Avestan Tishtryá, Vedic Tishyá, Norse Tyr, Constellations and stars

Posted on July 12, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

July the 1st marks the feast of rain and the great celebration of “Tishtryá;” the brightest star associated with rain in the Zoroastrian calendar. Also, on July the 3rd, the “maid-yö-sham” or “mid-summer” thanksgiving festival is celebrated in the seasonal Zoroastrian calendar.

In the Mazdean/Zoroastrian reckoning; the 4th month of the year (first month of summer,) and the 13 day of each month is dedicated to “Tishtryá,” the brightest star in the sky, the forerunner of rain, abundance and plenty.

The occasion is a happy festival, celebrated outdoors by a stream, waterfall, river or lake; and is marked by sprinkling each other with water. Another feature of this festival is wearing of a colorful bracelet/ribbon made out of seven threads for almost 2 weeks.

But what is exactly “Tishtryá???” Many of the reverences in the Zoroastrian prayers in the Yasna and Yashts are made to cosmological energies of the various constellations. And the most brilliant and auspicious of those in firmament is “Tishtryá.” The eighth hymn in the Yashts of the Avesta are dedicated to Tishtryá. Plutrach identifies it with SIRIUS. However, Avestan Tishtryá seem to be the same as the Vedic Tishyá and ancient Norse Tyr.

It should be added that Avestan Astronomy/Astrology is very similar to the Rig Veda. Vedic Tishyá appears in the 5th and 10th book of the Rig Veda in the following passages RV Book 5.54.13 and Book 10.64.8. Just as the Avestan Tishtryá is the most brilliant and the luckiest of all stars/constellations, so is the Vedic Tishyá considered to be the most auspicious of the twenty seven constellations. Just as Tishtryá according to verse 44 of the hymn dedicated to him is the most learned counsel of the stars; so is Tishyá associated with “Brahaspati,” the High Scholar/Priest of the Gods.

Tishyá is the Celestial Archer in the Rig Veda. The symbolic link with the astral theme of the heavenly “arrow” is strongly present in Avestan, Vedic and Nordic accounts, particularly with respect to the most brilliant star in firmament, which in Vedic India was shot by the archers Tishyá or Rudra, but which in Ancient Iran corresponds to Tishtryá himself. In fact, according to Avestan Ysht. 8.6-7 and 37-38, Tishtryá flies in the sky as the arrow shot by the most valiant archer of the Aryans, the hero erekhsh or iranian árash.

It is worthwhile to add that in later times Tishtryá was called Tir or arrow in farsi. The farsi Tir meaning arrow, is derived from Old Iranian Tigrá, but a close connection nevertheless exists between Tishtryá and celestial arrow.

This close connection could be structurally and functionally compared with that of Vedic Indra Vṛtrahā´n; the parallel passages in Avestan Tishtar Yasht 8.56-61 and Avestan Vahrám Yasht 14.48-53 have been discussed in this Indo-Iranian framework by Benveniste.

In Norse Mythology “Tyr” is related to the north star around which the fixed stars in the night sky appear to rotate. Ancient viking seamen used Polaris/Tyr as their main navigational aid in their long journeys, and the symbol as an arrow pointing upward is perhaps made in reference to this. It might be interesting to add that the Avestan Tishtryā according to the “shāyest na shāyest” 22.3, is also the protector of travelers (Kotwal, 1969, p. 91).

Tyr symbolizes the celestial compass. The belief that courage and a right cause carries the day is governed by divine Tyr. Tyr is all about the common justice of the people rather than the use of law by tyrants (a word that uses Tyr as a root.) The same exact parallel is found in the Avestan hymn to Tishtryá, concerning the most valiant archer of the Aryans, the hero “erekhsh” or iranain árash whose tale is all about the common justice of the people rather than the law of the tyrants.

An insight we can draw from Tishtryá or Tyr is that we must target our energies for the benefit/justice of the common people and the fertility of the land.

The other great insight we can draw from stanzas 13-34 of the Avestan hymn to Tishtryá, where Tishtryá’s battles Duž.yāiryā/difficult year and Ap.aósh/drought or literally the ruin/demise of the waters; and stanza 8 in which the divine star combats the “stárö keremá,” the worm stars or shooting galactic showers is: that all life-possibilities are indicated like a hieroglyph in the graph of the stars. But, the stars and constellations are only INDICATORS. There is a higher power of spiritual energy, of Consciousness and Will which can override the material fate of which the stars are indicators of several possibilities.

