Zarathustra and the Fire of Ahura Mazda
1500 BC± (Greek: Zoroaster, meaning "golden light")
Each era chooses its new, corresponding Teaching, when all previous Teachings have become distorted. People tend to cling to these twisted distortions of the faith of their forefathers, yet no new Teaching ever excludes preceding ones. Little attention is paid to this fact, for the followers of every Teaching like to build their success on denial of the previous Teachings. But it is easy to prove the continuity of what people call religion. In this continuity is sensed a single stream of one energy. Calling it psychic [fiery] energy, we speak of the Sophia of the Hellenic world or Sarasvati of the Hindus. The Holy Ghost of the Christians manifests signs of psychic energy, just as do the creative Adonai of Israel, and Mithra of Persia, full of solar power. Certainly, no one doubts that the Fire of Zoroaster is the Fire of Space, which you now study. Agni Yoga, #416, 1929, Agni Yoga Society
Zarathustra was an initiate of the Great White Brotherhood, taught by archangels and Ahura Mazda to bring a teaching of the Sacred Fire and the use of mantrams to the people. Much confusion reigns over the exact dates when Zarathustra lived. Not much is known about him. He probably lived around 1,750 to 1,500 BC., but it's hard to say for sure.
At this time in history, no other land could boast of a prophet or messenger appearing on the scene with such supreme gnosis and direct tie to the Great White Brotherhood in over 8,000 years, since the time of Atlantis. Abram heard a voice. Not even Moses was elevated in such a way, for he was initiated in Egyptian mysteries and when he did see God it was as a burning bush. Zarathustra had a visitation of epic proportions. This was an extraordinary event in the annals of the spiritual history for earth.
The following is merely a condensed and adapted version of a lecture by Elizabeth Clare Prophet given on August 30, 1992. The quotes are verbatim from the Pearls of Wisdom Vol. 35, Book II (which we highly recommend) where her entire lecture on Zarathustra can be found, starting on page 454. "Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith." From Mary Boyce, Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of London.
Zarathustra was "one of the greatest religious geniuses of all time.... [He] was a prophet, or at least conceived himself to be such; he spoke to his God face to face." R. C. Zaehner, former Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University.
Zarathustra was an initiate of the Great White Brotherhood. According to Boyce, "He... describes himself [in the Gathas] as a 'vaedemna' or 'one who knows,' an initiate possessed of divinely inspired wisdom." She continues, "According to tradition Zoroaster was thirty, the time of ripe wisdom, when revelation finally came to him. This great happening is alluded to in one of the Gathas and is tersely described in a Pahlavi [Middle Persian] work. Here it is said that Zoroaster, being at a gathering [called] to celebrate a spring festival, went at dawn to a river to fetch water."
In the middle of the stream he saw one Vohu Manah. It was this Being who led Zoroaster into the presence of Ahura Mazda and five other radiant figures, before whom "he did not see his own shadow upon the earth, owing to their great light". And it was then, from this great heptad [or group of seven beings], that he received his revelation. Ahura Mazda is another name for Sanat Kumara. There are six other Kumaras; each one has sponsored one of the seven major religions. It's reasonable to assume that Zoroaster stood before the Seven Holy Kumaras. No wonder he couldn't see his own shadow.
Zarathustra proceeded to revolutionize his country by exposing the lies and false gods behind the current religion. He was definitely a Prophet. He had little success for ten years until finally he was able to impress King Vishtaspa and then convert his Queen. But the King needed proof.
In response, Ahura Mazda sent three Archangels to the court of Vishtaspa and Hutaosa. They appeared as effulgent knights in full armour, riding on horseback. According to one text, they arrived in such glory that "their radiance in that lofty residence seemed ...a heaven of complete light, owing to their great power and triumph; when he thus looked upon [them], the exalted king Vishtaspa trembled, all his courtiers trembled, all his chieftains were confused."
Radiating a blinding light and the sound of thunder, they announced that they had come on behalf of Ahura Mazda in order that the king might receive the fullness of the message of Zarathustra. They promised Vishtaspa a life span of 150 years and that he and Hutaosa would have an immortal son. The Archangels warned, however, that if Vishtaspa should decide not to take up the religion, his end would not be far away. The king embraced the faith and the entire court followed suit. The scriptures record that the Archangels then took up their abode with Vishtaspa. Elizabeth Clare Prophet
The Ascended Master Zarathustra spoke of King Vishtaspa and Queen Hutaosa, in a dictation (a spiritual transference of teaching to an anointed Messenger of the Brotherhood)1:
I AM come to deliver the sacred fire of the Sun behind the sun to raise you up and to establish in you the original teaching of Ahura Mazda, Sanat Kumara, delivered long ago in the land of ancient Persia unto me and unto the king and queen who received the conversion of Archangels and of the sacred fire and of holy angels by the descent of Light. Thus, by their lifestreams' acceptance of my prophecy, there came to pass the multiplication of the bread of Life from the heart of Sanat Kumara, whose messenger I was, whose messenger I remain....
The teaching of the hosts of the Lord and the coming of the great avatar of Light, the teaching of betrayal and the consequent warfare of his hosts against the evil ones, was understood and propagated. The law of karma, the law of reincarnation, and even the vision of the last days when Evil and the Evil One would be vanquished - all of this went forth by the conversion of the king and the queen and the reaching out of the faith to all of the subjects of the land. Thus, the tests were given by the Archangels through my office unto these two chosen ones. Thereby passing the tests, they became blessed as secondary emissaries of Sanat Kumara. And therefore, I the prophet and they holding the balance in the earth manifested a trinity of Light and the figure eight flow. Realize the necessary ingredients for the propagation of the faith throughout the earth...
