Zoroastrian vision about humans
What is a human?
Zoroastrian vision about humans
What are we? Why are we living? And, what are our ideals in life?
The sapient and ideal Mazde Yasni religion considers man as a part of the divine creation of Ahura Mazda, the wisest of the wise, who has the power, by benefiting from the good and constructive powers, to work for world happiness and peace.
Here, we will see what this human being is, or what are the parts that make him, because answer to this question will tell us the purpose of his actions and reactions and will increase our knowledge. Of course, it should be reminded here, that for knowing about a human we can do research with different methods and based on each method know him from a different angle. This article is a report of the spiritual and earthly parts of man and concepts and elevations that the Zoroastrian culture is all about.
Another point that needs to be reminded is that different visions and knowledge about man use terms and ideas which may seem to have another meaning at first look but when doing deeper research they turn out to have the same meaning.
Zoroastrian vision about humans
From this point of view man is made of many parts, from which some are earthly and some mental or spiritual. These parts are as follows:
1)body (tanvu in Avesta) which is made of all organs of the body like head, neck, body, hands and legs, and altogether all the outer and inner organs of the body, excluding the power of life. After death, when the spiritual part of man separates from him, the body is left.
The body by itself has no power nor the least of movement. We can consider body as a tool with which the soul can continue living on earth. The body of a living human, in the Zoroastrian religion, has high value and since the body and soul are like the faces of a coin and in other words, intermingled, the health and wholeness of one is tightly connected to the other and therefore, important guidance is given for looking after and nurturing the body, like the soul.
2)’Ahu’ is a force that helps the body to work and move (akhu in Pahlavi). The air that we breathe and thefood that we eat, mix and with their burning process in the body create the movement force that is called life. Now, if one of the active organs and finally the heart stop functioning this force no more exists and will die. This force, in Avesta, is called the fire of life (vahu frayaneh), meaning the force of life.
3)Urvan (in Avesta) meaning soul and consciousness which we can say is a general name for that part of man which is separate from body and life and is truly the spiritual part of man, which is accountable for all deeds (and of course thoughts and words). In vocabulary the root of urvan is ‘var’, which means the power of distinguishing between good and wrong or the power of choice. We can also name this part ‘awareness’ which is made of two components: one is the conscious self and the other the unconscious self. But what inner force does this soul or awareness have that can tell the right path from the wrong and guide us towards righteousness and consciousness, and what are the obstacle on its way? We can name these forces as follows:
a)’Mana’ (me) is the mental system of man which in general plays the role of wisdom and logic and is a tool in man for seeing, recognizing, seeking and finally judging and choosing. With this tool man has the power to think rightfully and with logic.
‘Me’ is fed by the inherent wisdom (stored in the unconscious self) and acquired wisdom (taken from the outer world).
Vohuman or Bahman is the spirit that is wise and makes its choice based on goodness and constructiveness.
b)Baodha (self) is the power of inner light, vision and awareness; in other words, the power of logic. The power of logic (franudavari) has to do with approach, understanding and judging in the outer world and baodha with the inner world.
c)Daena, which is the conscience or the faith of man and the center of morale: since everyone chooses his way in life through his understanding and viewpoint, as a result, daena, or awareness, depending on his choice and conscience, will gain peace or unrest. The conscience that goes astray from morale will suffer and get corrupted.
d)Fravahar (in Avesta Fravashi), the advancing force. For this phenomenon there are many interpretations. Gathas has only used this word to mean “confess” or to be clearer “to believe” or “select”, and in this connection we can assume this word, like ‘urvan’ to be from the ‘var’ root, meaning choice and belief.
Fravahar means the force that drives man ahead in life and helps him to advance. In this connection, this word is known to have two components: “far + var”, with the meaning “the advancing force”. Some say that fravahar is a particle of the particles of divine light which is entrusted to each one of us and is the power of progress and a guide for taking us forward.
We should note that Ahura Mazda is the essence and source of the whole of existence, which means He is the only light, force and energy and He is the only source of insight and world wisdom. This absolutely conscious force, this enlightenment and power of righteousness, is everywhere and also in us, human beings. This is the power which, if acquired by the inner awareness (baodha) will enlighten the way towards advancement and perfection. This advancing force is called fravahar.
e)Sraosha or Soroush, is the inspiring and crying out power in our unconscious mind and self and inspires us from the inside and makes us move in order to follow the righteous path. This power is also called ‘the inner voice’, the ‘the conscience’ voice’, the ‘divine hearing power’, and such meanings. The root of this word is ‘sravao’ meaning ‘to hear’, ‘the inner hearing power’.
Let us try to bring one or two examples and show these forces in the form of symbols to make it easier to understand them.
If we compare the human body with the body of a car, the engine of the car is ‘life’ or the power of movement, which is fed by petrol. This ‘body’ by itself has no power of decision making, for choosing the way or for keeping healthy, but it is the driver that has the steering wheel in his hands. This driver is the soul.
In order to know the road well and to choose the right path the soul needs tools which is ‘baodha’ or the power of understanding and knowing the laws of driving and the state of the road and all the effecting parameters so that with the help of ‘self’ or wisdom and logic be able to see ahead and make the right decision.
The headlight of this tool which enlightens the road in front of him, so that he sees ahead with open eyes, is fravahar or the divine light.
But can this light show the road equally to all or does it always have equal power of enlightening? If not, then which are the factors that are involved in making the power less or more or which is its application?
There is no doubt that this power, by itself, is even and equal for everyone. It is we who sometimes cannot see it or find it. The reason is the absence of daena (faith and pure conscience). We can compare daena with a mirror or a crystal, which in its cleanest state, reflects or collects the divine light and righteous conscience in order to transfer the result to the center of our wisdom and awareness and help us in knowing the right path. But, unfortunately, there are many obstacles in us, which like dust sit on the mirror, sit on the mirror of our conscience and prevent light to pass through. These destructive obstacles are those which we name anger, grudge, hatred, hesitation and suspicion, fear and so on.
Among these, srao, the inner voice, from the depth of mind and conscience, searches its way towards the power of understanding in order to give it the motivation for receiving light. So, we see that the closest and most suitable and maybe the only way to reach this light and clarity is to purify the mirror of our hearts, conscience and faith from all hindrances.
In order to succeed in this process we should first know these hindrances and the process of their forming and revealing in order to gather strength to destroy them.
The below picture may be able to show these powers and their connection with each other.
Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour