Part 12
RELIGION AND TRADITION
BELIEF AND BEHAVIOR
Religion, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is, among
other things, "any specific system of belief, worship, conduct, etc., often
involving a code of ethics and a philosophy; an institutionalized system of
religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices"; and also "a cause,
principle, or system of beliefs held with ardor and faith".
It is derived from the Latin "religio", meaning
"reverence", which in turn is derived from "religare",
to bind back. It is, in fact, a
bond. Tradition is defined to be
"the delivery of opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs from
generation to generation by oral communication.
It is an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action,
or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)".
It is in theology, an unwritten saying, action or a code of laws
attributed to the founder and the earlier promoters of a religion. It is derived
from the Latin "traditio", meaning "action of handing
over", from "tradere", to deliver.
The difference between a religious practice and a social
custom is rather a new concept. In
ancient times - times, during which most of the existing religions were founded
-- every social custom was, sooner or later, accepted as a religious practice.
Therefore, Religion and Tradition are almost taken to belong to each
other, so much so that some would take the two as synonyms.
That explains why the zealous are so zealous to maintain traditions as a
religious obligation. To them,
every tradition is but a religious tenet.
GOOD CONSCIENCE
Turning to the Zarathushtrian religion, the conscientious
term, most probably coined and used first by the founder, Zarathushtra, is
"Da�n�". It is derived from the Avestan root "di"
or "dai" (Sanskrit "dhyai"), meaning to
"see, view, perceive, contemplate, ponder, mediate" with a participle
suffix "n�". Da�n�
means "conscience, discernment, insight", and of course,
"religion". It is according to Zarathushtra, one's discerning insight
that forms one's religion, in fact, conviction. The Indian term "dhy�na", focusing of
thoughts to comprehend a fact, meditation, is a cognate.
But while the Indian dhy�na helps an individual to
concentrate to promote his or her own individual mental faculty, the
Zarathushtrian Da�n� unites all those who think, discern, and choose alike in
one great fellowship of conviction -- the religion of Good Conscience, Da�n�
Vanguhi -- founded, preached and promoted by Zarathushtra. Zarathushtra
uses the term Da�n� for a total of 26 times in his sublime songs, the Divine
Gathas.
The gist: Da�n� is thinking and awakening.
It goes with one's intellect. It
is wisdom and enlightenment. It is
proper knowledge. It promotes
precision and righteousness. It
encourages one to turn to work to make a better life.
It grants true happiness. It
gives peace and stability. It
purifies one's mind; so much so that one engaged in good thoughts, words, and
deeds, becomes godlike -- creative, maintainer, and promoter of the world one
lives in. Says Zarathushtra: That
religion (Da�n�) is the best for the living, which promotes the world through
righteousness, and polishes words and actions in serenity. (Song 9.10 = Yasna
44.10) Da�n� or religion to Zarathushtra is the straight path of truth that
takes coordinating people ever forward to improvement in their mental and
physical, spiritual and material life until they reach their ultimate goal Ahura
Mazda, God Wise. Da�n� is a
conscious forward march to perfection. It
is the march of a perfecting life to eternity and divinity.
INHERITED PRACTICE
Tradition, on the other hand, is an inherited religious
practice or a social custom, which was, in the near or far past, introduced
first by certain circumstances and then perpetuated by following generations.
An urgent need to meet an exceptional event may linger long, a human
experience over a length of time may turn into a custom, a social behavior in
face of a particular event may continue, and a practice, born of a belief in an
abnormal occurrence or an extraordinary experience, may turn into a tradition
with the passage of time. Alien
invasion, conquest, occupation, captivity, slavery, forced labor, forced
marriage, and socialization as well inter religious rivalry also help to
introduce, innovate, change, transform, hinder, stop, erase, or kill a
tradition. It has many a cause to
fall into a firm form. Created, adopted, borrowed, or imposed, once it becomes a
tradition, people practicing it develop a kind of attachment to it. That makes
them bound to it so much so that sometimes it becomes hard to introduce a change
in it, leave aside abandoning it. In
the ancient past, this attachment generally gave the tradition a religious hue,
a hue that made it a part and parcel of religion.