Ardeshir

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To make true/realize wonder & beauty; ashá/artá, Vedic ŗtá

Posted on June 28, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

“ashá” is a fascinating concept in Zarathushtra’s teachings, and is the most repeated in the enchanting Gathas or the poetic songs of the seer/prophet. Yasna 27.14 or “ashem vohü” manthra is dedicated to ashá, and is the second most effective manthra in the enchanting songs. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the true meaning of ashá according to the poetic gathas, the ancient exegesis, and a comparative study of ashá in the vedic and norse literature.

ashá, is the second of “ameshá/amertá spentá” or auspicious immortals, hence one of the eternal spiritual aspects, emanations or creations of ahura mazda through which all other creation is realized.

ashá comes from the root ah/as, Proto Indo European “es,” meaning: essence, underlying principle, truth, the inward intention, origin, source. Greek “ousia” is a cognate. The ancient commentaries translate ashá/artá as “rásti ahurmazd” meaning the truth of ahurmazd, or the divine essence. As i said in my earlier articles, ashá and ahurá come from the same root, and the ancient commentaries translate ashá also as ahuric virtues, ahuric efficacy, ahuric skill, ahuric excellence, ahuric ability to make true or “ahráyih.”

In Avestan the sound “sh” is interchangeable with the sound “rt.”  Thus, ashá is also interchangeably pronounced as artá.  ashá/artá is very closely connected to the idea of ease, flow, skill, creativity in workmanship. It should be added that the ancient exegesis always adds the words “kar o kar-op,” or creativity, opus, master-work as a footnote to ashá, ahráyih or ahuric essence/virtues.

ashá/artá ‘close connection to “ease in producing the intended effect,” is demonstrated in many passages in the enchanting Gathas including; second line of Yasna 27.14 and second line of Yasna 51.8. The word ushtá, meaning “fulfillment of wish/desire,” “radiant happiness,” an epithet of ashá, is fundamental to both demonstrating this connection and understanding the concept of ashá.

The Vedic equivalent ŗtá in the Rig Veda also means: truth, true essence and skill in workmanship, and is closely associated with rhythm, verse and the cosmic order.
It might be additionally illuminating to compare the inherent idea of divine virtue/skill/ease inherent in the idea of ashá/artá with the Proto Indo European ar-ti (Skt. rtih “manner, mode;” Gk. artios “accomplish,complete;” Armenian arnam “make;” Ger. art “manner, mode”), from the base ar- “fit together, join”

The Norse Urðr is also very close. Urdor is not “fate”[as believed by many. It is rather a continuous FLOW of happenings, actions, abilities and powers that SHAPE and CREATE future and the fabric of reality. Urðr is a a conceptual mystery and refers to how the intentions and activities, are capable of weaving reality. The word seem to carry the inherent idea in ashá/artá  in the sense of “to make true” and “to bring to realization. It comes in the same sense in the second line of Yasna 30.9, when it refers to ashá/artá in bringing about the continuous renovation of the existence.

According to Denkard 3.13-14, vöhü manö/consciousness is active in good thoughts, seraosha/inspiration in good words, and ashá/artá in good deeds. Ashá is thus “represented as active and effective. In addition, by a word play and referring to the first line of Yasna 33.1 and the first line of Yasna 28.11, Denkard exegesis calls ashá,  the discerning eye/áish of life/existence.

The idea of ease and skill to realize and make true, seems to be the underlying principle of ashá. ashá is closely connected to, but is NOT the cosmic order. it is instead the creative and ingenious principle behind the cosmic order and the ethical rules of the humanity. ashá is the flame and spark of the existence, an animating and creative principle of infinite intelligence.

It is important to remember that time and space are relative. At a given moment, in a certain circumstance, there are impossibilities. But from the eternal point, the point beyond time and space, in the infinity of time, NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE, and the existence is an amazing field of magical and awesome possibilities. There is nothing impossible in the existence except what is outside manö/consciousness/bewusstsein. What is not in our consciousness today, may be in our consciousness after some time for the consciousness can grow and become ever wider/vöhü manö. And this potential possibility of infinite wonder, beauty and awe/vohü is the truth of ahurmazd or “ashem vohü.” This wondrous and truly magical essence is at the core of the existence.

According to the third line of “ashem vohü” manthra, the truth/ashá of our being is related to, but different from all others, it is truly unique. But in the truth of our being, according to our own formation, our growth/progress is unlimited. It is LIMITED only by our IGNORANCE of the true ahuric essence of the existence.

