Many religions have sacred books: the Jews have the Torah, the Christians have the Bible. Muslims revere the Koran, Buddhists - Tripitaka, Hindus generally have a whole library of sacred literature. And for the Zoroastrians, this is the Avesta.
A brief explanation of the essence of Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism - the oldest of the monotheistic prophetic religions, still exists.
Translated as "Good Faith".
Zoroastrians are mistakenly called fire worshipers. In fact, this is not so: fire in the Zoroastrian tradition is the key element - this is the "portrait" of Ahura Mazda.
Zoroastrians do not worship fire as a god, but endlessly revere it as a source of light and heat, as well as a symbol of purification and self-purification. The fact is that any other element capable of self-purification cannot be renewed in a matter of moments; time must pass for the water, earth or air to be purified. And the fire can both purify and purify itself in an extremely short time.
They also do not consider the sun their god, the sun -this is the eye of Ahura Mazda.
Ahura (Lord) Mazda (Wise), or Ohrimazd - the Creator of the World, the supreme deity of the Aryans in the Zoroastrian cosmogony.
Our world is a training ground for the struggle between Good and Evil
Ahura Mazda is the embodiment of goodness, justice, truth and other positive qualities.
His opponent is called Ahriman, or Angra Mainyu - the embodiment and primary source of absolute evil, the god of darkness and death.
He is the twin brother of Ahura Mazda, and twins, even in simple real life, almost always oppose each other.
But in our history, the confrontation is serious: the whole world is at stake.
The deity Ahura Mazda created our world, people, animals, birds, fish and insects, plants, mountains, water, earth, air and fire. He endowed people with free will - this is an important aspect - and called them to help in the fight against Evil. Useful animals, which in Zoroastrianism are called good, are also connected to this struggle on the side of Ahura Mazda.
Ahriman, in turn, created disease, hunger, darkness, death. He created poisonous plants, snakes, rodents, harmful insects and other harmful representatives of the fauna to help him in the war against the Good. He also took advantage of the fact that people were created with free will, and tried in every possible way to pull a person to his side.
In the embodied world, Ahriman has no power - neither spiritual nor physical. He can't do anything himself.
And it is none other than people who are endowed with power that endows the god of darknessfree will and can do as they please.
The main struggle between Good and Evil is within us
Thought a bad thought, said a bad word, did an evil deed - rendered a service to Ahriman.
People, thanks to free will, act both on the side of Light and on the side of Darkness, performing certain actions that begin with thoughts.
If a person lives righteously, he cleanses this world of darkness, casts out evil from the planet with the help of goodness, truth and justice. This principle works in the same way in the opposite direction: if a person does not live by the truth, commits evil, he gives evil energy to Ahriman, who begins to win on this battlefield.
Zoroastrians call themselves the word "hamkar" - an employee. All people on the planet are employees of either Ahura Mazda or Ahriman at different points in their lives. Representatives of Zoroastrianism serve Ahura Mazda in the name of order in this world, key moral precepts: good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
As a result, according to the Avesta, the forces of Good will win.
Heaven and Hell exist in Zoroastrianism
After death, the soul of a person wanders, then comes to the Chinvat Bridge, where he will be judged by his deeds, after which the dead person's own soul will appear to him and lead him to where the judges decided: to Heaven or Hell.
In Paradise, heavenly bliss awaits the soul, and in Hell, visiting Ahriman, hellish torment awaits the soul of the wicked.
Avesta - what is it
Avesta is sacred scripture,written in Aryan. Modern scientists call this language Avestan or Gathic - from the word "Gats". The Gathas are hymns written by Zoroaster himself.
Avesta consists of 21 nasks (parts), that is how many words the main prayer formula of Ahuna Vairya contains. Ahura Mazda personally dictated this formula to Zarathushtra, telling that he had uttered it even before the incarnation of our world, and thanks to this formula he threw Ahriman, bound him and plunged him into darkness for three thousand years.
There are only 21 words in the prayer, but to explain this prayer formula, a whole chapter was written with explanations and comments.
The meaning of the word "Avesta": the response of the gods, clear unified prescriptions.
The first seven parts contain prayer and theological texts, gaty-hymns, the content of which is the glorification and praise of the Creator of the World Ahura Mazda, the establishment of law and order, and they also tell about the origin of the world and humanity.
