The ancient Aryan Prophet Zarathûštrá was born on the 6^th day after the Spring Vernal Equinox. In the Avestan calendar the 6^th day of each month is dedicated to the god-force of “health, hail and every healing formula” called haûrvatát.

Haûrvatát expresses the idea of “holiness” in terms of “healthy vibrant energy.” It is the “whole, healthy, manifesting divine power” and can be compared with Greek hólos and Vedic sárva, (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

The message and the sacred poetry of the ancient seer/prophet Zarathûštrá hold extremely true to its most ancient Indo-European roots, and can ONLY be truly grasped within such context.

The universe and a finite number of events have been recurring, and will continue to recur again and again infinitely, in an infinite number of times across infinite time or space.

Within this ancient concept, Zarathûštrá developed a unique innovation, the idea or the possibility to OVERCOME and MASTER fate, the HEALTHY will power to become a god-force ahü, or a courageous author of destiny.

Fate repeats itself infinitely to unleash the possibility of overcoming itself or its limitations and this “infinite betterment and creativity” is godhood according to the ancient prophet Zarathûštrá.

Each event and age that repeats itself is to teach superior wisdom and inspiring creativity to overcome it and set in an eternal spring of the Immortals

The titans or god-powers are the “mastery or inspiring creativity to overcome limitations and discover infinite betterment in the face of fate” while the diabolic is “the sickly, cowardly, timid and restricted petty.”

In Zarathûštrá’s message, there exists an inseparable duality between “inspiring creativity, betterment and boundlessness” of the God-powers united in Mazdá AND the limitation, constriction of daævás “the anti-gods or diabolic forces” headed by añgrö“ the afflicted, broken spirit”.

In the sacred poetry of the ancient prophet “evil, calamity, limitation, decay, and death are NOT attributed to godhood, because godhood is the mastery and brilliance to overcome every limitation.

The nature of ahûrás is connected with the “innovative cosmic order, and superb artistry” ašá/arthá. Mortal men join with the Gods or ahûrás in the “brilliant disposition, mind-power to become ever better” called vohü-manö – also vaηhǝ̄uš manaηhö and all the Gods are ONE in Mazdá “vision, imagination, inspiring creativity.”

God powers and god-men stand in continuous combat AGAINST forces hostile to overcoming limitation, fatalism and resignation. They stand against añgrö “the afflicted, broken spirit” with his host of “diabolic, limiting demons” the daævás.

Zatathûštrá grew up in a bardic tradition and was well versed as a poet/priest. This brings us into the story of the Avestan Yimá “the divine twin,” the primeval leader of mankind during the Ice Age.

The creation myth of the ancient Indo Europeans centered around the sacrifice of *Yemós “Twin” and *Mannus “Thinker, Ancestor of Mankind.” The duo are found throughout the ancient Indo-European world, like in the myths of the Germanic peoples (Norse Ymir, and German Tuisto and Mannus.)

The twins *Yemós and *Mannus are bound up in the origin of the Cosmos.  In the primordial time, *Mannus sacrificed *Yemós and formed the world from his body.  *Mannus treated his brother *Yemós as if he were a SACRIFICIAL BULL. (Courtesy of Didier Calin)

But *Yemós really comes into his own in the ancient Indo-Iranian area, where as the Avestan Yimá he is the primeval leader of mankind during the Ice Age, and in the Vedas, he is the god of death. In the myths of the Pre-Avestan people, it is Yimá who sacrifices the primeval cow and the world is created according to a special formula from the bones, blood and various body parts of the primeval cow.

The connection between the Avestan Yimá, the primeval cow and the creation of cosmos has in some way a parallel in the Norse account of Ymir, the cosmic cow Auðumbla and the creation of the worlds.

Each act of bloody sacrifice among the Pre-Avestan people supposed to repeat this original act of creation.

Yet, the ancient Aryan seer/prophet saw Godhood in “goodness, virtue and heightening of vitality” and identified “the sacred” speñtá with the “vibrant, splendid life force.” He saw the worst deformity of spirit in diminution/destruction of vitality, in the slaughter and sacrifice of innocent animal life.

Zarathûštrá argued that since Godhood is GOODNESS, the god-powers only accept the pure libation of water, milk, wine, fruits AND the SELF SACRIFICE of nobility, courage, truthfulness and healthy self-worth.

Zarathûštrá called yimá a sinner in his sacred songs because of yimá’s sacrifice/killing of the primeval cow in the Indo Iranian lore and became the first and most earnest champion of animal rights in history of mankind.

I like to conclude by explaining the meaning of the name of the ancient seer/prophet. Zarath.ûštrá consists of two parts. The second part of the name ûštrá means anything from “buffalo to camel.” It can be compared with the reconstructed Proto Indo European *usr, Vedic usrá, Germanic ūrochso “aurochs,” Pashto ūš “camel,” (See Didier Calin.)

The first part zarath, if coming from ancient East Iranian zar means “golden, yellow, pale colored” (Compare with Old Church Slavonic zlato and Latvian zèlts.

However if the original version of the name is ZaraNt.uštra, it must be derived from the Avestan zarant, Ossetian zœrond. Pashto zōr, Middle Persian zál “old, aging or albino” (SEE West and Didier Calin.)

The name therefore means something like “pale or white buffalo and/or albino camel.” It appears that the names of the “noble ones” or the ancient Indo European people who called themselves Aryans were very similar to the American Indian names.

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The Siberian Ice Maiden Devochka is a mummy of a young Scythian woman from the 5th century BCE, found in 1993 in a kurgan of the Pazyryk culture in Republic of Altai, Russia.

The mummified remains of the “Ice Maiden,” a Scytho-Siberian young woman who lived on the Eurasian Steppes, were found undisturbed in a subterranean burial chamber.

DNA testing confirmed that the Scytho-Siberian maiden was NOT related to present-day peoples of the Altai. It turns out that the maternal line of Devochka the Scythian Ice Maiden is HV2.

HV2 maternal DNA is a very rare haplogroup. It was found in 2 individuals from a Scythian grave site including the spectacularly preserved Ice Maiden Devochka.

Genetic studies showed that the Pazyryks were a part of Samoyedic family, with very strong elements of ancient Iranian-Caucasian substratum.

(Source: Tracing the Origin of the East-West Population Admixture in the Altai Region (Central Asia)

Today the highest occurrence of HV2 maternal lineage is found in Slovakia in Central Europe and among the Volga Bulgars.

In the Iranian Plateau, HV2 appears either in populations that are native to the Caucasus or Caspian mountain regions and/or to the population groups that originated from the Caspian or Caucasus region and migrated further South and East.

HV2 mtDNA demographics in Study Populations in Iran are as follows:

Persian Central and southern central Iran – 2.4%,

Gilaki Northern Iran, southwestern Caspian Sea area – 8.1%, 

Kurdish Western Iran – 5.0%,  

Lur Southwestern Iran (Zagros Mountains) – 5.9%,

Baluch South Eastern Iran-western Pakistan, Baluchistan – 10.3%, 

 Parsi Zoroastrians of Karachi Pakistan- 9.1%, 

My maternal grandmother was a Zoroastrian from kerman and as it appears through her, I carry the same EXACT maternal DNA HV2 as the Scythian Ice Maiden.

It appears that the genetic studies show that the ancient Iranians and ancient Zoroastrians directly descend from Indo European populations that lived in Southern Russian, Northern Caucasus and South of Ural Mountains.

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The Iranian and/or the Iranian-Caucasian origin theory of Croats and Serbs date back to the 1797. It was the doctoral dissertation of Josip Mikoczy-Blumenthal. With this work he became the founder of Croatian Iranian origin theory. According to him Croats were people descending from the Sarmatians, an ancient Eastern Iranian people who started their westward migration around the 6th century BC, coming to dominate the closely related Scythians by the 2nd century BC.

The Sarmatians differed from the Scythians in their veneration of the GOD OF FIRE and women’s prominent role in warfare, which served as the inspiration for the Amazons.

At their greatest reported extent, Sarmatians tribes ranged from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, bordering the shores of the Black and Caspian seas as well as the Caucasus to the south.

The ancient Iranian origins theory of the people of the Dinaric Alps and the Sarmatian connection was of No real interest to Me until I got My own genetic results back from the National Geographic.

It turned out that My paternal haplogroup is I L41. Haplogroup I L41 is a very rare haplogroup shared by only 0.03 percent of the participants in the National Geographic project. L41 is a defining SNP for haplogroup I, which includes both I1 and I2. In other words it is proto Old Norse and Proto South Slavic. It is closer to South Slavic haplogoup I because from the refuge of the Dinaric Alps during the last Ice Age, haplogroup I branched out into Scandinavia.

The composite subclade I-M170 contains individuals directly descended from the earliest members of Haplogroup I, bearing none of the subsequent mutations which identify the remaining subclades.

Haplogroup I is found almost exclusively in Europe where it is represented in about 20% of the population.  Hg I has a broad European distribution, but its strong geographic concentration in northwestern Europe has led Hg I to be nicknamed the “Viking” haplogroup (though some consider R1a to be the only true Viking haplogroup.)

It appears that Haplogroup I L41 appears in Iran in small frequencies among Kurds, Mazandaranis of the Caspian Region and among Iranian Zoroastrians. In fact, the Caspian Mountains and the province of Mazandaran were the last Zoroastrian strongholds.

It appears that the ancient Iranians and their direct descendants are closely related to original Indo European population groups living between the black and Caspian Seas and south of the Ural Mountains.

In my particular case the closest population groups to My overall genetic make up are the Georgians and populations of North Caucasus and Southern Russia.

Beside R1a (the ancient Indo European marker,) another haplogroup common among Iranian Zoroastrians is the haplogroup T. However the subclades of haplogroup T associated with the Iranian Zoroastrians belong to the branches of T that are found in Anatolia or Caucasus. These subclades probably represent one of the Neolithic migration from the Fertile Crescent to Southern Russia and Southeast Europe and have spread as far north as the eastern Baltic and has been found as far east as the Volga-Ural region of Russia and Xinjiang in north-west China.

The branch of haplogroup T associated with Iranian Zoroastrians probably penetrated into the Pontic-Caspian Steppe during the Neolithic and became integrated to the indigenous R1a Indo European peoples before their expansion to Central Asia during the Bronze Age (See R1a-Z93).

I like to conclude by the following sacred gathic verse:

Asking who are you and whose are you??? (Meaning from where do you originate?) Peresat.čá má ciš ahî kahyá ahî

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The common Avestan term for the sacred is speñtá “sacred, auspicious, splendid with the life force” corresponding to svętŭ in Slavic.

Another term in the Avestan that has to do with the sacred and hallowing in particular is vahmæ from the root vah “ to hallow, honor as holy, revere, venerate.”

Vah or vahmæ is the awe, wonder and reverential respect for the life force. It is the holy feeling of experiencing the marvelous riddle and wonder of life energies. It is the sacred insight and awe into the mysteries of cosmos.

Vah or vahmæ is to passionately feel the highest beauty and honor “imagination, creativity and intuitive wisdom” as the most holy and reverential life force.

The “sacred awe” vah vahmæ and the “will” var to overcome limitations shared/share a decisive role in the original shaping of the creation and in formation of every brilliant, new beginning.

