The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-10

I lar succession Of light and darkness. Of
] day and night, with their accompani-
| ments Of sleep and wakefulness. all Of
these grand and striking phenomena of
| nature point to and bear ample evidence
Of the existence of an almighty power
| who is not only the creator. but the pre-
| server of this great universe, who has
| not only launched that universe into ex-
! tstence with a premeditated plan Of
I completeness, but who, with the con-
I trolling hand Of a father, preserves by
I certain fixed laws harmony and order
/ here, there and everywhere. We
/ have seen that Ahura- Mazda, or God,
/ is, according to Parsee scriptures, the
i cause of all causes. He is the creator
as well as the destroyer, the increaser
as well as the decreaSer. He gives birth
to different creatures and Il is he who
brings about their end. These
two primeval causes or principles are
called in the Avesta the two Mainyus.
This word comes from the ancient Aryan
( root man 10 think 1t may be
/ properly rendered into English by the
/ word spirit meaning that which can
/ only be conceived by the mind but not
felt by the senses OF these two spiT-
its or primeVal causes or principles one
I is creative and the other destructive.
/ These two spirits work under the Al
| mighty day and night. They create and
/ destroy, and this they have done ever
since the world was created According
/ OF ZorOaster's PHILOSOPHY our world is
/ the work Of these two hostile principles,
/ spenta-mainyush the good principle and
I angrO-mainyush the evil principle, both
! serving under Cod When the
/ appointed time is come angro-minyu and
] hell will be destroyed, men will rise
/ from the dead, and everlasting happi-
/ ness will reign over the world.
/ Not only is the charge of dualism, as
! leveled against ZOroastrianism, and as
| ordinarily understood, groundless. but
/ there is a close resemblance between the
| ideas Of the devil among the Christians
/ and those of the Ahriman among the
1 Zoroasterians. DR.. Hang says the same
/ things in the following words: The Zorro
asterian idea of the devil and the in
| fernal kingdom comedies entirely with
/ the Christian doctrine The devil is a
/ murderer and father OF lies accord
ing to both the Bible and Zend Avesta.'
Now the fifth chapter OF the vendidad
4 gives as it were, a short definition or
! what IS morality or piety. These. first
! Of all, the writer says: Purity is the
! best thing for a man after birth. This
/ you may say is the motto of ZOroastrian
I religion Therefore. NJ. Harlez very
/ properly says that, according to Zoroas-
1 tTian scriptures, the notion Of the word
/ virtue sums itself up in that Of the
/ SanSCrit rita which word corresponds
/ TO our English right 1t means, there
! fore. Righteousness. piety or purity.
! Then the writer proceeds to give a short
/ definition Of piety. 1t says that the
Z pres rVatfCn of good thoughts good
/ words and good deeds is piety' In
/ these pithy words is summed up, so TO
/ say, the whole Of the moral philosophy
I of the Equestrian scriptures. 1t says
j that If YOU want TO lead a piOus and
4 moral life and thus to show a clean
( bill Of spiritual health to the angel
/ Meher Daver. who watches the gates OF
/ heaven at the chinvat bridge, practice
! these three: Think of nothing but the
I truth, speak nothing but the truth,
| and do nothing but what is proper.
Nothing more will be wanted.
/ They alone will save you a safe pilot
! 10 the harbor of heaven, as a safe guide
! 20 the gates Of paradise. Zorro
/ asterianism believes In the immortality
{ heaven and hell correspond to some ex-
4 tent 10 the Christians notions about
! them Heaven is represented as
place Of radiance, splendor and glory,
/ stencil.
! The Parsee places Of worship are
/ known as fire temples. The very name
/ fire temple would strike a non-Zoroas-
TRAN as an unusual form Of worship.
| The Parsees do not worship fire as God
| They merely regard fire as an emblem
Of refulgence. glory and light as the
most perfect symbol Of God and as the
. best and noblest representative of His
divinity. In the eyes of a Parsee his
! fires brightness, activity. purity and in
compatibility bear the most perfect re-
! semblance to the nature and perfection
Of the Deity.
| Again, one must remember that ii is
! the several symbolical ceremonies that
add TO the reverence entertained by a
Parsee for the fire burning in his fire
/ temples. new element of purity is
added to the fire burning in the fire tenn
pies Of the Parsees by the religious cere-
! monies. accompanied with prayers that
| are performed over it before it is in
/ stalled in its place on a vase on an ex-
allied stand in a chamber set apart
The sacred fire burning there is not
the ordinary fire burning in our hearths
! 1t has undergone several ceremonies. and
! it is these ceremonies, full Of meaning
| that render the fire more sacred in the
J eyes Of a Parsee.
Now what does a fire so prepared sig
/ Nifty to a Parsee? He thinks to him
! self: when this fire on this vase be-
fore me, though pure in itself, though
the noblest of the creations of God, and
! though the best symbol of the divinity
had to undergo certain processes of
! purification-had to draw out. as il We're
its essence-nay. its Guintessence-of
| purity TO enable itself to be worthy of
I occupying this exalted position, how
( much more necessary more essential
I mortal who is liable to commit sins and
| crimes, and who comes in contact with
! hundreds OF evils, both physical and
! mental-to undergo the process of pur-
ity and piety by making my thoughts,
| words and actions pass, as IL were
/ through sieve of piety and purity. vir-
tue and morality, and to separate by
this means my good thoughts, good
] words and good actions from bad
/ thoughts, bad words and bad actions.
so that I may, In my turn, be enabled
! TO acquire an exalted position In the
| next world"
In short, the sacred fire burning i'm
| fire temple serves as perpetual monitor
! to a Parsee standing before Il to pre-
serve piety. purity. humility and broth
| erhOOd.
AS we said above, evidence from
| nature is the surest evidence that leads
| Parsee TO the belief in the existance
Of the Deity From nature he Is led to
natures God. From this point OF view
then he is not restricted 10 any particular
place for the recital Of his prayers. For
a visitor TO Bombay. which is the head