Asha - Jewel in the Zarathushtrian Crown : By Roni K. Khan
The following are extracts from
“Selected Writings” of Late Roni K. Khan.
JEWEL IN THE ZARATHUSHTRIAN CROWN
What is Asha? Why is it mentioned in the very first line of the sacred ‘Yathaa Ahoo Vairyo’, the maanthra of creation? Why is the sacred ‘Ashem Vohoo’, the maanthra of salvation, dedicated wholly to it? Why do our sacred Avestan scriptures mention this word hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times? Why does this idea of Asha run through the entire gamut of the Zarathushtrian lore like an unbroken golden thread? Why is the exalted title ‘Asho’ prefixed to the sacred name of Zarathushtra, the prophet of prophets?
Why? Because Asha is the life-blood and crown Jewel of the religion of Zarathushtra, because it is the excellence of excellences of the Zarathushtrian faith, because it is the foundational principle in the transcendental revelation of Zarathushtra, … and because it is the first and foremost eternal divine law of creation.
Note that the word ‘Asha’ appears in our sacred texts in various other forms such as ‘ashem’, ‘arsh’, ‘arta’, ‘eresh’ and ‘ereta’ (Skt. = ‘rita’), and please also note that ‘asha’ is pronounced as a + sha and not aa + shaa. But before examining what Asha is, let us appreciate from the following references just how exalted is the status accorded to Asha in our religion.
Ahura Mazda calls Himself “Asha Vahishta” (the highest Asha) in Hormazd Yasht VII, and in the Gatha Yasna 28:8 & 29:7 we are informed that Ahura Mazda is “of one accord” (Av. ‘hazaoshem’, ‘hazaosho’) with Asha. Thus, we find Asha raised to a level of equivalence with Ahura Mazda Himself !
As recorded in Dinkard Book VII, 3:56,57, the Ameshaspand Vohumano asks Zarathushtra: “O Zarathushtra of the Spitamas, about what is thy foremost distress, about what is thy foremost endeavour, and for what is the tendency of thy desire?” Zarathushtra replies: “About Asha I consider my foremost distress, about Asha my foremost endeavour, and for Asha the tendency of my desire.” Thus, we find Asha raised to a level of equivalence with our holy Prophet’s innermost yearnings and with his whole divine mission on Earth !
Frankly speaking, explanations in words cannot really do full justice to Asha, because this is a stupendous spiritual concept that needs to be realized deep down in the soul rather than merely understood by the imperfect intellect. Nevertheless, let us try to explore it as best we can, and for the sake of clarity and convenience let us look at Asha from two angles separately – Cosmological, as applied to the mechanics of the universe, and Behavioural, as applied to human conduct.
COSMOLOGICAL: The precision with which the universe operates is due to one original and all-embracing law – the Law of Asha, the law of Right Order and Balance. As the primeval principle of Ahura Mazda’s creation, Asha is the foundation of the entire manifested universe. The mighty ‘Yathaa Ahoo Vairyo’ refers to Asha in its very first line, and its esoteric cosmological interpretation indicates that creation is dependent upon the supply of Asha (‘Ashaat-cheet hachaa’) as per Ahura Mazda’s will or plan (‘Yathaa Ahoo Vairyo’). And needless to say, Ahura Mazda’s plan has to be perfectly righteous since He is the distilled essence of all that is pure and holy. Thus, creation rests upon the foundation of Asha !
As Dr. Irach Taraporewala puts it: “In the fundamental texts of the Avesta, in the Gathas of Zarathushtra, our whole life is described as founded upon Asha. We are also told that the whole creation is progressing along the Path of Asha … In the Veda we are also told that “Rita’ (i.e., Av. ‘Ereta’, ‘Asha’) supports and upholds all creation … Ahura Mazda has been described several times in the Avesta as ‘He who is the highest in Asha, who has advanced the farthest in Asha’ … The Supreme is also pictured as journeying along the Path of Asha at the Head of all His creations.” And he further says: “ Only one conclusion can now be possible as to the meaning of Asha, viz., That Asha is the changeless Eternal Law of Ahura Mazda, His First Plan according to which all this universe has come into being, and obeying which it is progressing towards its destined fulfillment.” (The Gathas of Zarathushtra, Bombay 1947).
