Zoroaster was an ancient Iranian prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was the national religion of the Sassanian dynasty of the Persian Empire, and of the earlier Achaemenean dynasty. The original form of his name was Zarathushtra (Zaraθuštra), but he is usually known in English as Zoroaster (after the Greek version, Ζωροάστρης, Zoroastres). Zoroaster was born in the northwestern part of Iran, in the city of Urmehr, modern day Uroomiyeh in east Azarbaijan province. T ...

Including:

Zoroaster - Name Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History Zoroaster - Life Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West Zoroaster - Contemporary views Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia - Zoroaster

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Life

Zoroaster was ranked #93 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history. President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmonov successfully encouraged UNESCO to declare 2002-2003 the third millennium since Zoroaster's birth, and in his book, The Tajiks in the Mirror of History, he claimed that Zoroaster was a Tajik from Bactria. While Tajikstan is majority Muslim, Rahmonov states in his work: "Many principles of the Zarathushtrian religion have left a deep imprint on the [Tajik] people's mind. The habit ha ...

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Contemporary views

Zoroastrianism

Way of life based on the teachings of Zoroaster which flourished in Persia until the Arab conquest

(See also: Zoroastrianism, Body Mind and Soul)

Atash, Atash-Azar (Persian), Atur (Pahlavi), Atar (Avestan) Fire; the name of the ninth day of the month of the ancient Iranian calendar as well as the ninth month of the year (Sagittarius). Zoroaster uses the term in the Gathas in the sense of the life-giving force or the spiritual nature of the eternal truth. It is this fire which guides the universe as well as the individual towards its destiny -- perfection.

In the ancient Aryan faith, atash has three qualities and sometimes is called trishazashta (fire of the three stations). These stations are named: Azar-borzin-Mehr, Azar-Faranbagh or Azar-Khordad, and Azar-Goshnasp. In later Avestic literature five different fires have been named: 1)Brezisevangha (beneficent fire of the high) spiritual fire; 2) Vohu-Fryana (fire of instinct) animal fire; 3) Urvazishta (fire of life, most beneficial fire) vegetation fire; 4) Vazishta (celestial fire of heavenly bodies) the most supporting fire; and 5) Spenishta (holy fire or paradisical fire) the most bountiful fire (Yasna 17, 11).

There have been seven commonly accepted fire temples named after the seven heavenly bodies: 1) Azar-Mehr (Mithra's fire); 2) Azar-Noush (fire of sweetness, healing) symbolizing Ab-e-Hayat or Water of Life; 3) Azar-Bahram (fire of victory) symbolizing creation of light; 4) Azar-Aeen or Azar Abteen (Apam-Napata, the universal self or the fire of glory that the son of the waters wishes to seize); 5) Azar-Khorin (the rule of the sun) symbolizing perfection; 6) Azar-Borzin (fire of the high); and 7) Azar-Zartusht (fire of Zoroaster, the eternal light).

(See also: Atash, Atash-Azar, Atar, Atur, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Athravan, Atravan (Avestan), Atourban (Pahlavi), Azarban, Azarvan (Persian) Fire-guardian; the attendant of the sacred fire in Persian temples; the proper word for a priest in the Avesta, likewise Zoroaster's name with the Persians in far later times. Blavatsky interprets the word as "teacher of fire."

As the Persian scriptures says, it was not only the wearing of the priestly robes and bearing of the implements and the baresma which made one an athravan: "He who sleeps on throughout the night, who does not perform the Yasna nor chant the hymns, who does not worship by word or by deed, who does neither learn nor teach, with a longing for (everlasting) life, he lies when he says, 'I am an Athravan.' Him thou shalt call an Athravan who throughout the night sits up and demands of the holy wisdom, which makes man free from anxiety, with dilated heart, and which makes him reach that holy, excellent world, the world of paradise" (Vendidad 18:6, 7).

In Shah-Nameh (the Book of Kings) it was Jamshid (Yima) who categorized society into four classes. The first of these four were the Atourbans. The kings of the early Aryans were also chosen from among the first category, who were royal sages.

(See also: Athravan, Atravan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Magi (plural of Old Persian magus a wise man from the verbal root meh great; cf Sanskrit maha; cf Avestan mogaha, Latin plural magus, Greek magos, Persian mogh, Pahlavi maga)

An hereditary priesthood or sacerdotal caste in Media and Persia. Zoroaster, himself a member of the Society of the Magi, divides the initiates into three degrees according to their level of enlightenment: the highest were referred to as Khvateush (those enlightened with their own inner light or self-enlightened); the second were called Varezenem (those who practice); and the third, Airyamna (friends or Aryans). The ancient Parsis may be divided into three degrees of Magi: the Herbods or novitiates; the Mobeds or masters; and the Destur Mobeds or perfect masters -- the "Dester Mobeds being identical with the Hierophants of the mysteries, as practised in Greece and Egypt" (TG 197).

Pliny mentions three schools of Magi: one founded at an unknown antiquity; a second established by Osthanes and Zoroaster; and a third by Moses and Jambres.

"And all the knowledge possessed by these different schools, whether Magian, Egyptian, or Jewish, was derived from India, or rather from both sides of the Himalayas" (IU 2:361). According to Shahrestani (12th-century Islamic scholar) the Magi are divided into three sects: Gaeomarethians (Kayumarthians), Zarvanian (Zurvanian), and Zoroastrians. They all share the common belief that in this manifested universe the dualism of light and darkness is at work and that the final victory of the light is the day of resurrection.

Porphyry refers to the Magi as the learned men among the Persians who are in the service of the deity (Abst 4:16), while Philo Judaeus describes them as the most wonderful inquirers into the hidden mysteries of nature: holy men who set themselves apart from everything else on this earth, "contemplated the divine virtues and understood the divine nature of the gods and spirits, the more clearly; and so, initiated others into the same mysteries, which consist in one holding an uninterrupted intercourse with these invisible beings during life" (IU 1:94-5). It is likely that the use of the name and the order survived in times when their true dignity was no longer apparent.

In the Bible Magi is translated "wise men." The term has also become familiar through the story of the three wise men who came to the infant Jesus bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

(See also: Magi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Desatir (Persian) An old Persian work, filled with elements of enormous antiquity, expressed in places eloquently and poetically. In the words of its translator and publisher, Mulla Firuz, it "professes to be a collection of the writings of the different Persian Prophets, who flourished from the time of Mahabad to the time of the fifth Sasan, being fifteen in number; of whom Zerdusht, or Zoroaster was the thirteenth and the fifth Sasan the last. . . . The writings of these fifteen prophets are in a tongue of which no other vestige appears to remain, and which would have been unintelligible without the assistance of the ancient Persian translation" (Preface, p. i).

The contents have been criticized by several modern scholars, who do not grant it any standing as a work coming down from ancient times for linguistic reasons. However, it contains teachings which are not merely universal, but which run far back into the night of human history; for example, the first chapter suggests the seven sacred planets (vv. 15-21); each star and planet having an intelligence, a soul, and a body (23); the kingdoms of nature on the cosmic ladder of life (54-60); reincarnation (69-72); rounds (101-112); and the grand periods or manvantaras and pralayas (114-16).

(See also: Desatir, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Yima (Avestan) Yam (Pahlavi) Yama (Sanskrit) Jam, Jamshid (Persian) The son of Vivanghan (the brilliant light of the good, father of duality, consciousness, or knowledge of good and evil), Yama has been mentioned in Vasna 30:3 in the sense of twins, and in the Gathas as one who made earthly things attractive and did not strive for the uplift of the spirit. Sometimes incorrectly called the first man of the Avesta. In the Vendidad, the first mortal before Zoroaster with whom Ahura-Mazda conversed, asking him to be a preacher and the bearer of his law; but Yima replied that he was not born or taught to do this. As Zoroaster is the third intellect and the bearer of the divine law, Yima is the second intellect, not yet developed for that task. Blavatsky explains that

"Yima . . . as much as his twin-brother Yama, the Son of Vaivasvata Manu, belongs to two epochs of the Universal History. He is the 'Progenitor' of the Second human Race, hence the personification of the shadows of the Pitris, and the father of the postdiluvian Humanity. The Magi said 'Yima,' as we say 'man' when speaking of mankind. The 'fair Yima,' the first mortal who converse with Ahura Mazda, is the first 'man' who dies or disappears, not the first who is born. The 'Son of Vivanghat,' was, like the Son of Vaivasvata, the symbolical man, who stood in esotericism as the representative of the first three races and the collective Progenitor thereof. Of these races the first two never died but only vanished, absorbed in their progeny, and the third knew death only towards its close, after the separation of the sexes and its 'Fall' into generation" (SD 2:609).

In the Vendidad Ahura-Mazda informs Yima of a severe winter that will destroy life on earth and tells him to make a vara (enclosure) known as Var-jam-kard (enclosure built by Jam) and bring the seeds of men and women of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth, as well as the seeds of every kind of cattle, bird, trees, and fruit, and the sweetest of the odors, along with the red, blazing fires, excluding any deformity, impotency, lunacy, poverty, falsehood, meanness, jealousy, etc.

In later Persian literature, Jamshid has often been interchangeably taken for King Solomon, while some Islamic scholars consider him identical with Lamech in the Old Testament. Jamshid in Shah-Nameh is the Yima of the Avesta who, as a blessed king, ruled for 700 years over seven keshvars, created civilization, and categorized the people and their tasks into four groups. He built palaces and colossal monuments by channeling the savage powers of demons, discovered the secrets of nature, and cured all maladies. Such innovation and achievements called for festivities and celebration, called the New Age (Nou-Rouz). From then on, this day -- which coincides with the entrance of the sun into the sign of Aries; also the day that Gayomarth, the first man, became king of earth -- has been celebrated by the Iranians. For 300 years Jamshid gloriously ruled with justice, during which period death, pain, and evil disappeared, until vanity and narcissism blinded him and caused his downfall. Azi-Dahak, who takes over Jamshid's throne, then appears on the scene by murdering his own father.

(See also: Yima, Yam, Yama, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

DEVACHAN

The Land where the Gods are reborn. Life's threshold, located between the manvataras and between earth-lives. The higher realm above the astral (Skt. and Tibetan deva, "light" + chan, "dwelling place"). Madame Blavatsky, in writing of the realm of Devachan and the "wheatfields of Aanroo", is careful to point out that Manas splits here, after death, between the higher and lower minds. Only the higher mind remains. The lower, self-directed mind goes with the kama-rupa to the "Abode of Shells", or the place of the Hebrew Qlipoth. Our "I" or "atman" (with small a) rejoins that spiritual part of itself that is not incarnated, and as "Atman (large A), it proceeds on through the aionic planets. According to HPB, in Devachan we relive the totality of our past lives and re-experience our "enduring selfhood". We relive the trans-personal "I" which our labors, filtered through numberless incarnations, have made of the monadic essence which we originally introduced into form. The visualized solar system is the materialistic waste of an as-above-so-below operation. Hence all archetypes and ideas ultimately surface to the material world. Here we blueprint all the evolutions and involutions ("Not the One in many, but the oneness of the Many"). Rulers of these archetype-beings along with their human evolution make up the Dhyan-Choans, gods or "contemplative lords".

There are rare beings who sacrifice their rest, Devachan or Nirvana to remain earthbound in continual rebirth out of compassion for mankind. Animals, though their astral bodies possess some temporary survival potential, have no ego-manas, hence no Devachan. The animal monad can reincarnate only as a higher species. By the same token, HPB states (Secret Doctrine), "Eastern philosophy rejects the Western theological dogma of a newly-created soul for every baby born, as being as unphilosophical as it is impossible in the economy of nature. There must be a limited number of monads growing..."

Prior to Zoroaster and the Forth, or present, race, there was no Devachan, but only rebirth, phoenix-like out of the ashes of the previous body. Xtianity teaches the doctrine of the Old Third Race in which there is no higher Manas and the human monad does not reincarnate until the Second Coming.

In orthodox Xtianity there is no rebirth - only literal resurrection on the Day of Judgment with Christ's return (this opening of graves does not accompany the return of Zoroaster, Kalki or the Maitreya Buddha). Also, unlike the Theosophical version of the hereafter, there is no comparable split of spirit from soul in orthodox Xtianity. Reincarnation is a Gnostic or Neoplatonic heresy (Plato called this the "Realm of Ideas").

(See also: DEVACHAN, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Textual evidence regarding the birthplace of Zoroaster is conflicting. Yasnas 9 & 17 cite Airyanem Vaējah, "Homeland of the Aryans" (Pahlavi Ērān Wēj), on the Ditya River, as the home of Zoroaster, and the scene of his first appearance. The Būndahišn or Creation (20, 32 and 24, 15) says the Dhraja River in Ērān Wēj was his birth-place, and the home of his father. This same text identifies Ērān Wēj with the district of Arran on the river Aras (Araxes), close by the north-western ...

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context

One of the most important, and dividing, of all issues regarding the Persian history is “the date of Zoroaster”, that is the date when he lived and composed his Gathas. Different sources ranging from linguistic evidence to textual sources and traditional dates have been used by various scholars to determine the date of Zoroaster. Accordingly, any date from the 6th century BC to 6000 BC has been suggested, although some with more merit than others. Here we shall ...

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster

The teachings of Zoroaster are presented in seventeen liturgical, texts, or "hymns", the yasna which is divided into groups called Gāthās. If basic precepts of Zoroastrianism are to be distilled into a single maxim, the maxim is Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds). A cosmic struggle between Aša "The Truth" (Pahlavi Ahlāyīh) and Druj "The Lie" (Pahlavi Druz) is presented as the foundation of our existence. This is often related to a struggle between ...