It is this sacred awe that distinguishes any cosmos from chaos. Vah or vahmæ comes 12 times in the poetic gathas.

The sacred awe vah vahmæ comes mostly in connection with the house of music/songs of ahûrá mazdá, the supreme god of inspiring creativity in the gathas. For the worlds are created through mazdá’s mind-power and his music. Various melodies in the house of songs give rise to formation of new universes. It is this house of music that god-men will enter as the co-creators of the supreme god ahûrá mazdá, (See Yasna 34.2.3^rd rhymed verse line, Yasna 41.1.1^st rhymed verse line and Yasna 45.8.5^th rhymed verse line.)

The sacred and hallowing vah vahmæ comes in connection with listening to the songs, melodies of the universe seraôšá, (See 46.17.3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The holy feeling of wonder and insight into the mysteries of the universe vah vahmæ comes in close association with cinvatö perethü the “portal/bridge to other dimensions, the selection bridge.”

The concept and idea of the bridge/portal perethü in Zoroastrianism and the sacred gathic verse is extremely similar to As-brú (Æsir’s bridge, bridge to the world of god-beings) in the ancient Norse mythology, (See Yasna 46.10.4^th rhymed verse line and Yasna 50.7.2^nd rhymed verse line.)

It is through the “intuitive wisdom, good energy/spirit” vôhü man.aηhá of all the god beings that holiness, sacred awe is established, (See Yasna 51.2.3^rd rhymed verse line.)

Questioning, discovery through vôhü man.aηhá “the good energy/spirit, the brilliant temperament/mind of the god-powers” shall be made with a spirit awe, wonder and reverential respect, (See Yasna 45.6.4^th rhymed verse line.)

The auspicious life force saváiš grows, increases, waxes vaxšat through the sacred awe vah vahmæ, (See Yasna 48.1.4^th rhymed verse line.)

The sacred awe that distinguishes any cosmos from chaos vah vahmæ comes in connection with “superb artistry, celestial lights, cosmic order” and “inspiring creativity” in Yasna 50.10, 4^th rhymed verse line.

The sacred awe/wonder vah vahmæ is closely connected to yasná “fervent yearning, intense passion, and heartfelt desire to become like the supreme god of inspiring creativity mazdá. Yasná or “fervent desire” is a cognate of Greek zelos, (See Yasna 35.7.1^st rhymed verse line and Yasna 53.2.2^nd rhymed verse line.)

The Avestan vah vahmæ is etymologically related to Hieroglyphic Luwian was(a) “to elevate, honor as holy, pay reverential respect” and wasara “favor, honor as holy.”

However the Old Norse Vé, German Weih although NO cognates, share almost the same idea and concept. For an etymology of Old Norse Vé See Didier Calin, Dictionary of Indo-European Poetic Themes:

*weik– ‘sacred’ that is attested in Avestan as vaēk in auua.vaēk-, Goth. weihs ‘holy’, ON vé ‘temple’, OE wēoh ‘holy image’, wicce (> E witch), German weihen ‘to consecrate’, Lt. uictima (> E victim) ‘sacrificial victim’, Lith. viẽkas ‘life force’, etc. (See Didier Calin)

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Zoroastrian religiosity is not slavery to a despotic god. It contains none of the commandments of a downtrodden slave to his all-powerful lord. Zoroastrian jurisprudence and morality comprises rather the confiding fulfillment of a mutual community between Immortals and god men.

Men are friends of the Immortals and co-creators ham-kár with the god-force. The belief in the Gods as friends corresponds to the idea of kinship between the high-minded, virtuous mortals and the God beings.

This kinship rests above all on the view that Gods and men are bound through creativity, artistry, cosmic order, truth, and virtue ašá/arthá.

In the Zoroastrian sacred poetry God/Godhood is again and again regarded as creativity/brilliant mind power ruling through the cosmic order, virtue and truth ašá/arthá.

Ašá/Arthá is the same law of goodness/virtue bounding both Gods and men. It is the creative ordering principle of the worlds.

In the Avestan, Superb Order or what is fitting best (Reconstructed Proto Indo European*hértus) has shifted to an association with cosmic order but the underlying idea is always that of “superb artistry, creative technique and excellence.”

Latin artus “joint” Greek artús “arranging, arrangement,” Middle High German art “innate feature, nature, fashion,” Old Irish uisse “just, right, fitting,” Old Church Slavonic istū are all cognates of ašá/arthá.

In Old Avestan poetry, ašá/arthá is a grammatical neuter such as in ašem and/or Vedic r̥tám. But when the seer/prophet wants to address ašá directly or represent ašá as a speaking figure, ašá/arthá becomes masculine. In Indo European poetry an excellence/virtue could be made into a god power by giving it an animate gender.

Prophet Zarathûštrá invokes ašá/arthá more than any other god force in his poetic gathas. In ancient Avestan poetry ašá/arthá “artistry, ingenuity, excellence, virtue, luminosity” is the wondrous self of godhood, (See Yansa 39.5, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The Gods are God because of their ašá/arthá because of their “virtue, excellence, luminosity and creative artistry.” It is this “creative artistry and ordering principle” that governs the worlds; the relations between Immortals and mortal men; and the relations of mortal men to other life forms and one another.

Ašá/Arthá is closely associated with *dhéh-men “creation through passion, energy, inspiring mind-power/spirit” and Greek thémis law. In fact, Mazdá (*men–dhéh) “God of Inspiring Creativity, Greek thémis “sum total of codes inspired by the gods, a collection of oracular responses which determine how to proceed every time the order of the génos “kin, race, creation” is at stake” and Avestan dámiš ALL come all from the root dhe “to establish in a creative way, to establish into existence” by the gods.

The connection between Old Avestan ašá/arthá and thémis in Illiad could be best demonstrated by the 2^nd rhymed verse line of Yasna 31.7 of the poetic gathas: hvö ḵrathwá dámiš ašem//yá dárayat vahištem manö “his superior/unmatched wisdom is the deviser of artistry, excellence//which is upheld by the most brilliant spirit/mind.

In Yasna 31.7 of the poetic gathas, dámiš ašem “devising of wondrous technique, excellence, cosmic order” relates directly to the notion thémis.

Without the ease of ašá/arthá everything is just disorder, injury, a lie or trick called drug and/or drûj in the Avestan terminology, (Compare drûg/drûj with Old Norse draugr ghost, German trug trick, lie.)

The word for sin in the poetic gathas/Avestan is aæna “injury, damage,” Sanskrit énas “sin guilt,” Reconstructed Indo European *hei “assail,” Hittite inan “illness.”

The word appears about 12 times in the sacred poetry of the ancient prophet and it refers to whenever the timeless order of ašá/arthá, within which both the brilliant Immortals as well as high-minded mortals have their luminous office/destiny is desecrated.

Aæna is a violation of nature and the cosmic order. It is a lie, trick against truth. It comes in close association with Avestan kaæná “compensation, restitution, consequence” Lithuanian káina “price,” Old Church Slavonic cēna, (See Yasna 30.8, 1^st rhymed verse line.)

There is NO eternal damnation or everlasting punishment in Zoroastrianism, only going through the consequence of a violation against the cosmic order/truth. Immortals and men are forever bound together in goodness, virtue and excellence.

Gods are Goodness and Eternal Betterment. The injury of aæna against the sacred duty within the cosmic order is corrected by going through the consequences of the chaos caused, and is purged by learning, illumination.

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April 30^th marks the beginning of the maiδyö.zarem  “mid-spring” festival in the Avestan calendar. It lasts for 5 days till May4th and is in essence a spring fertility ritual.

Maiδyö is the Avestan word for “middle.” Zarem comes from Avestan zairi “fresh green, lush or golden” and can be compared with Old Church Slavonic zeleni, Lithuanian geltas, želvas “yellow/golden.”

Mid-Spring is an “in between festival” maiδyö, between the spring and summer solstices and it is a joyous celebration of reinvigorating nectars of spring. It is a time of “peak blossoms” and it is the appointed yearly time for performing fertility rites (Avestan yaar ratö.)

Maiδyö.zarem is described as the festival of payan “milk, syrup, nectar of flowers and sap of trees” in the Avestan book of vispa ratü “all the right formulas/rites.” (Compare Avestan payan “milk,” with Lithuanian pienas, Latvian piêns, Vedic páyas “milk,” Vedic pipyúši “rich in milk” and reconstructed Proto Indo European *pieh “be fat, prosperous, swollen” and *pipih usih “rich, overflowing in milk.”)

It is a sacred time reserved for the reverence of trees and their sap and a time to bless the herds, their young and their milk by walking them between sacred bonfires, before taking them to their summer pastures.

In Zoroastrianism, the spiritual life and worship is entwined with hearth-fire, kinship and Clan, home, happiness, pets and farm, fertility of the land and wondrous seasons of the year; all related in a sacred world order wherein mortal man lives as a member of his genos, and is governed by the laws of renewal, purity and nobility (cf. also Johannes Hertl: Die Awestischen Jahreszeitenfeste.)

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Vərəθra ghna is the great warrior god of Zoroastrianism and one of the principal figures in the Zoroastrian pantheon. In traditional Zoroastrianism, vərəθra.ghna is the MOST BELOVED of all the Immortals, for he personifies the “warrior spirit, great victory and virility.” Vərəθra.ghna is the “victorious god-force that shatters every barrier, obstacle, wall.”

In ancient Zoroastrianism, Immortals have each their own ham-kár “co-creators and/or co-workers” among yazatás or adorable god-beings. The co-workers of ašá/arθá “superb artistry, ingenuity to piece together, cosmic order” are: áθar/áthar “heat, fire,” sraôšá “inspiration, hearkening to the counsel of inspiring creativity,” and vərəθra.ghna “victory, shattering of barriers, limitations.”

In Zoroastrianism the worship of God means the adoration of a god-force or power, embodied in the encouragement and cultivation of all the wondrous virtues of Godhood. The religion of the poetic gathas and ancient Zoroastrianism is NOT rooted in any kind of fear, neither in fear of the gods nor in fear of death.

The Zoroastrian faith is rather a coming together, a union, of Immortal Gods and god-men in in virtues/powers common to both namely: the “powers of mind to recall and summon into being” mazdá and “formulating order, excellence and beauty” ašá/arθá.

Through “courage and power of the spirit” manö, mortals are elevated to the realm of the Immortals. The great gifts of the Immortals to mortals are COURAGE to face the world as it is and the good fortune to win/thrive in tight places, in the very midst of the blows of destiny.

It is the great spiritual strength of the poetic gathas and Ancient Zoroastrianism to feel a deep joy in fate, in the battle between the limitation of demons and mortal men verses the brilliant boundlessness of the Immortal Gods.

In Zoroastrianism the true awe and worship of the Immortals is to overcome limitations and become a co-creator of the divine in the “superb artistry of the cosmic order ašá/arθá.”

The “victorious warrior ahûrá” of Zoroastrianism vərəθra.ghna, embodies the “heroic struggle against limitation, stagnation and decline.” In the most beautiful “victory formula” of the poetic gathas, the same ideal of triumph appears as vərəθrem-já, “shatterer of barriers, walls, obstacles.”