The following seven parts describe astronomy, history (by the way, the Avesta is still an important historical document), medicine and all kinds of rituals.
The last seven parts include a description of the laws of ethics and human existence in society. The modern constitutions of many countries owe their existence to the Avesta, it was in it that human rights were first written.
The sacred texts mention the equality of men and women. Moreover, good animals are also equated with humans: after all, they, on an equal footing with humans, are fighting for the spread of goodness and the deprivation of evil energy. Ahrimana.
Zarathushtra dictated the first texts of the Holy Scriptures to his students, later they were passed on by the priests by word of mouth, on the basis of these records the Avesta was compiled.
In the III century BC, the sacred Avestan alphabet was compiled, thanks to which the holy book Avesta was edited for the last time.
The Avesta acquired its final canonical form by the 6th century AD.
Some parts of the Avesta were destroyed by Alexander the Great during the Persian campaign. The golden ink with which the text was written on specially dressed oxhides (of which there were more than 20,000 pieces) was simply melted down. People in Iran still don't like Macedonian, they call him "damned Iskander".
Later all these lyrics were recreated.
In our time, the Avesta is a sacred book that is honored by Zoroastrians living on the planet, and for other people it is a monument of common literary heritage.
The Avesta Museum is located in the city of Khiva in Uzbekistan.
Zoroastrianism attaches great importance to the knowledge of the Avesta.
Avesta in Europe
On the European continent, the texts of the Avesta appeared in the 18th century thanks to the French orientalist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron.
The scientist enlisted in an expedition that went to India, where he made friends with the Zoroastrian priests. For 13 years, Duperron studied the Avestan language and the sacred texts of the Avesta, all this was taught by his priest friends.
Zarathushtra and his religion
The prophet of Ahura Mazda and the founder of Zoroastrianism Zarathushtra Spitama was born in the east of Greater Iran in a family of nomads.
The exact date of the birth of the prophet is unknown, but scientists believe that the birth of Zoroaster fell on the period from the 6th to the 5th century BC.
In those days Zarathushtra's compatriots worshiped the gods of fire Agni, water Varuna, wind Vayu and many others. Therefore, the boy grew up in a pagan environment, at the age of 7 he joined the religion of his people, at the age of 15 he even became a priest thanks to his poetic gift: he composed beautiful hymns and other chants for pagan rites.
When Zarathushtra was 20 years old, he decided to become a hermit and went to wander around different villages in search of wisdom and divine revelation.
He who seeks will always find, and after 10 years of wandering he had a revelation. Once, on a warm spring morning, Zarathushtra went to the river to draw water in order to prepare a ritual drink called haoma with its help.
Taking water, Zarathushtra set off on his way back, when he suddenly saw something that surprised him. It was a radiant figure that beckoned him to follow. The man went after the figure, and she led him to six other similar figures, among which was Ahura Mazda himself.
Zarathushtra met Ahura Mazda several times. During these meetings, Zarathushtra had to go through 3 tough tests, after which Ahura Mazda became convinced that this person could be trusted, and opened divine revelations to him, answered all kinds ofquestions, dictated texts for the Avesta.
Zarathushtra's compatriots initially accepted the fundamentally new teaching with hostility, the prophet began to be persecuted, and he had to leave his native land.
After 10 years of wandering, Zarathushtra was finally favorably received by King Vishtaspa, who was inspired by the new teaching.
Zarathushtra acquired the official status of the country's religious teacher, honors and respect from the inhabitants of that region.
The Prophet was married three times, from these marriages he had six children. One of the sons of the prophet became the high priest of Zoroastrianism.
Zarathushtra lived 77 years, he foresaw his death and began to prepare for it in 40 days, spending these days in prayers and performing rituals.
After the death of the prophet, the religion founded by him not only continued to exist, but strengthened and spread throughout the countries of the Middle and Near East, as well as in several countries of Hindustan.
Zoroastrianism acquired the status of the state religion in the 3rd century AD.
Zoroastrianism in recent history
In our time, this religion is no longer so common, it was replaced by other religions, but about 138,000 officially registered Zoroastrians live on Earth. There are Zoroastrian communities in Russia, as well as in the CIS, they, like everyone else, revere the Avesta. What does this word mean for the Slavs? "A-vesta" - the first message.
Happiness to those who wish happiness to others is the main moral rule of the Zoroastrians.
