Authentic Gatha Zoroastrianism

Prophet/seer Zarathûštrá equated the “spirit, energy, mind, mood, temperament and disposition” manö of godhood with “goodness, betterment and brilliance” vôhü.

Zarathûštrá called this “brilliant spirit” vôhü manö –“good instinct, superb sense, good intuitive mind.”

Avestan vôhü manö is equivalent to reconstructed Proto Indo European wósu ménos, wésu ménos.

Also Vedic personal name Vásu-mánas and Greek personal name Euménēs and the Greek expression ménos ēú “good spirit/passion” are cognates of vôhü manö (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

Manö comes from ménos/man “passion of the spirit, courage, imagination, intuitive inspiration, mind power/energy.”

Mallory/Adams in the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, p. 438 states that “the spiritual property of the hero is embedded in the concept of *menes– “passion of the spirit, mind power” that motivates and enables the hero to accomplish great deeds.

Zoroastrianism ONLY sees godhood in “goodness, brilliance and betterment,” in the “Good Spirit, Passion to Energize, Wondrous Mind Power,” as it reveals itself in man, nature and the universe.

Vôhü manö exemplifies “goodness, brilliance and betterment” and is in essence “good instinct, higher sense, superb intuitive mind and invisible wisdom of the subconscious.”

A class of Vedic god beings, known as the vasus (vásavaḥ), “the good or superb Ones” are related to the Avestan vôhü manö. Vasus (vásavaḥ) represent the active principle of “goodness, boon and brilliance.”

Vásu, vesu, wisi/visi, eús “superb, good, brilliant,” appears frequently in divine names among Indo European people e.g Gaul divine name Vesu-avus and Latin goddess Vesuna.

Also the Germanic tribal name Visigoths “the good or superb goths” comes from the same root.

In the Avestan sacred verse, vôhü manö is masculine. It is so because in Indo European sacred poetry certain neuter singulars turn into god beings or god powers by being given the masculine (or active, animate) form.

The root ménos/man comes about 260 times in the poetic gathas and vôhü manö “good instinct, superb sense, good intuitive mind” more than 130 times.

vôhü manö –“superb intuitive mind, good instinct” appears in the following forms/configurations in the poetic gathas: as vôhü manö, vôhü.čá manö, manö vôhü, manas-čá vôhü, manö vahyö, (Adjective and/or Adverb) man.ahi vahyö, (Adjective and/or Adverb) vahištem manö, (Superlative) and manö vahištem, (Superlative.)

Also it appears frequently in the form of vôhü man.aηhá, man.aηhá vôhü, vahištá man.aηhá, (Superlative) vahištát.čá man.aηhá, (Superlative- aη is pronounced as ang.)

The most common configuration in the poetic gathas is definitely vaηhéuš man.aηhö, vahištát.čá man.aηhö (Superlative) also man.aηhö vaηhéuš, man.aηhas.čá vaηhéuš and vaηhéuš man.yéuš or man.yéuš vaηhéuš and man.yéuš vahištát (Superlative- aη is pronounced as ang.)

The first common order of appearance of the term in the poetic gathas is vaηhéuš man.aηhö or man.aηhö vaηhéuš, then vôhü man.aηhá and vôhü manö.

In the Zoroastrian sacred literature vôhü manö is associated with the powers of the Moon, the Soul/Consciousness of the Animal Life and intense feelings of Bliss.

The connection between vôhü manö “subconscious instincts and intuitive wisdom of the animal soul” is mentioned in the first verse of the poetic gathas (See Yasna 28.1, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

Moon represents “the realm between the conscious and the subconscious, deep-rooted feelings, sensations and instincts. The connection between Moon and manas, manö in the Zoroastrian sacred lore clearly establishes that vôhü manö is “higher sense, subconscious powers of spirit/mind that incorporate “goodness, and betterment.”

In the most sacred formula ahü vairyö “will to become godlike” all “manifestation, creation and/or the action of establishing something” dazdá is through the “brilliant disposition, good intuitive mind.”

vaηhéuš dazdá man.aηhö.

Yasna 28 is the first hymn of the poetic gathas and a summary of the entire gathic sacred song/verse.

In Yasna 28.1, 3^rd rhymed verse line, through the exceptional creativity, genius ḵratü of good intuitive mind vaηhéuš man.aηhö, the delightful knowledge ḵšnû of the soul/consciousness of animal life géuš ûrvá is gained.

vaηhéuš ḵratüm man.aηhö//ýá ḵšnevîšá géuš.čá ûrvánem

(In ancient Indo European poetry, the soul of the cow géuš ûrvá represents the soul of all animal life. Géuš can be compared to Greek gaia.

Avestan ḵratü “exceptional creative power, genius” is a cognate of Homeric term krátos “unmatched superiority.)

In Yasna 28.2, 1^st rhymed verse line, any passageway or coming to pairî-jasái the supreme godhood Mazdá Ahûrá is through “brilliant disposition and good intuitive mind” vôhü man.aηhá.

ýé váv mazdá ahûrá// pairî-jasái vôhü man.aηhá

In Yasna 28.3, 1^st rhymed verse line, the “good intuitive mind/brilliant disposition” is called apaôurvîm. The Avestan term apaôurvîm is equivalent to Vedic apauruṣeya “without beginning, timeless, boundless, infinite” an epithet of supreme beings and uncreated intuitive wisdom of the Vedas.

