SHRINE
PARSEES
RELIGIOUS SYSTEM OF THE PARSEES
Jinanji Jamshodji Modi
Taken from
RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD
1892
Zorasterianism or Parseeism is a mononthestic form
of religion.
It believes in the existence of one God, whom it
knows under the names of Mazde, Ahura, and Ahura-Mazde,
the last name being the most common in the latter writings of the Avesta.
THE FIRST GREAT TRUTH
The first
and the greatest truth that dawns upon the mind
of a Zoroasterian is the great and the infinite
universe, of which he is an infinitesimally small
part. This is the work of a powerful hand - the result
of a master mind.
The greatest concept of that master
mind, Ahura-Mazda, is that
he is the Omniscient Lord. He is the
ruler of both the material and the immaterial world,
the corporeal and the incorporeal world, the visible
and the invisible world.
The regular movements of the sun and the stars,
the waxing and waning of the moon, the
way in which the sun and the clouds are
sustained, the flow of waters and the
growth of vegetation, the movements of the
winds and the succession of light and darkness,
of day and night, with sleep
and wakefulness, all these striking phenomena
of nature bear evidence of the
existence of an almighty power who's not only the
creator, but the preserver of this great universe,
who hasn't only launched that universe into existence, but who preserves
by laws harmony and order here, there,
and everywhere.
Ahura-Mazda is the ruler of the physical world and the ruler of the spiritual world.
His attributes are good mind, right
consciousness, self control, piety, perfection,
and immortality. He's the Beneficent Spirit from
whom emanates all good and all piety. He looks into
the hearts of men and thus rewards the virtuous
and punishes the vicious. At
times one sees imoral disorders, but this state
is only a very small part of His
scheme of moral government. As the ruler of the
world, Ahura-Mazda hears the thoughts, pious in
words, and pious in deeds. "He not only rewards
the good, but punishes the wicked. All that is created,
good or evil, fortune or misfortune, is His work."
TWO HOSTILE PRINCIPLES
According to Zoroaster's philosophy our world is
the work of two hostile principles, Spenta-mainyush,
the good principle, and Angro-mainyush, the evil
principle, both serving under one God.
In the words of that learned Orientalist, Professor
Darmestetter, "All that is good in the world
comes from the former; all that is bad in it comes
from the latter."
The history of the world is the history of their conflict;
how Angro-mainyu invaded the world of Ahura-Mazda
and marred it, and how he shall be expelled from it
at last. Man is active in the conflict, his duty in
it being laid before him in the law revealed by Ahura-Mazda
to Zarathushtra. When the appointed time is come,
Angro-mainyu and hell will be destroyed, men will
rise from the dead and everlasting happiness will
reign over the world."
MORALITY
The fifth chapter of the Vendidad gives a short definition of what is morality
or piety.
"Purity
is the best thing for man after birth." This
you may say is the motto of the Zoroastrian religion.
"The preservation of good thoughts,
words, and deeds is piety."
In these pithy words is summed up, so to say, the
whole of the moral philosophy of the Zoroastrian
scriptures. It says that if you want to lead a pious
and moral life, and show a clear bill of
spiritual health to Meher Daver, who watches the
gates of heaven at the Chinvat bridge, practice
these three: Think of nothing but the truth, speak
nothing but the truth, and do nothing but what is
proper.
Your good thoughts, good deeds, and
good words alone will be your intercessors. Nothing
more will be wanted.
They alone will serve as a safe pilot to the
harbor of heaven, as a safe guide to the gates of
paradise.
In the following dialogue in the Pehelve Padnameh
of Buzurge-Meher shows in a succinct form what weight
is attached to these three pithy words in the moral
code of the Zoroastrians:
Question: - Who's the most fortunate man? Answer - He who's the most innocent. Question
- Who's the most innocent man in the world? Answer
- He who walks in the path of God and shuns that
of the devil. Question - Which is the path of God
and which that of the devil? Answer - Virtue is
the path of God, and vice that of the devil. Question
- What constitutes virtue, and what vice? Answer
- Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds constitute
virtue, and evil thoughts, evil words, and evil
deeds constitute vice. Question - What constitutes
good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, and evil
thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds? Answer - Honesty,
charity, and truthfulness constitute the former,
and dishonesty, want of charity, and falsehood constitute
the latter.
From this dialogue it will be seen that one who
acquires good thoughts, good words, and good deeds,
and thereby practices honesty, charity, and truthfulness,
is considered to walk in the path of God, and therefore
to be the most innocent and fortunate.
Zoroasterianism believes in the immortality of
the soul.
The Avesta writings of Hadokht Nushk, and the nineteenth
chapter of the Vednidad, and of the Pehelve books
of Minokherad and Viraf-nameh treat of the fate
of the soul after death. Its notions about heaven
and hell correspond, to some extent, to the Christian
notions about them.
ZOROASTRIAN WORSHIP
The Parsee places of worship are known as fire
temples.
The very name fire temple, would strike a non-Zoroastrian
as an unusual form of worship. The Parsees don't
worship fire as God. They merely regard fire as
an emblem of refulgence, glory and light, as the
most perfect symbol of God, and as the best and
noblest representative of His divinity. "In
the eyes of a Parsee his (fire's) brightness, activity,
purity, and incorruptibility bear the most perfect
resemblance to the nature and perfection of the
Deity on account of its purity, brightness, activity,
subtilty, purity and incorruptibility."
Several
symbolic ceremonies add to the reverence for the fire burning in his fire temples.
Prayers are performed
over it, before it is installed in its place on
a vase on an exalted stand in the chamber set apart.
The sacred fire burning isn't the same as the ordinary
fire burning on our hearths. It's undergone several
ceremonies, and it's these ceremonies, full of
meaning, that renders the fire more sacred in the
eyes of a Parsee.
PRAYERS
All Parsee prayers begin with an assurance to do
acts that would please the Almighty.
The is followed by an expression of regret
for past evil thoughts, words, or deeds.
Man is liable to err, and so, if during the interval
any errors of commission or omission are committed,
in the beginning of his prayers, a Parsee repents
for those errors. He says: "O, Omniscient Lord!
I repent of my sins. I repent of evil thoughts
that I've entertained in my mind, of evil
words I might have spoken, of the faults that
might have originated with me, whether they be thoughts, words, or deeds; whether they refer
to my body or soul' whether in connection
with the material world or spiritual."
THE COMMUNITY
Before praying for himself, a Parsee prays for
his sovereigns and his community, for he's
part of the community.
His religious precepts, teach him to drown his individuality
in the common interests of his community. He's
to consider himself as part and parcel of the
community. The good of the whole will be the
good of the parts. In
the twelfth chapter of the Yasna, which contain,
as it were, Zoroastrian articles of faith, a Zoroastrian
promises to preserve a perfect brotherhood. He promises,
even at the risk of his life, to protect the life
and the property of all members of his community,
and help in the cause that would bring about
their prosperity and welfare. It's with these good
feelings of brotherhood and charity that the Parsee
community has endowed large funds for benevolent
and charitable purposes. It is these notions of charity and brotherhood
that have urged them to start public funds for the
general good of the whole community.
