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Zarathushtra’s Early Despair
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At first, no one paid heed to him, not even his friends and kinsmen. Denounced as a heretic, he wandered from place to place before he could make a single convert to his faith. Deserted by kinsmen, forsaken by friends, harassed by foes, and persecuted by evil spirits, he turned in despair to his Lord and asked:
“To what land shall I turn, whither shall I go.
Forsaken by kinsmen and nobles,
am I;
Neither do my people like me.
Nor do the wicked rulers of the land.
How then, shall I please Thee, Mazda Ahura?
This I know, Mazda, wherefore I fail.
Few are my flocks, and few my followers,
In grief I cry to thee, Ahura, behold it.
Help me even as friend unto friend.
Show me through righteousness the riches of the Good Mind.”
At last, he found his first convert, his cousin Maidhyomah, and resolved to pursue the great cause.
Zarathushtra’s Inaugural Sermon
Under orders from God, Zarathushtra wended his way towards the court of King Vishtaspa of Bactria who ruled over a kingdom seething with dreaded magical practices, polytheistic beliefs and degrading superstitions. As at the town of Rae, Zarathushtra’s birthplace, so here too in Vishtaspa’s dominions, the higher powers were debauched for personal ends. The world seemed to have sunk into the quagmire of the black arts, and none but a masterful and pure individual, awakened in spirit, could overcome the frightful reign of terror of the sorcerers.
Taking strength from God, in one of the first gatherings of the people of Iran, Zarathushtra spoke unto them
and said,
“I will now tell you who are assembled here the wise sayings of Mazda, the praises of Ahura, and the hymns of the good spirit, the sublime truth which / see arising out of these sacred flames.
You shall, therefore, hearken to the soul of nature (i.e. to plough and cultivate the earth); contemplate the beams of fire with a most pious mind!
Every one, both men and women, ought today to choose his creed (between the Deva and the Ahura religion).
Ye offspring of renowned ancestors, awake to agree with us (i.e. to approve of my lore, to be delivered to you at this moment)!
In the beginning there was a pair of twins, two spirits, each of a peculiar activity; these are the Good and the Base, in thought, word and deed.
Choose one of these two spirits! Be good, not base! And these two spirits united created the first (the material things); one the reality, the other, the non-reality.
To the liars (the worshippers of the many Gods), existence will become bad, whilst the believer in the true God enjoys prosperity.
Of these two spirits, you must choose one, either the evil, the originator of the worst actions, or the true holy spirit.
Some may wish to have the hardest lot (i.e. those who will not leave the polytheistic Deva-religion), others adore Ahuramazda by means of sincere actions.
Thus let us be such as help the life of the future and make it lasting (Frasho-Kereti).
The wise living spirits (archangels) are the greatest supporters of it.
Therefore, perform ye the commandments which, pronounced by Mazda Himself, have been given to mankind; for they are a nuisance and perdition to liars, but prosperity to the believer in the truth; they are the fountain of happiness.”
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