Ardeshir

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What is truth/asha and the meaning of “ashem vohü” manthra???

Posted on June 28, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

If a child tells you a beautiful dream, a wonderful story in which he/she has many wonderful powers and all things are amazing. If you tell him that life ought to be just like that, and it will be like that one day, you just told him about “asha/truth.”

When you have these aspirations/desires NOT to be limited by some incapacity, and enthusiastically wish for a world where all the ordinary restrictions, will be done away with and you can put enough will-power and intensity into your aspirations, you just invoked “asha.”

When in your dreams there is goodness without limit, beauty without ugliness, and a conscious, constant, success, a perpetual miracle and magic, that is “asha”.
When your body feels its miseries, its limitations, and you can still establish that luminous dream in it, of awesome powers, of marvellous possibilities, you just recited the “ashem vohü manthra.”

When You feel depressed and then suddenly a strong feeling comes upon u, and tells u well; at present things might look not so great and at times even ugly, but behind this there is a magical beauty that is trying to realize itself, that magic is “asha.”

“asha” is all those wonderful possibilities that WILL manifest in light and joy, “asha” is the  awesome, and beautiful truth of ahurmazd, asha is the true possibilities which the mundane world calls fantasy. “asha” is what you should adore and draw to yourself and make it the object of your ambitions and aspirations.

“asha” is ahuric virtues, asha is the divine in us. and its invocation and its melody is the “ashem vohü” formula.

Ardeshir

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Armaiti, the Perfect Contemplation, the Genius of Earth

Posted on June 28, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

The declaration of faith for the Zoroastrians is contained in Yasna 12. There are 72 Yasnas or adorations and they constitute the holiest part of the “Avesta” or the book of unknown wisdom.We read in Yasna 12.2; “We have intelligently chosen the “Spenta Armaiti” for ourselves, may she be ours.”

This verse is a repetition of a line from a verse in the “Gathas” or the enchanting charms of the ancient sage Zarathushtra. We read in the Gathas concerning Armaiti, that the Supreme Godhead has made her/Armaiti all seeing and gifted her with all the foresight and vision concerning the conclusion of things. According to the enchanting songs, Armaiti has been endowed with all the vision and manifesting power of the divine force.
But what is armaiti??? It is one of the divine intelligences and part of the self/being of the Supreme Godhead, Ahura Mazda. Armaiti is one of the virtues and attributes of God and among the highest archangels and spiritual/mental energies. Ar-maiti means “perfect contemplation” (bundak manishni) and is related to the modern persian “aramesh.” She is the feminine aspect of the Force, a divine concept of blissful peace and creative calm.
“Spenta Ar-maiti,” Auspicious or blissful Ar-maiti is the perfect silence of contemplation which widens to the highest consciousness. According to Yasna 21.2, Ar-maiti is the first whom in her perfect peace and silence, the resplendent glory of the divine rays are manifested. She is the Supreme Peace, All- Mastery upon earth with perfect manifestation as her crowning.
See, most of us live projected lives, on the surface of our beings, we are cut in the vibrations of the forces which move in the outside world. When we meet unpleasant vibrations we become similarly upset and agitated and thus support such negative energies by our reciprocation.
The wisdom of Ar-maiti is to step back. It is about never deciding a thing, or saying a word, or throwing ourselves into action without stepping back and finding our inner power, balance, peace. We can not find an answer to any problem before being peaceful and calming our mind. I can not recall exactly, but while back, i was reading about a great chemist who found the formula and solution to his problem while he was sleeping, when his thoughts were clam. Only when the mind is still, like clear, motionless and pristine waters, and in perfect purity and peace of contemplation we can find answers and right solutions. In Ar-maiti originates all activities and becomings(Yasna 44.10 & Yasna 47.2,) and from her silence, all wise words are born (Yasna 47.6.) In the Zoroastrian tradition the “ham-kars” or co-workers of Ar-maiti are: waters, vision, spiritual riches and effective words or manthras.
It is important to mention that Ar-maiti is NOT about being inert and passive and doing nothing, quiet to the contrary. According to Yasna 47.1, she/armaiti is an immense force, an ahuric or boundless, positive energy. She is the calm power of perfect contemplation to face the adverse waves and negative energies that rush from the outside environment to disturb our balance and inner-might. Perfect concentration/calm is a great sign of force and belongs to the strong. It is only the weak that are agitated and are cut in the vicious cycle of negative vibrations.
In the Zoroastrian religion, Armaiti besides being the spiritual energy (minoo) behind perfect concentration and calm, is also the genius of earth. But how is her connection with the earth can be explained??? See, multitudes can be saved from catastrophes by one single person keeping calm and centered. But this calm can not be somewhere very high and leave our physical presence to its usual reaction. If we say: “Let God will be done” while our physical being shivers with fear, agitation and all sort of negative energies, we will perish all the same. The thing is to keep the calm in the very cells of our earthly body and be full of the divine peace right here in the physical plane. In that case, we can not only ward off the negative vibrations of mortal men, but can very well affect and influence beasts and natural elements. The thing is we live in world of energies and vibrations, and energies are contagious and affect their surrounding according to their very disposition. I was reading the fascinating account of this great indian sage of the 20th century. Apparently there was a great storm one night, and when they found the sage, he was sitting calmly in his study, writing a book. His immediate surroundings, his study /room was not at all affected by all the rain and and ferocious wind since he has created a very powerful calm that affected and influenced his surrounding energies.
I like to conclude this by a passage from the holy dinkard, 4th Book.26:
The Creator Ahura Mazda for the maintenance of His Force gave being to the increase-giving, auspicious Spenta armaiti of perfect contemplation, the fifth among his inner-selves. This is the begetting power(Yasna 45.4) for creating spiritual and earthly creation in the worlds. Through Spenta armaiti is the strength of the earthly body, the sense of feeling, courage and every kind of foresight(Yasna 48.5). Man aspires God and possesses His glory on account of the presence in him of thought, word, and deed which makes him perfectly calm and contemplative. For in peaceful men is the lodgment of the Yazatas(adorable beings/angels) for the complete recompense of virtue; and the presence of the Yazatas(adorable beings/angels) vanishes from among mortals on account of their connection with agitation. Moreover in men is the relation of exalting foresight and five other substances (life, soul, intellect, conscience, and guarding spirit/Yasna 26 and Yasna 23) whose names are mentioned in religion.
ardeshir

