Part 5
THE
GATHAS
Zarathushtra passed
away but left us a legacy -- the GATHAS (g�th�s).
They are sublime prayers addressed to God, and yet they are the Laws of
Life, both at the same time. While
chanting the Gathas, one praises God and simultaneously comprehends the
principles of living with wisdom and truth on this earth, principles that
promote men and women equally to grow godlike and to be united with God.
They are a masterpiece of "love God, serve all." The Gathas entertain no myths, epics, tales, narratives,
parables, or history.
They do not belong to
the past, they issue no commandments for the present, and they make no
predictions about the future. They
have been contemporary for four thousand years.
They are timeless.
The Gathas, seventeen
Sublime Songs, are the very "Code of Life" -- both mental and
physical, spiritual and material-for all those who choose, of their free will,
"Good Conscience," the name Zarathushtra gave the religion he so
painstakingly and prudently founded and promoted. He called it Good Conscience because to him religion is
nothing but an individual's conscience awakened to the realities of life.
And when people share the same conscientiousness, they share the same
religion. "Conscience" (Gathic da�na) in plural means "religion." We shall survey the
Gathas to understand the teachings of Zarathushtra.
A Small Book
The Gathas! It is a
small book, a booklet of barely 60 pages of 4 .5X7.5 inches (11X18 cms). It has
241 stanzas in all, a total of less than 6,000 words, enough to read them all
within an hour. Its seventeen songs, strangely called "h�itis" meaning "sections" instead of
"songs", were composed by Ashavan Zarathushtra Spitama.
The size is perfect, a
guidebook size. Its size was calculated by Ashavan Zarathushtra himself. He
wanted to deliver an ever-fresh message. It had to be concise and precise. A
bulk of verbosity of "do's" and "don'ts" would not have
worked. He himself says that he has given us his message "in a poetic and
not an unpoetic" language, "so that it shall always stay with" us
(Song 9.17). A poetic piece is easily and correctly memorized and transmitted.
Chances of interpolation, especially if the poetry has a halo of high holiness
around it, grow very slim. This was an Aryan devise of preserving their heritage
at a time when there were no devices for writing and recording. The Gathas are
living only because of living memories, devout human tape-recorders. The unique
technique has preserved the very dialect spoken by Zarathushtra and his
companions for us. The size is perfect--concise, precise, invoking,
thought-provoking.
Its logical sequence
is: Ahuna Vairya, the emblematic
opening stanza of the Gathas, as the first, followed by the songs from one to
seventeen, and concluded by the benedictory Airyema Ishya. Ashem Vohu, a
third outstanding stanza, could have come at the very beginning as the
"motto" of righteousness, or, as was the case with Pahlavi writers, at
the very end as a sublime colophon. This makes the Gathas a coherent collection.
Each stanza is like a pearl in a cord of song, and each cord of song is a part
of a necklace of the "divan", complete poetic works.
This is what
Zarathushtra wanted to leave for his present and future companions-a
thought-provoking message. All other talks, sayings and statements said by him
in prose or even poetry on the daily life of four thousand years ago belonged to
his time and are naturally lost. What is left as an eternal message is his
coherent Gathas.
Preservation and
Transmission of the Gathas
The survival of the
Gathas to the present day is the outcome of a sad story which, nevertheless, has
a happy ending. By the time the Sassanian dynasty gained the Kayanian crown in
Persia in 1961 Zarathushtrian Religious Era (224 CE), the language of
Zarathushtra and companions had become an "unknown, mysterious"
language. The Gathas became incorporated in a group of writings now known as the
Avesta which became regarded as sacred scriptures in its own right. It was only
through translations, interpretations, and commentaries in the Pahlavi language
of the Sassanian days that the knowledge of the Avesta, including the Gathas,
could be gained.
