryans broke into two groups...the proto Iranian and the protoIndian....the latter are authors of the Vedas and their beliefs evolved into Hinduism around the time they entered India

Amongst the protoIranians/Iranians, in far north eastern Iran-Central Asia, where kings ruled credited with the discovery earlier of how to ignite fire, first mining with copper and tin forming bronze, domestication of the horse and dogs and beginnings of agriculture, was born into the priestly Spitaman (Fair complexioned man) clan to Paurushasp and Dughdova a child,Zarathustra
Legend says he laughed at birth, and all nature rejoiced .....seeing this child as a threat to their beliefs the priests made several attempts to kill him, the child saved miraculously every time
Even as a child he showed great kindness to the poor and animals and kept the company of wise men
At the right age he was indoctrinated as a priest of the older religion and trained to carry out rituals .....one ceremonial ritual, the Yasna, the ritual of worship, involved the consecration of all elements of nature and offering this the gods
It was whilst enacting this ritual that celebrates the creation of nature and man that Zarathustra pondered there has to be a One Source and One Cause of all creation.

At age 30 he left home and for the next 10 years wandered around, spending time in solitude in a cave .....as he searched for answers in his mind, he also continued some of his work as a priest
Rituals involved fetching water from any fresh source and one morning Zarathustra waded into the Daitya river, immersing himself up to his head in a ritualistic baptism
When he came out of the water he was encountered by a very tall dazzling Being who said he was Vohu Man - PureMind.....and he led Zarathustra to the nearby assembly of Spirits when he noticed his shadow had disappeared in the bright radiance emanated by Ahura Mazda Lord Wisdom and His six brilliant shining Emanations .

Zarathustra had seven such revelations, it was revealed to him that Ahura Mazda is the First before creation and is the Father of the other six emanations-Best Righteousness, Pure Mind, VictoriousEntity, Holy Devotion, Perfection and Eternity.

Ahura Mazda is the cause of and creator of all that is good and pure including man and creation was perfect
Then from the deep unknown abyss came the Daevas the evil one who corrupted all of creation and is cause of pain suffering disease and everything that negates God’s good creation, including death.
Within this scheme of things God gave man intelligence and the faculty to make choices that would help the good creation, or act otherwise, for which, through natural law of recompense he would have to face and suffer the evil from the Daevas or evil one....a natural cause and effect scenario

Within this perpetual conflict between good and evil is all of history and the passing of time before Ahura Mazda will give the world three saviours, the last and final saviour will bring on Fresho Kereti- Creation made fresh-perfect again and all evil will be vanquished forever never to return

Within the poetic forms of those times....1700-1500 BC, Zarathustra composed the Gathas, five monumental sections containing 17 hymns where he seeks answers from Ahura Mazda or the other six Emanations/Attributes or laments the doings of wicked people and leaders and priests, declares the reality of one God who is opposed by evil that will be eventually annihilated with the help of man, and how good folk should strive to perfect things around to defeat evil.
Scholars recognise the Gathas are poetic utterances possibly composed in states of ecstasy, and all doctrinal foundations were laid down in the later scripture called the Avesta - All knowledge source
The veneration of all elements of nature continue but with the first above all veneration of Ahura Mazda one God and His divine hierarchy, the other six emanations- Archangels, and Yazads -angels
There is the House of Song where the good go and the House of Foul food and suffering that the wicked suffer as a natural consequence of their deeds that much saddens the pure and kind Ahura Mazda
Finally at the end the last Saviour, the Soshyant brings around Frashokereti the perfection of the world that also involves all mankind going through wading in molten metal that is like warm milk to the good but burns the wicked
Finally the wicked too, after this ordeal that seems like eternity to them, are rejoined with the good and Anghra Mainyu (an evil entity that replaces the Daevas in later Zism) disappears forever into the abbysis

Good Thiughts Good Words Good Deeds is the Zoroastrian credo , make the correct choices that increase good, never lie ...it’s the embodiment of evil, and imbibe the highest ethics
One of the principal prayers enjoins us to honour the teacher as much as the ruler, do good deeds with good intentions and help the poor to gain entry to Kingdom of Ahura
Another principal prayer declares righteousness is the highest good
Another principal prayer tells us we should venerate all the good men and women before us and those that come in the future
Thus a Zoroastrian respects all religions.

Fire is sacred and Son of Ahura Mazda and in Temples a consecrated Fire is kept in the sanctum burning perpetually
Pure water and fruits and vegetation and metal (rep by sacred consecrated utensils)and a secreted piece of ground, and man, the priests and a sacred Fire are present for a major ritual called the Yasna that enacts Gods creation
Zoroastrian have to wear the sacred sudreh, a shirt and a sacred thread called kusti around the waist made of lamb wool that represent a shield and sword against evil
Prayers in the temple are intoned five times a day and the devout do this in their homes
Tilling of land,care of all elements and raising a family and kindness to animals especially the dog and doing charity are good deeds
The northern hemisphere spring equinox is a huge celebration and a New Yesr day calked Navroze
Pollution of fire and rivers and the earth is promoting evil
White represents colour of purity
There are very old set ceremonies for birth, initiation into the religion, marriage anddeath
Humans have several layers of soul body energy aura and a guardian angel

 

[wil]

 

[G N]

Hello wil
Thanks for posting this portrait of Zarathustra

I use an iPhone 8 and don’t know how to find an image URL
I had a Samsung S5 and very recently began using an iPhone
Could you tell me how to, thanks

And how do I delete a post here

 

[G N]

 

[G N]

Above picture is a Parsi Zoroastrian grandee of India circa late 19th century

 

[Namaste Jesus]

And how do I delete a post here

Hi G N, welcome to the forum. Only the moderator can actually delete a post here, but you can change what was posted by using the edit link at the bottom of each post. If you no longer want what was posted displayed, just replace it with the word "Deleted". That is, if the edit feature appears on your screen. For some reason it doesn't for some members.