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Zarathushtra, a rishi, a prophet/seer, a traveler

Posted on June 28, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

Zarathushtra calls himself in the poetic gathas, in the second line of  Yasna 31.5, an “ereshish.” The Avestan “ereshish” is the same as Sanskrit “rishi” and O.E. arisan/risan, O.S. arisan, Goth. urreisan, P.Gmc. us-risanan, O.N. risa; Ger. reisen “to travel,” originally “to rise for a journey.  “ereshish” comes from a root which means “to rise/raise, ascend, excel.”

The ancient rishis were the seers of the manthras, the forefathers/ancestors of the aryan people. Among ancient indo-europeans the universe is a melody, a music, a song. The divine brings forth the existence through the sound of manthras, charms or enchanting melodies. The divine consults the mind/spirt of the manthra, and by uttering its words brings forth the phenomenal world. Hence the phenomena of the world consists of vibrations at various frequencies and amplitudes.

The power of the prophet/rishi derives from his/her special status as an ELEVATED MIND/SPIRIT who has EXCELLED in the original knowledge and wisdom by means of which the creation itself was brought forth.

Through his/her “rise in consciousness,” the “rishi” gains access to the mysteries of creation and the phenomenal world. This is a process occuring within the depths of the individual seer’s consciousness. The importance is given above all to the status of the rishi himself as a “being of highly developed consciousness” capable of fathoming the deepest levels of reality where the manthras/divine melodies abide.

Hence “prophecy” is an active “journey/travel” in which knowledge and wisdom are acquired. Zarathushtra is an “ereshish/rishi,” the emphasis is on the INITIATIVE of he himself  who has “ASCENDED” to the realm of the divine and EXCELLED in melodious knowledge and enchanting wisdom that brought forth each new cycle of creation.
Here the Prophet does not assume the role of a passive recipient. Rather, the prophet/seer is actively seeking to “cognize” by taking his awareness to the higher abodes of spiritual wisdom.

It is a travel, a journey, an ASCENSION to ever higher peaks of consciousness/mind/spirit. Zarathushtra initiates the discovery by establishing his awareness in the “heart,” (second line of Yasna 31.12.,) in the innermost depths of his consciousness, which is the abode of GD. Having opened his awareness to the luminous regions, the seer invokes superb wisdom to promote his vision and  understanding.

