One of the Gathas, Yasna 29, is cast in the nature of a drama. Among the cast of characters is God himself, and his cardinal attributes, truth, good thinking and his benevolent or holy spirit. A complaint is made to the Wise Lord, about the cruelty, violence and oppression which in those days was ravaging Zarathushtra's world. The Wise Lord's benevolent spirit is troubled by this and asks truth if this is a true and correct way for things to be. But truth, by itself, has no way of solving the problem. It cannot abolish evil by divine edict, as it were. There has to be another solution. So God turns to good thinking, and asks if good thinking has found someone to bring the solution to the mortals below. Good thinking replies that it has found, not a man of worldly power, but a man of understanding, Zarathushtra, who has listened to the commandments of the divine forces.

The moral of this drama is the recognition that God's promised solution to the problem of overcoming evil, are his divine forces, and the key to accessing his divine forces is good thinking, or reason and understanding. The process starts at the level of the individual. Zarathushtra tells us to:

"… Reflect with a clear mind - man by man9 for himself – upon the two choices of decision." Y30:2

We can also seek guidance from our leaders, so long as we do not abdicate our duty to think for ourselves. For example, Zarathushtra says:

"… As world-healer, promise us a judge [or teacher] and let obedience to him come through good thinking-...." Y44:16

In other words, not blind obedience to any human authority, but obedience through good thinking. Even when Zarathushtra prays for divine guidance, he knows that it is through understanding, that God will instruct him. He says:

"… instruct through good thinking (the course) of my direction, In order to be the charioteer of my will and my tongue." Y50:6

With a helping hand from God (Y50.1), it is through understanding that we grasp what is true and right. It is through good thinking that we can find solutions to the problems that beset us -- both material and spiritual - whether its a cure for the AID's virus,10 or a cure for hatred and prejudice, or a solution to the problems of drugs and violence. It is through understanding or good thinking that we can, in Zarathushtra's words, "deliver deceit into the hands of truth." (Y44.14). It is the growth of this divine force -- good thinking - in man that enables us to bring to life God's good rule here on earth. As Zarathushtra says:

"... Through good thinking the Creator of Existence shall promote the true realization of what is most healing according to our wish. Y50:11

"Therefore may we be those who shall heal this world!..." Y30:9

The next divine force is spenta mainyn - the benevolent or holy spirit, the spirit of goodness, of loving kindness -- a spirit which finds its highest expression in God, and which Zarathushtra also sees in man.11 Zarathushtra teaches that this spirit of God lives in each one of us. It is our built in guidance system. It is this benevolent spirit of God that generates good thinking in man.12

But more than that, if God lives in you, and if God lives in me, there is a unity or a kinship between us. Well, when I first came across this teaching, many years ago, it stunned me. I couldn't get it out of my mind. When I walked around town, I looked at the different people on the street, and I thought to myself: If Zarathushtra is right, God lives in that crazy looking kid with long hair and funny beads. God lives in that person carrying a briefcase. God lives in that shabby man polishing a brass sign outside the bank. God lives in that elegant person walking into the Bank. God lives in that homeless person sitting on the sidewalk. And God lives in me. And for the first time, a concept that I had often heard about, but never really appreciated, -- the idea of the brotherhood of man -- became real to me. And a touch of good thinking helped me to understand, for the first time, how superficial were the standards by which I automatically categorized people -- wealth, social standing, how they looked, how they dressed, what schools they went to, what jobs they held. I realized that if God lives in each of them, and if God lives in me, there is a unity or a kinship between us, for all our differences. A Persian poet, Jami, expressed it in this way:

"Each essence is a separate glass, Through which the Sun of being’s Light is passed, Each tinted fragment sparkles in the sun, A thousand colors, but the Light is One."13

It is interesting that in searching for God, Zarathushtra discovered as well, the brotherhood of man.14