Here, the prophet/poet “weaves” ûfyánî sacred verses to “excellence, superb artistry, cosmic order” ašá/arthá and TIMELESS, “brilliant energy, good intuitive mind” manas.čá vôhü.

ýé váv ašá ûfyánî//man.as.čá vôhü apaôurvîm

 In the poetic gathas and Zoroastrianism, evil is “deficient spirit, energy, limited or beaten mind power and passion.” While immortals are “boundless, limitless, vibrant and inexhaustible passion to energize, mind power and creative imagination.”

In Yasna 28.4, 1^st rhymed verse line, “the higher sense/good intuitive mind” vôhü man.aηhá takes the soul, consciousness ûrván to the abode of music/songs gairæ and heaven of inspiring ideas méñ dadæ.

ýé ûrvánem méñ gairæ//vôhü dadæ hathrá man.aηhá

In Yasna 28.5, 1^st rhymed verse line, superb artistry of the cosmic order ašá/arthá is discerned daresánî through the wisdom/knowledge vaædemnö of “brilliant disposition and good intuitive mind” manas.čá vôhü.

 ašá kat thwá daresánî//man.as.čá vôhü vaædemnö

In Yasna 28.6, 1^st rhymed verse line, through the entrance, coming gaidî of good intuitive mind/spirit vôhü man.aηhá, a long life dareg.áyü of excellence, divine artistry ašá/arthá is granted.

vôhü gaidî man.aηhá//dáidî ašá- dáv dareg.áyü

In Yasna 28.7, 1^st rhymed verse line, the riches ašî of the cosmic order/divine artistry ašá/arthá are granted through the discovery power áyaptá of good intuitive mind vaηhéuš man.aηhö.

dáidî ašá tãm ašîm//vaηhéuš áyaptá man.aηhö

In Yasna 28.8, 3^rd rhymed verse line, the noble seer/prophet talks of remarkable accomplishment through all the ages of vîspái ýavæ brilliant spirit, good intuitive mind vaηhéuš man.aηhö.

ýaæib.yas.čá ît rávaη.aηhöi//vîspái ýavæ vaηhéuš man.aηhö

In Yasna 28.9, 2^nd rhymed verse line, there is reference to the spiritual warfare ýöithemá and praise stütãm of the “best intuitive sense/mind” man.as.čá vahištem.

man.as.čá hyat vahištem//ýöi vé ýöithemá dasemæ stütãm

 In Yasna 28.10, 1^st rhymed verse line, to have wisdom/insight vöistá of cosmic order/superb artistry ašá/arthá is through manifestation, establishing dáthéñg of good, intuitive mind vaηhéuš man.aηhö.

at ýéñg ashá.at.čá vöistá//vaηhéuš.čá dáthéñg man.aηhö

In Yasna 28.11, 1^st rhymed verse line, the seer/prophet sings of the focus (literally have the EYE âiš fixed) on the cosmic order ašá/arthá, and the safeguarding, protection pávaηhaæ of the same through the infinite ages ýavaæ.táitæ of brilliant spirit, good intuitive mind man.as.čá vôhü.

ýé âiš ašem ni.pávaηhaæ//man.as.čá vôhü ýavaæ.táitæ

In conclusion, I shall emphasize that Avestan vôhü manö is in essence “good instinct, superb intuitive sense/mind and invisible powers/wisdom of the subconscious” epitomizing “goodness and betterment.”

ardeshir

References: Didier Calin, Dictionary of Indo-European Poetic Themes, u. entry ‘spirit’ good.

Óðinn, the supreme Æsir of the Norse religion is called a “seer/prophet, one who has sacred visions, a god who has true knowledge, shamanic, spiritual wisdom.”

A similar linkage of ideas, with different vocabulary, can be found in the ancient Zoroastrian sacred poetry and the poetic gathas of seer/prophet Zarathûštrá.

In the poetic gathas, Zarathûštrá calls himself erešiš, “seer/prophet,”

(See Yasna 31.5, 2^nd rhymed verse line méñ.čá daidyái ýehyá-má erešiš and Yasna 40.4, 3^rd rhymed verse line ašavanö erešyá ištém ráitî.)

The corresponding term for Avestan erešiš is Lithuanian aršùs, German rasen “to rage, be inflamed, have inspiration, see sacred visions, become a seer/prophet.”

Similarly the attested forms of Odin are derived from *Wōđanaz^.  Wōđan comes from *wātus “mantic poetry,” wōtis “god inspired” wet “sacred vision,”wōto “true knowledge, shamanic wisdom.”

(Compare wōtis and wōto with Latin vātes “prophet, seer” Old Church Slavonic aviti, Avestan vaiti, vátö and váté  “ to inspire with true knowledge, to understand/have insight of, to excite/awaken with spiritual wisdom, sacred vision.”)

The Greek word for a seer/prophet, mántis, literally means to “be inspired, one who divines” and is derived from the verbal root ménos/man-“passion, spirit, mind-energy.”

Interestingly, Avestan méñ…daidyái coming in connection with erešiš “seer/prophet” in Yasna 31.5 is the same as Greek mántis and refers to “being inspired with passion, mind-energy, spirit.”

