Basic ideas of Zoroastrianism

The sacred book of Zoroastrianism is the AVESTA (literally "the first news", "the first news"), which is now recognized as the oldest book of mankind. The AVESTA texts include the following sections:

• Yasna (includes Gathas)
• Visparad
• Videvdad (Vendidad)
• Kordeh Avesta
• Yashts.

The first three texts are used for reading and prayer in Zoroastrian rituals. The last two are made up of daily prayers.

AVESTA claims that any soul created by the Creator to manifest and reveal its Divine essence goes through a huge number of incarnations (births) during the million-year cycles of development of the Metagalaxy, improving from life to life. According to the teachings of the Avesta, man is like God the Creator in everything. One of the main properties of the Creator is freedom of choice. Man is also endowed with freedom of choice. The most important manifestation of a person's freedom of choice lies in the possibility of a conscious choice between good and evil. A person makes this choice every minute, every second, voluntarily and consciously taking the side of the forces of Light or Darkness.

In the traditional understanding of Zoroastrianism, there is only one God - Ahura Mazda - to whom humanity should send its requests, petitions and gratitude. The name Ahura Mazda means "Wise Lord." The concept of God means - the Self-existing Omniscient Lord, the father of all existing things, merciful and merciful. He is recognized as the sole creator and absolute ruler of the World. Ahura is lord and Mazda is all-knowing.

Ahura Mazda - the creator of the spiritual and material worlds, and all the creatures there, he created Ash - the Immutable Law, on the basis of which all Spiritual creatures were born. Further, on the basis of Ash, Spenta Mainyu was created - the Spirit of Light, Beauty, the idea of ​​all forms. All creatures exist according to these Immutable Laws. Laws work in the entire Cosmos, in the physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Zoroastrianism has a cosmic character. ASHA - Cosmic Law. Vahishta Mahan - Cosmic Consciousness that observes cosmic law. Vohu Mahan - The Consciousness of Humanity, which can achieve cosmic knowledge. Mazda - Cosmic Wisdom, which opens when we merge with the Cosmos.

The Creator never intervenes to change the operation of the Laws. He is the most beneficent Spirit, and the most Spiritual among the Spirits. He is full of Light, Shine, and Glory. By the power of His thought, He first filled the Spiritual realms with Light. The sparkling sun, the brightest Light we see, appears as the most beautiful symbol of the Creator. And the red, sparkling fire is the “son”, or the representative of Ahura Mazda on Earth. He cannot be deceived. He observes all his creations with a sharp, piercing gaze. He perceives thoughts, words, deeds - which were and will be created by people in their lives. Ahura Mazda is the only Supreme Judge of man's actions. He is kind, forgiving and understanding. He helps a person, as his friend and brother, if he leads a just life.

God - personifies the forces of good. Where did evil come from?

Avesta contains the doctrine of the manifestation of good and evil in three eras - the Era of Creation, the Era of Confusion and the Era of Separation. The universe was created several billion years ago by Ahura Mazda, first in an unembodied form, in the form of an idea (this is the world of menog). This happened in the first era - Creation. There was no real evil in this world, there was a fundamental possibility of the appearance of evil. When, by the will of Ahura Mazda, the process of transition from the world of the unmanifested (the Era of Mixing), unincarnated to the manifested, incarnated state (the world created in the physical body is called getig) began, the evil spirit Angra Mainyu invaded the world and began its destruction. Evil appeared as a result of the misuse of the real right to choose. The harbinger of the Age of Separation was the prophet Zoroaster. The Age of Separation began during the Age of Aquarius.

Evil manifests itself in three forms: menog (unmanifested spirit), getig (manifested, physical) and ritag (soul, connection between the upper and lower worlds). The world of the spirit, non-embodied, the world of menog corresponds to the spirit of Angra Mainyu (the supreme principle of evil and the stealer of light), the world of getig - manifested, physical - corresponds to the demoness Az (Aza - fear), and, finally, to the world of the soul ritag, which makes a connection between the manifested and unmanifested - corresponds to the demoness Druj (lie). Evil manifests itself through the totality of evil thoughts, evil words and deeds.

You can resist the forces of evil with two swords - knowledge about how the world works, about the manifestation of evil (against lies) and strength (spiritual and physical - against fear). Both are important. But the most important thing that will not allow evil to penetrate a person is faith. Faith is what allows a person to feel his unity with the Creator, refusing to oppose himself to the integral world. If a person has faith, then he will not make a spiritual choice towards evil, evil will not be able to enter him.

