Zoaroster

In the beginning, as Ahriman attempts to kill Ahura Mazda, he is stopped and pulled away. Both of the Gods agree to a period of peace that will last 9,000 years. During the first three thousand years Ahura Mazda creates angels, good spirits and Fravashis. These Fravashis are the original heavenly images of men living in the upper world. During the next three thousand years the Fravashis come down to earth. There they lea

The main source for the teachings of Zoroaster is the Avesta. These are the only writings, which come directly from Zoroaster and are written as if spoken to him by God Himself. Due to the fact that the Iranians couldn't write, all this information was passed down orally; this, in part, led to the eventual loss of this material. Around the fifth century an Avestan alphabet was created for this purpose of saving Zoroaster’s teachings. These documents date back to 1323.

The Khorda, or Little Avesta, is a book of common prayers. Each Khorda had the same prayers but in different orders. They were previously memorized and only said by priests, but now, because they are printed, are said by everyone. The Great Avesta is grouped into twenty-one nasks, or books. They were last written in the sixth century and contain all the previous works and much more. They included the life and legends about the prophet, the religious doctrine, the end of days, law, creation of the world and science. These were placed in all the temples, but during the Islamic period all the temples were destroyed and not a copy remains. A book, the Denkard, has a detailed summary of these works in Pahlavi and it seems that the Extended Avesta took a quarter of the whole canon.

Into the twentieth century the writings decrease and it shows a greater influence by the Muslims. The Iranian tribes left the steppes where they had been previously living and conquered and moved into modern-day Iran. The eastern Iranians brought the Zoroastrian faith to the western Iranians, the Meads and the Persians. It became the religion of the Achaemenian Empire. The Avestan writings, however, remained in the eastern dialect. Alexander slaughtered many of the Zoroastrian priests thereby also harming the transmission of the texts.

After the fall of this Persia was converted to Islam. About fourteen thousand remain in Iran today. The others either converted or moved to India, where different religions were more tolerated. The Zoroastrians there are called Parsees and most live around Bombay. They number about 150,000. They have greatly prospered and probably owe this to their honesty and generosity. Ethics Zoroaster based his concept of good and evil on the things that happened to be good and bad for the people of his time. Animals that were used for cattle bearing were considered good and created by Ahura Mazda. On the other hand, Ahriman created animals that were harmful to cattle. Large families were praised and any attempt to stop sex from having children was forbidden.

Zoroaster’s teachings is an inspired ideology which is based upon three beliefs: there is a battle between good and evil; there will be an end to the world together with a final divine judgment and the purification of earth; and there is a paradise, a perfect society in heaven. These ideas have had far reaching effects upon other religions and people. Zoroastrianism has brought a concept of a sense of the religious meaning of history along with a stronger monotheism and ethics. It has removed the religious identification with nature and states of consciousness. There are those that belief that the Ancient Hebrews only adopted the concepts of a resurrection of the dead, an end to the world and a final judgment once they came into contact with the Zoroastrians. All of these ideas are important to the Jews, Christians and Muslims today. We can all see how far reaching and important the Zoroastrian religion has been on the evolution of the important religions out of which most modern civilizations have evolved.

The only reason that the Pahlavi survived is because they were used extensively and therefore known by heart and also because priests made copies of them

Some topics in this essay:
Ahura Mazda, Chinvat Peretu, Death Cadavers, Avesta Zand, Persian Rivayats, Due Iranians, Little Avesta, BC Zoroastrianism, Empire Avestan, Avesta Yashts, ahura mazda, zoroastrian religion, zoroaster’s teachings, world final, extended avesta, evil world, persia converted, writings simply, resurrection dead, written pahlavi,