WHO ARE THE ZOROASTRIANS
                                       
   
   
   
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   My ancestors, the Zoroastrians of Iran (pre-Islamic) were members of
   the Indo-European family known as the Aryans. They called themselves
   Zoroastrians because they believed in the teachings of the first Aryan
   prophet, Zarathushtra.
   
   Zarathushtra was the first prophet to preach a monotheistic religion,
   and He was born in Iran about 8000 years BC. He revealed that there
   was only one God, Ahura Mazda and that life in the physical world was
   a battle between good and evil. As per man's actions, he would either
   cross the "Chinvato Peretu" or the sword bridge after death, and reach
   Heaven, or fall from it and go to the abode of the evil one. In the
   final days there would be a battle between good and evil, evil would
   be vanquished and the world would be purified by a bath of molten
   metal. Mazda would then judge the world, resurrecting the dead and His
   Kingdom would be established on earth.
   
   Zarathushtra's songs are called the "Gathas" which linguistically may
   be older than the Indian Vedic scriptures. The Gathas are written in
   an ancient Avestan dialect. This is a sister language to Sanskrit of
   India, and Greek and Latin of the West. The reason is, the common
   ancestors (common to the ancient Iranians, Ancient Indians, Greeks,
   and Europeans) were one and the same - the Indo-European or Aryan
   peoples.
   
   Surprisingly, many so-called Christian concepts actually were derived
   from Zoroastrian Aryan ideas which thrived in Iran for thousands of
   years until the Arab invasion of Iran around 1300 years ago. Concepts
   such as heaven and hell, God and the evil adversary ahriman, the
   coming of the Saviour or Saoshyant born of a virgin, the end-time
   purge of the world by Fire followed by the resurrection of the dead
   (Ristakhiz), the making fresh of the world (Frashogard) and the
   final battle between good and evil leading to the final defeat of
   evil. These beliefs filtered down to Judaism during the reign of King
   Khushru (Cyrus) of Iran.
   
   Although proud to be Aryans, Zoroastrians also believe that all races
   in the world are created by God and are equal - a true sign of the
   real ancient Aryan's nobility and tolerance. Cyrus, King of Iran who
   was an Aryan rebuilt the temple of the Jews after freeing the Jews
   from Babylon - for this, he is still remembered by the Jews and called
   the "Anointed of the Lord" in the Bible. The Jews still celebrate that
   act of the true Aryans in a festival. Many Jews then stayed in Iran
   under Cyrus and his successors such as Darayus, as equal subjects
   under the King. Books of the Bible written after this stay have taken
   all these Zoroastrian concepts, from there they came to Christianity
   and other religions. There are scholars who consider Zoroastrianism as
   such to be the mother religion of the present day world's faiths.
   
   In fact the edict of Cyrus proclaiming equality for all his subjects
   is enshrined in the United Nations today. The original Aryans were
   realy multicultural and tolerant of all races! So, it is probable that
   the Jews were influenced by the Zoroastrian faith of Iran in those
   days - and took on the concepts of heaven/hell, God's evil adversary,
   the resurrection and the final purification of the world - the virgin
   birth, the Saviour etc., all these concepts being Zoroastrian. There
   are other similarities too - certain purificatory observances such as
   the impurity of menstruation etc. are found in both faiths. Indeed,
   the very idea of the Messiah, and the very concept of Jesus could be
   Zoroastrian in origin.
   
   Zarathushtra's religion was the prominent one in Iran until the
   conquest by the Arabs, around 1300 years ago, who converted Iran to
   Islam. To preserve the Zoroastrian faith, this most ancient of faiths,
   indeed the "mother" faith of all mankind, a band of the
   Zarathushtrians sailed by boat to India about 1300 years ago, and
   settled in India where they were called the Parsees (from "Pars" ie.
   Iran). I am a descendant of these migrants. Rare as diamonds are, we
   number 100,000 or so in the world today.
   
   We keep the holy FIRE in our temple as the symbol of Ahura Mazda, and
   our priests feed the fire with sandalwood and cedar and intone the
   ancient sacred Mathras (verses of praise) in the ancient Aryan Avestan
   language. The Mathric incantations have incredible divine potent
   power, a power used to fight evil. We also revere the elements of God
   such as water, earth, wind, and the creations of God such as the Sun,
   moon and stars. We wear the sacred Aryan girdle or the
   "Aiwiyaonghanem" around our waists, a sign of our ancient Aryan
   lineage and religion, and the white "Sudreh" as a garment.
   
   My real name is "Pourashpa", an Avestan Indo-European name meaning
   "Owner of Grey Horses", horses signifying spiritual wisdom. As per the
   ancient custom, it should be always mentioned with my father's name
   ie. Pourashpa Puthra (son of) Hormuzd (my father's name). The ancient
   Avestan Pourashpa does have a mystical meaning because we believe the
   entire language itself, and its pronunciation (our ancient prayers the
   Gathas are in Avestan, these are the songs of Zarathushtra) itself has
   a powerful mystical effect in the fight against evil.
   
   
   
   The Link between Zoroastrian & Germanic mythology:
   
   
   
   Recently I read a book on "Runes" by D. Jason Cooper. In this book,
   Cooper suggests a close link between Pre-christian Germanic mythology
   and Zoroastrian mythology. He says that the Germanic peoples had
   travelled from Iran and India, and had kept some myths they had known
   before travelling, aspects of Indo-European thought seen in the
   Rig-Veda and the Gathas. As examples: German mythology says the doom
   of the world will come after 3 winters with no summer in between, then
   the fires of "Muspell" would sweep the world. In Zoroastrian mythology
   the final battle between good and evil will take place after 3 years
   of winter with no summer in between. Then a river of molten metal
   would sweep the earth, purifying the righteous as a bath of warm milk
   and scalding the evil, purifying them too.
   
   Also, in both mythologies, two necessarily antagonistic forces (good
   and evil) and their contention has brought the material universe into
   being, in both cases a sacred cow is involved, in both cases the death
   of a sexless giant is involved (the first man, GayoMaretan in
   Zoroastianism). In both cases, the forces of good and evil will
   contend till the final days. Evil or chaotic forces are contained
   underground in both cases. Nails are considered a help to evil forces
   in both. (Loki and his ship of nails of dead men). Cooper also says
   that Germanic mythology as we now have it is a late corruption of the
   original, Ragnarok was originally a purification after which the world
   was restored to its pristine state. Only later it became the
   destruction of all Gods but a few. Not so in the Zoroastrian case.
   
   I was once surprised to read a book by a German author, written in the
   early 1900s, on German shepherd dogs which at the very outset quoted
   the "Vendidad", particularly passages in this ancient book which
   described the creation of the faithful Dog by Ahura Mazda (God)
   Himself. That showed the popularity of the Vendidad in Germany to me
   at that time. I also like to mention here that Edgar Cayce the
   "sleeping" prophet of the USA, the famous clairvoyant once mentioned
   that Iran was the ancient site of the "Garden of Eden". A most
   interesting thing to say, perhaps indicating the very ancient culture
   of old Iran. Please write to me if you have any questions on this
   ancient religion of the Aryans, called Zoroastrianism.
   
   Your friend,
   
   Porus Homi Havewala.
   
   Porushh@zip.com.au
   
   
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