I like to conclude by the beautiful Yasna 31.5 of the poetic gathas:

tat möi vîči.dyái vaôčá//hyat möi ašá dátá vahyö

vîduyæ vôhü man.aηhá//méñ.čá daidyái ýehyá-má erešiš

tá.čît mazdá ahûrá// ýá nöit vá aηhat aηhaitî vá.

(aη is pronounced as ang)

That I may be given discerning power, voice in words to me//of what has been established as better through superb artistry, cosmic order.

So that I may have wisdom/knowledge through good instinct-intuitive mind//and be inspired by passion, spirit as a seer/prophet.

Of those things Mazda, god of “inspiring creativity, imagination”//that will not become manifest in existence, or will be.

ardeshir

Mazdá is the Ahûrá/Æsir par excellence in Zoroastrianism and is closely connected to, if not almost identical to Óðinn, the greatest of the Æsir in Norse Mythology, with both their association with “imagination, creativity, powers of mind/spirit to recall and summon into being.”

The attested forms of Odin are derived from *Wōđanaz^. In Old Norse word-initial *w-is dropped before rounded vowels and so Wōđan became Óðinn.

Wōđan comes from *wātus “mantic poetry,” wōtis “god inspired” wet “sacred vision,” wōto “true knowledge, shamanic wisdom.”

Latin vātes “prophet, seer” Old Church Slavonic aviti, Vedic vat with the prefix api- “to inspire to excite, awaken” (RV 1.128.2,) Avestan vaiti with the prefix aipi “ to inspire with true knowledge, to understand/have insight of, to excite/awaken with spiritual wisdom all come from the same ancient root as wātus and Wōđan and/or Óðinn.

The Proto-Indo-European meaning of the root of the Avestan vaiti, Old Church Slavonic aviti, Germanic wātus all are relating to “spiritual excitation, inspiration, true insight and sacred vision.”

Vaiti appears in the poetic gathas in Yasna 44.18, 4^th rhymed verse line in the sense of “having insight, sacred vision of healing/curative powers and immortality.”

Óðinn is a healer god, a seer and shape-changer. Interestingly in the above gathic verse in addition to healing powers, there is refernce to shape changing in the 3th rhymed verse line. In the Avestan hymn of Tri-star and the hymn to the god-power of Victory plus the above gathic verse the inspired assumes various sacred animal forms.

In the poetic gathas, there is also vátö Yasnna 35.6 and váté Yasna 35.7, from the same root meaning “inspiration, true insight and sacred vision.”

In the younger Avesta the root appears in Yasna 9.25 and Vendidad 9.2, 9.47, 9.52, again in the sense of “showing, revealing, making visible.”

The idea behind Wōđan and/or Óðinn is “spiritual ecstasy, fierce energy and creative insight, inspiration.” Mazdá, the supreme ahurá of Zoroastrianism comes from the root men dhe. The root refers to “mind, imagination, wit, will-power, meaning, soul and sense” but more precisely it refers to “inspiring, energetic creativity through mind, imagination, sacred vision and insight!”

(See the poetic gathas: Yasna 28.4, mén gairæ vôhü dadæ hathrá man.ang.há, Yasna 31.5, mén-čá daidyái, Yasna 44.8, mén daidyái, Yasna 45.1, ma(n)z.dáv.ang.hö.düm,) Yasna 53.5 mén-čá-î mánz.daz.düm.)

While the etymology of Mazdá is closest to the Inspiring Muses, yet Wōđan and/or Óðinn are the closest, if not identical to Mazdá in both the idea and intention.

ardeshir

Yazatá is the word for “awe inspiring god beings” in the Zoroastrian sacred lore. The Avestan yaz– (Vedic yaj-) comes from the reconstructed Indo European root yag “to revere the gods, to hold as sacred, holy, powerful/lively/energetic.” The idea is that of sacred “vigor” and “vivacity” that “inspires awe” and is “worthy of worship.”

In Zoroastrianism, god beings are “life, pulsating with vigor and energy” and anti-gods are “non-living and/or living dead” (See the poetic gathas, Yasna 30.4, 2^nd rhymed verse line.)

Avestan yazatá, Vedic yajata is a “Sacred Power full of ardor and Vitality that Inspires Awe/Worship.” Yajata in the Vedas is an epithet of the gods and in the Avesta Yazatá is the name for “god” itself. The idea is that of an adorable force that protects the object or being from all diminution and makes it invulnerable and of awe-inspiring quality and divine origin.

This may explain why yaz– is constructed with the name of the god in the accusative and the name of the offering in the instrumental. If the verb implied “sacrifice” we would rather expect the construction with the dative of the name of the god being.

The Avestan verb yazamaidæ therefore refers to “to honoring as holy/divine” whereby an offering or element is transferred from the belongings of mortals to the safe and sacred custody of the gods.

The traditional etymology connects Greek házomai and hágios with Avestan yaz, Vedic yaj. We discern the same idea of “reverential awe, integrity and protection from fading/decline.”

In the poetic gathas, Yasna 31.8, 1^st rhymed verse line, yazüm means “most youthful, vigorous, energetic.”

