Good Conscience, the religion of Zarathushtra, is, historically, the first and foremost monotheistic religion in the world. But like other religions, it also has continually changed from its pristine purity to the present institutionalized form of Zoroastrianism. The Zarathushtrian Assembly has been established by its founding members with the sole aim of restoring the Good Religion of Zarathushtra to its pristine purity and activating its progressive universality. The unique movement has raised a few questions: What is the pristine purity of the Good Religion? How does it differ from the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism practiced by the remnants of a once great world religion? How would a restoration to a remote past place the religion on the path to progress and promotion in a fast-moving modern world? This booklet provides the answers to these questions and more. It is hoped that it will illuminate the subject and open the way to an increasing study of mA?A±thra, the thought-provoking message of Zarathushtra. They are embodied in the Gathas, his ever-fresh divine songs of guidance. The restoration of the religion to its pristine position provides prudent answers to a world bewildered by what tradition-tied teachings say and what progressive science proves, a world perplexed by the primeval past, the practical present, and the promising future. The Good Religion has all the three times within it. It is timeless. The booklet shows how ultra-modern the Zarathushtrian religion is in its eternal guideline for a good life on this good earth and beyond. The religion founded by Zarathushtra is known by several names. He himself called it DaA?nA? VaA±uhi, meaning the "Good Conscience," or freely rendered, the "Good Religion." His disciples chose to add Zarathushtri, Zarathushtrian, to show that it was founded by Zarathushtra. To express its true source of inspiration, it is also called A‚huiri, belonging to Ahura, divine. A little later, they coined a new befitting term, Mazda-yasna, to make it clear that they regarded their only god as MazdA?, the "Supreme Intellect," a Wise Being quite unique and above the human-conceived, human-natured deities known as daA?vas, whose cult came to be called daA?va-yasna. The name Zarathushtra has been contracted into Zartosht in Persian and Zarathusht or Zarthusht in Gujarati. DaA?nA? VaA±uhi is DA®n-e Behi or BehdA®ni in Persian. Zoroaster is the Anglicized form of a Greek mispronunciation of the name Zarathushtra. And since the 19th century CE, "the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism" means the final institutionalized version of the Good Religion. With all the forms in view, a follower of the Good Religion is a Zarathushtrian, Zarathushti, Zartoshti, Zoroastrian, Mazdayasni, or Behdin. The two forms of Zarathushtrian and Zartoshti have been preferred by the Zarathushtrian Assembly. This book distinguishes between the pristine form of the Good Religion and the evolved, transformed, and transmuted state of the religion. The Zarathushtrian Religion is the religion taught and practiced by Zarathushtra and his generating followers for centuries. It is based only on the GA?thA?s, the very Teachings of the Teacher. The Institutionalized Zoroastrianism is the massing shape it has taken over the last 2,500 years. Some call it the "Traditional" Zoroastrian religion. The pristine state and the evolving form will be explained under the subtitles of Source Scriptures, History, Zarathushtra, Institutionalization, Doctrine, Rituals, Outside Influence, Present and Future, Changing Attitudes, the Zarathushtrian Assembly, and Conclusion. Source Scriptures The Good Religion: Zarathushtra practiced, taught, and preached his Divine Doctrine for a full forty-seven years. Finally, he reduced his teachings in seventeen songs as the all-time guidelines for "all the living beings" to come. Later the songs were called Gathas, meaning "sacred songs," His immediate followers, adhering fast to his teachings, wove more songs and composed several pieces to supplement the Gathas: They are HaptaA±hA?iti (Seven-chapters in poetry), Hadhaokhta (a short piece advising people to listen to seraosha, the inner-voice expounding the divine message of Zarathushtra), Fshusho-mA?A±thra (another short piece on one preparing oneself to serve the progressive cause in thoughts, words, and deeds), YeA±he HA?tA?m (a paraphrase of a Gathic verse in veneration of men and women), and Fravarti (a section on Initiation in which one renounces onea€™s superstitious beliefs and cultic practices and chooses the Good Religion). They are all in the same dialect, now