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Belief and Behavior
Religion,
as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is, among other things, "any specific
system of belief, worship, conduct, etc., often involving a code of ethics
and a philosophy; an institutionalized system of religious attitudes,
beliefs, and practices"; and also "a cause, principle, or system of
beliefs held with ardor and faith". It is derived from the Latin "religio",
meaning "reverence", which in turn is derived from "religare", to
bind back. It is, in fact, a bond. Tradition is defined to be "the
delivery of opinions, doctrines, practices, rites, and customs from
generation to generation by oral communication. It is an inherited,
established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a
religious practice or a social custom)". It is in theology, an unwritten
saying, action or a code of laws attributed to the founder and the earlier
promoters of a religion. It is derived from the Latin "traditio",
meaning "action of handing over", from "tradere", to deliver.
The difference between a religious practice and a social custom is rather
a new concept. In ancient times -- times, during which most of the
existing religions were founded -- every social custom was, sooner or
later, accepted as a religious practice. Therefore, Religion and
Tradition are almost taken to belong to each other, so much so that some
would take the two as synonyms. That explains why the zealous are so
zealous to maintain traditions as a religious obligation. To them, every
tradition is but a religious tenet.
Good Conscience
Turning to the Zarathushtrian religion, the conscientious term, most
probably coined and used first by the founder, Zarathushtra, is "Daênâ".
It is derived from the Avestan root "di" or "dai" (Sanskrit
"dhyai"), meaning to "see, view, perceive, contemplate, ponder,
meditate," with a participle suffix "nâ". Daênâ means "conscience,
discernment, insight", and of course, "religion" with the meaning that it
"knowledgeably and consciously" binds in a universal and democratic
"mental and material" Fellowship. It is according to Zarathushtra, one's
discerning insight that forms one's religion, in fact, rational belief.
The Indian term "dhyâna", focusing of thoughts to
comprehend a fact,
meditation, is a cognate.
But while the Indian dhyâna helps an individual to concentrate to
promote his or her own individual mental faculty, the Zarathushtrian
Daênâ unites all those who think, discern, and choose alike in one
great fellowship -- the religion of Good Conscience, DAÊNÂ
VANGUHI -- founded, preached and promoted by Zarathushtra.
Zarathushtra uses the term Daênâ for a total of 26 times in his sublime
songs, the Divine Gathas.
The gist of what it stands for in the Gathas: Daênâ is thinking and
awakening. It goes with one's intellect. It is wisdom and
enlightenment. It is proper knowledge. It promotes precision and
righteousness. It encourages one to turn to work to make a better life.
It grants true happiness. It gives peace and stability. It purifies
one's mind; so much so that one engaged in good thoughts, words, and
deeds, becomes godlike -- creative, maintainer, and promoter of the world
one lives in. Says Zarathushtra: That religion (Daênâ) is the best for
the living, which promotes the world through righteousness, and polishes
words and actions in serenity. (Song 9.10 = Yasna 44.10) Daênâ or religion
to Zarathushtra is the straight path of truth that takes coordinating
people ever forward to improvement in their mental and physical, spiritual
and material life until they reach their ultimate goal Ahura Mazda, God
Wise. Daênâ is a conscious forward march to perfection. It is the march
of a perfecting life to eternity and divinity.
Inherited Practice
Tradition,
on the other hand, is an inherited religious practice or a social custom,
which was, in the near or far past, introduced first by certain
circumstances and then perpetuated by following generations. An urgent
need to meet an exceptional event may linger long, a human experience over
a length of time may turn into a custom, a social behavior in face of a
particular event may continue, and a practice, born of a belief in an
abnormal occurrence or an extraordinary experience, may turn into a
tradition with the passage of time. Alien invasion, conquest, occupation,
captivity, slavery, forced labor, forced marriage, and socialization as
well inter religious rivalry also help to introduce, innovate, change,
transform, hinder, stop, erase, or kill a tradition. It has many a cause
to fall into a firm form. Created, adopted, borrowed, or imposed, once it
becomes a tradition, people practicing it develop a kind of attachment to
it. That makes them bound to it so much so that sometimes it becomes hard
to introduce a change in it, leave aside abandoning it. In the ancient
past, this attachment generally gave the tradition a religious hue, a hue
that made it a part and parcel of religion.
