Zoroastrianism

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The seven principles of the human constitution are clearly mentioned inYasna , LIV, I: "Bodies together with bones, vital power and form, strength and consciousness, soul and Fravarshi". [Op cit, Translated by Prof Spiegel, p 120]. The first three are dense and etheric bodies with Prãna; strength is Kãma, consciousness is Manas, Urvan, translated soul, is Buddhi, and Fravarshi is Âtma. "Every being of the good creation, whether living or deceased or still born, has its own Fravarshi," says Dr. Haug. [Essays on the Parsis, p 206]. But this hardly gives the full idea of the word, as it is expounded in theFravardin Yasht , in which Ahura-Mazdão declares that everything good is maintained by their splendour and glory. They are called the strong guardian-angels of the righteous," and evidently represent the Âtmã, and in many cases the Âtmã when Manas and Buddhi have been merged in it.

After death, the soul passes into the intermediate world, " the time-worn paths which are for the wicked and which are for the righteous," [Vendidad, Fargard, xix, 29,Essays on the Parsis, p 225] spoken of by Ahura-Mazdão as " the frightful, deadly, destructive path which is the separation of the body and soul, [Hadokht Nask, Yt xxii, 17 Ibid p 222] Kãmaloka. The soul of the righteous meets a beautiful maiden, the embodiment of his good thoughts, goods words and good deeds; he crosses the "bridge of judge " safely, and reaches heaven. But the soul of the wicked meets a hideous hag, the embodiment of his evil thoughts, evil words and evil deeds, and he fails to cross the bridge and falls into fire.

Again much is left untold, much is too briefly, too baldly, described; yet enough has been said to justify the occultist when he bears witness to this ancient religion, the second of the Fifth Race religions, that it springs from the primeval source, that its Prophet was one of the Divine Initiates, that it comes down from the past, millennium after millennium, and is but poorly represented by the comparatively materialized Zoroastrianism of to-day. The study of its Scriptures might revive it; the old knowledge might again be breathed into it; these concessions to European criticism and European materialism might be repudiated by every Zoroastrian as no part of his ancient, of his glorious faith. O my Parsî brothers! your Prophet is not dead. He is not perished: He is watching over the religion that He founded: ever seeking to raise it from its present degradation, to give it back its lost knowledge, its lost powers. What nobler work for the Zoroastrian of to-day than to permeate his brethren with the ancient fire, to relight its blaze on the spiritual altar of their hearts ? What nobler work than to study his own Scriptures, and to go forth and teach the ancient learning with the authority and power that can only be wielded by a man of the same faith with those he addresses. The Fire is not dead; it is only smoldering on its ancient altars; white-hot are the ashes, ready to reburst into flames. And I dream of a day when the breath of the great Prophet Zarathushtra shall sweep again through His temples,fanning the ashes on the altars of those ancient fanes, and every altar shall flash into fire, and again from heaven the answering flames shall fall, making the Iranian religion once more what it ought to be, a beacon light for the souls of men, one of the greatest religions of the world.