termed Gathic. The entire collection of a total of 312 stanzas or approximately 7,600 words, is called Staota Yesnya, reverential praises, by Zarathushtraa€™s followers. It is also known by its Pahlavized form of Stot Yasn. It is homogeneous in doctrine and very inspiring and stimulating. The Institutionalized Zoroastrianism was quite rich in scriptures. In addition to the Staota Yesnya texts, it had compositions going back to pre-Zarathushtrian eras and writings ending as late as 1773 CE in three languages of Avesta, Pahlavi, and Persian over a span of more than 4,000 years. It was rich in subjects also: theology, myth, legends, history, geography, agriculture, animal care, medicine, pollution and purity laws, prayer preparations, elaborate rituals, potent spells, and commentaries of the Gathas, all en masse, of course, around the Staota Yesnya. The canonized collection, duly selected and collated by the priestly authorities of the Sassanian order, was completed in about 550 CE It consisted of 21 volumes. Only one volume, called Stot Yasn, contained the Gathas and its supplements. The remaining volumes were commentaries, interpretations, later liturgies, religious epics, administrative and social laws, or miscellaneous subjects of day-to-day life of the Sassanian theocracy. The Arab conquest and the subsequent conversions dealt a heavy blow to the 21-volume collection. Most of the collection was lost and less than one third of the volumes was salvaged and re-arranged into six volumes: the Yasna containing the Staota Yesnya and later liturgical compositions; the Vispered on the GA?hA?nbA?r seasonal festivals; the Yasht, praises in honor of Ahura Mazda and his "assisting" deities; the VendidA?d, mainly concerning pollution and purification laws; the Khordeh Avesta, a handy popularized late collection of mostly non-Gathic daily prayers in Avesta and Middle Persian; and lastly, the collection of Avestan and Pahlavi fragments of various lengths on various subjects. Fresh compositions appeared in Pahlavi during the 9th century in order to make some good of the loss. Avesta was a dead language long before and Pahlavi died a consequent death to produce modern Persian. Persian writings, written in Arabic script, began from the 15th century and lasted until the close of the 18th century. Further writings, in Persian, Sanskrit, Gujarati, and English, have been solely based on this comparatively vast literature. Only a comprehensive study of this literature could project the full form of the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism. This booklet is, therefore, confined to the main points of the subject. A better presentation is made in the authora€™s The Zarathushtrian Religion, a chronological perspective. History Zarathushtra was born, according to a conventional reckoning, 3,757 years ago. His family raised cattle and horses. They belonged to an Indo-European people who called themselves Aryans, meaning "noble." They were polytheists and believed in superstitions and magic. The greedy priests put on a good show of bloody sacrifices, instant intoxicants, and loud chants to please the gods and repel magic, and exploit the simple laity. The people were also exploited by their ruling princes. Zarathushtra, an inquisitive person, looked at the Aryan cult with doubt at the tender age of seven. His doubts increased when the priests could not satisfy him with their dubious answers. They, in their frustration, boycotted him. He left them to discover the truth by himself. His questioning search into the contrast between social disorder and natural order led him to a discovery: the Being whose supreme wisdom created the order which prevails throughout the universe. His discovery of, and communion with the "Being of Supreme Intellect," Ahura MazdA?, gave him a message he conveyed to others. Zarathushtra founded a religion based on the "Primal Principles of Life" he had divinely discovered. He publicly proclaimed his divine message at the age of thirty with the sole aim of leading the entire human society to an ever-fresh spiritual and material existence. The priests and princes, realized the threat to their vested interests, vehemently opposed him, and forced him and his few friends to leave home. Zarathushtra left home, only to go to the court of Vishtaspa, the leading ruler in the region. They had a two-year long discussion, and Zarathushtra converted Vishtaspa and his sagacious companions of men and women. They became fervent peaceful preachers of the new religion, and it spread fast, far, and wide. A thousand years passed and the Good Religion was accepted by all the