It is due to the Law of Asha that the universe is a cosmos and not a chaos. Just look at our own Solar System with its planets ceaselessly revolving around the Sun in an orderly fashion without colliding and crashing into one another. Consider some of the scientific observations made by Dr. A. Cressy Morrison, former president of the New York Academy of Sciences:
if the Moon were not at the exact distance it is from our planet, the ocean tides would completely flood the Earth’s land surface twice a day;
if the Oceans were just a few feet deeper than they are now, the carbon dioxide & oxygen in the atmosphere would be completely absorbed and life could not exist on Earth;
if the Earth rotated on its axis at less than its ordained rate of about 1,000 miles per hour, our days and nights would be many times as long as they are now and our planet would alternately burn and freeze;
if the Earth’s atmosphere was just a bit thinner, we would be bombarded by meteors and devastating fires would rage everwhere.
Dr. Morrison demonstrates mathematically that the universe was deliberately & purposefully designed, and he concludes with this very significant comment: “Did this delicate balance just happen? Not a chance in ten million !” (As citied in The Rising Star of March 10, 1967).
This “delicate balance” is nothing but the Law of Asha in action. The orderly processes of all life are dependent on Asha – from the sprouting of a tiny seed down here on our Earth to the birth of new stars light-years away in outer space. Nothing is haphazard in Nature, nothing is accidental.
Even the events that seem to us to be random or chaotic, such as sudden natural disasters, are not accidental. These too occur in full accordance with the Law of Kerdaar (Skt. Karma). The magnificent verse shown below is from the Ushtavaiti Gatha (Gatha Yasna 43-5), with a literal translation by Dr. Irach Taraporewala:
“(As) Divine, indeed, O Mazda, have-I-realized Thee, O Ahura, when I-recognized Thee (as) the First at-the-birth of Life; for THOU-HAST-ORDAINED (THAT ALL) ACTS AND ALL WORDS SHALL-BEAR-FRUIT – evil to the Evil, (and) good blessings to the Good – Through Thy Wisdom, (thus shall it be) up to the ultimate goal of Creation.”
This is the great universal natural law of Action and Reaction, Cause and Effect, operating eternally and immutably throughout creation explicitly stated in our holy Gathas and for the first time in the religious catalogue of mankind. The existence of this law is now known to science and forms one of the pillars of physics as Newton’s Third Law of Motion – “To every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.”
When the natural balance is disturbed or natural laws are broken, commensurate consequences inevitably follow; when a finger is pointed at Nature, she points a finger back. This inexorable and exact exchange between action and reaction, or cause and effect, is in itself a direct expression of the Orderliness instituted by the Law of Asha, Ahura Mazda’s first and foremost Law of Creation. As Einstein said, “God does not play dice with the universe.” And as Emerson put it, “The world looks like a mathematical equation, which, turn it how you will, balances itself.”
BEHAVIOURAL: We now end our cosmological tour and step off our spaceship to plant our feet on our home planet of Earth. After all, this is where the action is for us humans, this is the immediate environment in which we live and operate, this is our “here and now”. While the cosmos whirls along under Asha, the law of Right Order, through expanses of time and distance that defy imagination, we humans face the down-to-earth task of living from breath to breath, from day to day, and from year to year. We require a recipe for living.
While our scriptures certainly reveal to the initiated the marvels of the mechanics of the cosmos as well as the secrets of after-life, the emphasis is placed on how we should live our lives here and now on earth. Accordingly, the mechanistic cosmological conception of Asha as Right Order translates into Moral or Ethical terms when applied to the field of human behaviour as a recipe for living. Asha is the summit of Morality. Asha is the pinnacle of Ethics.
ASHA IS ABSOLUTE, INDISPUTABLE, UNEQUIVOCAL, UNCOMPROMISING & UNCONDITIONAL RIGHTEOUSNESS AT EACH AND EVERY LEVEL OF EXISTENCE, BE IT CORPOREAL OR INCORPOREAL, MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, ULTRA-PHYSICAL OR SPIRITUAL – AND AT EACH AND EVERY LEVEL OF ACTIVITY GREAT AND SMALL, BE IT IN THOUGHT, IN WORD OR IN DEED.
Such is the pride of place assigned to Asha in the religion of Zarathushtra that in the sacred ‘Yenghay Haataam’, one of our three most bountiful maanthras, we Mazdayasnians are enjoined to respect and revere all those who have progressed in Asha, making no distinction of sex, colour, race, creed, wealth or position: ”Those men and women both do we adore, whose every act of worship is alive with Asha, the Eternal Law of Life; Who are in sight of Ahura Mazda as best and noblest mortals recognized – these are the truest Leaders of Mankind.”
True religious life begins and ends with ethics. If the commanding heights of religion are not in the absolute control of morality, we might as well break down our temples and burn our books, for the final consummation of religion is to be found not just in high towers and deep texts but in the spotlessly ‘Asho’ (Righteous) life of the devotee. There can be no real spirituality if Truth is conveniently considered bendable and changeable from time to time on the excuse of altered external circumstances, or if even the most righteous of ends are attained through dubious means. Asha knows no compromise and brooks no infringement.
As seen earlier, in the holy Gathas Ahura Mazda declares Himself to be of “one accord with Asha”, and in the Hormazd Yasht He even assigns to His own glorious self the name of “Asha Vahishta” (the highest Righteousness).
Celestial beings like the Ameshaspands and the Yazatas are called ‘asho’ in the Avesta. The five Gathas, seen as divine entities in and of themselves have also been describesd as ‘asho’ – “Nemo vay Gaathaa ashaoneesh” = Salutations unto Ye, O Sacred Gathas (G.Y. 28:0).
But when we look at the world of men, we come across a unique fact. In the Avesta, the epithet ‘asho’ is conferred as a special title of honour upon one and only one human being – our prophet Zarathushtra Spitama. The very first line of the introductory verse to the hallowed Gathas reads: “yaaneem mano, yaaneem vacho, yaaneem shyaothanem Ashaono Zarathushtrahay” = Ideal is the thought, ideal is the word, ideal is the deed of Asho Zarathushtra.
Not surprisingly, it was Asho Zarathushtra who brought the supreme moral message of Asha down to the world of men as the life-breath of true religion. It was he who actually applied Asha by making it the commanding height of human behaviour and injecting it into each and every percept and practice of his religion so as to illuminate the lives of his devotees. Listen to the penetrating words of Rabindranath Tagore: “There can hardly be any question that he (i.e. Zarathushtra) was the first man we know who gave a definite moral character and direction to religion … that religion has its truth in its moral significance … In Zarathushtra’s teachings, conduct and its moral motives have received almost the sole attention … Such a high conception of religion is unique in the history of any religion belonging to such a remote dawn of civilization … Zarathushtra’s voice is still a living voice, not alone a matter of academic interest for historical scholars; nor merely the guide of a small community. Rather, of all teachers Zarathushtra was the first who addressed his words to all humanity, regardless of distance of space or time …”
As the First Prophet, Zarathushtra rendered the Law of Asha into a Path of Asha for his adherents to tread, and the essence of his message is captured in these immortal words:
“Aevo pantaao yo Ashahay; veespay anyaeshaam apantaam”
= there is only one Path, that of Asha; all others are non-paths.