Once a part and parcel of religion, the origin of the
tradition is, often with a touch of miracle, attributed to a popular religious
celebrity. It is here that all practices concerning various phases of life, from
birth through initiation into the society, marriage, parentage, and death, take
a religious form. Even eating,
clothing, waking, walking, working, running, resting, sleeping, and socializing
have their religious ways of performing them.
Tradition, religious or not, is present in every movement one makes,
private, personal or otherwise. It
becomes the *prescription* for life. The terms religion and tradition are, as
earlier stated, used not only as cognates but also as synonyms.
WIDENING GAP
A tradition, when originally born, could have been fully
justified and useful. But the
passing time brings changes into a society.
Furthermore, a tradition, however simple in origin, is generally
elaborated, supplemented, and even complicated by the following generations
practicing it. With the social
changes on the one hand and the elaborations on the other, the gap between the
practical social life and the complicated, often mute, religious practices
widen. In other words, every
tradition does not go hand in hand with the changes in society.
There arises a conflict in adhering to the tradition or
keeping pace with the changes. The
conflict hinders the smooth running of the social order.
And if the conflict takes a sad turn, those hotly involved in it hardly
think that it is the gap of time between the tradition and the progress made by
the society that started the conflict. The
conflict divides the society between those in favor of maintaining the tradition
and those in favor of a change.
Names are labeled: Orthodox, traditionalist,
fundamentalist, liberal, reformist, progressive, etc.
Some are used in a sarcastic, derogatory, or on the contrary, in a
dignified, respectful, or complimentary way. Even disrespectful words and
abusive language is used. Those attached to a tradition, which appears to have
outdated itself, try their best to justify its continuance.
They generally turn to interpretations, which turn an ordinary old custom
into a highly symbolized, rather mystified rite.
Some go to extremes to show that the practices introduced by ancient
"sages" are much more advanced than the present practical changes, and
therefore are incomprehensible for modern minds. Occult definitions may not
confound every intellectual, but they do make many a layman feel too simple to
comprehend the "transcendental" interpretations. Interpretations,
particularly by vociferous zealots, work -- sometimes with miraculous effects
among the laity.
PRESERVATIVE RESERVATION
The zeal shown by the traditionalists is quite
understandable. It is religious
ardor, rooted religiosity. But what
is surprising is that nowadays one comes across persons outside a religious
order who favor not only the adherence of traditions by its followers, but
advocate strict observations of traditional rites even under unfavorable and
unpractical circumstances. Scholars
of religion, although themselves professing another religion or following their
own schools of thought, write treatises and give lectures on the importance of
keeping the customs they feel are in danger of extinction.
The smaller a community and the older the customs, the more the emphasis
on turning the "endangered" community into a closed-door
"reservation" in order to help the faithful to preserve and practice
their traditional rites.
These scholars would go to great lengths in explaining the
highly "symbolic" values of the practices, which they see as being
abandoned by younger generations because the youth, rightly or not, consider
them outdated and therefore, unwanted. It
is odd enough to witness a person, who personally does not believe at all in a
doctrine, take quite an interest in indoctrinating the believers in preserving
the doctrine. An unconscious faith,
a latent belief, a hidden love, an elderly advice, a scholarly sympathy, an
anthropological interest, a disparaging intention, a mischievous motive?
ZARATHUSHTRA AND TRADITION
However, this does not mean in the least that every custom
or practice outdates itself and therefore, becomes unwanted.
Those attached to humanity appear eternal.
Worship, festivity, initiation, matrimony, fellowship, hospitality and
other occasions warrant traditional customs.
They have their places in a society.
And they have their true values.
Zarathushtra uses Da�n� for 26 times but does not mention
tradition even for once. The reason: That divine foreseer knew well that while
Da�n� is a living truth, tradition is but a custom, always subject to changes
under changing circumstances. It is
obvious that he wanted the religion to last.
Binding it with the customs and practices of his days would have numbered
the days of the religion too. He
had to choose between the two for the survival of his message.
And quite naturally and of course dutifully, he chose to perpetuate his
message. This does not mean that he
did not favor maintaining useful traditions.