Avestan vərəθra “enclosure, barrier, wall” is a cognate with Lithuanian vartai “shut, lock, close, gate,” Vedic vṛtri to “enclose, wall off” and comes from reconstructed proto Indo European *wṛto/eh or *worto/eh.

The second part of the name, Avestan ghna or jna to “break open, strike” is a cognate with Old Norse gunnr “combat,” Lithuanian genù “hunt” and Russian gon, all coming from the reconstructed proto Indo European *ghen.

In the Avestan language we have a neuter noun, vərəθra.ghna– “shattering of obstacles,” and an adjective vərəθra.ghan– “victorious.”

The adjective vərəθra.ghan– is applied to god powers and is also an epithet of fire. The Vərəθra.ghna Fire is the ancestor of the Ātaš Bahrám or the “Victorious Fire” of more modern times, the holiest and most sacred grade of fire in Zoroastrianism.

Victorious is also an epithet of the Zoroastrian saöšiiánts, future leaders who will usher in new ages of brilliant success and triumph. Thraæ.taô.na (the third one) or the foremost physician is also described by the same adjective.

Vərəθra.ghna has a corresponding Vedic term, vṛtrahán, a well-known epithet of Indra, one of whose many feats was the slaying of the dragon Vṛtra “blockage.”

One theory suggests that both vərəθra.ghna and vṛtrahán were originally an Indo-Iranian ahûrá/asura. While Iran conserved the original, ancient ahüric figure, Vedic India is thought to have made an innovation, promoting Indra to the rank of an asura and attributing to him the characteristics and functions of *Vṛtra.ghan, (See H. Lommel, Der arische Kriegsgott.)

The heroic 14^th Yašt of the Avesta lists the favors and gifts bestowed by Vərəθra.ghna on prophet Zaraθ.ûštrá and on those who worship the yazatá or adorable god of victory. They are victory in thought, victory in word and victory in action, as well as victory in declamatory speech and in retort, in conformity with a conception dating back to the Indo-Aryan practice of verbal contest (F. B. J. Kuiper, “The Ancient Aryan Verbal Contest,” IIJ 4,1960, pp. 243, 246).

The 14^th Yašt’s main theme is the triumphant power of the yazatá in combat and the Victory the God transmits to the Airyás (Noble Ones) to confound all their enemies. The 14^th Yašt also deals with the wondrous shapeshifting of vərəθra.γna and the oracles linked to him based on the falling or flying of a falcon’s feather.

The Yašt also describes a group of unknown people called the Vyámbûras who shed innocent animal blood, burn prohibited wood, and make the most sadistic and cruel animal sacrifices. The Avestan hymn abhors and denounces such demonic ritual practices in the cult of the adorable god of victory and counsels the worshippers of Mazdá to stay away from such vile demon worship. (vv. 54-56). It appears that the references to such ritual practices were closely associated with the cult of Indra. (See Benveniste and Renou)

In Zoroastrianism Godhood is again and again regarded as “Inspiring creativity and superb ingenuity and artistry of the natural law/cosmic order.” Godhood is boundlessness of genius and goodness.

Mortals are given a great destiny in which they must prove themselves. In the very midst of the blows of destiny — the adorable Vərəθra.ghna the “victorious god-force that shatters every barrier, obstacle and wall” seem to be the right role model in the battle between the limitation of demons and mortal men verses the brilliant boundlessness of the Immortal Gods.

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Sraôšá is a major yazata “adorable god-power” in Zoroastrianism. It comes about 8 times in the poetic gathas, and like all the other Immortals, appears both as an “abstraction/virtue” as well as an “individual ahûrá or god being.”

Sraôšá means “harkening to the songs/music of the Immortal Gods, inspiration.” It is derived from the root srû– “to hear, hearken.”  Avestan srû goes back to Reconstructed Indo European root *klu, “to hear.”

A derivative is attested in Vedic śruṣṭí- “that which has been heard from the gods, everlasting wisdom/knowledge, listening to divine odes/songs.”

“What is divinely HEARD” occupies a central concept in the Indo European poetic heritage. The Indo-Europeans firmly believed in an afterlife in the realm of “mind, memory and consciousness.”

According to the poetic gathas, the great gift of the Immortals to mortals is the gift of sraôšá “hearing the divine songs/music or being inspired by the gods.” The separation of the two races of mortals and Immortals is not absolute due to sraôšá or “inspiration coming from the boundless realm.”

Gods and men are not, in the eyes of Zoroastrianism, incomparable beings remote from one another. Instead Zoroastrianism, always firmly believed that men, as “noble genus/race” hû-zentûš possess something boundless, everlasting and as such could claim to approximate to God stature and become “Godlike.”

The “inspiration/songs coming from the gods” sraôšá, is the incarnation of all the creative virtues, hence is the embodiment of unfading glory. “Fame/glory” is derived from that which is HEARD from the Immortals, the ahûrás, and that glory ALONE can survive death.

Zoroastrianism teaches a succession of twilights and renewals of the worlds in a grandiose display, in repeated cataclysms, upon which new, better worlds with a “more ingenious order” would emerge each time. For the Zoroastrians, the firm expectancy is ALWAYS the creative renewal of life, inspired by the hymns/song of the Immortals sraôšá.

Each individual life is a brief detail in the long tale of generations, soon to be cut short. But despite the tragic character of mortal’s life, spirit/consciousness is undying as long as it is tuned into the “creative inspiration” of the Immortal Gods.

God-men and women, valiant heroes and just warriors of the past live on in the sacred memory, in poem, song and sacred verse. Their souls would go to join the Immortals and enjoy an unending communal existence in the glorious house of music/songs garö demánæ.

It is sraôšá “inspiration” along with miθrá/mithrá “friendship with the Immortals” and rašnü “rectitude, integrity” that are the Judges of the departed at “the bridge/portal” pereθü/perethü to the realms beyond.

(Compare gathic pereθü “bridge/portal,” with Norse Ás-brú “the bridge of the gods/æsir and the name of the city of Osnabrück literally meaning the bridge to the gods.)

In Zoroastrianism man is NOT a slave before an omnipotent, despotic god. Instead man is a friend of the god-powers, standing before them proudly, with integrity and nobility, to receive their inspiration and unfading glory sraôšá.

Zoroastrian prayer/worship does NOT involve kneeling or prostration to earth, but standing joyful, with arms/hands stretched out upwards ûstána zastö ascending into the boundlessness of the Infinite. (See the first line of the poetic gathas, Yasna 28.1, 1^st rhymed verse line.)

A Zoroastrian worshipper is always aware of his/her own mortal limitations, but to him/her the worship of Mazdá means to approximate to God stature and become “Godlike” through “Inspiring Creativity.”

In the poetic gathas, sraôšá “inspiration” is the ham-kár associate/co-creator of ašá/arθá “divine artistry, cosmic order,” vereθra.ghna “Shatterer of barriers, walls, remover of obstacles” and aθrá “transforming fire, heat, intensity of passion.” Sraôšá COMBATS chaos, demons and protects the harmony of the cosmic order.

It is sraôšá who has inspired the sacred gathic verses. A common functional heritage with Bṛhas.pati, “the teacher to the gods” in the Vedas is therefore likely.

The seer/prophet listens to the inspirer of creative charms, and by hearing the song/hymns of the gods, the inspired poet tunes into the “boundless realm of creativity, genius and luminosity” of all the Immortals.

Just like the Old Irish arcane verses convey co cloth nī “something is heard,” something from the boundless beyond inspires.

Eternal Glory is inseparable from being inspired by the Gods. Someone achieving never-ending glory makes a name for himself’. Tocharian has the compound ‘name-fame’ (A ñom-klyu, B ñem-kälywe).

What fired the ancient Aryans was the desire “to be heard, to be gloriously remembered in the eternal consciousness/memory.” Warriors were stimulated to valor, rulers to acts of justice and goodness, by the anticipation of “good repute.”

Mazdáv aša.xva.iiá.čá//ýöi za.zeñtî vaηháû srav.ahî

Within “Inspiring Creativity, Mindfulness” Mazdá and “Cosmic Order” ašá/arthá//they shall continuously live in “good repute” vaηháû srava. (See Yasna 30.10, 3^rd rhymed verse line)

Avestan srava “song, glory, to be heard” is a cognate of Old Church Slavonic слава slava, “glory” and слово slovo, “word.”

“To be heard of, in songs/odes to gods and heroes,” meant to “live forever in sacred memory” and “to achieve eternal glory.” Death comes to all, to the virtuous and the wicked alike, but the “everlasting glory” comes to the virtuous ALONE, those who are inspired by the Immortals and have earned a good name/repute.

In Yasna 34.15, 1st rhymed verse line: The “individual self/me” möi asks “the Mindful Lord, the god of Inspiring Creativity” Mazdá for “the best” vahištá in “hymns/songs” sravá that inspire “enterprise/action” šiiaö.θa.ná and “mastery of speech, words/voice” vaôčá. The theme of the verse is the splendid renewal of the worlds.

mazdá at möi vahištá//srav.ávs čá šiiaö.θa.ná čá vaôčá

I shall conclude by adding that sraôšá’s popularity continued into the islamic times and soroush “divine communication” became a great angel in Iranian Sufism.

The undeniable truth is that much which has asserted itself in islamic Persia/Iran in philosophical, mystic life and arts can be valued as a resurgence of Zoroastrian, Indo-European Spirit, for inherited nature will always stir against alien, incompatible forms of belief.

Thus the mysticism of Iranians/Persians after the Islamic subjugation is to be understood as a Reconquest by Zoroastrian Indo-European religiosity into an inherently alien faith.

ardeshir

The terms “Fire Worship” and “Fire-Worshippers” were always associated with Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrians throughout history. The notion of fire worship goes back to reverence for “hearth fire” among ancient Indo-Europeans.

Fire is the visible embodiment of the Gods and the “brilliant element” that binds the world of mortal men to the “luminous and limitless” realm of the Immortals.

In Zoroastrianism, fire symbolizes the Struggle between being and becoming, the pure transformative energy, the WILL POWER that drives mortal man forward towards godhood and becoming infinitely better.

A flame always burns upwards, so are the paths toward the horizons of a yet unrealized future. Zoroastrian creed can be summarized as an everlasting striving for what lays beyond the horizon and the attainment of the ethereal ûštá. Zoroastrian struggle is to bring “the spiritual and the infinite” into the world and to discover the eternal flame within.

Avesta talks of 5 kinds of fires (See Yasna 17.11). First is the “lofty, auspicious fire” bərəzi.sava, “the Exalted, Victorious fire of the eternal flames.” (Compare Avestan bərəzi “high, lofty” with proto Germanic bergaz, berg,“mountain.”)

The good/beautiful fire of “love, fertility” vôhü fryán is the “life force of men and beasts.” The fire of ûrvázištá animates the “plants and trees” ûrvar. (Compare Avestan ûrvar with Latin arbor.)

The “most vigorous” or lively fire of vazištá is identified with lightening. And lastly there is spéñištá “the most auspicious” fire, burning in the presence of Öhrmazd. The spéñištá fire can be compared with ugnis szwenta of Lithuanian heathenry. Szwenta “auspicious, holy, increasing” is the same as the Avestan speñtá.