Yazemn.áñghö in Yasna 51.20, 3^rd rhymed verse line refers to the sacred awe/adoration for Immortals who are of the same desire/aspiration/will power.

In Yasna 50.4, 1^st rhymed verse line, yazái alludes to reverence for Mazdá Ahûrá the “Inspiring source of Genius, the supreme god of Mind-Will Power.”

In Yasna 27.15, 3^rd rhymed verse line, yazamaidæ is about honoring all the god beings as holy/sacred.

Yazemnas in Yasna 34.6, 3^rd rhymed verse line is about being charged with the sacred power/vitality of god beings through their worship.

Yazaitæ in Yasna 32.3, 2^nd rhymed verse line speaks about how demons are NOT worthy of any adoration/worship.

Yazái apá in Yasna 33.4, 1^st rhymed verse line is about invulnerability/immunity from limited thinking through the worship of the sacred/vigorous.

Old Persian yad-; to worship, hold as sacred/powerful” appears in Old Persian month name of Bāga-yādiš, the month to hold baga (god, source of good fortune) as holy. Baga is the same as Slavic bog, the designation of “god, good fortune.”

Also the ancient Persian month Āči-yāidya was the month dedicated to the reverence of heat/fire.

In Zoroastrianism, reverence of the gods means to become godlike and acquire all the godly virtues. To revere the gods is to worship “life, pulsating with all its beauty, vigor and energy.”

Demons however, are living dead, spiritual vampires that demand absolute surrender and slavery and therefore are unworthy of godhood or any worship.

ardeshir

In Kant’s Opus Postumum is found the remark: If we wished to form a concept of (biblical) God from experience, then ALL MORALITY (what is JUST and RIGHT) WOULD FALL AWAY and ONLY DESPOTISM BE LEFT.” Therefore, concluded Kant, one would have to assume that such a god has NO REGARD FOR THE HAPPINESS of his creatures.

In Zoroastrianism, the word for morality is identical with PURITY. In Avestan, purity is called yaôž.dá and in the Zoroastrian sacred poetry yaôž.dá is understood as “PURITY of the VITAL ENERGY/FORCE” that is immune to defect, decay, decline and disease.

Yaôž.dá is “JUST the precise right formula for life energies” resulting in optimal wellness, happiness, prosperity and the correction of any defect, distortion or defilement.

Avestan yaôš and/or yaôž, refers to “pristine vital energy, right balance/formula, model happiness and prosperity.” It allows life not only to survive but also to thrive.

The verb yaôž.dá can be compared with reconstructed Proto Indo European yewes, yewos, iéuos, “the right formula/rule” ious-dik “pronouncer of the correct rule/precept” Vedic yós “model happiness and prosperity” Old Irish uisse, Old Latin ious, Latin iūs and Proto Germanic justaz, (pronounced yustaz) “the right law & order, true justice.”

(*yéw(o)s- for “law” and “yous-dik'” (“law pronouncer > judge” as in Latin iûdex) with a palatal [k’] usually written with the tiny “hat” on the /k/ See Didier Calin)

The second part of the compound yaôž.dá comes from the Indo European root *dhē-, “to put, establish.” Here we find the idea of “that which is established in “pure, pristine vitality and impeccable life force.” And this very idea sums up the Zoroastrian Morality, NOT as hindering rules or shackles but “just the right formulas for the blossoming of life energies.”

In Zoroastrianism, sin arises wherever an individual defies or threatens this “right balance of the life force” and opposes “the cosmic order.” For such guilt an individual incurs decline, distortion and degeneration or what is called impurity.

This is because Zoroastrianism is a religion of healthy mindedness and right balance of the life forces and NOT the religion of the sick, suffering and diminishing spirit.

Zoroastrianism promotes Happiness, Purity, Equilibrium and “Just the right balance of life energies/forces” in all the material and spiritual aspects of being. For the Gods embody the superb order of cosmos and are only the bringers of “wellness, happiness and prosperity!”

We read in the poetic gathas, Yasna 48.5, 3^rd rhymed verse line:

Ýaôž.dáv mašyái aipî zánthem vahištá

“The law of purity for mortals in addition to genesis/birth/descent is the best boon”

Ýaôž.dáv is “the law of purity/the right formulas for the blossoming of life energies;” mašyái/martyái is the word for “mortals;” aipî means “upon, in addition to” (Compare with Vedic ápi “in addition to,” Greek epí, “upon, on top of;”) zánthem from the root zan means “genesis/birth/descent;” vahištá refers to “what is the BEST, highest advantage, boon, blessing.”

Váršt-mánßar commentary of the above gathic verse translates yaôž.dáv as “establishing the divine rule through pure, pristine vitality, through the law of purity” and thereby becoming a yazatá “an adorable god-being.”

The above sacred verse is the basis of all the Zoroastrian jurisprudence.

The sacred gathic verse above links the value of birth and pride in inborn nobility with blossoming of life energies, vitality and the law of purity. This sacred formula has become the very basis of all the Zoroastrian jurisprudence.

Family, kinship, worship, the spiritual life, land, hearth, house, pets, happiness and farm, the seasons of the year and the festivals; all are related in a world order, and in this order mortal man lives as a member of his genos, governed by the laws of virtue, purity and nobility (cf. also Johannes Hertl: Die Awestischen Jahreszeitenfeste.)