The downfall of the
Sassanian Empire in 2367 Zarathushtrian Religious Era (630 CE) and the
subsequent eclipse of the Zarathushtrian Religion brought hard times down upon
the faithful. The collection of sacred writings was badly damaged and only
one-third of the Avesta, mostly consisting of its religious part, survived more
or less as a result of the catastrophe. Fortunately,
the Gathas survived intact through this extremely hard time because of the
valiant efforts of the priests who had thoroughly memorized them for their
liturgical ceremonies. The priests
did their best and one should be grateful to them for what they did under very
adverse conditions.
The key to what the
Gathas state was practically found by Western scholars who got interested in
"Oriental" studies in 18th century CE The recovery of the Gathas is
fairly recent. Most of what we know
about the Gathas has been, more or less, uncovered during the past one hundred
years. We owe much to the patient
Western scholars who gave it an impetus. The
slogan of "Back to the Gathas" by some reformist Zarathushtrians is
even more recent.
A Challenge to
Consider
The five Gathas in the
Avesta are the very divinely inspired words of Zarathushtra, the holiest of the
holies. Yasna 55 is a befitting lengthy praise in honor of the Gathas. It says
that they "are the Primal Principles of Life. ... They are, as Lord Wise
wishes, meant to maintain an ever-fresh and modern life. ... The Gathas are our
guardians and protectors. They are food for our minds, rather, food and clothing
for our souls." The statement
made by the composer of Yasna 55 is very challenging. He or she made it some
3500 years ago. But is it and can it be still true? Why not have a quick glimpse
through the Gathas?
The Gathas are
basically M��thras, literally "thought-provokers". This is the
reason why they are so concise and precise. They stimulate one's thinking
faculty and guide it on to the track to think precisely. They stir one to move
on a clear, straight road with a basic map in hand and a discerning vision in
mind.
The Gathas are prayers
to God and guidance for humanity. Every line, every stanza, and every song is
communion with God; and at the same time, they impart an eternally modern
message. They lead humanity, with all its modern science, to Ahura Mazda, God of
Subtle Wisdom. With the Gathas as the guide in thought, word, and deed, one may
devote one's life in practicing, teaching and preaching the divine doctrine.
Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds are the quintessence of the Gathas. Should
we keep in mind that the above points are not a designed selection from a
miscellany or an encyclopedia by numerous authors of different ages and
divergent schools, but from a booklet by a single composer, we will realize the
uniformity, universality, modernity, and the subtlety of the thought-provoking
message.
No Interference
The "Good
Religion" founded and forwarded by Zarathushtra Spitama is a
self-renovating religion, a religion that provides humankind of all times with
basic principles of life which guide one to perfection and eternity.
Such a religion simply cannot give directions regarding minute movements
of every day life and social norms which change with the passing time.
Zarathushtra's only
words, the Gathas of seventeen songs with opening and concluding stanzas are
more or less like a first class concise seventeen-page road map meant to guide
well a person from his or her starting point in life to his or her destination
in the life beyond. The map
provides the principle data of the roads that lead from one town to another town
and to the final destination. It is then left to the traveler to be an adult,
trained, educated, experienced, prepared, equipped, and adapting to traverse the
road wisely and safely. He or she
must use his or her discretion to drive, halt, drink, eat, rest, check the
vehicle, refill, and set out for the next stop, and all along enjoy the
progressing trip.
The Gathas are not a
voluminous unabridged dictionary or a twenty-four-volume encyclopedia to refer
and find the answers provided by authors other than the person referring to it.
Such dictionaries and encyclopedias need continuous updating or else the
information given by would be outdated. The
same holds for any religion which solely relies on its old traditions for an
answer to every question asked and does not budge an inch to move forward.
Zarathushtra does not
treat human beings as children who need to be guided in every move they make
feed, clean, wash, clothe, walk, talk, and train them, and also tell them again
and again "do this!" and many times more "No, no, don't do
this!" Zarathushtra treats human beings as adults, well trained by their
parents, who can "listen to the best and ponder with a bright mind, and
then each one, for his or herself, choose between the two", right or wrong.
He provides them with the Primal Principles of Life so that by choosing
the Right path realized by him is chosen.
He knew well that the passage of time means continued change.
Any directive in detail would soon be outdated.
