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Three Prayers and the Name of God

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Three Prayers and the Name of God DG McIntyre - Three Prayers and the Name of God Written for my son, Rich, who asked for "a couple of prayers with meanings" and for all my children. Nobody knows exactly when Zarathushtra lived. Opinions range between 6,500 BC and 600 BC. Nobody knows for sure where Zarathushtra lived, except that it was somewhere around ancient Iran. And for many hundreds of years, the language in which Zarathushtra composed his Gathas was not known or understood. The Gathas are the only extant work in that language, which is why the language is called "Gathic". You may wonder: how could such precious knowledge have been lost! Part of the reason may have been that with the passing of time, the religion for many centuries, was in the hands of souls who were not enlightened, who made political compromises, who turned it into a profit making institution, a control mechanism, and who were not able to grasp, and therefore maintain, the pure, spiritual truths that Zarathushtra taught. But the major reasons for this loss of knowledge were two devastating invasions which included the burning of our religious texts, and the killing of learned teachers. The first occurred when Alexander (mistakenly called The Great) defeated the Persian empire around 330 BC (the Persian emperor whom he defeated was no beauty either). It is reported that Alexander sent one copy of the Zoroastrian texts to his teacher Aristotle, and burned the rest. An ancient Zoroastrian work states that he: "...took away and burned those scriptures, ... which had been written in gold water on prepared cowhide, and deposited in Stakhr i Pabagan in the Fortress of Writing. He killed many of the high priests and the judges....and the upholders of the religion, and the able ones and the wise men of Iran."1 Some of the Greek philosophers are so close in their thinking to Zarathushtra's ideas, that I have often wondered if those learned men of Iran who were not killed, but who were sent to Greece as slaves along with the Zoroastrian texts, may have transmitted this knowledge to their Greek masters, wanting it to survive, even if it meant that it would survive as Greek thought. It is interesting that Plato called Zarathushtra the father of philosophy. "Philosophy" means love of wisdom. The ancient Iranian name for the Zoroastrian religion is "mazdayasna" which means "worship of wisdom" which in Zarathushtra's view means to serve it with love (Y51.22). And Zarathushtra's name for God is Ahura Mazda, -- the Wise Lord (or Lordly Wisdom). Because learning was not universal in those days, but was limited to a few, Alexander's actions in killing the learned dealt a devastating blow to knowledge of the religion in those who were left in Iran, where it survived (in a somewhat corrupted form) during the Parthian and Sassanian empires. The second loss occurred when the Sassanian empire was defeated by the Arabs around 650 AD. An early historian writes that after the invaders: "...had killed their learned men and priests, and had burned their books and writings, they became entirely illiterate....."2 In waves starting around 900 AD, some Zoroastrians fled to India to avoid religious persecution and death at the hands of the new rulers. Long after Zarathushtra, the Gathas were incorporated into other, later, texts (now called the Yasna3), which were preserved (at first verbally, later in writing) because they were recited by the priests from memory as part of the rituals of worship. As centuries passed, even though the priests no longer understood what they were reciting, they faithfully continued to memorize and recite these ancient texts, passing them down from one generation to the next. This is how the Gathas have survived down to our time. It is only within the last 50 to 100 years that western scholars have succeeded in decoding this ancient language so that we now understand perhaps 80 per cent of it, although there are still many differences both in translation and interpretation. Part of the problems of interpretation have stemmed from the view that such lofty thoughts could not possibly have existed in such ancient (read primitive) times. Therefore, with noble exceptions, the Gathas have been interpreted with little understanding of their metaphorical, multi-layered and deeply spiritual meanings. But the ultimate betrayal has occurred at the hands of some present-day Zoroastrians who expound the view that the Gathas are "mere poetry" and "just ethics" which indicates how little they understand them. You have asked for "a couple of" Zarathushtra's prayers, with meanings. I have selected the three oldest Zarathushtrian "prayers" -- the Ashem Vohu, the Yatha Ahu Vairyo, and the Yenghe Haataam. Because you