The Archangels send their Messenger with a gift of prophecy that is the Word of Sanat Kumara to every culture and in every age. Thus, the prophet comes forth with the vision, with the anointing and with the sacred fire. But unless the prophet finds the fertile field of hearts aflame and receptive, the authority of the Word does not pass unto the people.
Zarathustra sometimes referred to himself as a manthran, one who is able to create mantras. He embodied fire and taught about fire. With the mantle of Prophet upon his shoulders he delivered fire as well, no doubt with the use of mantras. A true Prophet can brook no compromise with evil. To some he seemed too extreme, seeing things in only black and white. With that much fire, he didn't have a choice.
He taught with myths, about knowing Truth from evil. "The doctrine of the Heptad," Boyce says, "is at the heart of Zoroastrian theology. Together with [the concept of Good and Evil] it provides the basis for Zoroastrian spirituality and ethics, and shapes the characteristic Zoroastrian attitude of responsible stewardship for this world." The Heptad are seven emanations from Ahura Mazda and embody such principles as "Good Mind," "Good Purpose," "Right-mindedness" or "Holy Devotion," "Wholeness" or "Health," and "Long Life" or "Immortality."
He attacked the prior religion that was founded by someone called Yima. The people worshipped evil spirits called daevas, did animal sacrifice and got drunk. Zarathustra was the target of their wrath. This war played out in the microcosm as well. John Noss, author of Man's Religions, observes, "It was perhaps Zoroaster's cardinal moral principle, that each man's soul is the seat of a war between good and evil."
To counteract their spiritual attacks, Zarathustra composed this prayer, considered the holiest of Zoroastrian prayers:
As the Master, so is the Judge to be chosen in accord with Truth. Establish the power of acts arising from a life lived with good purpose, for Mazda and for the lord whom they made pastor for the poor.
Zaehner sums up:
For Zoroaster there is only one God, Creator of heaven and earth and of all things. In his relations with the world God acts through his main "faculties" which are sometimes spoken of as being engendered by him--his Holy Spirit, [his] Righteousness, [his] Good Mind, and Right-mindedness. Further he is master of the Kingdom, Wholeness, and Immortality, which also form aspects of himself.
Righteousness or Truth is the objective standard of right behavior, which God chooses.... Wickedness or disorder...is the objective standard of all that strives against God, the standard which the Evil Spirit chooses at the beginning of existence. Evil imitates the good creation: and so we find the Evil Spirit operating against the Holy Spirit, the Evil Mind against the Good Mind, the Lie or wickedness against Truth or Righteousness, and Pride against Right-mindedness.
Evil derives from the wrong choice of a free being who must in some sense derive from God, but for whose wickedness God cannot be held responsible. Angra Mainyu or Ahriman, [names for] the Devil, is not yet co-eternal with God as he was to become in the later system: he is the Adversary of the Holy Spirit only, not of God himself.
The important point is that evil masquerades as good. It always has and continues to do so today. Besides prayers and mantras, one way to counteract evil is through "good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
This is the threefold ethic of Zoroastrianism.
Boyce writes:
All Zoroastrians, men and women alike, wear [a] cord as a girdle, passed three times round the waist and knotted at back and front. Initiation took place at the age of fifteen; and thereafter, every day for the rest of his life, the believer must himself untie and retie the cord repeatedly when praying. The symbolism of the girdle (called in Persian the 'kusti') was elaborated down the centuries; but it is likely that from the beginning the three coils were intended to symbolize the threefold ethic of Zoroastrianism, and so to concentrate the wearer's thoughts on the practice of his faith.
Further, the kusti is tied over an inner shirt of pure white, the 'sudra,' which has a little purse sewn into the throat; and this is to remind the believer that he should be continually filling its emptiness with the merit of good thoughts, words and deeds, and so be laying up treasure for himself in heaven.
And finally, fire is central to Zoroastrianism. It elevates the soul and dispels darkness. Bernard Springett writes in his book Zoroaster, the Great Teacher:
Fire, the great object of reverence of Zoroaster's disciples...has ever been looked upon as a symbol of Spirit, and of Deity, representing the ever-living and ever-active light--essence of the Supreme Being. The perpetual preservation of fire is the first of the five things consecrated by Zoroaster.... The perpetual preservation of fire typifies the essential truth that every man should in like manner make it his constant object to preserve the divine principle in himself, which it symbolizes.
Zoroaster by Nicholas Roerich, 1931
The substance of fiery immunity was described by Zoroaster. He pointed out that from each pore of the skin people could call forth fiery rays to smite all evil. A man clad in a protective armor cannot succumb to any contagion. One can increase this resistance through unity with Hierarchy. Thus, the heart becomes like a sun reducing all microbes to ashes. Fiery World I, 17; 1933, Agni Yoga Society
The mystic presence of Spiritual Fire, the path of purification and the contact with the Hierarchy of Light was impressed upon the planet through Zarathustra and his teachings. The order of the Magi continued to hold this teaching sacred and passed it down the generations to the time of the birth of Jesus the Christ and beyond.
In regards to the karmic development of a certain people, there are times when God, the great Logos, the Brotherhood that serve Him and the spiritual law of evolution as well as the great Manus in charge of certain root races need to separate a people because things have devolved away from the Divine Plan. Sometimes, its better to just start afresh. This is exactly what happened next in cosmic history. It took place a little north of Egypt. The individual chosen for this huge undertaking was none other than Abram from the city of Ur. He became known as Abraham and is claimed as Father of three nations.
1. Class of the Archangels, Zarathurstra, A Moment in Cosmic History - The Empowerment of Beareres of hte Sacred Fire given January 1, 1981 published in the 1991 Pearls of Wisdon vol. 34, no. 13