The next divine concept is spenta aramaiti. This concept has been translated in quite a few different ways, and it is difficult to reconcile all of the different translations. Based on linguistic evidence,15 and also on the way in which Zarathushtra uses the word in the Gathas, I believe the concept of spenta aramaiti means bringing to life God's divine values, with each thought, with each word, and with each action. I believe "loving service" or "loving devotion" to God's cardinal values, is the most accurate translation of the word. 16

At the human level such loving service involves Zarathushtra's idea of how we must worship. We worship God with His own divine values. And we do it in the temple of life - in the hustle and bustle of our world. Whether teaching children, or trying a lawsuit, or building a house, or doing medical research, or, billing a client, if we act with integrity, if we act with understanding, if we do what's right, it is an act of worship. This concept of worship through loving service includes what we used to call "charity" -- lending a helping hand to a fellow human being in need without being condescending about it. Not all of us have the financial means to found hospitals or orphanages. But we can be generous in so many other ways -- by a simple act of friendship, by giving our time and our understanding -- all of which are acts; of aramaiti - acts of worship. I love this form of worship. It warms my heart and delights my mind. It lends an excitement, a challenge, to the way in which I work and play, and relate to people. It gives beauty and meaning to what would otherwise be mundane acts and an empty, purposeless existence.

Now you might question: how can the concept of loving service, or loving devotion (aramaiti) be a part of God? Wouldn't that be man's part to play, rather than God's? Well, the interesting thing is, that Zarathushtra teaches that man and God are partners, allies, co-workers in bringing about, or promoting, God's good rule. Just as He promotes the truth and what's right, with His Thoughts, with His Words, and with His Actions, He asks us to do the same. It's a joint, a mutual, and a loving service to the values that God represents.

The last of the seven values that I would like to sketch today is good rule (vohu xshathra). Good rule is what occurs when authority or power is exercised with reason and intelligence (good thinking), and is committed to what is true and right (asha). In the Gathas, it is called the rule of truth and good thinking. The concept of good rule relates to how God uses his power. Like the others, it is a divine force. And like the others, it also applies to us. It relates to how we are required to use our power. Included in this concept is the idea of good government. The idea that public office is a trust, to be used to advance what's true and right, and not for personal gain.

A few years ago, some of our business schools promoted a "survival of the fittest" theory of business management. The idea was, that two or three people at the same level of management would be encouraged to compete with each other in a dog-eat-dog, no holds barred, fashion, for advancement. The idea was that the fittest would survive and the company would benefit by having such a superior survivor as an employee. What actually happened was that these "superior survivors" were obsessed only with 'their own interests. And their dog-eat-dog, dirty tricks tactics created so much havoc in these companies, that they became terrible places in which to work. Productivity nose-dived, and profits fell. Well, experience is a good teacher. Now there is another theory of business management. It operates on the premise that if employees are treated fairly and humanely, and are allowed to use their creativity, their good thinking, to do a better job, not only will they be happier, but also they will work better, and productivity and profits will increase -- a win-win situation. One of the greatest and most successful proponents of this theory of business management is that great American, Professor Dineen. This theory of business management has been credited with rebuilding the Japanese economy after World War II, and it is now revitalizing our own. Well, this theory of business management is a good illustration of the concept of good rule, vohu xshathra, in practice. It works.

But the concept of good rule, vohu xshathra, has all kinds of practical applications in our world that extends far beyond the idea of good business & management or good government. It does not apply just to business executives, Senators, or people in authority. It applies to all of us. Everyone has some power. If you can hurt someone, you have power. If you can help someone, you have power. The concept of good rule, requires us to use whatever power we have for good, to advance what's true and right. In the Vohu Xshathra Gatha, there is a very lovely verse in which Zarathushtra, teaching through questions, sets out some of the components of good rule. He says:

"Where shall there be protection instead of injury? Where shall mercy take place? Where truth which attains glory? Where [aramaiti loving service]? Where the very best thinking? Where, Wise One, under Thy rule?' Y50:4

In other words, we bring God's good rule to life, each day, at home, in the workplace, in politics, in academia, by offering protection instead of injury, by being merciful and compassionate, by questing for "truth which attains glory'', by loving service to man and God and to the values God represents, and above all, by the use of reason and understanding -- the very best thinking (vohu mano). The environment we would create with such actions, would indeed be a heavenly one.