So he left it to the "lords of wisdom", the scholars and
scientists of the day, to respond to the requirements of their time. It is these
experts and specialists who provide us with normal and abnormal phases of human
behavior, and how to promote, demote, correct, remove or cure them.
The Gathas never
indulge in details of what one must do and must not do in a society. The Gathas
do not interfere into the details of one's daily life. They do not make life cumbersome by breathing down one's
neck. They do not prescribe what to eat and what to reject, what to wear and
what to tear, what to build and what to wreck, when to work and when to retire,
when to celebrate and when to mourn, what is disease and what the cure, and what
observances for the dead and how to dispose the corpse... Had they done so, this
very act would have rendered the Gathas obsolete within a short period.
The divinely
enlightened Zarathushtra knew well that society and civilization do not remain
long unchanged. They are continuously changing with the passing time. Social
differences are evident from time to time and place to place.
Any instruction on daily life would grow old, or be out of place in
another location, and if it becomes a tradition to be adhered to, it would only
prove an obstruction in a changing and progressing world. That does not mean
that the Gathas advocate abandoning or discarding any good, logical and useful
tradition. In fact, they favor maintaining and promoting a rich and enriching
heritage (Song 9.2). What they disown is obsolete, retarding, useless, dumb,
unintelligible, and superstitious customs.
A universal message
cannot force the traditions of one society upon another's.
A universal message ought to be above regional and temporal differences.
And that is what the Gathas are. With the Gathas as the guide, one need not try,
generally in vain, to stop the clock and transfer a mode of living to another
land, only to maintain an outmoded, out-of-place practice.
With the Gathas as the guide, one need not cut, clip, patch, piece and
paste, or alter, change, transform, transmute and modify any custom just to
adapt to, what one may call, an alien environment. It is the Gathic society,
ever-fresh, ever-modern, ever-logical, ever-scientific, and ever-divine, which prevails. One does not need an adaptation with the Gathas as
the guide.
Bach to the Gathas?
Back to the Gathas?
Sounds an attractive slogan, but no! The Gathas are not the past to go
back to them. The Gathas are the guide and as such, they are the present and the
future. The slogan or motto, if any, should be: "Forward with the
Gathas!" What, therefore, is needed is neither revision nor modification
nor reformation, but restoration. We must resort to the Gathas, so far
unconsciously kept high above reach, in order to restore ourselves to the Good
Conscience, the true Zarathushtrian religion. The restoration of pure and
pristine Gathic principles of life in every wake of life-both mental and
physical-would automatically mean modernization, rather a continuous modernizing
process. It shall keep us always abreast of time, abreast with a foresight.
Let us, therefore, read
later the Gathas themselves to fully comprehend and realize that we have the
true guidelines for an up-to-date mental and physical, spiritual and material
life on this good earth and beyond. "May we learn, understand, comprehend,
practice, teach, and preach" the inspiring message of the divinely inspired
M��thran, the thought-provoking Teacher, because according to Yasna 55, the
Gathas, Our Guide are "the Primal Principles of Life ... (and) we wish to
maintain our lives fresh as is the will (of God Wise)."
We will, in the
following parts of THE MESSAGE OF ZARATHUSHTRA, see what the Gathas state
about God, God's creation, Primal Principles of Life, Freedom of Choice, human
society, rituals and many other points to lead a healthy, happy, rich,
progressive spiritual and physical life on this good earth and the life beyond.
SOURCE: (1) The Divine
Songs of Zarathushtra, Irach J.S. Taraporewala, Bombay, 1951.
(2) The Gathas of Zarathustra, a reconstruction of the text.
Maria Cornelia Monna, Amsterdam, 1978.
(3) Stot Yasn (The Gathic Part of the Avesta consisting of the Gathas of
Zarathushtra and Supplements by His Companions, translation and annotation in
Persian), Ali A. Jafarey, Tehran, 1981.
(4) The Gathas, Our Guide, the thought-provoking divine songs of Zarathushtra,
Ali A. Jafarey, Cypress, 1989.
* * * * * *
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)