Once a part and parcel of religion, the origin of the tradition is, often
with a touch of miracle and marvel, attributed to a popular religious
celebrity. It is here that all practices concerning various phases of
life, from birth through initiation into the society, marriage, parentage,
and death, take a religious form. Even eating, clothing, waking, walking,
working, washing, running, resting, sleeping, and socializing have their
religious ways of performing them. Tradition, religious or not, is
present in every movement one makes, private, personal or otherwise. It
becomes the *prescription* for life. The terms religion and tradition are,
as earlier stated, used not only as cognates but also as synonyms.
Widening Gap
A
tradition, when originally born, could have been fully justified and
useful. But the passing time brings changes into a society. Furthermore,
a tradition, however simple in origin, is generally elaborated,
supplemented, and even complicated by the following generations practicing
it. With the social changes on the one hand and the elaborations on the
other, the gap between the practical social life and the complicated,
often mute, religious practices widen. In other words, every tradition
does not go hand in hand with the changes in society.
There arises a conflict in adhering to the tradition or keeping pace with
the changes. The conflict hinders the smooth running of the social
order. And if the conflict takes a sad turn, those hotly involved in it
hardly think that it is the gap of time between the tradition and the
progress made by the society that started the conflict. The conflict
divides the society between those in favor of maintaining the tradition
and those in favor of a change.
Names are labeled: Orthodox, traditionalist, fundamentalist, puritan,
protestant, liberal, reformist, progressive, etc. Some are used in a
sarcastic, derogatory, or on the contrary, in a dignified, respectful, or
complimentary way. Even disrespectful words and abusive language is used.
Those attached to a tradition, which appears to have outdated itself, try
their best to justify its continuance. They generally turn to
interpretations, which turn an ordinary old custom into a highly
symbolized, rather mystified rite. Some go to extremes to show that the
practices introduced by ancient "sages" are much more advanced than the
present practical changes, and therefore are incomprehensible for modern
minds. Occult definitions may not confound every intellectual, but they do
make many a layman feel too simple to comprehend the "transcendental"
interpretations. Interpretations, particularly by vociferous zealots, work
-- sometimes with miraculous effects among the laity.
Preservative
Reservation
The zeal
shown by the traditionalists is quite understandable. It is religious
ardor, rooted religiosity. But what is surprising is that nowadays one
comes across persons outside a religious order who favor not only the
adherence of traditions by its followers, but advocate strict observations
of traditional rites even under unfavorable and unpractical
circumstances. Scholars of religion, although themselves professing
another religion or following their own schools of thought, write
treatises and give lectures on the importance of keeping the customs they
feel are in danger of extinction. The smaller a community and the older
the customs, the more the emphasis on turning the "endangered" community
into a closed-door "reservation" in order to help the faithful to preserve
and practice their traditional rites.
These scholars would go to great lengths in explaining the highly
"symbolic" values of the practices, which they see as being abandoned by
younger generations because the youth, rightly or not, consider them
outdated and therefore, unwanted. It is odd enough to witness a person,
who personally does not believe at all in a doctrine, take quite an
interest in indoctrinating the believers in preserving the doctrine. An
unconscious faith, a latent belief, a hidden love, an elderly advice, a
scholarly sympathy, an anthropological interest, a disparaging intention,
a mischievous motive?
Zarathushtra and Tradition
However,
this does not mean in the least that every custom or practice outdates
itself and therefore, becomes unwanted. Those attached to humanity appear
eternal. Worship, festivity, initiation, matrimony, fellowship,
hospitality and other occasions warrant traditional customs. They have
their places in a society. And they have their true values.
Zarathushtra uses Daênâ for 26 times but does not mention tradition even
for once. The reason: That divine foreseer knew well that while Daênâ is a
living truth, tradition is but a custom, always subject to changes under
changing circumstances. It is obvious that he wanted the religion to
last. Binding it with the customs and practices of his days would have
numbered the days of the religion too. He had to choose between the two
for the survival of his message. And quite naturally and of course
dutifully, he chose to perpetuate his message. This does not mean that he
did not favor maintaining useful traditions. His guiding Gathas and other
texts in the Gathic dialect composed by his companions and immediate
successors as well as other parts of the later Avesta, provide us with
good hints on traditions.