This monumental line comprises the final and summative stanza (colophon, 72:11) of the Book of Yasna in which the Gathas are also contained. This one powerful sentence consigns to the spiritual rubbish heap all the mumbo-jumbo of the seductive and seemingly miraculous services offered by “godmen” who roam the marketplace of religion and prey on the gullible and the desperate. As in Asho Zarathushtra’s time so also in our own, we witness the ignorant and the impatient being intoxicated with spiritual cocktails concocted from impure ingredients – these heady potions provide an instant “high” and temporary “relief”, but the hangover left behind is painful and permanent. In today’s plastic age we also witness the roving tribe of jet-set purveyors of religion who try to market instant nirvana like instant coffee. Sooner or later, all these so called paths betray themselves as the non-paths or dead-ends that they really are. Religion is not a circus act !
The divine is not attained on a minimum-input maximum-output basis. Reaching out to Ahura Mazda is not a low-investment high-return business. The secrets of creation are not yielded up to those who are on the lookout for quick-fixes, or those who require a religion of material ease and personal convenience. Asho Zarathushtra promised no shortcuts, no cheap thrills, and no five-star packaged tours. His faithful follower sets store only by this: “Through the best Asha, through the highest Asha, may we catch sight of Thee (O Ahura!)” (Yasna 60:12).
All great religions that have subsequently unfolded on the world stage have their feet firmly set on the path of Righteousness, with each prescribing its own select recipe of Asha-based precepts and practices as the spiritual diet tailor-made for those souls assigned to take birth in its fold.
The religion of Zarathushtra deals with Asha in its totality, and projects the Path of Asha as its central moral message and keynote ethical teaching with a weight of emphasis, frequency of mention, single-mindedness of purpose and directness of diction that is second to none – as may well be expected from the world’s first revealed religion. With matchless clarity, conciseness and comprehensiveness, the concept of Asha is contained in a nutshell in the triple formula of: Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta = Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. This string of three small words encapsulates the entire philosophy of Asha !
But to philosophize is one thing; to practice is another. The Zarathushtrian religion is not just a philosophy of Righteousness; it is a practice in Righteousness. The question is: How is the abstract philosophy of the “Three H’s” of Asha to be translated into real life for the practicing Parsi?
Loudly proclaiming allegiance to the “Three H’s” is not enough. And neither is the application of Asha a “do-it-yourself” exercise in personal creativity as our freewheeling “progressive” Parsis seem to believe – were we capable of such a feat, we would be saints! The Zarathushtrian religion is a specified, itemized, systemized and tested way of life already spelt out for us fully. The Zarathushtrian religion’s sublime ideals, its pure socio-spiritual community practices, its sacred institutions, its powerful maanthravaani, its scientific rituals and its lofty ceremonials – all these are built brick-by-brick on the granite foundation of Asha. And all these are not ends in themselves but are the means for helping us to put Asha into practice in all we think, speak and do.
Asha demands Purity. This spans the entire gamut from the “outer ecology” of keeping the Earth’s natural environment pure to the “inner ecology” of the Kashti ritual to keep the individual’s personal auric environment pure. The declared purpose of our religion is the transmutation of Impurity into Purity for helping to achieve the conversion of all Druj into Asha.
This is demonstrated before our very eyes in the living miracle of the ‘Nirangdeen’ ceremony. Here, simply through the assiduous ritual observance of purity and the force of the mighty Avesta maanthravaani, something as putrefiable as raw urine is metamorphosed into a substance so perfectly pure that to the amazement of scientists it is found to be microbe-free in laboratory tests and remains stable for years on end. This is the power of Asha at work on a physical object. The same power of Asha also works on the soul to cleanse it of spiritual dross and make it perfect.
Asha is the master-key to salvation. Only through Asha can the redemption of the soul be achieved, and only then can the perfect epoch of Frasho-kereti be ushered in and the purpose of creation be fulfilled.
The sublime ‘Ashem Vohoo’ is the prized maanthra of salvation for the Parsi, and its utmost sacredness may be gauged from the declaration made in Yasna 20-3 that “EVERY WORD IN ITS DETAIL AND THE ENTIRE UTTERANCE IN ITS PROCLAMATION IS THE WORD OF AHURA MAZDA.”
