Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism, one of the great religious teachings of the East, developed in Ancient Iran. Like his tribesmen, the Aryans of Ancient India, the Iranians, too, was at first deified the forces of nature. The sun that fights the winter cold and weight of snow on the mountains; with the dawn, scattering the night mists, of flashing fire, the earthly reflection of the heavenly light, the fire that is the burgeoning flame symbolizes the aspiration of the human soul to the eternal source of light, imagined deities of pastoral peoples of Iran as the Aryans on the Indus. On the contrary, dry winds, the horrors of the steppes and deserts, where live the spirits of night and destruction and instilled fear as a hostile demons. Under the smiling sky of India, where nature shows itself only with the beneficent hand of his, developed the concept of the divine soul of the world, from which proceed all created the notion of a good Providence; on the contrary, in Iran, where in nature, in climate, the greatest tangible opposites, evolved lying at the basis of every natural religion, the belief in good and evil spirits, the beneficent power of light and hostile forces of darkness.

This dualism (a dualistic view) and later moved from the naturally symbolic oppositions in the realm of pure thought and moral. However, in the folk beliefs of the Indian Aryans first place first belonged to Indra, the Iranians chief deity was the sun God – Mitra. The great sage and founder of the religious teachings of Zoroaster (Zarathustra) previously gave this natural religion to the system: all the disparate concepts and rules are collected in one sacred book is the Zend – Avesta.

Starting from the view that in nature as in the human soul, the good is mixed with evil, and based on the ancient dualistic conception of the people, Zoroaster divided the universe and all created into two kingdoms: the pure Kingdom of light, ruled by the king of the gods with Ahura Mazda (Orascom) and embodying all that is good, pure and Holy, and the Kingdom of darkness, driven by “malicious”, “evil” Ahriman (Angra-Mainyu) and containing in himself all the evil, vicious, sinful. According to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, each of these Supreme gods has hordes of godlike spirits, divided according to the degree of importance into classes: Ormuzd six ameshaspands (master spirits) of secondary spirits ferwerda (pravasa) and sedumi (azata), Ahriman, the Devas (Daeva and Drudge), also divided into classes.

Both basic principles of good and evil existed from the beginning. Ahura Mazda, according to the Zoroastrians, was more powerful, freely created sacred creative word (honover) world – the Kingdom of light, embodying only good and pure; but, when he retired to his celestial abode, Ahriman the serpent the way you created the world and filled it with hostile spirits, unclean and noxious animals, vices and sins. In contrast Ahuramazda, the Creator of light, of day and of life, the evil demon of Zoroastrianism, Ahriman, was the Creator of darkness, night and death; Ahura Mazda created the bull, the dog, the cock: Ahriman – wild animals, snakes, insects; Ahuramazda tried using spirits of farmers to keep people on the path of righteousness and moral purity; the Ahriman with its Devas enjoys any opportunity to surprise to settle in a person’s heart and draw him to the path of impurity and Vice.

Thus, according to the teachings of Zoroastrianism, is a perpetual struggle between two powers for possession of the land and humanity. Nevertheless, ever victory should remain for a good beginning: then the Kingdom of light will fill the world, and there will be a state of eternal bliss. Then fans of Ahura-Mazda, the soul that at death will be spotless after the test on the bridge Chinvat will receive additional, light body, throwing himself from the shadows, and will enjoy at the throne of the divine light of eternal happiness and celestial glory. Because a fan of Ormuzd – a Zoroastrian is obliged, during his life on earth, all the forces to oppose the evil spirits, to appease them and quell their anger by sacrifice and humility, to deal with them in the nature of the extermination of harmful animals and diligent reproduction of useful fruit trees and a private chest of the sacred law, worship of fire and prayer, kind words and deeds, sacrifice horses and bulls, and later even people. Compliance with “good law” of Zoroastrianism, where Ahura Mazda revealed his will, makes man is able to resist all the machinations of the Devas dwelling in the Touran, in the wild steppe country of the midnight, where commonly invaded the Kingdom of light – Iran – predatory nomadic hordes.

Zoroastrian priests (the Magi) represented this viewpoint a tempting opportunity to fill the Zend-Avesta many of the regulations, which controlled the lives of Iranians slave yoke fixed law. Zoroaster prescribed purity in thoughts, words, and actions, as the surest means of safety from the influence of the Devas, and the later Zoroastrian priests said the concept of purity purely external value and came up with a whole lot of external rules, rituals and customs which, in their opinion, it was possible to preserve the purity, or lost it due to negligence, to return again. These cleaning requirements, sacrifices and ritual customs of Zoroastrianism turned the worship of the world in slavish obedience to the letter of the law.