Aryan and Aryanized people on the Iranian Plateau through the peaceful, but zealous propagation of its devotees. About 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the Persian founded the first world empire, known as the Achaemenian empire, based on the Zarathushtrian doctrine of freedom, benevolence, tolerance, and progress. It extended from Libya to the Pamirs and the Indus. It lasted 220 years (550-330 BCE). After a short rule by alien Macedonians and Greeks, the Zoroastrian Parthians took over and ruled a shrunk empire, mostly confined to the Iranian Plateau, for 478 years (254 BCE-224 CE) with the same spirit of benevolence and tolerance. It was taken over by the Sassanians who turned the empire into a tight theocratic state of one sect. Other Zoroastrian sects were condemned as heretics. Theocracy means total dependence of religiona€™s sustenance on the ruling power, consequently causing the religion to weaken much. It turns it into a parasite which depends more on the theocratic government than on its own potentiality, and therefore, the fall of government proves disastrous for the religion. Meanwhile, Christianity, the religion of the Byzantine Empire west of the Sassanians, posed as a rival. The two empires fought several wars over a period of several centuries. Both were badly weakened and were not able to stop the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. Zealous Muslim warriors defeated both, and completely overthrew the Sassanian dynasty and overran the vast Iranian empire within a short span of twenty yearsa€” 532 to 652 CE With the empire gone, Zoroastrian survival has been at stake. Conversion to Islam through force, persecution, propagation, and concession has drastically reduced the number of Zoroastrians in Iran. Outside Iran, only one group of Iranian emigrants has survived. They are the Parsis of the Indian sub-continent. All other pockets, Iranian or not, have disappeared without leaving any noticeable trace. Zarathushtra In the Good Religion Zarathushtra is a human being who, in his persistent search for truth, discovered and realized the Supreme Entity; called it Ahura Mazda, the Wise God; renounced and discarded the old cultic beliefs and practices; communed with his God; was inspired to convey the Divine Message he had realized, to all men and women of all climes and times; and founded an entirely new universal religion. He is the foremost Ahu (Lord), Ratu (Leader), and MA?A±thran (Thought-provoker); in fact, the primal mental and material, spiritual and physical Guide of a righteous life for every person and for ever. In the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism Zarathushtra is more of a reformer than a founder of an ancient Iranian religion which had deviated from its path. He cleansed the religion of its daeva worship and superstitions but perpetuated all the "good" old beliefs and rituals. He is the "Prophet" of an ethnic community, at present represented by Iranis and Parsis. Yet some Zoroastrians consider him a Divine Being of supernatural knowledge and power. Zarathushtra was to be followed by three saviors, known as Saoshyants, meaning "benefactors," who were to be miraculously born of virgin mothers, each a thousand years after the other, to renovate the deteriorating world. Although approximately three thousand years have passed since Zarathushtra passed away, so far the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism has recognized no one as a Saoshyant. Many Zoroastrians are now eagerly awaiting the appearance of BahrA?m VarjA?vand. This person is not mentioned, even casually, in the Avesta or Pahlavi writings. He appears more in Persian and oral tradition. Some historian scholars say that he could be Bahram Chobin, a defiant Sassanian chief who left Iran for India and China to form an army and return to expel the invading Arabs. He was never heard of but people, looking for a savior, waited for his return. The waiting has grown into the Bahram Varjavand legend. Institutionalization The Good Religion: Zarathushtra founded an altogether new religion on the basis of his divine realization. He eliminated every rite and ritual that was performed to appease false gods, enrich priests, and exploit people. He cleansed minds of superstitions. He taught a very sublime and strong doctrine. His meaningful prayers make the soul divinely soar high but his simple rituals hardly distract onea€™s mind to ceremonial performances. His doctrine is based on the "Primal Principles of Life" on this good earth, but does not set up doa€™s and dona€™ts to govern onea€™s every mental thought and physical movement. His