Zarathushtra ASCENDES to the Transcendent and calls upon GD to aid him in his cognition. Zarathushtra is seeing with the mind’s eye, with the eye of spirit; the essence of reality/the most luminous regions of consciousness, the fundamental rhythms at the basis of all creation and the origins of all things.

Although the visual aspects of his experiences as a seer are emphasized, the oral-aural dimensions are given distinct priority, for that which the prophet saw and heard was preserved orally through divine speech and not through the visual medium of writing.

The prophet is the knower of the manthras, as well as the vehicle through which the manthras find poetic expression. His primary role is not only to preserve the accuracy of the divine melody and the oral explanations of its higher meanings, but to EXCEL in discovering the new frontiers of consciousness, wisdom and knowledge.

ardeshir

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The enchanting doctrine of the Auspicious Immortals

Posted on June 28, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

Ameshá Speñtá is a beautiful gathic concept of profound importance. It refers to the eternal spirits of ahurmazd or aspects of his wit/profound understanding/mind/spirit. The term appears in the poetic Gathas as “Mazdá and his power supremes or ahurás/plural,” (See Yasna 30.9, second line and Yasna 31.4, first line.) They see the mind/spirit of Mazdá each time reflected anew, and learn/discover yet more of his wisdom and vision. Each time, they discover a brilliant thought and a new vision of Mazdá, they begin a new theme like and yet unlike to the former creation theme, and create new beauty, awe, and wonder in being and time. Mazdá shows them a new vision each time, and they unfold a new reality/world based on this newly discovered vision/wisdom. As it is written in the prelude to the poetic gathas or the “yánim manö” formula, the Ameshá Speñtá took forth the enchanting melody, and held them forth or manifested it in the world. Their role is make the existence brilliant, ever afresh and new.

Ameshá or Amertá means immortality, eternity, forever. Ameshá or Amertá refers to the indestructible, ever-thriving and eternal charm, magnetism and fascinating powers of Ahurmazd, (See Yasna 28.3, second line.) Speñtá on the other hand means auspicious, successful, and having great powers of achievement and realization. It comes from the same exact root as the Vedic Shivá. These Immortals flow from the ever-renewed energy and brilliance of Ahurmazd, (See Yasna 33.8, third line.)

They are the great beings of light and vision. They are the wondrous shapes/vafüsh of God, (See Yasna 29.6, first line.) They are the glorious formations of the spiritual light/knowledge that emanate from the thoughts/vision of Ahurmazd, (See Yasna 31.7, first line and Farvardin Yasht. 81.) Also we read in Mēnōg ī Khirad 8.2 that they are formed from Mazda’s own light (az hān ī khwēš rōshnīh), while in the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg 3.3-7 their illumination is compared to the lighting of a torch from a torch. They have been kindled with the flame imperishable, See Yasna 46.7, the third line. and their adoration themes is to make being and time brilliant and ever new. They were with Ahurmazd’s thought/vision before anything else was made, hence they are called “a-paourvîm,” (See Yasna 28.3, the first line.) The term “a-paourvîm” is the same as vedic “apaurashaya,” a word which reveals their eternal and ever pristine status. Their number has been cited as 7 (eternity, infinity) and 33 (infinite wisdom.) Yet the best description is in Vispered 8.1, where we read that their number is 50, 100, 1000, 10,000, yet beyond reckoning.

They are masters of their own will, and are of the same passion, will/desire and harmony with Mazdá and each other, (See, Yasna 51.20, the first line.) We read in Yasna 45.4 and Bundahišn 1.44 that Ahurmazd gave them being from his own selfhood, through perfect contemplation. The idea is repeated also in denkard exegesis and also in the bundahishn, (az hān ī khwēš khwadīh.) In other words, they are luminous aspects of God’s own nature.

They are like a new light/vision each time, filling the world with a new wonder and joy, (See Yasna 30, the third line,) For the delight of Mazdá is in the deed of making, and in the things most amazingly made, wherefore he passes ever on to some new brilliant work. So, they are the world’s life, eternal progress and every new discovery is theirs. Thus was the habitation of the ahurás or immortals established in eternity and infinite vastness of Vohümanö or wonderful wit/vision of GOD, See Yasna 39.3.