Fire in our faith embodies the triumph, the unsurpassed power of the spirit ḵratü (Homeric krátos,) the breaking free from the confines of space, love of excellence/virtue ašá/arthá and the projection of the unbounded will power into the ends of time and space.

The wondrous workings of the cosmic order ašá/arthá are akin to the transformative nature of fire. For cosmos is actively in the state of becoming infinitely better. By mimicking the cosmic order ašá/arthá, mortal man becomes a “divine artist” aša.van/artha.van and finds the everlasting fire within.

In Zoroastrianism, the great gift of the Gods is manö the “mind energy/courage/spirit” to face destiny with unbounded “fiery vitality,” become the artist of the gods aša.van/artha.van and to win the timeless glory sravá by “hearing the song/music of the Immortals.”

In the poetic gathas, the protection páiiüm of Mazdá the “supreme god of inspiring creativity,” is sought in none “other than thy fire and mind power” aniiém θwahmát áθras.čá man.aηhas.čá, (See Yasna 46.7, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

Avestan manö is a cognate with Greek menos μένος, understood as ‘fighting spirit’ in Homeric contexts, and indicates creative forces animated by supernal “disposition/mindset/spirit.”

Through the gift of “fire” and “courage, spirit, creative imagination” manö, mortal man is no longer enchained to doom and oblivion. Instead, mortal man joins with the Immortal ahûrás in the struggle against all limitation, stagnation and chaos; projects himself into the immensity of eternity, and becomes a bridge into the supernal realm.

The unity of “will-power, spiritual wisdom, and action” ḵratü makes manifest a greater becoming. Through heroic struggle, mortal man becomes a vessel of sublime change and gives rise to consciously willed evolution.

The temporal world therefore is the battle-field in which the warrior fulfills his divine destiny, cherishing life as a cultivator and farmer, where plants, animals and men are each called to grow and ripen into powerful forces asserting themselves within the creative order of ašá/arthá.

This overcoming of limitations times and again, the rising above the mundane and the attainment of the infinite through the act of becoming ever better, is called “eternal progress” in the Zoroastrian sacred literature. “Eternal Progress” is the definition of faršö-kart “the splendid re-making, fresh new creation of the worlds.”

In Zoroastrian sacred lore, like in the Norse mythology, the end of the mundane world comes first with 3 harsh, most severe winters and then with fire.

We read in the poetic gathas, Yasna 51.9 2^nd rhymed verse line: aii.aηhá ḵšûstá aibî ahv.áhü daḵštem dávöi.

The verse is about the realization of “an eternal age of progress and a spring with no end” through a “molten, flowing” ḵšûstá “metal/iron” aii.aηhá which “gives or establishes” dávöi the “sign, indication” daḵštem of “a god-like existence” ahv.áhü.

Thus, in the universe as well as in man, the state of becoming ahüric or god-like is realized through purging by a fiery trial.

The word for “fire” in the Avesta is áθar/áthar, also áθarš/átharš, referring to the “fires of altar and hearth.” It comes from reconstructed Proto Indo European *háhtr “hearth or altar fire,” from the root *hahs-“to burn”, and is a cognate of Hittite hâssâ “hearth fire,” (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

The Avestan áthar is related to Czech vatra, Romanian vatrā “fire,” Latin āter “blackened by fire,” atrium “chimney, space over hearth” come from the same root, (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

In Zoroastrianism the “family hearth” is sacred and never suppose to go out or be extinguished. The reverence for “hearth fire,” underlies the significance of continuing the family line and the clan. In fact, the Persian word doud-man “lineage, dynasty, house” goes back to the SMOKE arising from the “family hearth.” Thus an eternal flame burning in “home, hearth and kin group” is both a consequence and a requirement of ašá/arθá “excellence, truth, world order.”

In the Zoroastrian sacred poetry fire/luminous energy is the visible son or prodigy pûthræ of Ahûrá Mazdá.

I shall conclude by Yasna 34.4 from the poetic gathas:

at töi áθrém ahûrá//aôjö.aηh.vañtem ašá ûsé.mahî

asîštém éma.vañtem//stöi rapañtæ ciθrá-av.aηhem

at mazdá daibiš.iiañtæ//zastá.ištá.áiš dereštá-aæn.aηhem

Thy fire, god-force//energetic through cosmic order, truth; is our object of wish/desire

Swift and mighty//stands to radiate happiness, manifesting good fortune

But to Thy enemy, Mazda//with hands wielding discernible power, inflicts agony.

ardeshir

Zoroastrianism is a faith based on the principle of vigorous activity called šiiaöθaná in the Avetsan.

Šiiaöθaná is the dynamism of action/motion, the transfiguration of thought into form, the projection of the spirit/soul onto the existential world. In other words, šiiaöθaná is the capacity to act upon the world-stage with the willpower to direct the course of destiny.

Avestan šiiaö.θa.ná comes from the root šiiaö and is etymologically related to Greek seúō, “to set in motion, stir, incite, shake,” Latin cieō, all coming from the reconstructed Indo-European root *kei “energy of action/motion.”

Zoroastrianism teaches that godliness is about mastering destiny with the ACTIONS we take in the world. For life is constantly in movement and seeks to overcome its limitations, as well as the forces inimical to life’s great becoming.

The concept of Godhood in Zoroastrianism can only be undesrstood within the context of Die Klugen Unsterblichen, “undying and never ending brilliance/intelligence” that unwearyingly sets new horizons!”

The 7th song of the poetic gathas is called ýá šiiaö.θa.ná. The song is about the impulse of healthy vitality/wholeness haûrva.tát and the penchant for action šiiaöθaná.

It is a hymn of fifteen stanzas and is placed in Yasna 34 in the present arrangement of the Avesta! According to the ancient tradition, the 15 stanzas are about “every healing formula, medical remedy and the powers of restoration” that will set in motion “the great, new becoming/fresh transformation” of the universe frašö kart.

Avestan šiiaö.θa.ná “enterprise, purpose-driven action” is the actualization of zeal/passion yasná (Compare with Greek zelos) towards the attainment of the intangible, the immortal yasná ameretá.tem.

This “fervent yearning for the immortal” yasná ameretá.tem via the medium of industry/action šiiaö.θa.ná, based upon the pursuit of ašá/arthá “excellence, truth, cosmic order,” forms the basis of Zoroastrianism.

We read in the poetic gathas, Yasna 34.1:

Action, formulation // aspiration for the eternal, the immortal

Cosmic order, superb artistry, truth that thou hast established//Mindful lord, together with the kingdom of every healing, restoration

All these are your god-beings, powers//whom in their fullness we are devoted to

ýá šiiaö.θa.ná ýá vač.aηhá//ýá ýasná ameretá.tem

 ašem.čá taæ.ib.iiö dáv.aηhá//mazdá ḵšaθrem.čá haûrva.tá.tö

 aæšãm töi ahûrá//éhmá paôúrû.tem.áiš dastæ

In Zoroastrianism, devotion is becoming part of the fullness of the Gods éhmá paôúrû.tem.áiš dastæ.

The dynamism of action/movement towards haûrva.tát “wholeness” is tireless, without end or limits.

Only those Gods are God and worthy of worship whom embody the impulse of vigorous vitality/wholeness and are held to further well being, mastery and the will power to overcome.

Haûrva.tát “wholeness, healthy vital energy” is etymologically the same as the ancient Greek holótēs, hólos, “whole,” Vedic sarvá.tāti, Latin salvus “safe, sound, well, whole, healthy.”

Zoroastrianism is a religion of “healthy energy, vitality and wholeness,” and NOT a religion of the sick soul, anguished wailing, suffering and gloom.

Quite remote from Zoroastrianism stands the idea that the body is a dirty prison for a soul. For this reason, every idea of killing the senses, of asceticism, lies diametrically opposed to Zoroastrianism, and is reviled as an attempt to paralyze the wholesome, energetic, godly nature.

Fasting, self-flagellation, ritual mourning and any form of asceticism that weakens the healthy vital force are all shunned upon.

The Zoroastrian doctrine links spiritual and material in a unique, ingenious manner. Characteristic of Zoroastrianism is the reverence of the physical world and the elements, as a visible expression of the Spiritual Immortals.

Each of the Immortals is linked with one of the physical creations. As Hermann Lommel observes, the Zoroastrian doctrine represents an ancient, mystical way of looking at reality, . . . viewing the abstract as the inner reality of the concrete, the spiritual and material as the aspects of the same thing” (B. Schlerath, ed., Zarathustra, pp. 31-32).

The belief that all nature is a manifestation of the Immortals as well as the idea that Immortals and mortals are bound in kinship through inspiring creativity, industry and zealous striving for excellence lies at the heart of the doctrine.

In conclusion, I shall add that while in many belief systems gods act with willful destruction and out of despotism, the Immortals in Mazdyasna embody brilliant mind energy, healthy will power, mastery, vitality in action/motion to overcome limitations and flaws.

The concept of Godhood in Zoroastrianism is that of insight, discovery and the eternal quest for greater becoming whereas the diabolic forces stand for stagnation, blemish, affliction, destruction, anguished wailing and a sick, morbid soul!

ardeshir

During maiðiiö-šam “mid-summer” celebrations, circa two weeks after summer solstice, the festival of ti.štr.iiá or tristar is observed in the Avestan calendar.

Ti.štr.iiá is the brightest and most glorious of the stars in the Zoroastrian sacred lore, and is venerated as a “god being-life-force” ahü and “knower of riddles, most learned master” ratü.

The 8^th Yasht (hymn, adoration) in the Avesta is devoted to tristar as a God-star and yazatá. The term yazatá denotes “pure energy, animating force, vital principle and holiness.” It is etymologically the same as Greek hagios.

Bernhard Forssman derives ti.štr.iiá from the Indo European *tri-str-iḭo or *tri-str-iyo literally TRISTAR. By ti.štr.iiá, Sirius as the most brilliant triangle star in the Orion belt is meant.

The epithet of ti.štr.iiá is afš.ciθra “having the brilliance of the waters/rains” (Panaino, 1990, pp. 92-93; cf. Cantera, 1997). The Persian proverb that “waters are luminosity” goes back to the Avestan Yasht devoted to ti.štr.iiá, where the falling of the rains, and flowing of waters is linked to the brilliance/radiance of the stars and constellations specifically Sirius.

Also a clear link to the astral theme of the heavenly “arrow” tigra/tigri is present in the Avestan hymn, in respect to tristar or ti.štr.iiá.

According to Yasht 8^th 6-7 and 37-38, ti.štr.iiá flies in the sky as the “arrow” tigra/tigri shot by the most valiant archer of the Aryans, the hero Ereḵša (Kellens 1977).

The name of the most valiant Archer of the Aryans ereḵša literally means “bear,” and is a cognate of Greek árktos, Latin ursa /ursus, all coming from reconstructed Indo-European *hŕ̥ḱtós or*hréḱtes.

The Avestan hymn to ti.štr.iiá contains two narratives, one concerning ti.štr.iiá’s fight with apaôša (drought, literally demise/loss of waters) and the latter battke with the pairikās (mischievous fairies), corresponding to shooting comets (literally worm stars) stárö kərəm.áv.