wish to meditate on these prayers, I have also added the name that Zarathushtra uses to describe God -- Ahura Mazda, as I think it repays meditation. The first two prayers are in Gathic and were probably composed by Zarathushtra himself. The third prayer, according to good scholars, contains linguistic inaccuracies and differences, indicating that it was probably composed some time after Zarathushtra, when Gathic was no longer the prevalent language. Nevertheless, the thoughts it expresses are very Gathic (at least in my view), so I have included it with the other two. I have concluded with a small poem of mine, In Search Of, which I hope you like, and with some quotations from the Gathas. In the Gathas, Zarathushtra shows a very intense, personal relationship with God. He talks to God, he argues with Him, he complains to Him, he asks questions of Him, he praises Him, he worships Him, he loves Him, he commits to Him, he asks for help. (Zarathushtra himself was the object of intense persecution because of his views). And he believes that prayers are always answered if they have two ingredients -- good purpose and love. He says to God: "...For I know that words deriving from good purpose and from love are not to be left wanting by you." (The Gathas, Y28.10)."...For I know that words deriving from good purpose and from love are not to be left wanting by you." (The Gathas, Y28.10).4 However, the three prayers which I have selected are not addressed to God, which is the conventional notion of prayer. Rather, they are manthras, little nuggets of wisdom with many layers of meaning which are revealed when you let your mind play over them (or meditate on them) with an understanding of Zarathushtra's ideas. I can only assume that the function of these three prayers was to express and reveal to those who thought about them, the truths we need for spiritual growth. The fact that they are in a language most of us do not now understand directly, makes such meditation more difficult, but still worthwhile. But when all's said and done, it is the way we live our lives that can be the loveliest prayer of all. That is something I have learned from Zarathushtra. It is interesting that in his view, prayers can be thoughts, prayers can be words, and prayers can be actions -- the full spectrum of living in this reality -- each thought, each word, each act, is an act of worship, if done with asha. As to the translations, I am not a linguist. I have attempted to consult what I believe to be credible translations -- mostly Professor Insler's. The translations differ greatly, and I have made choices, based on the ideas I see in the Gathas. Zarathushta sees the Way as a joyful thing. ".....I shall speak of those things which are to be borne in mind ..... which things are to be looked upon in joy throughout your days." (Y30.1). In the spiritual path of your choice, I wish you joy, my beloved ones, and "endless lights". 1.As written in the Arda Viraz Namag, [not one of my favorite books] as translated by Fereydun Vahman, and provided to me by my friend Farrokh Vajifdar of London. 2. Mirza, Outlines of Parsi History, page 362, quoting from the historian Al-Biruni. 3. The Gathas appear as Yasna Chapters 28 through 34, and 43 through 51, and 53. All citations here to the Yasna (Y) will be to the Gathas, unless I state otherwise. 4. As translated by Insler, in The Gathas of Zarathushtra, (Brill 1975). All direct quotations from the Gathas, and all references to the Gathas, in this paper, are quoted from, or refer to, the Insler translation, although he may, or may not, agree with the inferences which I draw from his translation. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashem Vohu Ashem vohu vahishtem asti ushta asti ushta ahmai hyat ashai vahishtai ashem. Truth exists as the very best good. It exists under (your) will Desire the truth for that which is the very best truth. "ushta" has been translated as "illumination"1, happiness 2, blessing or blessedness,3 and also as wish or desire.4 Although superficially, these differences seem great. They don't matter to the essence of the prayer, as you will see. The Meanings of the Ashem Vohu Prayer. At the simplest level, the Ashem Vohu stands for the proposition: • That truth is the best, • that it is available to all who desire it, • and that we should desire the truth for truth's own best sake, -- not to be well thought of, not because we want to be rewarded, not because we fear "hell" or "bad karma", but simply for its own sake, because it is the right thing to do; However, the prayer has a deeper significance because of the multi-dimensioned meanings which Zarathushtra ascribes to two of its words -- asha (of which ashem and ashai are grammatical variants) and vahishta (of which (vahishtem and vahishtai are grammatical variants).
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