To summarize Zarathushtra's idea of how we bring a touch of paradise to our material world, he teaches that when we bring God's divine values to life in our world, with each thought, with each word, with each action, we create something of heaven here on earth. It is interesting that an Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore, who was a great admirer of Zarathushtra, expressed the same thought in one of his Balaka poems. He said:

"....Mingling darkness with light You have created your earth; To that earth you send me, Empty-handed.... You command me to transform it Into heaven

Tagore, A Flight of Swans, (poems from Balaka, No.28, translated from the Bengali by Aurobindo Bose).

At this point you might think, "It’s all very well to say that you create a little bit of heaven when you bring to life God's divine values, but what about good people to whom bad things happen? What about good people who experience the unhappiness of illness, poverty, the death of loved ones? What about people, who are fair and decent in their dealings with others, yet experience great injustice at the hands of others? Is this fair? Where is their little bit of heaven?" I don't have all the answers. I can tell you that we know from the evidence of the Gathas that Zarathushtra himself suffered great unhappiness and great injustice. He was hounded and persecuted by a corrupt priesthood and by cruel princes. They drove him out of the country of his birth. They wouldn't allow him to stay with his family and his clan. They accused him of defilement, of being impure. At one point he cries out to God:

"To what land to flee? Where shall I go to flee? They exclude (me) from my family and from my clan….. I lament to Thee. Take notice of It, Lord, offering the support which a friend should grant to a friend...." Y46:1-2

Driven from his home, he wandered and traveled, friendless, for years. He was so ruthlessly ostracized, that at some places, he even was denied shelter in bitter cold weather, as he says:

"...although his two draft animals were trembling from wandering and from the cold." Y51:12

Why should Zarathushtra, a good man, have suffered such injustice? Well, a cardinal teaching of Zarathushtra's is that man has been given the freedom to choose. And that being the case, there are those who will choose the way of cruelty, violence, ignorance, and deceit. And since God does not interfere with the freedom to choose, He cannot prevent us from experiencing the consequences of such choices. But He can give us understanding. And he can give us strength. With these weapons, he can help us to cope. The Gathas do infer that all life is a learning experience, a progression towards spiritual perfection. I don't fully understand why bad things happen to good people. I can only tell you that from my own experience, each time some serious crisis or calamity has befallen me, although at the time I couldn't see how any good could possibly come from such a bad situation, in the long run, sometimes the very long run, inevitably I learned from the situation, and in the long run good did come from it. So when we find ourselves in such a situation, we ask for understanding, we ask for help. And it will come. As Zarathushtra said:

"For I know that words deriving from good purpose and from love are not to be left wanting by You." Y28:10

In short, when confronted by a crisis in our own lives, with God's help, we can learn from the experience. But it is important to remember that when confronted by misery or injustice in someone else's life, we cannot just sit back and say: "They deserve it. They are undergoing a learning experience." It is not for us to judge what others do or do not deserve. Zarathushtra's teaching is action oriented. He requires us to act to right the wrong with good thinking (vohu mano), and with the courage, compassion and generosity of a benevolent spirit (spenta mainyu). In so doing, we become God's partners in defeating what's wrong, and promoting what's true and right (asha).

Up to this point, we have considered Zarathushtra’s idea of heaven, expressed in the material world. But there is the other part -- the spiritual part -- to this equation. When we have succeeded in perfecting these divine values, in ourselves, and have learned all the lessons life has to offer, we ultimately achieve completeness and immortality. We become one with God. We attain the prize --paradise. Zarathushtra's paradise of the spirit is not a geographic location. In the Gathas heaven is not a physical place to which we go after we die. It is the state of being that occurs when we have achieved completely, God's divine values. There is some disagreement as to whether man becomes "one with God" or simply "God-like"

-- retaining his individuality. It is an old philosophical debate of many years standing -

- not just in Zoroastrianism -- and will doubtless continue for many years more. To me, this debate is not of great moment. If you examine Zarathushtra's treatment of the concept of completeness, the conclusion is compelling that completeness is achieved at both an individual and a collective level. In other words, even upon achieving individual completeness or perfection, man is not complete without God, nor God without man.17 And if that is so, can man be complete without his fellow man?

Not everyone agrees that to Zarathushtra, heaven is a state of being.18 Many of us still cling to the conventional wisdom of the later Zoroastrian literature. But in my view, the evidence of the Gathas is compelling.

We see it in Zarathushtra's idea of reward. In verse after verse, he makes it clear that the rewards of bringing to life God’s divine values are God's divine values.19 In other verses he identifies this reward or prize as heaven.20 If this is true, if divine values are the ultimate reward, then, by definition, the reward, heaven, is a state of being, not a place.

Zarathushtra also refers to heaven as the "best thinking" (Y30:4), and to hell as the "worst existence" -- both clearly states of being, and not physical locations.

This idea that heaven is a state of being is reflected in the Hadokht Nask, an early Zoroastrian text written roughly a couple of hundred years after the Gathas, which states that a good person attains paradise in 4 steps:

"The first step...placed him in the Good-Thought Paradise; The second step...placed him in the Good-Word Paradise; The third step... placed him in the Good-Deed Paradise; The fourth step... placed him in the Endless Lights."21.

These descriptions of paradise all relate to states of being, rather than physical locations. And according to another later text (Yasht 12), above the paradise of the endless lights is the paradise of ahu vahishta, the best existence22 -- once again, clearly a state of being. In the Hadokht Nask, by dividing heaven into strata or levels, I think the unknown author of this Nask was attempting to demonstrate that good thoughts alone are not enough, they have to be translated into good words and good actions. Thus, the first level of achievement is good thoughts. A higher level of achievement is attained when good thoughts are translated into good words. And an even higher level of achievement is attained when good thoughts and good words are translated into good actions.23 In other words, each stage is a progressively higher or better state of being. One might ask, if this is so, then why does Zarathushtra describe heaven as the "best thinking". Why not as the "best action"? Perhaps the answer is that the first three stages of heaven described in the Hadokht Nask are achieved in the medium of the material world - with our thoughts, our words and our actions. Whereas, ultimate perfection exists in the reality of mind and spirit. Thus we start with good thinking in the material world, and end with the best thinking when we have made the transition to spiritual perfection.

Finally, in addition to calling heaven the "best thinking", Zarathushtra also calls it the "House of Good Thinking" and the House of Song". In my opinion, he uses the word "House" as a metaphor for a state of being. This conclusion may be inferred from a number of verses. For example, in Y33.5 Zarathushtra speaks of:

"the … rule of good thinking and the paths, straight in accord with truth, wherein the wise Lord dwells 33:4

Clearly, "dwells" here does not refer to a physical location where the Wise Lord lives. H& could "dwell" in the rule of good thinking and the paths of truth only in a metaphoric sense, indicating His condition or state of being. Similarly, in another part of the Gathas, Zarathushtra refers to the divine values as existing in the House of Song, his other name for heaven (Y50.4). If these divine values are attributes of God, then the "house" in which they live can only be His state of being.24 Thus, the House of Good Thinking would be a state of perfect wisdom, and the House of Song, a state of bliss.

In conclusion, to sum it all up, Zarathushtra's paradise is divinity. It finds expression in the realities of both matter and spirit. In the reality of the material world, we create something of paradise each time we bring God's values to life, here, with our thoughts, our words and our actions. In the reality of the spirit, paradise is a state of being. It is what we become when we have achieved completely, God's divine values. It is the bliss of rejoining the source, of being one with God. Completeness (haurvatat). It is not a place to which we go when we die. It is within. Rabindranath Tagore, with his poet's' insight expressed the same truth in this way. He said:

"Oh brother, Do you know where heaven is?
It has no beginning, it has no end,
Nor is it any country
In my heart Heaven finds her home,
And in my songs her melodies."