Worship to Work
The
discovery of igniting and maintaining fire was the prime cause that
separated man from other animals and firmly put man on the express road to
progress. Fire was, but naturally, worshipped as a deity by many peoples,
including the Aryans. As an altar for worship, many religious orders and
cults offered their sacrifices to it. Solid and liquid foods were fed to
fire to turn them into smoke and send them up for the "beings on high."
Zarathushtra purified it of all its smoking and seething elements -- meat,
fat, butter, grain, fruit and other eatable sacrifices. He turned it into
a bright blaze (Song 4.19, 15.9 = Yasna 31.19, 51.9) to face and
concentrate his thoughts on Mazda. (The story of him carrying a smokeless
fire vase to King Vishtaspa need not be a legend.) For him, fire, much
more mental than physical, symbolized light, warmth and energy for a good
guidance to steer clear through difficulties to peace and progress in soul
and body. (Song 4.4, 7.4, 8.4 9, 11.7, 12.6 = Yasna 31.3, 34.4, 43.4 9,
46.7, 47.6).
His companions had an open fire enclosure, much as the later Achaemenians
did, for congregational prayers where they worshipped only and only God
Wise. (Haptanghaiti: Song 2 = Yasna 36) Still later, in an older part of
Âtash Nyâyesh, we learn that all the "hearth fire", called divine,
expected as an offering was words of praise, greeting, and triumph and no
fuming food. In the Gathas, Zarathushtra prays with his head bowed in
homage and hands raised in request to God. He composes fresh songs to
adore God and pour his love for Him. He has the brightly burning and
warming fire on the altar; sun, moon, and stars in the sky; and water and
any other inspiring objects in the beautiful nature around him to face and
break into devotional songs to perform his prayers. Haptanghaiti and
other sections of Yasna and the Vispered show, as already said, that
congregational prayers were held in communal enclosures and the Gathas by
Zarathushtra and the supplement songs composed by his companions were sung
in solemn company.
The Iranian Plateau, situated between 25 and 55 latitudes north of the
equator, had and has all the four seasons. As farmers and cattle raisers,
the Iranians had their agricultural seasons -- six of them. They
celebrated the end of each season. The Vispered shows that the early
Zarathushtrians -- most probably since the days of Zarathushtra -- turned
the six festivals into thanksgiving occasions. They are, what we call,
the "Gâhânbârs," each lasting for five days. The thanksgiving ceremony was
performed by singing the five Gathas, and studying and explaining them,
most probably one Gatha per day. A feast, collectively arranged and
prepared, followed to every one's delight. Worship and work, work and
worship, the two went well together.
Serence Ceremonies
Initiation or
Navjote is another tradition kept alive and lively by
Zarathushtra. He speaks about it as the great event of decision (Song 3.2
= Yasna 30.2), and mentions the initiations of King Vishtaspa,
Ferashaushtra, Jamaspa, and his own cousin Maidyoi-maha. (Song 11.14 15,
14.9, 16.16-19 = Yasna 46.14 15, 49.9, 51.16 19). His companions have an
initiation ceremony in their fire enclosure and call it the greatest
event. (Haptanghaiti Song 2 = Yasna 36). Fravarti (Yasna 11.17 to 12.9)
provides a vivid description of early initiation of adults into the Good
Religion. Nirangistan supplies us with more information on Navjote,
koshti, and sadreh. (Book III, Chapters 1 6). The Initiation ceremony's
"Choice of Religion" formula -- Mazdayasno ahmi...and other pieces
in the Gathic dialect -- supply the core of the koshti prayers.
The marriage of Pouruchista, Zarathushtra's youngest daughter, forms a
touching scene and a future marriage guide in Gatha Vahishta Ishti. The
tradition of having marriages solemnized in the language spoken by the
bride and the bridegroom as long as Persian remained the common language
of the population in Iranian and Indian regions, shows that it beautifully
changed its languages from the Gathic dialect of 3700 years ago to Neo
Persian almost 200 years ago. Today it is again because of tradition that
marriages are performed in an archaic, unintelligible language, although
some do augment it with a translation in the language the marrying couple
and the audience understands.
Birth of a child is hailed in the Avesta but no rite is mentioned.
However, the Farvardin Yasht shows that Zarathushtra's birth anniversary
was eulogized for celebration. (stanzas 93-94) Greek historian Herodotus
speaks of Persians celebrating their birthdays at a time when other
nations are not reported to do so, a sign that birthday celebration is an
Iranian innovation and a contribution to world festivity. The names given
to early new Zarathushtrian-by-Choice and their children -- Paourutkaesha
and Nabânazdishta -- in the Farvardin Yasht have none of the old deities,
not even those who later emerged as Yazatas, attached to them. This
significant point reveals that good care was taken to rename newcomers and
name children in the spirit of the dynamic message of Zarathushtra void of
older traditions. At the same time, it shows that there was a birth and
naming ceremony.
Zarathushtra introduced the practice of eulogizing people during their
lifetime and after their death. He venerates them by mentioning their
names and by "lovingly encircling them." (Song 16.22 = Yasna 51.22) The
remembrance of the good is echoed in the "Yenghe Hatam" prayer in which
respects are paid to men and women for their righteous services. The
Farvardin Yasht is an outstanding tribute to the memory of those who chose
and served the Good Religion in its initial stages, from Zarathushtra and
companions to three or more generations after. The Gathas and supplements
do not mention any funeral rites, but pay full respects to the memory of
the departed. It is the memorial service they *emphasize* and not the
method of disposal of the dead body.
All these and yet we do not see the Gathas prescribe: "What to eat and
what to reject. What to wear and what to tear. What to build and what to
burn. What pollutes and what cleans. How to wash and how to dry. When to
work and when to retire. When to celebrate and when to mourn. What is the
disease and what the cure. What the dead and what the corpse. . . . "
Was Zarathushtra unconcerned with the daily life? No, never! Could he not
prescribe in detail all walks of life? Could he not put taboos? Of course,
he could. But he lived a physical life of his age -- almost 4,000 years
ago. He divinely knew well the changing world. Any prescription on daily
living would grow old and out-of-date, and if it became a tradition to be
adhered to, it would prove an obstruction. Zarathushtra believe in
continuous and constant renovation of life. Says he: "May we be among
those who make this life fresh! You lords of wisdom, and you, who bring
happiness through righteousness, come let us be single-minded in the realm
of inner intellect." (Song 3.9 = Yasna 30.9) He has left the job to the
"lords of wisdom" of every age to unite in mind through righteousness and
inner intelligence and continue refreshing and renovating the life on
earth. Time does not stop, why should "social life" stop and stagnate.
Gaining to
Last
Thus we see
that all the good traditions were kept by the earliest of Zarathushtrians.
Some were simplified, some streamlined, and some changed to suit the new
spirit. It was only the magical, superstitious, superficial, superfluous,
intoxicating, and bloody rituals performed in the names of gods and
goddesses, which were totally renounced and discarded.(Yasna 12) Later,
as always has been the case, all the ceremonies, performed by the early
generations and many more introduced by following generations, were
elaborated. Institutionalization of a practice constitutes a part of the
process of a tradition. In fact, traditions are maintained by their
institutionalized forms.
Nevertheless, Daênâ as religion has its own place in the Gathas. It is
the guiding insight to a progressing life. While the sublime songs
mention worship with a bowed head and raised hands, and a blazing fire,
and allude to initiation, marriage and memorial ceremonies, other Avestan
texts describe various rituals maintained as tradition in the forms given
to them by the Good Religion during the early Avestan period. The
difference between the eternal principles of Daênâ and the temporal
customs of tradition are evident. In no place in the Avesta, rituals and
other practices have been termed as the "principles" of the religion.
Traditions live and leave, practices veer and vary, and rituals wax and
wane, but Daênâ, the religion of insight, the rational belief, lasts and
lasts -- "ever gaining, ever winning."
For further studies on Traditions and Ceremonies adopted and observed by
the Zarathushtrian
Assembly, see:
1. FRAVARANE, I Choose for Myself The Zoroastrian Religion, a guide for
the initiation ceremony, Ali A. Jafarey, California Zoroastrian Center,
Westminster, 1988.
2. GATHAS, OUR GUIDE, the thought-provoking divine songs of Zarathushtra,
Ali A. Jafarey,
Ushta Publications,
Cypress, 1989.
3. ZARATHUSHTRIAN CEREMONIES, a reconstruction based on the Gathas, Ali A.
Jafarey, Ushta Publications, 1992.
Also visit:
The Zarathushtrian Assembly website: www.zoroastrian.org
Books on Zoroastrianism: www.booksandbits.com
Jafarey's website on allegations made against the Assembly and him:
www.jafarey.net |