The first narrative poem (stanzas 13-34) describes the combat of the tristar yazatá (pure energy, god-force) against apaôša (drought) for the liberation of the waters, contained in the cosmic ocean vôúrû.kaša “vast expanse of waters or wide shored sea.”

Ti.štr.iiá assumes three diferent incarnations in the hymn, taking ten days for each; the star successively changes the form of his form into a fifteen-year-old man at the prime of his youth, a bull with golden horns, and finally a splendid white stallion/horse.

These three transformations astronomically cover the period beginning with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius in July and lasting till the first appearance of the meteor showers between August and September (Panaino, 1995, pp. 15-24).

In the shape of a beautiful, white stallion ti.štr.iiá attacks drought, incarnated as a black, dismal and gloomy horse, but after three days and nights, ti.štr.iiá is defeated at first, because the tristar yazatá was not sufficiently worshipped by the Aryans (see Yašt. 8.24).

Yazatás and Immortals are in essence mainiiü “sheer will and the creative power of thoughts/consciousness.” Their powers are unleashed proportional to the amount of concentration/belief in their “mind energy.” Collective belief in and focus on their archetypal ideals releases their vital force and affect the world accordingly.

After a fervent yasná “yearning, fervent desire” (Compare with Greek zelos,) offered by the supreme god Ahûrá Mazdá himself in favor of his star champion, ti.štr.iiá defeats the dismal drought at midday; thus the waters of the cosmic ocean are freed and can be distributed among the seven climes hapta karšvars (Yt. 8.32).

According to the Avestan hymn, other constellations and stars also collaborate with ti.štr.iiá specially the constellation of Canis Minor.

The second narrative poem concerns the struggle of ti.štr.iiá against pairikās (mischievous fairies,) led by duž-yáiriia “the bad/terrible year.” The “bad/horrible year” duž-yáiriia is supported by the stárö kərəm.áv “shooting comets” (literally worm stars) with the purpose of bringing chaos into the energetic radiance of the constellations and stars.

I shall conclude by adding that in the Avesta, Yašt 6 pays homage to the sun, Yašt 7 to the moon, Yašt 8 to ti.štriiá or Sirius, and Yašt 10 to miθra “Lord of the celestial lights and friendship with the Spiritual Immortals.” Also, the 13^th day of each Avestan month falls under the patronage of ti.štr.iiá and therefore is considered as an auspicious, lucky day for Zoroastrians, since ti.štr.iiá or tistar is the protagonist of radiance, luminosity, waters/rain and blessings!

Finally, Indo Iranian tigra/tigri “arrow” associated with tri-star in the Avesta, has become the name for the first month of the summer in Persian tīr. The Armenian proper name Tigran/Tigranes comes from the same root. The term has also been borrowed into ‎ancient Greek tígris and Latin tigris “tiger, pointed, sharp.”

 ardeshir

The poetic gathas start with the most sacred ahü vair.iiö formula the “will to become godlike” and conclude with airyémá iš.iiö, the “noble, lofty ideal ” literally the “Aryan wish, desire, aspiration.”

Airyá “honorable” was a term that the ancient Indo Europeans, specifically the people of Andronovo culture (Indo Iranians/Aryans) used to call themselves. The letter a in the Avestan airyá is pronounced as a in advance and the i is pronounced as i in inspire!

The term is reflected in Sanskrit aryá-, ārya– and Irish aire “noble lord and master;” it has given its name to Iran (land of the Aryans) and perhaps to Eire (Irish word for Ireland.)

The designation airyá or āryá among ancient Indo-Europeans can be compared to the name Inka “ARISTOCRATIC,” among Quechua people of the Central Andes of South America, who referred to themselves as “farming nobility.”

Airyaman is one of the most powerful verses/formulas of Zoroastrianism and according to the ancient Zoroastrian doctrine, plays a major role in the “fresh renewal of the divine powers and remaking of the worlds” faršö kart.

The god-being Airyaman embodies “the birth of godhood in mankind, elevation of character and spirit, honor and nobility.”

Airyaman is invoked at the conclusion of the gathas, and called on to come for the “great happiness and joy” of the “valiant men and women of Zarathustra ” nere.biias.čá náiri.biias.čá zarath.ûštra.hæ or “Zarathushtra’s people” (Compare with Russian národ for “people, folk, nation.”)

In the poetic gathas, airyá comes in connection with godhood ahûrás (the equivalent of Norse æsir and the Vedic asura,) and wisdom, knowledge of flourishing/thriving thwaḵš the living world or gaia.

airyam.ná vá ahûrá//vîdãns vá thwaḵš.aηhá gavöi

(See Yasna 33.3, 2^nd rhymed verse line.)

The triumphant Saošyánts, saôš.iian.tãm literally “those who bring good fortune/success,” and sû.iiam.nãm, the “champions of prosperity, advantage and benefit,” will themselves recite the airyémá išiiö, in their task of greater becoming of the worlds; and it is airyaman who with átar (heat, fire,) will melt the metals for a fiery ordeal that will purify the creation. (See Benveniste, Les mages dans Vancient Iran, io-ii.)

There is also an old link between Airyaman the “noble ascent of godhood/ahûrá in mankind,” and Mithra “friendship with the Immortals,” for both symbolize “hospitality and reciprocity” between Gods and the “noble god-men.”

It has been hypothesized that airyaman’s name is to be recognized in the Germanic irmin, *ermina- or *ermana. Old High German Irmin-got, is a god called to witness in the Hildebrandslied and appears as a name of ODIN.

A number of compounds in various languages such as in Gothic Ermanaric, Old English eormencyn ‘mighty race’, eormenþeod ‘mighty people seem also to be related to airyaman.

Aryaman/Airyaman has long been equated with the Irish Éremón. No doubt the Irish Éremón originally must have had divine status but, like the rest of the pagan pantheon, was euhemerized in Christian times.

Éremón is recognized as the legendary first king of the sons of Míl, the Goidelic Celts, that is the first Indo-Europeans in Ireland. He was the God-king who drove the Tuatha Dé Danann, the people who stand for the old gods in Irish mythology, underground.

Most interestingly, in the gathic váršt.mánßar commentary of airyaman it is sated: that the afflicted/evil spirit who is of “sick vision” duš.daænö, with all his diabolical creatures and abominable demons, will be buried in the earth and their bodily form (kehrpö) will be completely shattered, through the power of Airyaman formula.

There are also a number of references in the Avesta announcing that after the radiant revelation of Zarathustra, the demons and diabolic forces were driven underground, shattered and buried beneath the earth.

In the legend of Éremón there is a trace of an old connection with marriage, survived in the story that Éremón provided wives to the Cruithnig (Picts).

In the poetic gathas and ancient Zoroastrianism, airyaman formula is the blessing for the Zoroastrian wedding ceremony, when guests are entertained in “honor, kinship and hospitality.” Airyaman has been used in the Zoroastrian marriage ritual as a most powerful charm from the start as evidenced by the ancient gatha songs.

In the poetic gathas, airyá refers to the “potential for greatness, godhood and all that is lofty in the wider circle of kinsmen and kinswomen, the noble people.” It comes in Yasna 32.1, 33.3, 33.4, 46.1 and 49.7 as well as in the most powerful airyman formula, at the conclusion of the divine songs. It stands above xvaætû- (own family, kin) and vərəzəná- (fellowship, craft/work.)

The term also appears many times in the heroic Yashts and in the entire Avesta, referring to “wider familial and marital ties, nobility, and honor.”

With Vedic áryaman is invoked another of the Adityas “Sun-Gods,” bhaga, the personification, of “good fortune, the good things of life, good portion or luck.” Vedic bhaga is the same as Avestan/gathic baga and the Russian word for god bog.

Bhaga (Avestan baga), like Aryaman (Avestan Airyaman,) is associated with marriage, and this has been explained on the grounds that in ancient communities marriages were made so that good fortune/prosperity should come through noble generations.

The baga gatha is the song of “good fortune, wondrous dominion,” that comes before the final gatha/song and is concluded by airyaman.

Airyaman formula is also regarded as a the most powerful charm against illness, sorcery and all evil (Y. 54. 2; Yt. 3. 5; Gāh 1. 6; Vd. 20. 12, cf. 22. 6–20) It is exalted in the gathic varšt.mántar verses and Yašt 3 as the greatest of mantras against sickness, decrepitude and decline.

The popularity of Airyaman never waned in ancient Iran, and when in the 3rd century A.C. Manichaean missionaries translated their own scriptures into middle Iranian, the god being whom they identified as the physician of souls, was airyaman, “the healer, the elevating, noble god power!”

ardeshir

In the ancient Indo-European thought and speech there are 2 races, the race of the Immortal Gods, the heavenly celestials, and the race of mortals or the earthlings. The gods are heavenly and the mortal men are from the earth. The Lithuanian word for “man” žmōgus literally means “earth-goer or earth-wanderer.” In ancient Iranian, the word for “mortal” Avestan mašiiá/martiiá, Modern Persian mard, is synonymous with “mankind.”

Decay and death are associated with the earthlings, while the gods are exempt from them both, for the gods are immortal, as well as un-ageing and eternally youthful ûta.yüiti.

In the poetic gathas, ameretát is a term that refers both to “Immortality” and the “Immortals,” but is not understood in terms of heavenly beings or earthlings, but rather in the context of “eternal quest for greater becoming.”

In fact, in the Zoroastrian sacred lore, the ham.kárs “co-workers or co-creators” of ameretát “Immortality,” are rašnü (Compare with Latin rectus) “being upright/high-minded,” arštát “to arise, excel,” and zãm “the earth” which nourishes all growing things and plants.

Ameretát “deathlessness,” in the gathic songs, is a “boundless dimension of creativity.” The first time that ameretát “Immortality,” appears in the poetic gathas, it comes in connection with ašá/arthá “the cosmic order, superb artistry, excellence/truth,” ašahiiá ameretát.as.čá.

A famous Avestan passage states: that “the one or only path, is that of ašá/arthá excellence/truth” aævö pañtáv ýö ašahæ, hence the only thing everlasting is “the undying quest for excellence.”

In the Zoroastrian sacred poetry, Immortality is about triumph of the spirit over limitations, and cosmic development into godhood.

Mortal men are not doomed to a dismal death in the realm of shadows, instead earthlings are destined to live with the Immortal Gods as god-men, and their faith is to arise, go beyond, overcome themselves and excel.

The last time that ameretát appears in the gathas is about the immanence of “Immortality” in trees, and comes in connection with the “undying powers of growth.”

ap.as.cá ûrvar.ávs.čá//ameretá.tá haûrvátá, (Compare Avestan ûrvar with Latin arbor “tree.”)

I shall add that Avestan ameretát, Vedic amṛta and Greek ambrosia are all etymologically related, and come from the reconstructed proto Indo European ṇmṛtós, bearing all the same meaning.

The connection between “nectar and immortality” can also be clearly seen in the first rhymed verse line of Yasna 34.11 of the poetic gathas.

However, the Zoroastrian view of Immortality or the Immortals can be grasped only within the notion of “innovation, discovery, artistry, cosmic order and eternal progress.” Partaking of the nectar of immortality means to overcome, and evolve ever higher and better.

As a tree is like a link/ladder between the worlds, stretching ever higher into the sky. So is mortal man, a bridge over the abyss, into becoming a god-man, and Immortality is an eternal quest for ever greater becoming!

