THE
MESSAGE OF ZARATHUSHTRA
Part 3
RELATIVES FIRST
Zarathushtra was restless again. He returned home. He
had his answers, but he had to get them to the people. He did not know how to begin.
He prayed for a way and he was inspired. He then knew how to begin.
He called his relatives and explained to them the new doctrine of
worshiping Mazda, the only God. He
expounded the divine faculties of Vohu Manah, "good
mind" that provided sound thinking and fine judgment; Seraosha,
"inspiration," hearing the divine voice that established communion
with God; Asha, "precision and truth" that provided
guidance to do the right thing at the right time at the right place and with the
right means to obtain the right result - a perfect order in the world; the
establishment of Khshathra, a divine "order" by the honest and
true; �ramaiti, the "serenity" that followed the divine order;
the progress toward Haurvat�t, "wholeness", perfection that
followed serenity and tranquility; Ameret�t, the "immortality"
that is the result of perfection; and Spenta Mainyu, the divine
"progressive mind" that creates, maintains, and advances the entire
divine process. It was too new, too
unique to understand. All stared blank, except one person, his cousin Maidyoim�ha,
son of �r�sti. He is listed as
the foremost among those who "listened to the thought-provoking words and
teachings of Zarathushtra" Tradition
says that he was fifteen years older than Zarathushtra.
Bold Bid
Zarathushtra began addressing the people more frequently.
A few joined him.
But then a reaction started. The priests saw their profession in danger.
They attempted to persuade him away.
They promised rich rewards. They
failed, so they began opposing him. There
were not only the priests, the karapans, alone but they had with them
their superior allies and patrons, the poet princes, the kavis.
Bendav and Usig were two of the worst.
Both were, incidentally, Vedic poets, rshis, of the Indo-Aryan
lore. They opposed Zarathushtra
hard and harsh, but he maintained his peaceful position. The karapans and kavis
failed in their efforts, and Zarathushtra failed in promoting his mission.
The reason for the double failure lay in Zarathushtra's method.
The karapans and kavis failed because he kept so cool and calm in his
talks that they simply could not stir up a mob to harm him, yet this same method
did not stir up mobs in his support. He
disregarded the fanciful gods, but he never denounced any of them by name. For him they did not exist.
Why should he waste his energy exciting the public by attacking something
about which they were sensitive. He
had a better way.
Zarathushtra was a versatile poet with wit and humor.
The word for god, da�va, was derived from the root div, to
shine, and therefore meant "the shining."
With a slight twist, it could be derived from a homonym root, "to
deceive," and therefore mean the "deceit."
Karapan, from krp, to arrange rituals, meant the "officiating
priest." It also meant "mourner, mumbler," as a homonymous
word. Kavi was both a poet prince
and a pattering parrot. Bendav
meant a faithful friend as well as a serf.
Usig was "bright" and also "alight".
The drink Haoma was called duraosha, "repeler of death,"
and it could mean "the waster of wisdom."
These witty twists of meaning had their effect.
They exposed Zarathushtra's opponents.
They were irritating but they also aroused interest.
They ignited anger, but they also were amusing.
They did not provide his antagonists with the pretext to destroy him, but
they did give the people an idea of their inner selves.
Zarathushtra avoided controversy with his wit, but he had failed thus far
in spreading his discoveries because his ideas were so new, his doctrine so
fresh, that the people around him could not grasp them.
Later tradition says that a good ten years slipped by, and Zarathushtra
still had only a few relatives and a few friends who had chosen his way.
Nevertheless, his untiring preaching did not go unheeded among the
populace. They were mildly
sympathetic and not inimical, so the priest-prince coalition tried sterner
measures. They started preventing
the people, even Zarathushtra's own companions, from meeting him. That was more than he could tolerate.
Zarathushtra began thinking of his mission.
Why had his progress been so slow? Then
he realized that he had been talking to people of limited knowledge.