Rabindranath Tagore, A Flight of Swans,

(Poems from Balaka, No.24, translated from the Bengali by Aurobindo Bose).

References:

1An excellent bird's eye view of the treatment of heaven and hell in the later literature is contained in Dhalla,, History of Zoroastrianism pp. 414 et seq. (K. R. Cama Oriental Inst. reprints 1985).
2All quotations from, and references to, the Gathas in this essay are from the translation of Professor Insler, of Yale University. (See Insler, The Gathas of Zarathushtra, E. J. Brill, 1975), except as follows:
Throughout Professor Insler’s 197S translation, he translates the term aramaiti as "piety". More recently, he has expressed the opinion that "respect" would more accurately reflect the meaning of aramaiti, explaining that the Gathic word has long been correctly identified with its Vedic cognate aramati which means "respect". (Linguistically, Vedic and Gathic are sister languages). However, he noted that Vedic also uses the expression aram kr which means "to serve". See An Introduction to the Gathas of Zarathushtra. No.4, page 5, footnote 7. Based on the way, in which Zarathushtra uses the word in the Gathas, I think "loving service" is the closest English equivalent for spenta aramaiti. See explanation, Id. pages 1 through 6. And wherever in quotations from Insler's translation, in this paper, the word aramaiti occurs, I have substituted the word loving service" in square brackets for his original translation "piety".

In this essay, the use of round brackets in a quotation indicates parentheses appearing in the original quotation. (Insler translation). The use of square brackets indicates an Insertion by me. Insertions are provided by way of explanation. A string of dots in a quotation indicates a deletion. Deletions from a quotation are not for the purpose of hiding anything. Often a verse will contain many strands of thought. Deleting from a quotation strands of thought other than the one under discussion enables me to provide you with a better focus on the strand of thought under discussion.

3Y46.10.
4Insler, Abstract Levels of Ritual in the Gathas of Zarathushtra, American Academy of Religions, Chicago, November 1988.
5See the excellent essay by Yasmine Jhabvala-Kansara on this point in An Introduction to the Gathas of Zarathushtra No.8, pages 6 through 9.
6Spenta mainyu. (The benevolent spirit of the Wise Lord): Y28.1, Y47.2.
Truth (asha): Y33.7, Y34.3, Y34.6, Y43.9, Y50.11.
Good thinking (vohu mano): Y33.7, Y34.6
Good rule (vohu xshathra): Y51.1.
Loving service (aramaiti): Y34.9, Y44.7.
Completeness & Immortality (,haurvatat/ameretat): Y51.7.

7See linguistic explanation by Dr. Insler in An Introduction to the Gathas of Zarathushtra. No. 2, page 12, footnote 1.
8In the thousands of years that followed Zarathushtra, these practices deteriorated into taboos, and lost their original meaning, but that is another story.
9I am sure that Zarathushtra's use of the term "man by man" was generic (as in mankind). Any person who valued wisdom, as Zarathushtra did, and named his daughter "Pouruchista" which means "full of wisdom" or "full of illumined thought" just couldn't have been a male chauvinist. As Moulton notes: "His daughter Pourucista... is named "very thoughtful" by a father who regarded thought as great riches, and did not grudge it to a daughter." Early Zoroastrianism, (AMS Press reprint) pp. 82-83.
10I am indebted to Mr. Pallan Ichaporia for this idea.
11There is some difference of opinion regarding whether or not spenta mainyu is one of the divine attributes. An analysis of the later literature is beyond the Scope of this paper. But based on the evidence of the Gathas alone, the conclusion is compelling that to Zarathushtra, spenta mainyu enjoys the same status as the other divine values. Here are some reasons why:
First, Zarathushtra specifically describes a virtuous spirit (spenta mainyu) as an attribute of Ahura Mazda, (Y28.11, Y43.16, Y31.3, Y33.12, Y43.2,6, Y44.7, Y45.6, Y47.2,3, Y51.7), just as he does with regards to other amesha spenta..
Second, spenta mainyu is described, together with Ahura Mazda, and the other amesha spenta as objects of worship, praise or esteem. See citations in footnote 8 above.
Third, Ahura Mazda is described as the father (a metaphor for source, progenitor) of spenta mainyu (Y47.3), just as he is described as the father of asha (47.2), vohu mano and aramaiti (Y45.4).
Finally, in Yasna 29, spenta mainyu is referred to, along with asha and vohu mano as one of the three cardinal attributes of God (see footnote 11 above).
This evidence is not consistent with the argument that spenta mainyu is something apart from, and different from, Ahura Mazda, and his divine attributes. This argument is sometimes made, to refute the idea that Zarathushtra believed in two uncreated and equal gods, one good and the other evil. I agree whole heatedly that such dualism does not exist in the Gathas. This can be proved clearly and logically from the evidence of the Gathas themselves. I disagree, with great respect that the way to disprove such dualism is to demote spenta mainyu to the status of something other than an attribute of Ahura Mazda . The evidence of the Gathas is to the contrary.