 

[StevePame]

For some reason it doesn't for some members.

And believe me, I've tried to figure it out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[G N]

What the Early Church of Jesus has to say about Zoroastrianism:

The people who professed new doctrine were called Pharisees = Persians. Zarathushtrians have influence on the Dead Sea Scrolls, they have been unanimously accepted by historians.

A true government name must be in one accord with religion and perfectly unionized with Muslim maxim. This idea did not come from a muslim legislator but is outlined in a Pahlavi book the Dinkard. The idea of Theocracy and undoubtedly the Khilaafat [caliphate] thus are influenced by Zarathushtrians.

Moreover, Sufism is the salt of the Islamic world, it is also a product of the Persian Zarathushtrian spirit. Apart from the mention of the king Darius and the king Cyrus as Zulqarnian, amongst the brotherhood of Prophets. The koran = (quran) has a very little mention of the Zarathushtrian faith. It may be justified by saying that the Prophet of Islam had received some direct influence from the Zarathushtrianism.

Yet the influence was more prevalent in its cultural sphere. One of the associates of Prophet Mohammed was a Zarathushtrian High priest, Dastur Dinyar. His name was later changed to Salman-al-Farsee. He was regarded by the Prophet as Ahal-al-Bait, meaning “of the family of the prophet”, which consider a member of his spiritual circle. He had widely traveled in Syria, Mesopotamia and had a profound knowledge of Judaism, Christianity besides Zarathushtrianism. It is highly probable that Prophet Mohammed was influenced by Zarathushtrianism through him.

Principal Center: Zoroastrianism disappeared in Persia after the Muslim invasion of 637 C.E. About 10,000 survived in remote villages in Iran, but over the centuries many sought religious freedom in India.

For more in formation, refer to page "Pharisees" and page "Crescent"

For more information about the evil teaching of the Pharisees, read the Babylonian Talmud doctrines.


Demon possession, a Persian belief, is everywhere. The Jews do not even speak Hebrew any more, but Aramaic, the very language the Persians used as a common language for all their Empire. The Synagogue, had come into existence as local congregations , exactly alike in function as the Persian Dar e-Mehrs. The most theological dominant sect of Judaism, the Pharisees, hold onto, belief in resurrection, angels, heaven, hell, final, judgment etc., which are not present in Judaism before the Exile. All these beliefs are present in the older Persian religion.

Moreover, the Pharisees own name is a cognate for the word Persians. In Persian, the name is Pharsis, meaning those from Phars or Persia. Pharisee has no clear root in the Hebrew, but in Aramaic, as spoken in the Persian empire and Syria, it meant Persian. Indeed, even the expression Amen is Aramaic and not Hebrew. It means certainly, or truly, which is precisely the same meaning; as an Old Avestan word that is around 3700 years old and which was the name of a very important religious term of the Persian religion, Ashem. Indeed, it was also used by all Persian Zoroastrians for millennia, even if they spoke different dialects, because it is the starting and ending word in their most important prayer, the Ashem Vohu.

Should I go on, yes! Just as Christ could not ascend to heaven till after three days and nights, neither could the souls of the faithful ascend to Garo Demana, the House of Song in latter Persian religion, till after three days. When the apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 13 talks about 'the complete', he is, curiously, using a term that is not present in any other book of the Bible, BUT which is, again, a key term in Persian Religion, Haurvatat, which refers in the Latter religion to an archangel and in the original teachings of Zarathushtra, to the final stage in the ethical growth of mortals. Paul, was from the city of Tarsus, a city known as a hot bed of Zoroastrian activity, and in which there were two Zoroastrian Fire temples. Could Paul have, also, been influenced by Zoroastrianism? You decide.

The Jews regarded Cyrus as a messiah, and therefore one who acted in Yahweh’s name and authority. Yahweh is quoted as “Cyrus will bring forth justice to the nations,….He will not fail….. till he has established justice in the earth.” Isaiah 42-1,4.
The Jews were intimately connected with their Persian Zarathushtrian conquerors, both socially and culturally. From the times of the Pharaohs of Egypt down to our times, no people had treated them so well as the Persian Zarathushtrians. What the Persian Zarathushtrians did for the Jews is unique in the annals of mankind.



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What others say about Persian Zoroastrians:

The people who professed new doctrine were called the Pharisees, meaning Persians. Zarathushtrian influence on the Dead Sea Scrolls has been unanimously accepted by historians.



http://www.earlychurchofjesus.org/zoroastrians.htm

 

[HakimPtsid]

Zoroastrianism (or Mazadainism) is so awesome and a pleasure to explore - both textually and spiritually, religiously and historically/academically. It's not my religion but it's highly important, I think.