Haurvatat, Haúr.va.tát; Perfection, Eternal Progress


The 3rd month and the 6th day in each month of the religious Zoroastrian calendar is dedicated to Haúr.va.tát; “healing, wholeness, every cure.” In Mazdyasna., when the name of the presiding angel of the day and month concur, a joyous holiday is declared. May the 25th was such a joyous holiday dedicated to Haurvatat, Haúr.va.tát; according to the seasonal Avestan calendar reckoning.

Haúr.va.tát has become “khordád” in Persian. Haúr.va.tát comes from the root “har,” Old English and Old Frisian “hal” Old Norse and German “heil” and Greek “holos.” It means originally EACH, EVERY, ENTIRE, ALL, WHOLLY, WITHOUT LIMIT. Haúr.va.tát is EVERY weal, healing and wisdom; the Source of EVERY knowledge and advantage.

In the poetic gathas, haúr.va.tát is of feminine gender; and mentioned in association with ameretát (also feminine; “indestructibility, imperishability, immortality;” Greek ambrosios, ambrosia.)

Haúr.va.tát first appears in Yasna 31.6, 2nd rhymed verse line, in the poetic gathas. The verse reads: mánthrá “guidance/counsel of mind” which is haúr.va.tát and “excellence, virtue” for immortality.

Haúr.va.tát is translated as hamag.rúvishni, “eternal progress, forever advancing” in the ancient commentaries and it is linked to mánthrá, “the counsel, formulas of mind and consciousness.” The ancient commentary adds that it is through the wisdom, counsel of mind (mánthrá) that all come to the self of Ahúr-mazd, the Gd of Wisdom. Most profound is the view that Haurvatat; “wholeness, perfection” is NOT fixed and immoveable, but is “eternal progress and advancement.”

Perfection is not a summit or an end; whatsoever degree of advancement we reach, there is always something better and more advanced; and this eternal progress, odyssey of mind/conscious energy is the very meaning of perfection in Zoroastrianism.
The universe is eternally unrolling itself through Haúr.va.tát. Each perfection is only the beginning of another perfection beyond it; and that in its turn leads to yet another; the progress continues always hamag.rúvishni and never stops from advancing. There is nothing that can be fixed as the immoveable end.

The last occurrence of Haúr.va.tát in the poetic gathas, is in Yasna 51.7, 2nd rhymed verse line. Haúr.va.tát comes here after Indestructibility, Immortality and in alliance/league with “the brightest and the most brilliant spirit of knowledge, sophia” spénishtá ma.in.yü mazdá.

It should be added that in the Maga Brāhmaṇas’ calendrical lists, the day of Hórdád also corresponds to that of Manyuu “spirit/mind” and Anna “food of the immortals.” (See Panaino, 1996, pp. 45, 48-49).

Yasna 51.7 in the poetic gathas; is the verse in which a clear connection between haúr.va.tát and “waters, healing, wisdom” is established. Also, in the beautiful Zoroastrian rituals and ceremonies, haúr.va.tát is represented on the altar by “fresh spring water or pure rainwater” in a bowl.

We also read in the varsht-mánßar commentary of Yasna 46.4, pertaining to the 3rd rhymed verse line about; the dawning of future ages and what progress occurs in those ages; the ones advanced (arvandán,) who are brilliant through learning and realization of wisdom/seer will, thereby the THIRST of ETERNAL YOUTH and PERFECTION is ever increased in them.

A parallel can be drawn here with the Old Norse Mímir (literally “one who remembers, thinks, the wise one”) who was a figure of great knowledge in Norse Mythology who recited secret knowledge and counsel to the gods. Mímis-brunnr (well/spring of Mímir) was a well of much wisdom. The water of the well contained “every knowledge and cure.” So Odin sacrificed his eye in exchange for continuous drinking from the well of wisdom. Odin was said to ride to Mimir’s Well, seeking council for both himself and his followers.

The 4th Avestan hymn or the 4th Yasht is dedicated to Haúr.va.tát, “wisdom and healing powers.” The Yasht enumerates the special importance of number 9 in healing and restoring wholeness. 9 (three threes) represents the culmination of a cycle.
Similarly, Norse mythology puts special emphasis on the number 9, along with the number 27; both numbers also figure into the lunar Germanic calendar. (In the Avesta, the most sacred manthra or yathá ahü vairyö is placed at Yasna 27.13.)

In Norse mythology there are there are 9 worlds, 9 marvelous magic songs, and 9 herbs charm.

Apparently haúr.va.tát and ameretát are also mentioned in the Koran as Harut and Marut (Sura 2.96.) They appear as malik/angels in Babylonia, who have an amazing knowledge of “every science and formula.” They also appear in the Book of Enoch as Arioch and Marioch.

Also, Hárút is a popular Armenian male name. The legend of Arōt kaì Marōt, referred to in John VI Cantacouzenus can be traced back to the same Zoroastrian origins.

ardeshir

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Haurvatat, Haúr.va.tát; Perfection, Eternal Progress

  1. zaneta garratt says:

    very pleasant to read this very positive script, interesting too when you refer to the Nordic tales

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s