12Y34.2, Y43.2. See also Insler's explanation of Yasna 43 in The Gathas of Zarathushtra, pages 229 to 230.
13I am indebted to Dr. Daryoush Jahanian for this translation.
14There is some evidence in the Gathas that Zarathushtra extended this brotherhood to all the living.
15See footnote 2 above.
16In Yasna 30, Zarathushtra says:
"But to this world He came with the rule of good thinking and of truth, and (our enduring [aramaiti] gave body and breath to it..." (Y30.7).
This idea is corroborated, in different words, in Yasna 51, where Zarathushtra, referring to God's cardinal values, says:
"...Them (all) shall 1 worship with their own names, [meaning, I shall worship truth with truth, good thinking with good thinning etc.] And I shall serve them with love." (Y51.22).
I believe this concept of "serving with love" is aramaiti.
17The verses that suggest this to me, when read in conjunction with each other, are Y45.5, Y45.10, Y47.1, Y34.1l, and Y48.1.
18It is interesting that Moulton, (Early Zoroastrianism. pp. 171-172, AMS Press reprint), Dastur N.D. MinochehrHomji (in his 1984 Chicago Lectures. recorded or cassettes.), and Dr. Farhang Mehr (The Zoroastrian Tradition, Element, Inc. 1991), also seem to have arrived at the conclusion that the heaven of the Gathas is a state of mind, or a state of being, although each of them did so on the basis of a different translation than the one I favor.
19The reward for truth is good thinking (Y30.8). The rewards of good thinking are truth and good rule (Y33.13). Good rule is the rule of truth and good thinking (Y30.7). We are told that our service (aramaiti) to that rule brings it to life, so the reward for benevolent service (aramaiti) is good rule (Y30.7) and also good thinking (Y46.12) and also truth (Y43.10). And truth and good thinking are Zarathushtra's definition of salvation (Y51.20). Now if all this has you confused, don't feel bad. I too was in a fog when I first collected and reviewed this evidence. The fog clears, however, when you consider that the means and the end are the same, and that each of these "rewards" is in fad a divine value. Zarathushtra may also have been trying to illustrate that in the final analysis, there is a unity of identity between these divine values, a point which he also makes in Y31.20 "All ye (immortals) of the same temperament.."; and Y31.4 "when I… call upon truth, the Wise One and the other lords [good thinking and spenta mainyu] shall appear; also reward [completeness and immortality] and [aramaiti]."

20See for example Y5I.15.
21Sacred Books of the East, Vol.23, page 317, Motilal Banarsidas reprint.
22See descriptions of this Yasht in Windfuhr, "Where Guardian Spirits Watch by Night and Evil Spirits Fail: The Zoroastrian Prototypical Heaven." American School of Oriental Research,, pp. 625 to 645.
23This is an idea that is in harmony with Gathic thought. Y48.12.
24See also Y31 .4 in conjunction with Y46.14.