The Auspicious Immortals amešá/amertá speñtás or the ahûrás of mazdá, are Immortals because of their brilliance. Avestan speñtá, Old Slavonic svętŭ and Lithuanian šventas, refer to inextinguishable/indestructible “brightness, radiance, luminosity, vividness and vigor of life.”

In the Avestan prayers, ameretát is invoked with the White Höm or gaô.karəna, the “chief of all healing plants”. The white haômá/höm is the delightful nectar that holds the formula/remedy for eternal youth, and will be prepared at the yasna invocation (literally zealous yearning/desire,) right before the splendid remaking, fresh creation of the worlds frašö.kart.

When the wondrous kingdom/dominion of ahûrá mazdá, “the supreme god of inspiring creativity” is established, there will exist inexhaustible energy/unfailing health haûrva.tát, and deathlessness ameretát, for the future tangible body that will come to pass (tan ī pasîn.)

According to the Avestan Zãm Yašt or the “hymn to the earth,” the creation will become “un-ageing, undying, un-decaying, un-rotting” (Yt. 19. 11).

A new age of “innovation, discovery and eternal progress” will usher in. Immortals will replace the demon gods and mortal men ameretá.iti daæváiš čá mašiiá.iš-čá/martiiá.iš.čá, and there will be the dawn of the age of the god-men.

In the Zoroastrian calendar, the seventh day of each month, and the second month of summer (or the fifth month in the religious calendar,) are dedicated to ameretát “IMMORTALITY,” called amôrdád in Persian. The special feast of ameretát is around July 24-25.

Since haûrva.tát is the lord over waters and delightful liquids, and ameretát is the master of trees, healing plants, nourishment and food, to eat/drink while chattering and/or arguing is a major offense against haûrva.tát “healing powers” and ameretát “deathlessness, immortality” in the Zoroastrian religiosity.

Food and drink are to be savored and enjoyed in peace. The rule is to recite an Avestan formula before each meal, and quietly take pleasure in eating food and/or drinking, without having any conversations or arguments.

ardeshir

In Zoroastrianism, the ahûrás are regarded as “eternal quest for excellence,” embodied in the superb artistry of the cosmic order. The connecting link between Immortal Gods and men is ašá/arthá “excellence, discovery, creative order, truth.”

Ašá/Arthá is the very nature of the “ahûrás or the God-Powers of mazdá,” and the source of all wonders/good ašem vôhü.

Mortal men join with Immortals in the struggle against drûj “lie, deceit, delusion, distortion and devastation.”

Just as ašá/arthá is the reference point for ratü “solver of riddles” and mánθrá “thought provoking formulas” of ahûrá mazdá the “supreme god of inspiring creativity, imagination, mind-power;” drûj is the reference point for the “devious scheming” of the daævás the “trickster deities.”

Drûj represents “distortion, devastation and torment.” It is the adversary of the cosmic order, and the foundation of Mazdean dualism, in the dual confrontation between “cosmic order/truth” ašá/arthá and “distortion, lie” drûj.

Drûj is attested 18 times in the poetic gathas. It comes once in the form of drûḵš and 18 times as drûj. The adjective term dreg.váv and/or dreg.vant in the gathas, is a derivation and means “follower/partisan of drûj, a deceiver, distorter, trickster!”

Avestan drûj is a cognate of Vedic druh “devastation, afflicting demon,” Proto Germanic draugaz “distortion, lie,” Icelandic drɑuɣr̩ “ghost, vampire,” Old Norse draugr “shadow, phantom,” German Trug “fraud, deception,” and Persian dorūġ “lie.”

In Norse mythology, draugr are undead figures that wreak havoc on living beings. Draugr carry the unmistakable stench of decay, have the appearance of a dead body, are swollen, blackened and hideous to look at. The Old Norse account of draugr is very much reminiscent of the Avestan nasü drûj “decay/lie within a necro/nasü or dead matter, corpse,” mentioned so often in the Avestan purity texts!

Drûj “distortion, lie,” motivates the choice and action of the daævás the “trickster deities.” In the poetic gathas, daævás because of their “scheming,” love of “bloody sacrifices,” and their “hostility to greater becoming/betterment” of mortal men, considered NOT to be divine, but are diabolic.”

In Zoroastrianism, slavish relation/submission to an “arrogant, cruel, tyrannical and tormenting deity” denotes demon worship, and NOT god-worship. True God-Worship is rooted in the will power to ENHANCE Life and MAGNIFY GODHOOD ahûrö masatá mazdáv.

In Mazd-yasna, mortal man’s destiny is to embody the brilliant virtues of the Immortals, greatness of the spirit, and to become Godlike. Man stands with his great soul beside Immortal Gods, as their ally and friend, and not their sacrificing slave.

An ally and friend of the Immortals, is described as a-drujiiantö “free from torment, devastation, distortion and lie,” in the poetic gathas.

While the slaves of the trickster deities are called tanû.drûj- “lie-incarnate or tangible falsehood,” and miθrö.druj- “insincere, untruthful in friendship with the Immortal Gods.”

I like to conclude first by this beautiful passage from the gathas and then by an Old Persian Inscription of Darius the Great:

kat ašavá mazdá véñg.hat dreg.vañ.tem

When shall the follower of excellence/cosmic order win over the treacherous liar, O Mazda (God of Inspiring Creativity/Mind Power?)

The battle between the “follower of excellence/truth” and the “follower of devastation and lie” refers to the preceding verse in the gathas namely: the “triumph of Immortals over diabolic deities and mortals,” for the age of Immortals and god-men will come at last.

ameretá.itî daævá.iš.čá mašiiá.iš.čá

A great god is ahûrá mazdá, the greatest of the gods of good fortune 

auramazdå vazraka hya mathišta bag 

May ahûrá mazdá protect this country from invaders, from bad year/famine, and from drauga “rotten lie.”

biš utâ imâm dahyâum auramazda pâtuv hacâ hainâyâ hacâ dušiyârâ hacâ draugâ

ardeshir

The idea that within infinite time, an finite number of events, will recur again and again infinitely, is predominant in all Indo-European religions.

There is a notion that time is composed of cycles, and that there is an eternal return or recurrence of all existence, energies and events. It follows therefore that nothing is really new, all learning is in fact memory, and that there is a heavy weight of destiny.

The ancient Aryan seer/prophet Zarathustra does NOT contradict the idea that time moves in cycles. Zarathustra is however ADAMANT that we are NOT ENCHAINED to the heavy weight of destiny.

One of the fundamental pillars of Zarathustra’s philosophy is the unshakeable belief in the unique ability of life/existence to modify itself and evolve, to transform, surpass via action/active dynamism. Zoroastrian doctrine can be summarized in realization of the will power for the purpose of “moving forward and greater becoming.”

The CREATIVE ORDER of cosmos ašá/arthá is revealed through transcending the limits, and the perpetual striving for excellence/the immortal brilliance. “Mindfulness, choice and self-overcoming evolution” define the Zoroastrian belief system. The Mazdean faith is summarized in the projection of the spirit/will power onto the existential world, time and space.

Prophet Zarathustra talks about the CHARIOT of TIME in Yasna 44.17 of his poetic gathas. The term for “the circular movement of time” is zarem čaránî. The ancient commentaries translate the term as zamán kardárî.

The gathic word for TIME, zarem comes from the root zar “grow old, ripen, mature.” Zarem has a secondary meaning of “purpose, plan, design, and goal.”

Old Avestan zar/zarem “ripen, mature, grow old,” is cognate with Young Avestan zurván “time,” Old Church Slavonic zūretĭ “ripen, mature,” Ossetian zærand “venerable, old,” Greek gérōn “old,” (Gerontology “study of aging,”) Vedic jîryati “grow old,” Tocharian śärā “mature.”

Avestan čaránî comes from čaraiti, to “circulate, travel/journey in a chariot.” The secondary meaning of “goal, purpose, plan, design” in zar, implies that the “chariot of time’s movement” zarem čaránî has a goal, purpose of “moving forward for the purpose of ever greater becoming!”

Hence, Time is the mediator of ahriman’s defeat, and the genial vehicle of the supreme god of Mind/Inspiring Creativity Mazdá, to OVERCOME flaws, limitations and imperfections of existence.

The poetic imagery in Yasna 44.17 continues with the “chariot axle” áskeitîm of all the immortal powers (ḵšmá “You in Plural.”)

Avestan áskeitîm is cognate with Greek áksōn, Vedic ākśá, meaning “axle, axis” which evokes the ideas of “sequence, movement, and progression.” The ancient commentaries translate the term as kardárî “activity/venture.”

The imagery continues in the same gathic verse with the phrase mãnθrá ýé ráθemö, the “vehicle of mantra,” and/or the “formulas that unleash the power of mind/spirit.”

Avestan raθa is cognate with Vedic rátha, Lithuanian rãtas, Old Irish roth, and Latin rota “to rotate, wheel, wagon, vehicle.”

In the poetic gathas and Zoroastrianism “Cyclical Time” is not just the repetition of ages, it is rather the journey of godhood, and the adventure to “surpass, overcome, and excel.”

The Chariot of Time is an aspect of illimitable-ness of Ahûrá Mazdá, manifested in “discovery, progress, new horizons, and infinite vision/light.”

Time moves in circles, and in its travels manifests the limitless vision/wisdom of the Immortal Gods, and thereby becomes a vehicle of godhood.

In the same verse, the Aryan Prophet sings of “being büž.diiá united saröi with haûrvátá (Greek hólos,) well-being, wholeness, power to heal/regenerate, and ameretátá immortality/deathless-ness.”

saröi büž.diiái haûrvátá ameretátá.

Avestan saröi/sar “unite, mix, mingle with,” is cognate with Vedic śrīnáti, Greek kirnēmi/ krater (κρατήρ, a large wine-mixing vessel) Latin crater or cratus, and the word grail.

In Mazdean cosmogony, Time has two essential aspects: the Time without shore/the Eternal Time, and the limited time.

Eternal Time is of Öhrmazdean essence, united with the dimension of ideals/wholeness and the Immortals. Eternal Time gives to each fraction of limited time, its dimension of boundless light, and its direction and meaning.

I like to conclude with the beautiful Yasna 44.17 of the poetic gathas:

 kaθá mazdá zarem čaránî hačá ḵšmat

 áskeitîm ḵšmá.kãm hiiat.čá möi xva.iiát váḵš aæšö

saröi büž.diiái haûrvátá ameretátá

 avá mãnθrá ýé ráθemö ašát hačá

How does the chariot of time move in unison/harmony with you (in plural,) god of inspiring creativity/mind power, Mazdá?

Through Your (You in Plural, referring to all the Immortals,) Ventures/Journeys, my voice becomes ever more powerful,

Being one/united with wholeness, immortality,

In the vehicle of thought-provoking formulas, advancing in accord with excellence, ašá/arthá

ardeshir

Moslem voyagers, traders, and theologians from the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties/caliphates, came into contact with the Vikings during their visits to trading centers such as Kiev and Novgorod, part of the “Volga Trade route.” Moslems appeared to have become very familiar with the Old Norse kinsfolk and their belief systems during these visits.

Moslems classified the Vikings as Majūs or “heathen Zoroastrians,” since they thought them to be very much like Zoroastrians of pre Islamic Iran/Persia.

Majūs, plural majūsī, from Greek Mágos μάγος, Latin Magus, is a term that goes back to the Avestan magá, referring to the Zoroastrian shaman warriors.

According to Ibn Rustah’s (10^th century,) Vikings accorded great respect to their ‘shamans’ [attibah] who had great authority over their chieftain.

In almost all moslem accounts, reference to the Vikings starts with the phrase: “al-Majus (Vikings/Zoroastrians) – May God curse them!” Moslem envoys referred to the Viking chiefs/kings as malik al-majūs, and to the Viking lands as bilād al-majūs.

Regarding Christianized Vikings, Moslem accounts state: Norse men were Majusi “Zoroastrian heathens,” but they now follow the Christian faith dīn al-naṣranīya, and have given up fire-worship and their previous religion, except for the people of a few scattered islands of theirs in the sea, where they keep to their old Majusi (Zoroastrian) faith.

Moslem accounts to the Vikings include Al-Ghazal’s (8^th – 9^th Century, Al-Andalus) entitled “embassy mission to the Vikings,” originated within Al-Muqtabis fi tarikh al-Andalus of Ibn Hayyan (The collected knowledge on the history of Al-Andalus.)

The most extensive account on the Vikings by Moslems is that written by Ibn Fadlan (10^th Century, Baghdad.)

The notion that the Moslem classification of the Vikings as Majusi “Pagan Zoroastrians,” was simply a case of mistaken identity is highly unlikely. Majus as Zoroastrians appears many times in hadith (words ascribed to Mohammad,) and once in Quran 22.17. In fact, moslem use of the designation Majus in the new context of the Norse people, proves that they were very conscious/aware of the meaning of the term.

Prophet Zarathustra, in his poetic gathas calls his fellowship airyá “noble, honorable, Aryan,” or magá “magnificent, mighty, of masterful powers/abilities.”

Émile Benveniste believed that Avestan term magá– signified a priestly or shamanic-warrior clan among the ancient Aryans/Iranians, renowned for their “mightily powers and abilities,” (Benveniste, 1938, pp. 13, 18-20.)

Accordingly, Avestan magá is cognate with Old Church Slavonic mogo “to be able” Germanic magan, English may “enable, make possible,” Greek mekhos, all going back to the reconstructed Indo-European root *magh.

Moslems recognized early on the great similarity between the Norse beliefs and Ancient Zoroastrianism. Both Zoroastrianism and Norse beliefs go back to a common Indo-European/ancient Aryan heritage.

However, within the Indo European world, ancient Zoroastrianism and Old Norse beliefs show a much greater similarity and closer kinship to each other.

Zoroastrian and Viking apocalyptic literature are almost identical. Both frašö-kart and Ragnarök foretell a series of future events, including a great battle that ultimately will result in the splendid renewal of the god powers and the worlds. In both traditions, mortal men are the allies and friends of the Immortal gods in this impending battle.

In both, the Immortal Gods, the ahûrás and the æsir are “god beings who embody “the cosmic order, and the quest for excellence.”

Both define their faiths as steadfast allegiance to the ahûrás (ahûra–tkaæšö) and/or true faith in the aesir. Interestingly, neither the term ahûrá nor the æsir was ever adopted in islamic Persia or christian Scandinavia.

Both ancient Zoroastrianism and Norse accounts are characterized by an underlying duality between the “evolving, creative consciousness of the god beings, the ahûrás and the æsir,” verses the “inertia, gloom, stagnation,” of the daævás “diabolic forces” in the Avesta, and monster giants in the Eddas.

For the god-powers ignite life energy and creativity into the universe, while the anti-gods have no vital or creative energies, and are devoid of any genius or meaningful imagination in both traditions.

Odin or Óðinn like Mazdá, the supreme ahûrá Of Zoroastrianism, is the chief among the aesir. Both Mazdá and Óðinn are the “essence of godhood” present in all life forms. They both represent higher wisdom and the odyssey, progress of consciousness/mind power, and are not static, but eternally evolving and perfecting themselves.

Odin’s discovery of the runes of wisdom in “nine days and nights,” is identical to the Zoroastrian purification and pondering period of 9 days and nights for the Zoroastrian priests.

While Mazdá is etymologically related to Greek Muses “Inspirational sources of creativity, knowledge and wisdom,” however, among the Indo European Gods, Mazdá is undoubtedly the closest to/identical to Óðinn.

Óðinn in the sense of “sacred vision and shamanic wisdom” is derived from the root wōthuz, a cognate of Old Church Slavonic aviti and Avestan vaiti. 

 The root vaiti appears in the poetic gathas in Yasna 44.18, 4^th rhymed verse line in the sense of “having insight, sacred vision of wholeness, healing powers.”

 The root vaiti comes again in the form of vátö in the gahic Yasnna 35.6, and in the form of váté in the gathic Yasna 35.7. In the younger Avesta, the root appears in Yasna 9.25 and Vendidad 9.2, 9.47, 9.52.

Last but not least, Herodotus maintained that the Magá were a hereditary priestly clan among the ancient Zoroastrians. It turns out that the very rare haplogroup I L41 or I-M170 appears in high frequency in Iran, only among some Zoroastrian Iranian priestly families, in the Caspian mountains (the last stronghold of Zoroastrianism in Iran,) and among some isolated group of mountainous Kurds. Otherwise, Haplogroup I, is found almost exclusively today in the Dinaric Alps, and in Northwestern Europe or Scandinavia.

I L41 or I-M170 is a defining SNP for haplogroup I, and contains individuals directly descended from the earliest members of Haplogroup I, bearing none of the subsequent mutations. In other words, it is Proto Old Norse and Proto South Slavic.

Before taking My genetic Natgeo2 test, I thought for sure, that I must definitely belong to haplogroup R1a, the most common haplogroup among ancient Iranians, and many Eastern and some Northern Europeans of today. It turned out that my haplogroup is I L41 or I M170 shared by 0.03 percent of all participants in the Natgeo2 project.

This genetic connection to pagan Europe, strongly suggests more than a close kinship of ideas, but old blood ties among priestly clans of ancient Zoroastrian Iran, and shamans of pagan Europe.

After all, the other common term for priests in the Avesta is āθra.van “Keeper of family hearth or flame.”

 ardeshir

In the poetic gathas, magá as the “masterly and mighty fellowship” of the seer/prophet Zarathustra, appears in the following 8 verses: Yasna 29.11, 2^nd rhymed verse line as magái, Yasna 33.7, 2^nd rhymed verse line as magáûnö, Yasna 46.14, 2^nd rhymed verse line as magái, Yasna 51.11, 3^rd rhymed verse line as magái, Yasna 51.15, 1^st rhymed verse line maga.vabiiö, 51.16, 1^st rhymed verse line as mag.ahiiá, Yasna 53.7 , in the 1^st rhymed verse line as mag.ahiiá and in the 4^th rhymed verse line as magem.

It also comes one time as a verb mi-maghžö, “to be able, empower,” in Yasna 45.10, 1^st rhymed verse line.

In the Vedas Indra is repeatedly called a magavan, “possessing extraordinary abilities/powers, having great mastery.”

Recently I came across a quote from Nikola Tesla stating: “My idea is that the development of life must lead to forms of existence that will be possible without nourishment and which will not be shackled by consequent limitations. Why should a living being not be able to obtain all the energy it needs for the performance of its life functions from the environment, instead of through consumption of food, and transforming, by a complicated process, the energy of chemical combinations into life-sustaining energy?”

It struck me right away, that Tesla’s idea concerning a future body obtaining all its energy from the environment, instead of through consumption of food, existed in Zoroastrianism for few thousand years earlier.

In fact, the idea goes back to the poetic gathas of Zarathustra, Yasna 30.7:

When kingship/dominion (of the god-powers) comes//with brilliant disposition, good mind, and artistry of the cosmic law

To the body kehrp, endless youthful energy ûta.yüitî //shall be given dadát, through the unbending or unshakeable, “focus of mind” ár.maitiš

ah.mái.čá ḵšaθrá jasat//man.aηhá vôhü ašá.čá

 at kehrp.ém ûta.yüitîš//dadát ár.maitiš ãnmá

Also, in Chapter 30 of bûn-dahišn, the subject of the future body and the splendid recreation of the worlds is beautifully discussed. Bûn-dahišn, or “basis/wellspring of creation,” elaborates on many Avestan passages dealing with cosmogony. The book is in Middle Iranian. Only a translation of the Avestan original into Pahlavi “heroic speech” or middle Iranian is given. The Avestan verse is always referred to as what is revealed in daæná or “vision/power to see.” Chapter 30 of bûn-dahišn states:

1. On the nature of the splendid renewal, and future existence, it is told in daæná (Vision/Avestan Revelation,) that Mašiiæ and Mašiiánæ (First Mortal man and woman,) grew up from the earth, and first fed upon water, then plants, then milk, and then meat. 2. Likewise, in the millennium of Ûšidar.máh, the cruel desire (áz) will diminish, when mortals will remain three days and nights full, through one taste of consecrated food. 3. Then they will altogether desist from meat, eating vegetables and milk; afterwards, they will abstain from dairy, and even vegetables, subsisting on water/light alone; and for ten years before Saöšiiánt comes, mortals do not consume food, yet do not die.

ardeshir

The earliest reference to Ahûrá Mazdá in ancient records appears to be in an Assyrian text, probably of the 8th century B.C.E, in which Assara Mazaš, is named in a list of Indo European gods.

The list in which the name Assara Mazaš appears, contains a number of old Aryan divinities, honored in outlying borders of the Assyrian Empire, on the peripheries of the towering Zagros mountains of Western Iran, the ancient homeland of the Medes. Professor Hommel was of the opinion that this Assara Mazaš, is Ahûrá Mazdá the chief god power of Zoroastrianism.

Interestingly, the order of Assara Mazaš corresponds to Ahûrá Mazdá of the Younger Avesta, but in the poetic gathas, or the oldest part of the Avesta, the order is reversed, and appears as Mazdá, Ahûrá.

This strongly suggests that the Zoroastrianism of the Younger Avestan period was firmly established in Western Iran before 8th century BCE, and that the Zoroastrian divinities of the Aryan Medes were well known to the Assyrians at that point in history.

The desire to push the age of Zarathustra to 600 BCE goes back directly to the VERY MISTAKEN identity of Zoroastrianism with the idea of Monotheism. Monotheism without a shadow of doubt goes back to Pharaoh Akhenaten and to ancient Judaism.

To identify Zoroastrianism with biblical monotheism is simply put wishful thinking. Zoroastrianism defines itself as Mazd-yasná “zeal, passion, fervor for Mazdá.” Yasná is a cognate of Greek word zelós and Mazdá is the supreme Ahûrá, chief god of “imagination, inspiring creativity, and mind power.”

While Zeus the chief of the Greek Gods, is a cognate with the Vedic Dyaus, which stems from the Indo-European root *dyeu-, referring to “the bright sky of the day and celestial gods,” the supremacy of Mazdá (Cognate with Greek Muses) derives from the journey and evolution of mind and consciousness.