So man is born and dies many times. In Zoroastrianism, it is believed that the life of a person, which he goes through, is work - a choice between good and evil. A person is born again, because in past lives he could make the wrong choice, thereby violating the original harmony of the world. Even at the very beginning of the Age of Confusion, evil was closed in on itself in order to prevent its spread. And a person got into this wheel of Shanshar (or Samsara). A person can overcome evil in a closed world and restore the lost harmony by making a choice in the direction of good. In earthly life, there are maximum opportunities for this, since all three hypostases of a person are manifested here - spirit, soul and body, the earthly world is the most complete. Here is the maximum possibility of transforming the world.

The concept of karma is closely related to the concept of multiple incarnations. Karma is the sum of actions committed by a person, which determines the nature of the next incarnation. In the Zoroastrian understanding of karma (zarma), its occurrence implies the initial defilement (wrong choice) of a person, as well as the ability of each person to actively influence his karma, working it out. The concept of karma also includes the gradual isolation of one's consciousness from the general circle and the simultaneous entry into the general stream.

The concept of karma here is the concept of a person's path. Not only a person has karma, but also any developing organism. The clan, the people, the doctrine, the state, and so on have karma. The karma of the family, the people is also superimposed on the karma of a person. The ultimate goal of all incarnations is to realize one's unity with the Creator, to get closer to God, to develop the qualities of the Creator, since everyone was originally created in the image of God the Creator.

In Zoroastrianism, a person's fulfillment of an individual program determined by a past life can be carried out at three levels. The lowest level is a departure from goodness, the path of desecration, aggravation and deterioration of the situation. At an average level, a person works off his karmic debts just as he earns new ones. At the highest level, the most difficult one, an active choice of a person in the direction of good, the development of a person's creative abilities, and a constant struggle against evil are assumed.

Man is the most gifted of God's creatures. He was entrusted with the control of other bodily creatures, with the help of his thought and speech. Zoroastrianism exalts the role of man in the world, makes him not a servant of God, but an associate of Ahura Mazda, his assistant. Each person is responsible not only for himself, but also lives in order to help Ahura Mazda cope with evil spirits - devas. Man was created for a purpose and to fulfill a mission. It is with the active participation of man that divine beings will be able to realize Frashokereti - the Resurrection of the world. In order to help man fulfill his divine purpose, he was gifted with several abilities.

Man was made up of nine components, of which three are physical, three are semi-spiritual, and three are spiritual.

Three physical components: Tanu (sheath, hair, nails, muscles, tissue, blood), Gaeta (organs like eyes, heart and lungs) and Azdi (skeleton).

Three semi-spiritual components: Kehrpa - the astral form of the body. Ushtan: Life, warmth and energy of the body, conveying vitality. Tevishi: This is a body made up of desires, feelings and emotions.

All creatures have the Astral form of Kehrpa. All superphysical and spiritual activities are connected with it. Khvarenang (divine energy) and divine centers (chakras) are contained in it. Baodh and Ravan are also located in Kehrpa. It is the body that moves during daydreaming and astral travel, independent of the physical body. This is the place where protection and protection, approved by mantras and prayers, operates. Kehrpa also has a tendency to attract good and bad elements from nature.

The Kushti ritual purifies Kehrpa. The ritual of Kushti (Kasti) is performed at a specific time and after / before certain actions (on the rise, before eating, praying, when visiting the Sacred Fire, after the toilet, bath).

Physically, heat is formed by the process of interaction between the oxygen of the inhaled air and the carbohydrates of the food consumed, with its entry into the blood. The health of the body depends entirely on its Ushtan.

Tevishi: This is a body made up of desires, feelings and emotions.

Three spiritual components: Baodh, Urvan - Soul, and Fravashis: angelic Spirits.

Baodh: The Divine Intelligence that governs the conditioned and unconditioned functions of the body. It includes the work of the intellect at various levels like:

• Thinking that controls unconscious reflex actions. The instinctive reactions of the brain that govern the nervous system and the unconditional functions of the body like breathing and sweating.
• Thinking responsible for imitation, which is most evident in childhood.
• Thinking that allows you to reason, establish a connection between cause and effect, get logical conclusions, realize the moral and ethical aspects of actions.
• The highest type of thinking, which endows human consciousness with the ability to understand high Truths.

• Baodh also receives impulses from the Fravashis and brings them to higher consciousness. In the Avesta, death is described as the separation of Baodh and the physical body. Along with the soul, Baodh is present during the Judgment, which determines the place of a person after death.

Among animals, only the dog has a developed Baodh (Vendidad. 13.50). It is a known fact that animals do not have intelligence, that is, the power of comparison and understanding. However, they possess the first two types of thinking, that is, they reflect instincts and imitative thinking, therefore, Baodh is present in them in this form.