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings

Zoroaster was known as a sage, magician and miracle-worker in post-Classical Western culture, though almost nothing was known of his ideas until the late eighteenth century. By this time his name was associated with lost ancient wisdom and was appropriated by Freemasons and other groups who claimed access to such knowledge. He appears in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte under the variant name "Sarastro", who represents mor ...

See also:

Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West

This is a sitemap for popular topic pages at Global Oneness. Click on a link and you will find multiple articles related to the topic:

Alternative Health Dictionary , Hinduism Dictionary , Spiritual Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary , Parapsychology Dictionary, Paganism Dictionary,
Mysticism Dictionary , Theosophy Dictionary ,

veil, well, well-being, well-being of the body, wellness, venus 2012, venus transit, vessels, west, western mysticism, what becomes of the soul after death, what does dreams mean, what dreams mean, what has come to be, what is, what is consciousness, what is indigo children, what is karma, what is kundalini, what your dreams mean, wheel, wheels, whence, white, white light, white magic, white magick, white tantra, why do people dream, vi, vibration, vibrational healing, vibrational medicine, wicca, wicca beliefs, wicca ceremonies, wicca craft, wicca dictionary, wicca practice, wicca ritual, wicca rituals, wicca shop, wicca terms, wicca traditions, wicca worship, wiccan, wiccan art, wiccan belief, wiccan dictionary, wiccan meditation, wiccan path, wiccan practices, wiccan religion, wiccan ritual, wiccan rituals, wiccan worship, vice, victim, victory, wife, wild, will, will power, village, wind, window, wine, wings, vini yoga, viniyoga, winter, winter solstice, violence, violet children, vipassana meditation, vira, viraga, virgin, virgin birth, virgo, virtue, virtues, virtuous, wisdom, wisdom quotes, wisdoms, vishnu, vishnu purana, vision, visions, visualization, vital force, vitality, witch, witchcraft, witchcraft dictionary, witchcraft facts, witchcraft rituals, with joy, witness, vivekananda, vocabulary, voice, wolf, woman, woman health, woman in hinduism, woman spirituality, womb, women, womens health, womens issues, womens movement, womens spirituality, voodoo, woods, word of wisdom, work, work and spirituality, work dictionary, world, world egg, world end 2012, world ending 2012, world ending in 2012, world of feng shui, world of spirit, world peace, world religion, world tree, world university of consciousness, worldly desires, worldly life, worms, worry, worship, worship of god, worshipping, vow, wwwexperiencefestivalcom, vyasa, yah, yaho, yaho yahu, yajna, yajur-veda, yajur veda, yaksha, yama, yama and niyama, yamas, yang, yantra, yawning, year, year 2012, year of brahma, years of brahma, yellow, yellow bamboo, yin, yin-yang, yin and yang, yoga, yoga sex, yoga and buddhism, yoga and diabetes, yoga and meditation, yoga and mysticism, yoga and pregnancy, yoga and sex, yoga and yoga pose, yoga and yoga posture, yoga apparel, yoga archives, yoga articles, yoga asana, yoga asanas, yoga ball, yoga basics, yoga book, yoga breathing exercise, yoga child, yoga class, yoga clothes, yoga clothing, yoga dictionary, yoga diet, yoga encyclopedia, yoga enlightenment, yoga equipment, yoga exercise, yoga exercises, yoga for beginner, yoga for beginners, yoga for constipation, yoga for kids, yoga glossary, yoga instruction, yoga instructions, yoga instructor, yoga journal, yoga lessons, yoga levitation, yoga made easy, yoga magazine, yoga meditation, yoga move, yoga moves, yoga mudra, yoga mudras, yoga music, yoga nadis, yoga naked, yoga nidra, yoga nude, yoga of sound, yoga om symbol, yoga philosophy, yoga place, yoga poses, yoga positions, yoga postures, yoga practice, yoga practise, yoga practises, yoga quotes, yoga retreat, yoga school, yoga schools, yoga sex, yoga shoes, yoga siddhis, yoga steps, yoga stretch, yoga styles, yoga sutras, yoga sutras of patanjali, yoga symbols, yoga teacher training, yoga therapy, yoga types, yoga vasishta, yoga vasishtha, yoga wear, yogananda, yogas, yogi, yogic, yogic exercises, yogic postures, yogic practice, yogic practices, yogin, yogini, yogins, yoni, yoni mudra, young soul, yudhishthira, yuga, zen, zen and buddhism, zen and buddhism glossary, zen and buddhism terms, zen body therapy, zen buddhism, zen buddhism dictionary, zen buddhist, zero, zeus, zodiac, zohar, zombie, zone therapy, zoroaster, zoroaster religion, zoroastrian religion,

Read more here: » Popular Topic Pages II - 30