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

Prophet Zarathustra saw Godhood NOT in superhuman celestials, but in the odyssey of consciousness, the power of spirit/mind to discover and create.”

Ahûrás in Zarathustra’s doctrine are “master artisans of ašá/arthá or the innovative cosmic order.” All the divine entities in the Zoroastrian sacred lore are animated by the creative imagination and evolving mind power that is embodied in Mazdá, who is the essence/wondrous substance of all the Immortal Gods.

There is nothing static or final about any aspects of Godhood in the poetic gathas and Zoroastrianism. Brilliant Immortals each embody the eternal quest for excellence, discovery, and new horizons of mind/consciousness.

Mazdá is the god of ménos “determination, fighting spirit, discovery, will and mind power,” the supreme ahûrá, and the well-spring of all the Immortal Gods, and evolving god-men and women!

I like to conclude by the following verse from the poetic gathas, Yasna 43.10, 2^nd rhymed verse line:

ýé ãn.ménî mazdáv srávî ahûrö

In ménos “fighting spirit, discovery, will and mind power” Mazdá the Mindful Lord, is heard srávî in imperishable glory.

ardeshir

In the Avestan calendar, the first month of autumn is named after Mithrá “friendship with the Immortal Gods. Ahûrá Mazdá, the supreme god of Zoroastrianism, is not a tyrannical despot or a jealous God, and Zoroastrian religiosity is not slavery and submission.

Zoroastrian belief is based on the reciprocal friendship/love mithrá between mortal men and Immortal Gods. Mithrá-, Mitrá– comes from the reconstructed Indo European root *meit-, and is a cognate with Lithuanian mūtō, Latvian mietot, Gothic maidjan, and Vedic metháti (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

Reciprocating our alliance/bond with the Immortals, by fulfilling our divine destiny is the meaning of Mithrá. The sacred fires are called dar-é mehr “door or gateway to mithrá” in Zoroastrianism, ever reminding us of our mutual bonds with, and great obligations towards the brilliant god-powers!

Zoroastrian Worship is not concerned with anxiety, or self-damnation, but with the maturing of man in the face of destiny, which mankind confronts in loving alliance/bond with the Immortals.

Hermann Lommel uses the term “religiosity of this world” to characterize the Zoroastrian religion. “Life in this world”, Lommel says, “offered the ancient Iranians unbounded possibilities for the worship of God”.

Worshipping in Zoroastrianism is stewardship of the environment, for Nature is sacred and Godhood is universally present in Cosmos. Poetic Gathas teach that mortals, as hû-zéñtûš “noble genus,” possess something godly, and as such could claim to approximate to the “Godlike ahü.”

The second and third months of autumn are accordingly named after apa “waters” and áthrá “hearth fire.” It shall also be noted that the most repeated prayers in Zoroastrianism are the Five Niyayishns, or 5 sacred hymns that are addressed to the sun, Mithrá, the moon, waters, and fire.

For in the worship of the sun, the hearth fire and the eternal flames, in the worship of mountain heights, springs, rivers, waters and trees, in the worship of every new dawn, in the worship of the good earth, and the heroic memory of the clan, God is revealed.

The ancient Zoroastrians did not conceive of temples as dwelling places for Gods, Tacitus (Germania, IX) wrote that the Teuton’s idea of the greatness of the deity did not permit them to enclose their Gods within walls. Ahura Mazda’s Creation is the real sacred space for Worship. Lord Byron’s poem best illustrates this belief:

Not vainly did the early Persian make
His altar the high places and the peak
Of earth over gazing mountains, and thus take
A fit and unwalled temple, where to seek
The spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak,
Upreared of human hands. Come, and compare
Columns and idol-dwellings, Goth or Greek,
With nature’s realms of worship, earth and air,
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!

Thus the sacred poetry, worship, and rituals of ancient Zoroastrianism unfolds into a multiplicity of Immortal Gods, always accompanied, however, by a clear recognition that ultimately the many Immortal Gods are only names for the different aspects of Mazdá Ahûrá.

In Zoroastrianism, Universe has a progressive direction/evolution and conscious purpose. Zoroastrianism is more than anything pantheistic, seeing Godhood in the brilliant odyssey of mind/consciousness, greater becoming and the dynamic forces in nature verses stagnation, limitation and gloom of the retarded evil.

Zoroastrian belief is a kind of Pantheist view that is very similar to the Star Wars concept of the force, and to the concept that there is a dynamic spirit of greater becoming found in all things.

ardeshir

The Avestan word for water is áp. Cognates include Old Prussian ape “river,” apus “water, well, spring,” Lithuanian ùpė “water,” Latvian upe “water,” Old Church Slavonic: (vapa), Vedic/Sanskrit āpaḥ, Tocharian āp, Hittite hapa– “river” from reconstructed Proto Indo European root *hâp-, *hap (See Didier Calin.)

Also Old Irish aub, Persian áb “water” comes from the same root.

The word for “fire” in the Avesta is áθar/áthar, also áθarš/átharš, referring to the “fires of altar and hearth.” It comes from reconstructed Proto Indo European *háhtr “hearth or altar fire,” from the root *hahs-“to burn”, and is a cognate of Hittite hâssâ “hearth fire,” (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

The Avestan áthar is related to Czech vatra, Romanian vatrā “fire,” Latin āter “blackened by fire,” atrium “chimney, space over hearth” come from the same root, (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

The Indo-European Imperial power and influence entered the stage of world history with Cyrus, the Great Persian Emperor of the Achaemenid dynasty. Cyrus ruled from 559 to 529 B.C.E, and founded the ancient Persian Empire. His dominion extended from Northern India to the Nile river in Egypt. The Hellenic historian Xenophon, called Cyrus the ideal ruler, and the Persian Achaemenids “brothers and sisters of the same blood” with Hellenes (Aeschylus: The Persians,Verse 185.)

Xenophon’s Cyropaedia offers a glimpse into the character of Cyrus as “the Ideal Ruler and the best form of Government.” Cyropaedia derives from Greek Kúrou paideía (Κύρου παιδεία), and means “The Education of Cyrus.” The book became a model for medieval European writers of the genre known as “mirrors for princes.”

According to the great German philosopher Hegel: the history of Zoroastrian Achaemenid Persia “constitutes strictly the beginning of world history” (p. 174).

The significance of Achaemenid Persians as the “first Historical People” (The Philosophy of History, p. 173) is expressed in the Zoroastrian religious system according to Hegel.

Hegel interprets “Zoroaster’s Light” or the Mazdean light as enabling the individual human being, together with other beings, to achieve freedom to act in as many ways as their natural propensities allow. Hegel traces a replication of the Zoroastrian antithesis between light and darkness in the political organization of the ancient Persian empire: “We find . . . [the Persian empire] consisting of a number of states, which are indeed dependent, but which have retained their own individuality, their manners, and laws . . . As Light illuminates everything—imparting to each object its peculiar vitality—so the Persian Empire extends over a multitude of nations, and leaves to each one its particular character” (p. 187).

The ancient Zoroastrian Persians, as the foremost Indo-Europeans, never forced Ahûrá Mazdá and the Brilliant Immortals on the alien people or nations. The Achaemenids per the strict admonitions of the Avesta avoided mixing up the world, robbing it of its variety/diversity, and creating chaos, (See Avestan Zamyad Yasht and many other ancient Avestan Passages.)

Zoroastrianism in essence, is about thinking in terms of unlimited horizons, and being true to our own soul, innate feelings, passions, rhythms and instincts. Zoroastrianism is and has always been a very private faith, focused on honor, valor, nobility of blood and spirit, and great dedication towards one’s own kin, and kindred-related communities and nations, called xᵛaæt.dáθa and/or xᵛaæt.vadaθa in the Avestan.

Xᵛaæt.daθa or “dedication to one’s own” is a fundamental principle of Zoroastrianism, and appears in the official Zoroastrian creed formula of Yasna 12. The doctrine goes back directly to the poetic gathas of the ancient Aryan prophet, (See Yasna 53.4, 2^nd and 3^rd rhymed verse lines and Yasna 34.12, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

Avestan xᵛaæt is derived from Proto Indo European *swedh-o, Vedic svadhá, Lithuanian savē, “one’s own, self.” The second part daθa implies “dedication, giving,” xᵛaæt.daθa thus means “dedication to one’s own.”

The alternative reading xᵛaæt.vadaθa “to give in marriage to one’s own kin or kindred groups” has an additional element vad “to wed, marry.” The Greek word éthos “inner essence, spirit, ethics” comes from the same root as Avestan xᵛaæt.

Religion in Zoroastrianism is about the “inner essence, spirit and the core of one’s own being.” It is clear that a religiosity arising from such an attitude towards religion as the “true self” or the “real identity” can never be forced upon others or advertised as being for everyone.

The true legacy of ancient Persians was their understanding and respect for the very truth that alien people have their own indigenous religions, fitting their own distinctive temperamental rhythms and cognition. Turning them into Zoroastrians was NEVER even an option for the ancient Persians. However, for closely related peoples, ancient Persians felt that it was entirely up to them to decide whether the luminous essence of the Zoroastrian religiosity was a right fit for them or not.

One realizes to be a Zoroastrian when the “inner self” discovers that the call of his/her soul, flesh and blood, is of the same harmonious vibration as the Zoroastrian or Mazdean light.

The same rule of “individual distinctiveness” applies to Zoroastrian mode/manner of prayer. In the Zoroastrian faith, prayer is offered up in solitude and calm seclusion of the individual worshipper, and is NOT a communal rite.

Ancient Zoroastrian Iranians were very conscious and proud of their own heritage and unique distinction. This confidence in one’s own self and religious instincts, translated into a liberal attitude of “live and let live” in their interactions with other races and nations.

I like to conclude by citing Webster definition of Zeitgeist as “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.” In this day and age Zeitgeist is marked by “secular humanism.”

Unfortunately, ancient history is rewritten based on the dictates of secular humanism and NOT based on facts and truth. Every autumn, the annual celebrations of Cyrus the Great is held at grass roots level by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of present day Iranians. Present day Iranians fondly honor the noble legacy of the Achaemenids, and the pre-isalmic, Aryan identity of ancient Iran during these non-governmental ceremonies.

However, the former crown prince, Mr. Reza Pahlavi, in his 2016 address to celebrants declared that the Achaemenids were the first to mix all nations (????!!!!,) and warned Iranians about the perils of racial fascism verses the ruling religious fascism!!! It is apparent that the former crown prince champions the cause of “western secular humanism,” and NOT the cause of ancient Iranian and Zoroastrian values and virtues.

Truth is that Zoroastrian kingship ended with the noble Sassanid, and all other rulers or contenders to the throne/power in the past thousand years or so, were/are NO real heirs to the great Zoroastrian civilization of the ancient, mountainous land of Iran.

It is noteworthy, that Zoroastrian chronicles are absolutely silent over Cyrus, despite all his greatness and valor. Instead, Darius is honored greatly in our memory. It is so, because Cyrus offered worship to marduk, a devil-god of the alien Babylonians. Cyrus’s reasons were pragmatic and political, but No Zoroastrian may offer worship or homage to any alien devil gods. For religion in Zoroastrianism means our “true self,” and we may never betray our “true self” to alien ideals or gods for any political or pragmatic reasons.

ardeshir