His guiding Gathas and other texts in the Gathic dialect composed by his
companions and immediate successors as well as other parts of the later Avesta
provide us with good hints on traditions.
WORSHIPING TO WORK
The discovery of igniting and maintaining fire was the
prime cause that separated man from other animals and firmly put man on the
express road to progress. Fire was,
but naturally, worshipped as a deity by many peoples, including the Aryans.
As an altar for worship, many religious orders and cults offered their
sacrifices to it. Solid and liquid foods were fed to fire to turn them into
smoke and send them up for the "beings on high."
Zarathushtra purified it of all its smoking and seething
elements -- meat, fat, butter,
grain, fruit and other eatable sacrifices.
He turned it into a bright blaze (Song 4.19, 15.9 = Yasna 31.19, 51.9) to
face and concentrate his thoughts on Mazda.
(The story of him carrying a smokeless fire vase to King Vishtaspa need
not be a legend.) For him fire,
much more mental than physical, symbolized light, warmth and energy for a good
guidance to steer clear through difficulties to peace and progress in soul and
body. (Song 4.4, 7.4, 8.4 & 9, 11.7, 12.6 = Yasna 31.3, 34.4, 43.4 & 9,
46.7, 47.6).
His companions had an open fire enclosure, much as the
later Achaemenians did, for congregational prayers where they worshipped only
and only God Wise. (Haptanghaiti:
Song 2 = Yasna 36) Still later, in an older part of �tash Ny�yesh, we learn
that all the "hearth fire", called divine, expected as an offering was
words of praise, greeting, and triumph and no fuming food. In the Gathas,
Zarathushtra prays with his head bowed in homage and hands raised in request to
God. He composes fresh songs to
adore God and pour his love for Him. He
has the brightly burning and warming fire on the altar; sun, moon, and stars in
the sky; and water and any other inspiring objects in the beautiful nature
around him to face and break into devotional songs to perform his prayers.
Haptanghaiti and other sections of Yasna show, as already said, that
congregational prayers were held in communal enclosures and the Gathas by
Zarathushtra and the supplement songs composed by his companions were sung in
solemn company.
The Iranian Plateau, situated between 25 and 55 latitudes
north of the equator, had and has all the four seasons.
As farmers and cattle raisers, the Iranians had their agricultural
seasons -- six of them.
They celebrated the end of each season.
The Vispered shows that the early Zarathushtrians -- most probably since
the days of Zarathushtra -- turned the six festivals into thanksgiving
occasions. They are, what we call, the "G�h�nb�rs," each
lasting for five days. The thanksgiving ceremony was performed by singing the
five Gathas, and studying and explaining them, most probably one Gatha per day.
A feast, collectively arranged and prepared, followed to every one's
delight. Worship and work, work and
worship, the two went well together.
SERENE CEREMONIES
Initiation or Navjote is another tradition kept alive and
lively by Zarathushtra. He speaks
about it as the great event of decision (Song 3.2 = Yasna 30.2), and mentions
the initiation of King Vishtaspa, Ferashaushtra, Jamaspa, and his own cousin
Maidyoi-maha. (Song 11.14 & 15,
14.9, 16.16-19 = Yasna 46.14 & 15, 49.9, 51.16 19).
His companions have an initiation ceremony in their fire enclosure and
call it the greatest event. (Haptanghaiti
Song 2 = Yasna 36). Fravarti (Yasna
11.17 to 12.9) provides a vivid description of early initiation of adults into
the Good Religion. Nirangistan
supplies us with more information on Navjote, koshti, and sadreh.
(Book III, Chapters 1 6). The
Initiation ceremony's "Choice of Religion" formula -- Mazdayasno
ahmi...and other pieces in the Gathic dialect
-- supply the core of the koshti prayers.
The marriage of Pouruchista, Zarathushtra's youngest
daughter, forms a touching scene and a future marriage guide in Gatha Vahishta
Ishti. The tradition of having
marriages solemnized in the language spoken by the bride and the bridegroom as
long as Persian remained the common language of the population in Iranian and
Indian regions, shows that it beautifully changed its languages from the Gathic
dialect of 3700 years ago to Neo Persian almost 200 years ago.