I like to conclude by the following Avestan passage from the vî-daævö-dátá (Vendidad 11, 2a:)

ýaôž.dáta átrem ýaôž.dáta ápem ýaôž.dáta zãm ýaôž.dáta gãm ýaôž.dáta urvarãm ýaôž.dáta narem ašavanem ýaôž.dáta náirikãm ašaônîm ýaôž.dáta staærš ýaôž.dáta máv.ang.hem ýaôž.dáta hvare ýaôž.dáta anaghra raôcáv ýaôž.dáta vîspa vôhü mazda.dháta aša.čithra.

“Energized/Purified shall be the fire, energized/purified shall be the water, energized/purified shall be the earth, energized/purified shall be the livestock, life, energized/purified shall be the tree, energized/purified shall be the heroic man, energized/purified shall be the heroine woman, energized/purified shall be the stars, energized/purified shall be the moon, energized/purified shall be the sun/helios, energized/purified shall be the boundless lights, energized/purified shall be all the good species that Mazda has established in virtue, excellence, goodness.”

ardeshir

The Zoroastrian idea of the SACRED is synonymous with brilliance, flourishing success and with being splendid/auspicious and is called spǝñtá in the Avestan.

In Zoroastrian religiosity Sacred does NOT mean “off limits, taboo or restricted.” Avestan Spǝñtá (Sacred) is instead “auspiciousness, being splendid with the life force, shining brightly with success/prosperity and boundless good fortune.”

Avestan Spǝñtá, Old Slavonic svętŭ, Lithuanian šventas, Lettish svēts, Russian svjatój, Old Prussian swints, signify “sanctus, the sacred, the auspicious, the bringer of abundance and success.”

(Latvian svēts is actually most probably borrowed from Slavic or else it would be **svîts or **sviets See Didier Calin.)

Like spǝñtá, the original idea behind the Old Slavonic svętŭ, Lithuanian šventas, Lettish svēts was charged with notions of natural religion and pagan ideas. In popular songs impregnated with prehistoric folklore svętŭ and šventas refer to words or beings “endowed with vibrant, radiant life force.”

The ancient Avestan commentaries translate spǝñtá with afzünîk “abundance, prosperity, increase and growth.”

The gathic Váršt-mánßar commentary of Yasna 50 equates speñtá with “shining brightly, light and energy.”

Spǝñtá– is a verbal adjective in –tá-, made from spǝñ. The root is sü savá, “to swell, to grow,” implying “power, strength, prosperity”; hence sürá– “strong, brave, courageous, appearing as an epithet of the gods.”

Thus the idea of the sacred is a notion of an auspicious force energizing, bringing abundance, prosperity and growth.

The being or object that is spǝñtá is SWOLLEN with ever increasing power, SPLENDENT with Life Force and Vibrant Energy.

The adjective spǝñtá “auspicious, brilliant, increasing” comes with amertá and/or amešá “immortal,” and constitutes the title amešá spǝñtá and/or amertá spǝñtá, “the sacred, auspicious, splendid immortals.”

These immortals or ahûrás of mazdá, are representatives of superb virtues, spiritual archetypes and splendid ideals. Ahûrás are the same as the Teutonic Gods, the Aesir (cf. Oslo, Osnabruck, in High German: Ansen, cf. Anshelm, Ansbach.)

Mazdá is the god-force of mind-power, imagination, inspiring creativity related to Muses as guiding genius and source of inspiration. Mazdá is the essence of godhood!

Each of the immortals (amertá and/or amešá) is both the symbol of a virtue/concept and the god being of an element of the material world, incarnated each in an element: water, earth, plants, metals, etc.

They are grouped round the supreme god, Ahûrá-Mazdá and they are constantly invoked in the hymns/songs called the Gāthās, (Lithunian giedoti to sing) which contain the teaching of prophet Zarathûštrá, as well as in the mythological and epic collection of the Yašts of the Avesta.

As far as the nature religiosity of Zoroastrianism is concerned, it does NOT spring from a commandment of “Thou shalt not!” Instead Zoroastrian devotion is the intuitive feeling of identity with the universe, a pantheism or nature mysticism of Gods-nature.

Apart from the immortals, spǝñtá is associated with mánthrá “formula for musing, inspiration, thinking;” with mainyü “instinctive knowing, imagination, mind power/force, spirit;” with xratu/ ḵratü “unmatched creativity, power of the spirit to manifest/create;” with gāθā “sacred verse/song;” with ár.maiti “flow of ideas/thoughts, serene meditation/focus.”

Spǝñtá is the epithet of the virile nar, the epithet of the living gaô and the epithet of knowledge, teaching, sacred lore sásnayá

Another term corresponding to SACRED is the Avestan haûrvatát from haûrva, the root har compatible with Runic hailag, Gothic hails, German heilig “holy,” which expresses the idea of “curative powers, well-being, health, physical and corporal integrity, hail, wholeness.”

In Zoroastrianism good health, spiritual and physical wholeness has a profound religious value. The one who is possessed of “health,” that is who is whole/healthy, is also capable of conferring this holy state on to others. “To be whole” is the good fortune one wishes for. Health, wholeness, spiritual and physical integrity are regarded with a sacred significance.

By their very nature God beings possess “wholeness, health, integrity, curative powers, well-being and good fortune.” And bestow this gift on mortal men in the form of physical and spiritual health and by omens of good fortune.

We discern again the same idea of the SACRED as that of an energizing force, full of brilliance, energy and swollen with abundance, well being and growth. A healing force which protects the object or being from all diminution, decay and makes it whole, prosperous and triumphant/successful.

SACRED in Zoroastrianism is what is imbued with “abundance, life energy, and healing power” and NOT with what is forbidden.

I shall conclude with the following beautiful sacred verse from the poetic gathas:

Yasna 51.7

dáidî-möi ýé gám tašö//apas-čá ûrvar.ávs.čá

ameretátá haûrvátá//spéništá mainyü mazdá

tevîšî utayüitî//man.ang.há vôhü séñg.hæ.

Give Me Sculptor of life// (Fashioner) of waters, trees and plants

Immortality and Healing Power//Auspicious, Energizing Mind-force/Power, O Mazda, God of Inspiring Creativity Genius

Thriving, Eternal Youth, Vitality//(through) the teachings of good imagination/mind-will power!

ardeshir

Teutons and Hellenes combined the plurality of the Gods in the unity of their Might and Power!

Dion of Prusa (XXXI, 11) says of the deeply prudent men of his time: “They simply combine all Gods together in one might (ishys) and power (dynamis)” and Plotinus expresses this in the Enneads (I, 6, 8.)

The pagan north Germans, who believed that godhood was present in all “men of high mind,” were called Godless by early Christians (gud-lauss or gud-lausir menn.)

But long ages ago, it was the seer/prophet Zarathûštra who first among the Indo Europeans proclaimed that the essence of godhood is in “inspiring creativity and the powers of mind/spirit to build, shape, make,” in a supreme God called Mazdá.”

Mazdá is the Ahûrá/Æsir par excellence in Zoroastrianism. Mazdá is the essence of godhood and means “inspiring creativity and mind-power.”

Mazdá is closely connected to, if not almost identical to Óðinn, the greatest of the Æsir in Norse Mythology, with both their association with “wisdom, powers of mind to recall and summon into being.”

Mazdá or Ma(n)zdá (*mens-dheh-) incorporates the Indo European noun *mens of the stem ménos “mind-force, will power, spirit, determination, imagination” and the verb dheh “to set, establish, do, create.” (Courtesy of Didier Calin)

MUSES “Inspiring Creativity” in ancient Greek lore and Vedic Medhá, “mind-power, imagination, insight,” used as an epithet of the highest and most powerful gods in the Vedas share the same exact etymology with Mazdá.

In Zoroastrianism, ahûrá par excellence Mazdá with all the ahûrás or god powers perpetually struggle against the anti-God Añgrö (Middle Persian Ahriman) “limitation, restriction, fault.”

In Zoroastrianism, there exists an inseparable duality between God-powers united in Mazdá or “powers of mind/spirit, inspiring creativity, boundlessness” and the anti-gods or diabolic forces known as daævás headed by añgrö “limitation, constriction.”

For the Gods represent boundlessness, the creative and ever better ORDER of the worlds, while devil and anti gods represents “limitation, restriction, chaos, disintegration and deformity.”

All forms of reality may be considered as modes of mind-energy in Zoroastrianism. The boundlessness, creativity and eternal progress of the mind-power (Mazdá) are manifested in the Gods, while limitation, restriction and deformity of imagination are the brood of the devil and diabolic forces.

Zoroastrianism ONLY sees godhood in goodness and betterment, in the wondrous, creative order of all that exists and in Good Spirit/Disposition as it reveals itself in man, nature and animal.

This spirit, mind/mode of becoming ever better is called vohü-manö – also vaηhǝ̄uš manaηhö or vohü manaηhá in the poetry of the ancient seer-prophet.

It comes from Proto Indo European *wésu, and Vedic personal name *vásu mánas as well as Greek personal Euménēs and the Greek expression ménos ēú “good spirit/intention” come from the same ancient root (See Didier Calin.)

Martin Lichtfield West, in Indo-European Poetry and Myth, pp. 143 states: “We have seen that the gods were celebrated as givers of good things, these being denoted in Indo-Iranian with the word vásu-, vaηhuu- (*wésu-). Combined with *poti- it gives vásupati- ‘lord of good things’, which occurs some fifteen times in the Rig Veda. There is also a class of deities, known as the Vasus (Vásavaḥ), the Good Ones. Vásavaḥ represents the active principle of goodness, betterment, progress, and advancement.

The *wesu- stem is attested by personal names such as the Italo-Celtic goddess who appears in central Italy as Vesuna and perhaps at Baden-Baden as Visuna. Vesuna is surely the ‘Mistress of good things.’

Mallory/Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, p. 438 states that “the spiritual property of the hero is embedded in the concept of *menes- “Mental strength,” or “mental inspiration or power,” that motivates and enables the hero to accomplish great deeds.

Seer/prophet Zarathûštrá taught that mortal men must share or participate in the Good, the True and the Beautiful as partners of the Immortal Gods through their vohü manö or good mental/spiritual inspiration and power.