This beautiful doctrine has also a physical dimension, in that each of the immortals is linked with one of the “creations” (Middle Persian. dahišnān), which the ancient Iranian thinkers held made up the world. These links are systematically listed in the Zand and later middle Persian texts, and each of them is subtly mentioned in the poetic Gāthās, where Zoroaster sometimes names the creation in order to represent the divinity, and vice versa. The first to realize this, among Western scholars, was H. Lommel; the grandson of the great philosopher Hegel. The doctrine of the auspicious immortals thus links spiritual, ethical, and material in a manner, unique to to Zoroastrianism. As Lommel puts it; the doctrine represents an ancient, mystical way of looking at reality, at a time when, it seems, “abstract and concrete . . . appeared to the human spirit as of unified being, the abstract as the inner reality of the concrete, so that, for instance, perfect contemplation/serenity and the earth were the spiritual and material aspects of the same thing” (B. Schlerath, ed., Zarathustra, pp. 31-32). The link between the creations and the spiritual immortals is reaffirmed in the 5 daily acts of worship everyday, so to say that they are mere abstracts is ignoring the fact, that real/true knowledge is alive, knows and affects.

ardeshir

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Fravashis, Divine Speech, Novel Ideas and Progress/Growth

Posted on June 26, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

The first month of the Zoroastrian calendar is named after the “fravashis,” and April 8th is the feast of the “fravashis in the Zoroastrian calendar. The beautiful concept of “Fravashi” is truly unique to Zoroastrianism, and has its roots first and foremost in the poetic gathas of Zarathushtra himself. Our other important sources to understand this profound concept are Yasna 23 and 26, and the hymn to fravashis, in the Yasht or individual adoration collections. The modern Persian “fereshte” or “Angel” is a derivative of fravashi.

The word Fravashi consists of 2 parts; fra+ vashi. “Fra” simply means first, earliest, foremost. The second part “vashi,” is derived from “vac,” word, voice, speech, expression; and by a beautiful word play, it is also connected to “vakhsh,” to increase, grow, augment. O.E. weaxan, ” P.Gmc.*wakhsan, O.H.G. wahsan, O.N. vaxa, O.Fris. waxa, Ger. wachsen, Goth. wahsjan “to grow, increase”, Skt. vaksayati “cause to grow,” Gk. auxein “to increase.”

The concept of words/powerful utterances/divine speech causing growth is also demonstrated in Yasna 10.5, or the blessing of the wine/the divine nectar hymn, where we say twice: “varedha-y-anguha mana vaca …..fra-vâkhshê.” Grow/varedha through my words… varedha means grow, grow green. Verdure comes from the same root and it is also cognate with Lith. “veisti” propagate, expand O.N. visir “bud, sprout, stalk.”

Also “vashi” through poetic word play is connected to “vash/var,” wish/will power/aspiration. The origin of the the idea can be found in the poetic gathas of the prophet, where in the second line of Yasna 44.6 and the first lines of Yasna 45, 1-6; we encounter “fra-vakhshyá,” first speech, expressing desire/wish/will power, causing growth and increase.

In short, fravashi is a mode of divine expression that has taken individual shape in creation and/or manifestation, it is a spark of boundless will-power/energy where everything moves in it from light to light, and from progress and growth to progress and growth. The hostile/negative forces cannot have even the remotest action upon it.

Fravashi is that which is divine/limitless in us, the novel ideas/aspirations within us, the luminous part in us, that which persists after death, because it is our eternal self; it is the dynamic, infinite possibilities at play. Now, if there is a receptivity and openness to its wish/will /expression, it will change not only the inner life but the physical expressions in man and nature also.

Fravashi is about a world of novel ideas, and if we can in silence of our spirit/mind rise into this realm from which ideas descend to take form, at once the real understanding comes.

ardeshir

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Sraóshá, Inspiration, Intuitive Feelings and Divine Poetry

Posted on June 26, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

To us Zoroastrians Sraóshá or the “angel of inspiration” is very dear. Sraóshá comes from the root “sru;” to hear O.E. hyran, O.Fris. hora, Du. horen, Ger. hören, to hear, listen, to notice, feel.

The vedas or the books of wisdom, the sacred writings of the hindus are called “Shruti” in Sanskrit; for they were only HEARD, REVEALED by INTUITION. Also in the vedas, “Sarasvati” is the goddess of intuitive knowledge, music, melodies and the arts.

But what is the significance of Sraóshá in Zoroastrianism and why is it held so dear to every Zoroastrian heart, why do we recite Yasna 55 or the hymn to Sraóshá at night before going to bed???? and why do we recite “srösh váj” voice of sraóshá at dawn????

