This is how “democracy” is defined by the
Webster’s Dictionary: a] A Government by the people, especially rule of
the majority. b] A government in which the supreme power is vested in the
people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of
representation involving periodically held free elections. History of
democracy, as presented by Western scholars, only goes back to the people
of Greek cities of the pre-Christian era. This is just a part of the
story. The full fact is that regional elected councils are well
documented in the Indo-European, particularly the Indo-Iranian societies,
and the later Roman city democracies is that “ancient democracies did not
presuppose equality of all individuals; the majority of the populace,
notably slaves and women, had no political rights. Athens, the greatest
of the city democracies, limited the franchise to native-born citizens.”
(Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia.Vol.8 “Democracy”) Nothing surprising.
Women have been granted the right to vote and hold government office in
most of the democracies only in the first half of the 20th
century!
What do the Guiding Gathas of Zarathushtra
say? The very first song begins with “Yatha Ahu”, the Principle
of Choice. In order to bring peace, prosperity, stability, progress
and happiness to the living world, people are to select only competent
persons who are able to free the world from mental and physical wrongs,
rehabilitate the persons deprived of their rights and lead mankind to
truth, precision, progress, wholeness, and immortality.
Song 16, the last but one, is particularly
dedicated to “Vohû Khshathra Vairya” literally “Good Domain
Worthy-of-Choice.” It elaborates that a good government must be an
elected one. It is then the best gain one can have. To serve a chosen
government means to serve it best with devotion based on righteous deeds.
It is for such a dominion, a world order that Zarathushtra rose to work
for us, mankind. He founded the foremost democracy – mental and physical,
spiritual and material.
Contrary to the pyramidal structure of the
society into professions/casts of a single superior top to the massive
inferior bottom of serfs and salves seen in human history of many
doctrines, the Gathas profoundly present a doctrine of individual freedom
of will and choice equally for all men and women. The Gathic division of
the human society is unique. It begins with the family living in a house
that multiplies consequentially into settlements, districts, and lands and
finally embraces the entire earth –all based on good thinking and precise
procedure. This makes one realize the true democracy Zarathushtra
expounded. The guiding leaders of all these units must be elected only on
account of their competence, and that too by persons with ‘good mind –Vohu
Manah’ and in the ‘right –Asha’ procedure.
In today’s definition it would mean that each
and every person elected must be fully qualified for the office he/she is
elected to. It would, in a simpler term, mean competent, coordinating and
cooperating persons leading the house, settlement, district, land and the
globe. On the governmental level, it would mean that all the candidates
for presidency, home affairs, foreign relations, commerce, council,
cabinet and all other offices will prove their competence of quality and
experience, in order to be elected for their particular posts. A person
elected for every post will be according to his or her competence. And on
the global level, we will have a “united Nations” organization that would
lead free, friendly, peaceful, prosperous, healthy, happy, and lovingly
united people in a glorious global democracy.
A close look at all the democracies in the
world would show that mankind has still to work wisely and hard to reach
the Gathic principle of “Vohû Khshathra Vairya”. Zarathushtra
prayed for it in the concluding stanza of his Sublime Songs:
May the desired Fellowship come,
for the support of the men and the women of
Zarathushtrafor the support of good mind,
so that the conscience of every person earns
the choice reward, the reward of righteousness,
a wish regarded by the Wise One.
[Â Airyêmâ Ishyâ]
Let us join Zarathushtra in the solemn prayer,
and seriously and sincerely work to achieve his ideal “Vohû
Khshathra Vairya”.
