Readers' Forum
The knower and the known
Zarathushtra is claimed to be a Persian Prophet. However it may be contended that he was neither. Zarathushtra hailed from Bactria that straddles present day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It lay in the far reaches of the Persian Empire that was only formed much later.
Zarathushtra did not enjoy a revelation; no Burning Bush or Angel Gabriel communicated with him. He formulated his philosophy by quiet meditation like the Vedic rishis (sages) of old: "Then did I realize Thee as the Most Bountiful One, O Mazda Ahura, when the Good Mind encircled me completely. And declared to me that silent meditation is the best for attaining spiritual enlightenment.”
Zoroastrianism not being a revealed religion like Semitic faiths, its followers cannot claim their founder to be a prophet and nor to be "Ahl al-Kitab” — people of the book. Zarathushtra would be considered in Vedantic thinking to be a Jnani, a realized soul and one who knows the truth and abides in the truth. Jnan means knowledge, and the true jnan is when the knower and the known become one. The individual consciousness becomes one with the infinite universal consciousness, duality vanishes and the single truth prevails.
In the case of revelation, the revealer and the one to whom the message is revealed are two identities so that duality persists. The revealer offers insight to a prophet but the prophet is still to achieve the ultimate state of consciousness that Zarathushtra realized.
Dr H. D. SOONAWALA
The Netherlands
soon@ziggo.n
Zarathushtra did not enjoy a revelation; no Burning Bush or Angel Gabriel communicated with him. He formulated his philosophy by quiet meditation like the Vedic rishis (sages) of old: "Then did I realize Thee as the Most Bountiful One, O Mazda Ahura, when the Good Mind encircled me completely. And declared to me that silent meditation is the best for attaining spiritual enlightenment.”
Zoroastrianism not being a revealed religion like Semitic faiths, its followers cannot claim their founder to be a prophet and nor to be "Ahl al-Kitab” — people of the book. Zarathushtra would be considered in Vedantic thinking to be a Jnani, a realized soul and one who knows the truth and abides in the truth. Jnan means knowledge, and the true jnan is when the knower and the known become one. The individual consciousness becomes one with the infinite universal consciousness, duality vanishes and the single truth prevails.
In the case of revelation, the revealer and the one to whom the message is revealed are two identities so that duality persists. The revealer offers insight to a prophet but the prophet is still to achieve the ultimate state of consciousness that Zarathushtra realized.
Dr H. D. SOONAWALA
The Netherlands
soon@ziggo.n
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