I drove a Mazda pick-up for a long time. It gave me good service and a lot of pleasure. I loved that little truck. Does that make me a Mazdayasna?
I loved Zorro in the Sunday Matinees. Does that make me a follower of Zoroasterism?
Did the Magi delver their gifts in a Mazda?
Probably not, but it dies get one thinking.
Zarathsustra did much to define what it means to be an Iranian. I am speaking of the being whose name came to us from the Greeks as Zoroaster.
I'd say that Zoroaster was writing and teaching around 600 BC. His words were an early manifestation of morality in monotheistic religion. They are of high importance to most Iranians today. I asked students of mine, a young Iranian couple here for advanced University studies, about Zoroaster. They told me that an important act they carried out before starting their journey here was to recite hymns of Zoroaster and offer prayers to Ahura Mazda as would most Iranians.
I'd guess that Zoroaster came from far eastern Iran, very close to Afghanistan.
Zoroaster interests me because he seems to have taught men a path to freedom of moral choice. He seems to have believed and taught that good deeds generally proceed from good intentions. He suggests to me that a great value in religion is its morality. He suggests that a high value in religion is that it uphold a man in his good thoughts, good words, good deeds. He values man's inward relationship with truth.
He seems to me to consider holy spirit to be intelligent energy focused on truth. The good mind in each man may approach the truth. The good mind may divine and discriminate the false, the less false, the less true, the truer and so approach reality. The Spirit, the Supreme Being, Ahura, is conceived as father of good thought, creator of truth and right. It looks to me that he believed that truth is helpful and beneficial to all who love. Good mind instructs one to love love the truth which leads to wisdom and to that which is best.
The closest one can get to the exact words of Zarathsushtra may be through his Gathas in the Yasna of the Avesta i which the Supreme Being is called Ahura Mazda.
Sraosha was a name for hearkening, for hearing the truth and acting in accord with the truth. It came to be personified as a messenger of God. It seems that in teaching his disciples Zoroastr said that Sraosha came to him with the good mind. He claimed to be bringing them the best of the good mind with the help of God.
I believe that Zoroaster asked his disciples to each be responsible for his own belie and for the truth in his life. He prayed for a good mind based in truth. He asked for action based in order and justice. He prayed for intelligent desire as desire for true perception of reality. He asked us to ponder well over all things, to weigh his words with care and clear thought.