Behind the emotions, deep within our being, there is a sort of prescience or “sraóshá,” a kind of capacity for foresight, in the form of feelings, almost a perception of sensations. For instance, when one is going to decide to do something, there is sometimes a kind of uneasiness or inner refusal, and usually, if one LISTENS to this deeper indication, one realizes that it was justified. Sraóshá is intuition/intuitive understanding or higher instinct that urges, indicates, insists. In the ordinary functioning of the brain, inspiration is something which suddenly falls like a drop of light, absolutely independent of all everyday reasoning.

Sraóshá comes from an unknown region of consciousness and expresses herself as a bright aura or whisper/melody. if one can receive this INTUITIVE VOICE without entering immediately into a whirl of activity, in calm and silence and let it penetrate/dissolve deep into the being, then after a while it expresses herself either as a luminous thought or as a very precise indication in the heart.

As we read in Yasna 55.22 Sraóshá by whose might and victorious power, intuitive knowledge and wisdom, the Auspicious Immortals descend upon this earth of seven quarters, Sraóshá who is the instructor/disö of revelation and vision. “yö daänö disö daänayái”

Sraóshá or power of inspiration has the power of revelation, and the power of truth-hearing. it has the power of immediately seizing the significance. Her pure power can assume all the functions of logical intelligence and impart to it these deeper heart and life perceptions, for it brings its own greater melodious movement into the feelings and emotions, the life impulses, the action of sense and sensation, the very workings of the body-mind-consciousness; it recasts it all in the light and power of ashá/truth and illumines true, intuitive knowledge. As we read in Yasna 55.19: “Sraóshá of the gracious words, of the warning and the guarding words, who intones our hymns on every side, who possesses understanding and of every brilliant form, which abounds in many an explanation and revelation of the word, who has the first place in the Manthra.”
Prophet Zarathushtra apprehended with both eyes and ears the subtle reverberations of divine speech arising in the silent depths of his consciousness as SOUND FORMS embodied in light.

Through his cognition of the manthras and gathas/chants that are held to be the fundamental rhythms/melodies at the basis of all creation; Zarathushtra through sraóshá attained true knowledge. Hence Zoroastrian tradition, has always in the end given priority to the oral/inspirational dimensions of the prophet’s message, for the poetic gathas were preserved through holy speech.

As we read in Yasna 55.7: Sraóshá, who first sang (sráva) the enchanting Gathas, the five Gathas of Zarathushtra, the Spitama, the wise and holy, with their metres, and after the well-constructed order of their words, together with their gnosis (zaiñtí,) and the questions which they utter, and the answers which they give, for the Auspicious Immortals,…….

The poetic Gathas could not have had so undying vitality, exercised so unfailing influence, produced such profound results or seen their reaffirmations in other spheres of inquiry, if they had been speculations to logicise truth. They are inspirational poetry seen with the eye of the Infinite. Not a mere limited thinking but a seeing of truth with the SPIRIT and a total living in it with the power of the inner being, a spiritual seizing by a kind of identification with the object of knowledge through sraóshá and inspiration.

ardeshir

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Daäná, spiritual insight, din and religion

Posted on June 26, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

In the poetic gathas and avesta the sacred writings of the zoroastrians ; we encounter the concept of “daäná,” a term that has been translated as “religion” in most translations. “daäná” is related to Lithuanian “diena;” O.C.S. “dini,” Polish. “dzien,” Russian “den;” literally “to shine; to see, to see through.”

In ancient times it was believed that the eyes emitted a beam of light. This light would allow one to SEE and perceive of anything that it could reach.

“daäná” in the poetic gathas is the shining light of sight, sight with the eyes of the mind/spirit, spiritual vision, she is penetrating understanding into character or hidden nature of things. “daäná”is seeing the essence of things, seeing the eternal, the timeless and not the shifting phenomena, nothing can escape the shining vision of “daäná.”

“daäná” is not just seeing, but it is seeing in bright light, she is the ability to understand a vision. she is seeing with the eye of the spirit/insight.

Hence, “daäná’s” connection to sanskrit “dhyai,” to reflect, to see with the eye of mind/spirit, to contemplate, also, “dhyana”meditation, contemplation, reflection. It should be noted that the Buddhist Japanese word “Zen” comes from the same sanskrit root.

The Zoroastrian faith or the Mazdyasni religion is called a “daäná,” for it is a divine VISION facing the spirit eternal, a source and inspirer of all things beautiful, luminous and divine.