The creative order of life preserves and renews itself only through the brave, heroic and constant struggle of virtuous men and Immortals against the powers hostile to excellence, against ahriman and the daævás or diabolic forces, against the limiting forces of Utgard.

This creative order of the worlds is called in the Avestan ašá and/or arthá, Vedic r̥tá and Latin ars, artus, ritus, from the root ar “the right fit, precise arrangement, ingenious order, artistry.”

The German word fromm, meaning religious or devout, is derived from the stem meaning capable or fit, just as the root ar for ašá and/or arthá.

Zoroastrian religiosity is partaking in the divine artistry and nature religiosity or worship. Zoroastrian religiosity is in the descriptions and worship of the “Landscapes filled with the glory of the divine” (khvarenah — Josef Strzygowski: Die Landschaft in der nordischen Kunst, pp. 143, 261 et seq.),

The ahûrás are god-beings, because of their mastery of máyá magical knowledge of this superb artistry and the ingenious order of the worlds.

The stem ah-ü or as-u (=artful command) has a relative in Old English ós and in Old Norse aes/äs/áss as in Aesir (the gods, plural) or As-gard Old Norse “Ásgarðr” ” Enclosure of the Æsir.

The Germanic sub-branches have a stem ans- (ansu in runic), which means “power to animate, bring to life/existence/being.” C. Watkins connects the root with Hittite hassu and Old Irish eisi (2001: 7-9).

This is why the idea of the greatness of the God beings did not permit the ancient Iranians/ancient Aryans to enclose the divine within walls. Similarly they possessed no images of Immortals, corresponding to a pantheistic religiosity that sees the godhood in a broad vision worship of the elements.

The nature of ahûrás is connected with the world order, ingenuity and superb artistry. Mortal men join with the Gods or ahûrás in “mind-power and inspiring creativity called mazdá” against all powers hostile to progress, goodness and Godhood, against chaos, against demons, añgrö, “limitation” and Utgard.

For Mazdá “inspiring creativity, mind-power, wisdom, powers of mind to recall and summon into being” is the magic stuff of the æsir and the very essence of godhood, what the Vedas call ásurasya māyáyā (See RV 5.63.7 “magic of the ásuras.)

In Zoroastrianism, there is no better life than that of friendship with the Gods through the magic stuff of mind, imagination, will power (Mazdá) and by sharing and participating in the Good, Better, and the more Beautiful creative order of life as partners of the Immortal Gods.

ardeshir

November 24 marks the festival of fire in the Avestan calendar. In the Avestan speech, fire is átarš or áthrö. Átarš denotes “fire, heat, energy and especially the sacral and hearth fire,” concerned with increase of produce, prosperity, pets and people.

In the Zoroastrian sacred poetry fire/luminous energy is the visible emanation or prodigy (pûthræ) of Ahûrá Mazdá, “the god-force of mind-power, genius, inspiring creativity.”

Fire is the most spectacular element in the world, constantly in flux, enchanting and mesmerizing.

Átarš embodies the fires of altar and hearth, akin with the fires of the sun, stars and lightning, thus linking heaven and earth. Átarš is etymologically related to ash, Latin āter “blackened by fire,” atrium chimney space over hearth and the word for hearth, from reconstructed Proto Indo European háhtr “fire, hearth or altar fire ” from the root *hahs-, Compare Hittite hâssâ (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

Chief among the Scythian gods, according to Herodotus (4. 59, 127. 4), was Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, called in the Scythian language Tabiti from Indo-European root *tep “intensity of heat, high temperature.” Herodotus perhaps gave us the name in a slightly distorted guise, corresponding to Indo-Iranian *Tapati.

In Greece and Italy we again find the sacral or domestic hearth under the tutelage of Hestia or Vesta. According to Ovid (Fasti 6. 291) the living flame was itself Vesta. Her shrine in the Forum, with its perpetual fire, was the civic hearth of Rome and its oldest temple.

The Germanic tribes, according to Caesar (Bell. Gall. 6. 21. 2), recognized as gods only those whom they could see and from whom they received manifest benefits, Sun, Moon, and “Volcanus.”

In late pre-Conquest England King Canute proscribed worship of ‘heathen gods, Sun or Moon, fire or water, wells or stones or trees of any kind’. It was mentioned above that a Nordic genealogy named Sea, Fire, and Wind as the three sons of a primal giant.

In Lithuania, as fifteenth-century sources attest, priests maintained a perpetual holy fire, worshipped as “Vulcanus,” at which they practiced divination.

Eighteenth-century lexica say that the heathens’ called Vulcanus was Ugnis szwenta (‘holy or auspicious Fire’). Ugnis ‘fire’ is the cognate of Vedic agníh, ignis, (to ignite, set ablaze) Slavonic ogonı.˘ Szwenta “auspicious, holy, increasing” is the same as the Avestan speñtá.

A tenth-century Persian geographer states that the Slavs all venerate fire, and more recent literary sources and ethnographic evidence attest fire-worship or prayers to the fire among various Slavonic people.

The house or hearth fire was especially honored in Ukraine and Belarus.

The cult of the hearth fire or áthrá goes back to Indo-European times. The hearth fire was the indispensable center and defining point of the home. It had to be tended with care and given offerings at appropriate times. If one moved to a new house, one carried fire there from the old one. New members of the household, such as a newborn child or a new bride, had to be introduced to the hearth fire by being led or carried round it.