Today it is again because of tradition that marriages are performed in an
archaic, unintelligible language, although some do augment it with a translation
in the language the marrying couple and the audience understand.
Birth of a child is hailed in the Avesta but no rite is
mentioned. However, the Farvardin Yasht shows that Zarathushtra's birth
anniversary was eulogized for celebration. (stanzas 93-94)
Greek historian Herodotus speaks of Persians celebrating their birthdays
at a time when other nations are not reported to do so, a sign that birthday
celebration is an Iranian innovation and a contribution to world festivity.
The names given to early new Zarathushtrian-by-Choice and their children
-- Paourutkaesha and Nabanazdishta -- in the Farvardin Yasht have none of the
old deities, not even those who later emerged as Yazatas, attached to them. This
significant point reveals that good care was taken to rename newcomers and name
children in the spirit of the dynamic message of Zarathushtra void of older
traditions. At the same time, it
shows that there was a birth and naming ceremony.
Zarathushtra introduced the practice of eulogizing people
during their lifetime and after their death.
He venerates them by mentioning their names and by "lovingly
encircling them." (Song 16.22 = Yasna 51.22) The remembrance of the good is echoed in the "Yenghe
Hatam" prayer in which respects are paid to men and women for their
righteous services. The Farvardin
Yasht is an outstanding tribute to the memory of those who chose and served the
Good Religion in its initial stages, from Zarathushtra and companions to three
or more generations after. The
Gathas and supplements do not mention any funeral rites, but pay full respects
to the memory of the departed. It
is the memorial service they *emphasize* and not the method of disposal of the
dead body.
All these and yet we do not see the Gathas prescribe:
"What to eat and what to reject. What to wear and what to tear. What to
build and what to burn. What pollutes and what cleans. How to wash and how to
dry. When to work and when to retire. When to celebrate and when to mourn. What
is the disease and what the cure. What the dead and what the corpse. . . .
"
Was Zarathushtra unconcerned with the daily life? No,
never! Could he not prescribe in detail all walks of life? Could he not put
taboos? Of course, he could. But he lived a physical life of his age - almost
4,000 years ago. He divinely knew well the changing world. Any prescription on
daily living would grow old and out-of-date, and if it became a tradition to be
adhered to, it would prove an obstruction. Zarathushtra believe in continuous
and constant renovation of life. Says he: "May we be among those who make
this life fresh! You lords of wisdom, and you, who bring happiness through
righteousness, come let us be single-minded in the realm of inner
intellect." (Song 3.9 = Yasna 30.9) He has left the job to the "lords
of wisdom" of every age to unite in mind through righteousness and inner
intelligence and continue refreshing and renovating the life on earth. Time does
not stop, why should "social life" stop and stagnate.
GAINING TO LAST
Thus we see that all the good traditions were kept by the
earliest of Zarathushtrians. Some
were simplified, some streamlined, and some changed to suit the new spirit.
It was only the magical, superstitious, superficial, superfluous,
intoxicating, and bloody rituals performed in the names of gods and goddesses,
which were totally renounced and discarded.
(Yasna 12) Later, as always
has been the case, all the ceremonies, performed by the early generations and
many more introduced by following generations, were elaborated.
Institutionalization of a practice constitutes a part of the process of a
tradition. In fact, traditions are
maintained by their institutionalized forms.
Nevertheless, Da�n� as religion has its own place in the
Gathas. It is the guiding insight
to a progressing life. While the
sublime songs mention worship with a bowed head and raised hands, and a blazing
fire, and allude to initiation, marriage and memorial ceremonies, other Avestan
texts describe various rituals maintained as tradition in the forms given to
them by the Good Religion during the early Avestan period. The difference between the eternal principles of Da�n� and
the temporal customs of tradition are evident.
In no place in the Avesta, rituals and other practices have been termed
as the "principles" of the religion.
Traditions live and leave, practices veer and vary, and rituals wax and
wane, but Da�n� , the religion of insight, the conviction by reason, lasts and
lasts -- "ever gaining, ever winning."
* * * * * *
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)