highly philosophical teachings are not commandments to govern minute details of every day life. It is a progressive doctrine that wants its adherents to wisely progress with time and adjust their lives accordingly. The motto is: Continuous renovation and refreshing of life. Zarathushtra is ahu, an improving lord and a ratu, a true guide "chosen" by the people for his righteous actions. He is a manthran, a thought-provoker. He has put his entire doctrine in seventeen songs of a total 241 stanzas or less than 6,000 wordsa€”the Gathasa€”enough to guide humanity of all ages to wholeness, immortality and God without depriving them of their mental and physical freedom and choice. The Institutionalized Zoroastrianism: But the Aryan cult was a well-formalized establishment with an orthodox hierarchy, colorful rituals, and a detailed way of life. When the leaders of the cult joined the spreading religion, many of them wanted to save and perpetuate their leading profession. They very cleverly reintroduced many old beliefs and rituals, and reinstated many gods and animated more from Gathic conceptions and thus created a large pantheon of deities under the godhead of Ahura Mazda. First the elaborate Haoma ritual was introduced. However, the original intoxicant drink was substituted by an ephedraic drink. The ritual was blended in with the Staota Yesnya recitation. It was followed by personifying some of the Gathic abstractions under the term of amesha spenta, conventionally rendered as " Incremental Immortals" and yazata, adorables. Seraosha, the inner-voice, was turned into a warrior deity, and then some of the prominent "heroically helping" gods and goddesses of the pre-Zarathushtrian eraa€”Mithra, god of tribal contract; Verethraghna, god of war and victory; Tishtrya, god of rain; AnA?hitA?, goddess of waters; Vayu, god of wind; Drvaspa, goddess of animal health, and many morea€”were re-introduced as yazatas. Bloody sacrifices accompanied the heroic gods. Still later sun, moon, stars, earth, and other objects had their presiding deities. And still later, the Gathic personifications, called amesha spentas, lost much of their Gathic concepts and were given the task of guarding over cattle, fire, metal, earth, trees, and waters without infringing upon the authority of pre-Zarathushtrian deities presiding over the same elements. The priestly hierarchy, now firmly established, was at the head of two or occasionally three lower classes of warriors, professional producers, and artisans. At present, Zoroastrians are divided into two classes onlya€”The Priests known either as Mobeds or AthornA?ns (misreading of Avestan/Pahlavi A?thravan/A?sravan or A?sron) and the Laity called Behdins (meaning" [of] the Good Religion"). Doctrine The Good Religion: Zarathushtra presents a progressive monotheism. Ahura Mazda, literally "the Being [of] Supreme Intellect, " is the "continuous" creator, sustainer, and promoter of the universe. Ahura Mazda is the "most progressive." He is also transcendental and impersonal, and therefore without any pantheon at all. Yet he is so close, that one can easily commune with him without any mediation. Ahura Mazda has created and creates the universe by his progressive mentality (spenta mainyu). It is a good creation. Among his creations, he has fashioned the "joy-bringing" living world of ours on the earth. It is guided by the "Primal Principles of Life." The Gathas present them in a beautifully intertwined, inseparable pattern to provide one with a well-blended, progressive way of life. Here they are given separately with the sole view of giving a glimpse of the most important of them: Vohu Manah, good mind, good thinking. It stands for the discerning wisdom and thorough thinking required for leading a useful life. Asha stands for "truth, order, righteousness." It is the universal law of righteous precision. It may best be explained by stating that it means "to do the right thing, at the right time, in the right place, and with the right means in order to attain the right result." It should result in constructive and loving good not only for oneself but also for onea€™s fellow creatures and for God. It is the positive, beneficial and unselfish precision par excellence. Khshathra denotes the "power" to settle in peace. Used with the adjective of vohu, good, or vairya, to be chosen, it stands for benevolent power, good rule, and the chosen order. It is chosen by free and wise people as their ideal order in spirit and matter. It is the divine dominion. A‚ramaiti, means "tranquility, stability and serenity." It is peace and prosperity. When used with the adjective spenta, it means the "ever-increasing serene peace" achieved by adhering to the Primal Principles of Life. Seraosha means "listening" to the divine voice within us to guide us on the right path. It means inspiration, divine enlightenment, communion with God. DaA?nA? is a persona€™s inner-perception, the conscience. It also stands for onea€™s chosen religion. Zarathushtra named the religion he founded as the "Good Conscience." All the above and more Primal Principles of Life given in the Gathas, when followed precisely, lead to: HaurvatA?t, wholeness and completion. It is the perfecting process and final completion of our material and spiritual evolution. AmeretA?t means "deathlessness" and "immortality." Together with HaurvatA?t, it is the ultimate goal and represents the completion of our evolutionary development and the final achievement of our life on the earth. In short, the Primal Principles lead one and all to become "godlike" and to live with God in an eternal bliss. The blissful state is called garo demA?na, the abode of songs, or one may as well call it "the house of music." The Gathas speak about urvan, soul, and its final destiny to "live where the Wise God lives." but there exists no fanciful eschatology. All it says is that the soul of a wrongful person "returns" to stay in the "house of wrong" or "house of the worst mind" until it realizes the truth to progress to wholeness and immortality. Yet, this "return" does not feed one with the elaborate doctrine of "reincarnation" and "transmigration of soul" as is found in other religions and beliefs. It is a fair deduction that a soul must evolve to become righteous to continue to live in bliss. Ahura Mazda has endowed mankind with a powerful mentalitya€”one which can discriminate between good and evil. Human beings are free to choose between a better or more progressive mentality (vahya or spanya mainyu) and an evil or retarding mentality (aka or angra mainyu). The reward for the choice of the better mentality is eternal bliss, and the consequence of choosing the evil mentality is a long suffering by the soul until it is refined to achieve wholeness and immortality. Every person receives the reward for every righteous act or suffers the bad consequence for every wrong deed one does. The dualism of the Good Conscience is purely ethical and confined to human behavior only. Everything in nature, the entire environment, is a good creation and should be looked upon as such. Light and darkness, day and night, water and plants, in fact, the very world alive with life, should be promoted according to asha, the universal law of nature. Mankind is not on the earth to interfere in its evolution to perfection but being creative and "godlike," he and she should increase its pace to progress. The Gathic doctrine is a progressively ecological order. Zarathushtra stands high in protecting and promoting the environment in a happy scientific way. Man and woman enjoy equal status. The religion of Zarathushtra is a universal religion which knows no sex, race, color, or national barriers. It is historically the first missionary movement, a moderate movement. The Institutionalized Zoroastrianism has a well-balanced pantheon of deities and demons. Ahura Mazda has created the six amesha spentas (Vohu Manah, Asha, Khshathra, Aramaiti, Haurvatat, and Ameretat), numerous yazatas (adorables consisting of Gathic concepts and pre-Zarathushtrian deities), innumerable fravashis (conventionally rendered as Guardian Spirits), and righteous human beings to assist Him in the continuous cosmic fight with His Adversary, AA±hra Mainyu (the Evil Spirit), the horde of daevas (demons) created by him, and evil human beings who follow him. In contrast to the ethical dualism of the Gathas, the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism is a cosmical dualistic religion in which all that is "termed" as good has been created by Ahura Mazda, and every "bad" event and object, from natural disasters to disease and death, and to the so-called "noxious" creatures, are the creations of the Evil Spirit. Life on this earth and the cosmos is a continuous fight against Anghra Mainyu, the so-called Evil Spirit. The Gathic doctrine of harmony with nature was partially maintained. Air, water, plants, earth, and minerals were, and are, held in high regard. But ecology was not as protected as it should have been according to the Gathic doctrine. Good animals and plants were promoted and improved. "Noxious" animals, particularly ants and frogs, and "evil" plants were meritoriously destroyed. The destruction of the "evil creation" is at present much reduced because of the prevailing