The custom that the bride circles the hearth three times is common to Vedic Indians, Ossetes, Slavs, Balts, Germans and Zoroastrians. In fact all the above ancient Indo European customs are alive and well in authentic Zoroastrianism.

Hearth fire is rightly called “housemaster of all houses” in the Avesta (See Yasna 17. 11.) A variant of the same compound/title is survived in Lithuania. The Jesuit Relatio for 1604 records the cult of a deus domesticus named Dimsta-patis.

I like to conclude by the following beautiful verse from the poetic gathas Yasna 34.4:

at töi átrém ahûrá//aôjöng.hvañtem ašá usé-mahî

asîštîm émavañtem//stöi rapañtæ čithrá-avang.hem

at mazdá daibiš.yañtæ//zastá-ištáiš dereštá -aænang.hem

Thy heat, fire god-force//lofty through excellence, virtue; is our object of wish/desire

Swift and mighty//standing to give exuberance and joy, manifesting good fortune

But to Thy enemy, God of Mind-Power//with hands wielding real, discernible power, inflicts damage

ardeshir

Jasa mae avang-hæ mazda is the Zoroastrian call for “divine aid and good fortune” from Mazdá, the supreme god of mind-will power and creativity.

The formula literally translates into “Come to My help/advancement Mazda.” Avang-hæ meaning “help, advancement, favor” comes from the root ava, Vedic ávati “to favor, promote,” Runic auja “good fortune.”

It is said at the conclusion of many Avestan hymns to invoke the aid and good fortune of the heavens. It is not just a call to survive but to thrive!

May the friendship of Mazda and the adorable god-powers, the divine yazatas, purge our world from the forces of chaos, the blind, bottomless greed and endless self righteous stupidity that has given rise to the vile demons and their diabolic cult of gloom, limitation and death.

ardeshir

The Avestan evidence and the evidence from several early Indo-European societies like Hittite, Vedic, Roman, Celtic, Germanic––suggests that the kingship of rulers originally was an ELECTIVE stewardship of the realm.

The construct of a ruler/king is given legitimacy by the presence of a scholar priest known as ratü. It is the ratü that confers the ring of power to the king in ancient Iranian rock carvings.

Ratü is the guide and counselor of old, the major prophet figure and wizard whose role is essentially that of chief counselor and guide, and whose aim is the establishment of “Knowledge, Rule and Order.”

Ratü is the knower of riddles, rites and formulas. It has the figurative sense of “lead, guide” and the literal sense “counsel, rate, judge, reason.”

Ratü is connected to Latin Ratiô and comes from an ancient root that implies “reckoning, creative reasoning, solving riddles and discovering the right formula.”

The relationship between the word for ‘kingship’ and the verb ḵši “bringing land into cultivation/bloom” is clue to the original nature of kingship as elected steward.

The idea is expressed particularly in the doctrine that the justice of the ruler conditions the fertility of the earth and livestock in his or her territory.

We also find this doctrine in the Vedic epics, and in Greek, Irish, and Norse literature, and it is also attested for ancient Burgundy.

Conversely an unjust ruler causes nature to withhold its bounty. According to the Turanian leader Afrásiyáb in the Sháh-námæ, ‘because of the tyranny of the king all good disappears into hiding; the wild ass does not bring forth at its due season, the eye of the young falcon is blinded, wild creatures stem the flow of milk to their breasts, water in the springs turns to pitch or dries up in the wells everywhere, the musk lacks perfume in its pod’. In a later episode Shah Bahrám by repenting of his harsh policies produces an immediate and spectacular increase in the yield of a cow that had been empty of milk

The ruler is the protector of the creatures and the cosmic order (Holy Denkart, Madon Edition 287.15-288.18; 388.9-390.19).

The faith of Mazda-Worship decrees that the material prosperity of the dominion is a sign that legitimate authority and sacred kingship/stewardship are vested in the ruler. In that the ruler’s success is due to divine glory (See Holy Denkart, Madon Edition 290.20-291.8).

“The thing against which the evil, gloomy spirit struggles most vigorously against is the uniting of the glories of stewardship/kingship and the gift of foresight, wisdom of the beautiful religion, in a single person, because such a combination would vanquish the gloomy, bleak spirit….”

The rulers were required to receive training as a magá “learning-master or great wizard of learning” during their youth.

The ruling steward/king is also represented as a dragon-slayer, in the Avesta.

This myth is narrated where the legendary Thraætôná (Fredôn) battles the dragon-king Dahak (Avestan Aži Dahak ) See Yašt 9.78; Yašt 5.33-35, 9.13-14, 13.131, 14.40.

The belief that the ruler/steward must combat a dragon to free the waters hence fertility, through battle with forces of chaos is of great antiquity.

Ardeshir I is portrayed slaying the dragon of Kerman (KAP 36.1-40.12; ShN 267-69). Here the founder of the Sasanian dynasty is presented both as a great hero and in the religious role as bringer of rain, water, fertility, and order.

This motif of the dragon-slayer persisted after the Arab conquest of Iran, although it lost its religious significance and survived solely as a representation of valor.

ardeshir