It had been useless to talk to people who were still not ready to
understand what he said. Limited
knowledge meant less understanding and more emotion.
He had lost many a good year. Concerned
that he would lose more, he wondered what he should do.
Again he put a question to God:
"To what land should I turn? Where should I turn to go? They hold me back from my folks and friends. Neither the community I follow pleases me, nor do the wrongful rulers of the land. How can I please you, Wise Lord? I know, Wise One, that I am powerless. I have a few cattle and a few men. Please, Lord, see to it."
Zarathushtra was inspired to approach Kavi Vishtaspa, the
Sage Sovereign of the most prosperous of the Iranian lands.
He had a court full of poet-philosophers.
The king was prudent and powerful. Should
Zarathushtra prevail upon the king's prudence, he would be a success.
If not, he could be doomed. It
was a very great risk, yet worth it.
Zarathushtra told his companions of his daring venture and assured them of divine help. Soon he and his companions, a small band of honest, goodhearted people, bade their town goodbye and set off to the Helmand delta in the south. His antagonists followed, continuing to harass him, yet nothing stopped him. First he met the powerful Turanian princes, the Frayanas, who listened to him, accepted his message, and became his allies. Then he reached the royal court.
At the royal court he had long, long discussions.
There were court intrigues against him, but he was undaunted and firm. It
took him two full years to convince Kavi Vishtaspa, Queen Hutaosa, and the court
sages. He had won the best support
he could ever have. The entire
court underwent a change. The
warrior king and his stalwart sons and brothers turned into peaceful but ardent
missionaries. Prominent among them
were two sage brothers of Hvogva family, Ferashaoshtra and Jamaspa, and later
Prince Spento-data whose name-Progressive Law-shows either that he was born
after his father accepted the Good Religion, or that his name was changed
because it related to an Aryan "daeva."
He appears to have become a missionary-at-large who forwent the crown he
was to wear after his father Vishtaspa.
A later tradition says that Zarathushtra marked his success
by founding the "N�mr�z" (meridian) observatory in the delta,
perhaps on the tiny island on the Hamun lake.
This Mount Ushidarena, House of Science, is mentioned several times in
the Avesta. It is known at present
by the name K�h-e Khv�jeh, Mount of Lord.
The site was, incidentally, ideal for the purpose.
It was indeed the "center" of the old civilized world.
It stood 61 degrees longitude and 31 degrees north latitude. One line cut Asia, Africa, and Europe, from the Pacific to
the Atlantic, in two, and other divided in half that part of the world that
enjoyed regular days and nights between the well-inhabited zones of 70 degrees
north and l0 degrees south. It was
a lush green place with clear skies. The
name "meridian" - Rapithwan in Avesta and Nemroz in
Pahlavi, as well as the "mid-earth" (vimaidhya zem)
given to it in the Avesta, makes sense and is in keeping with science.
Against this the later Ptolemaic transfer of the prime meridian to the
Canary Islands in the Atlantic could be interpreted as an illogical political
move during the troubled years of the Parthian and Roman wars in the second
century CE. The same holds true of
the very recent arbitrary transfer of the prime meridian to Greenwich during
British supremacy in l884. Tradition
also adds that the occasion was particularly favorable because Aries entered
vernal equinox around l725 BCE, thus providing a good clue for determining
various dates concerning the early stages of the Good Religion.
* * * * * *
Click:
Salient Points of the Good Religion (with Zarathushtra's Life Sketch)
Zarathushtra, A Unique Personality (Part 1) Zarathushtra, Early Life (Part 2)
Relatives First (Part 3) Consolidation (Part 4) The Gathas (Part 5)
God in the Gathas (Part 6) Divine Emanations (Part 7) Good and Evil (Part 8)
Death in the Gathas (Part 9) Rituals in the Gathas (Part 10)
Gahanbars
and the Gathas (Part 11) Religion
and Tradition (Part 12)