circumstances, but the belief in fighting it in mind and matter continues. The fight has made the scriptural doctrine to cover every walk of life from birth to death. The Evil Spirit has created the all-spreading pollution, and rites of purification are elaborate and complex. Life in the Institutionalized Zoroastrianism means a constant watch against devilish moves. It is patterned upon the directives given in the holy scriptures. They include, among a multiple of old and new subjects: priestly duties, kingship, judiciary, religious festivals, ownership, inheritance, agriculture, pastures, animal care, animal slaughter, medicine, prophecy, apostasy, charity, begging, initiation, marriage, polygamy, adultery, slavery, relations with non-Zoroastrians, religious conversion, warfare, retribution, punishment, fine, ransom, compensation, theft, murder, assault, witchcraft, sin, crime, death penalty, carrion, menstruation, and other "doa€™s and dona€™ts" to fight the evil and lead a righteous life. The canonized text was, and its salvage part is, in the Avestan language, the translations and added commentaries were, and what remains of them are, in Pahlavi or Middle Persian. Many of the directives given in the scriptures are difficult and some of them are impossible to be followed in a modern world of intercommunicating and intermingling society. The result is that only a dwindling number of priests try to follow as many of the directives as are possible within the prevailing conditions. The laity have silently abandoned many and are gradually abandoning more. The eschatology is elaborate and picturesque. The soul remains for three days and nights beside the dead body on the earth and ascends on the fourth morning to reach the "Bridge of Separation," originally a Gathic allegory, now turned into a concrete construction. There, it is judged by three yazatasa€”Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu. Here one is not judged separately for each of his or her deeds, but the total of good acts are placed in one pan and all the evil actions in another pan of the balance. Those whose good deeds outweigh their evil actions, are declared righteous and go, according to merits, to one of the four categories of the Heaven and live a life of bliss, and those whose evil deeds are heavier than their good actions are wrongful and likewise go to one of the four Hells. There they are grotesquely tortured, ironically, by the Evil Spirit and his horde of demons. For those who have equal weights of good and evil, there is the purgatory (Avesta MisvA?na GA?tu, "mixing place" or Pahlavi HammistagA?n, a€?place of equal mixinga€?) to eventually purge them of their evil. Here the souls are not tortured but made to suffer only from cold and heat. In spite of these assignments, there is also the bodily resurrection when the dead will arise. Then souls and bodies will again be judged and sentenced to bliss or a temporary punishment. All will eventually be united in the blissful existence. The Evil Spirit and his creation will be doomed for ever. The Institutionalized Zoroastrianism has transformed the Gathic conception of the mental state of enjoying good and suffering evil and the subsequent achievement of wholeness, immortality, and the eternal divine bliss into an elaborate eschatology of death, judgement, heaven, hell, purgatory, bodily resurrection, and salvation, an eschatology which has greatly influenced other religions, including, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Man and woman continue to enjoy equal status. Yet woman is considered more prone to pollution because of her monthly menstruation and periodical childbirth. She has to undergo elaborate and lengthy purification rites to regain her purity. Many modern Zoroastrians have, as already said, given up most of the purification rites. During the Sassanian times, while man could marry more than once and yet keep his status, woman had several standards. Among them, she was a "royal wife" if married as maiden with the consent of her parents, a "self-willed" if she married without her parents' consent, and a "serving wife" if remarrying as a widow. The husband had an upper hand in divorcing his spouse. At present, modified laws promulgated by Zoroastrian associations in Iran and India have restored the equality to a great extent. Nevertheless, marriage outside the community, generally places the woman outside the society among orthodox Parsis. Parsi women married to non-Zoroastrians are fighting for full rights. They are supported by many of their co-religionists. Iranian women are not faced with such social problems.