Also,”Odin” in Norse mythology, means one who inspires, spiritually arouses. “Odin” the chief of the gods gives “a divine vision through insight.”

This divine vision through insight or daäná, is the bridge between man and God, the crossing beyond the limits of the human reasoning into the regions of a vaster transcending understanding. It is the light and vision of daäná that touches the human world with the truth of spirit The source of human faith in progress and perfection lies in the luminous daäná.

daäná is an insight into a world of pure mind/spirit where knowledge is the leader and vision the substance, where emotions respond readily to the call of truth where form is a self-shaping of the creative ray, will, a conscious vehicle of God.

daäná is the creative gaze of ahúrá. For the universe is no accident in Time. The cosmos is guided and led by an insight, by a truth-wisdom. The seed of creation sprouts from the Being of the Timeless and is shaped into birth and growth by a luminous, beautiful vision or what we call in Mazdyasna; daäná. daäná is the creative gaze of God, insight in man, and a truth-wisdom and/or luminous vision in cosmos or creation.

The avestan “daäná,” was later borrowed into hebrew and aramaic and from there into arabic and became “din”; judgment or originally discernment.

But what needs to be emphasized, is that daäná in its pristine purity in the poetic gathas; is seeing with the eye of the spirit or a luminous,spiritual vision. she is not the fixity of the limited human mind clinging to one formula as an exclusive truth.

Hence, in Zoroastrianism we are admonished to believe in the spiritual truth and vision of all wisdom teachings and religions (first line of Yasna 32.16.) As we pray in our afternoon prayers and recite this formula “aparem cha tkaäshem yaza.mai.dä” we praise the wise teachings that came thereafter.

let us heed the poetic gathas and enter and adore an age of spirituality, of spiritual insight and vision in its pristine purity and luminous brilliance.

ardeshir

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The Buddhist, Vedantic and Zoroastrian Conceptions of the World

Posted on June 26, 2010 by orthodoxzoroastrian

1. In Buddhism the world is an illusion, a field of suffering due to ignorance. The one and right thing to do is to to get out of this delusion as soon as possible and to dissolve into the original ineffable world, beyond existence and non-existence, beyond manifestation and non manifestation.

2. The Vedantic or the world view of the mystical commentaries of the vedas, known also as Upanishads; is that the world is essentially divine/progressive, for the divine, light, and joy is omnipresent in the world.

But according to vedanta the exterior expression of the universe has become distorted, ignorant, perverted and obscure. The right thing to do is to become conscious of the inner Divine, the inner knowledge, the inner beauty, harmony and greatness and remain fixed in that inner knowledge and beauty, consciousness and bliss without troubling about the world of phenomenas.

For this external world of appearances CAN NOT change and will always be in its natural state of unconsciousness and distortion.

3. The Zoroastrian or the Mazdyasni view is that the world as it is, is not the divine manifestation it was meant to be, but an obscure and faint expression of it.

But the world/universe is meant to and will BECOME an expression of light, knowledge, joy, progress, and all the new and unknown splendors and wonders that HAVE TO BE REALIZED. The universe has been created to DEVELOP into a perfect manifestation of superb knowledge, spiritual light and all forms and aspects of what is divine and awesome.

According to Yasna 29.6 and the ancient exegesis of the same, there is one true task for which we are born; to change the earthly life into life divine and realize all the new and unknown horizons and marvels that have to be discovered.

All that the spirit has dreamed, we can create. We are the force by which God made the world. In us is the vision, will and voice of the GODHEAD. For we can hear the divine voice in the melodious chants of our deepest aspirations/desires, capable of seeing through the mask of the secret Spirit in things, feeling the stir of the growing Godhead (Yasna 33.12,) and realizing the wonderful vision.

Humanity must rise upon a ladder of great worlds to infinity, ascend into the timeless SELF and discover the truth of GOD, WORLD and MAN, and stamp his will on time and space.

Per the three powerful, beginning words of Yasna 27.13; CHOOSE SPIRIT, “The spirit shall look out through Matter’s gaze and Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face.” For God has yoked us to his incredible power of work in Time (Yasna 49.9.) We shall raise the earth soul to LIGHT and bring down awesome divine to the lives of mortal man (second line of Yasna 29.3 per varshtmansar commentary.)

Spirit gazes (daäná) upon destiny, Over the wide expanses of the universe broods infinite new horizons and triumphant cries of awesome, new discoveries.

ardeshir

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