If Asha is the jewel in the Zarathushtrian crown, the ‘Ashem Vohoo’ is the golden setting which holds the jewel in place. In mere twelve words of the utmost profundity it proclaims the supreme merit of Asha and revels the secret of how and why salvation can be effected through Asha. The values expressed here are of such excellence that Duncan Greenless was moved to say: “No scripture in the world has excelled the purity of this noble ethic.” (The Gospel of Zarathushtra, Madras 1978 reprint). I offer a literal translation:
Avesta
Ashem1 Vohoo2 vahishtem3 astee4, Ushtaa5 astee6;
Ushtaa7 ahmaai8 hyat9 Ashaai10 vahishtaai11 Ashem12.
English
Righteousness1 is-indeed4 the-supreme3 Virtue2, (it) is-indeed6 divine Light5;
(This) divine-illumination7 (is) for-the-person8 who9 (is) Righteous12 for-the-sake-of10 the-highest11 Righteousness10.
Righteousness for the sake of Righteousness! To do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do! This supreme maxim contains the sum and substance of Asho Zarathushtra’s revelation of the Path of Asha; this single dictum holds the secret to how and why salvation can be obtained. And mark you, there is more to this than “action for the sake of action”, because the action should be righteous in the first place, and in the second place this action should be performed for the sake of Righteousness.
The case for the salvation of our souls, as presented by the ‘Ashem Vohoo’, rests on two sequential propositions of peerless purity, which I explain below:
Life and religion are empty without uncompromising ethical standards of conduct. No action is spiritually justifiable unless it is firmly anchored in ethics. Actions with a shaky ethical foundation are simply not acceptable in the sight of Ahura Mazda – even the purest of ends cannot be justified if means are not pure. The ‘Ashem Vohoo’ indicates that Asha is the highest height of ethics and therefore enjoins us to perform not just any action but only those that are righteous. This, then, is the necessary condition for the attainment of salvation (but not sufficient yet).
Any action, whether righteous or unrighteous, inexorably attracts a commensurate reaction under the stringent administration of the Law of Kerdaar (= Karma, a trailblazing revelation of Zarathushtra). A righteous action will receive an equivalent reward just as an unrighteous action will receive an equivalent punishment. In the epochal words of Asho Zarathushtra who was the first to reveal this universal natural law to the world: “Akem akaai, Vanghuheem Asheem Vanghaovay” = Evil to the evil and Good blessings to the Good. (Gatha Yasna 43-5).
In both cases, however, it is still a matter of bondage! What difference does it make if the chains which bind us are made of rusted iron or of burnished gold? For our bad actions we are constrained to collect the wages of sin in person. And for our good actions too, we are constrained to present ourselves in person, whether in this life or next, to collect our reward. No proxies permitted! And the prize-distribution has to take place on the same stage where the prize-winning actions were performed – the plant bears its fruit in the same place where it was planted! These are the imperatives that follow from the individual responsibility we assume for our own actions and from the equivalence demanded in all things by the law of Kerdaar.
Therefore, surprising though it may sound, in this deeper view of the matter of salvation or the liberation of the soul (‘ravaan bokhtagi’) from the chains which bind us to the material plane, cannot be brought about on the basis of good deeds alone! Even good deeds are a bondage if we cling to their reward! Performing righteous actions is necessary condition for salvation, but it is not the sufficient condition as well.
The ‘Ashem Vohoo’ shows us how to break free from our golden chains. We have right only to action and not to the fruit of action. Salvation can be ours only if we lay our righteous deeds at the altar of Asha, only if we dedicate them wholly to Ahura Mazda as an unconditional offering of love for Him and His Eternal Law of Truth, only if we perform them for the sake of Righteousness and with no ulterior motive of personal gain or reward. This, then, is the sufficient condition for the attainment of salvation.
This is true Sacrifice, true Renunciation, true Surrender. We sign away all rights to the fruits of our good acts and “donate” them to Ahura Mazda’s “cause” of Asha. Such selfless, desireless actions are written on water, as it were, and hence do not impose any Kerdaaric reaction upon ourselves. This is why salvation becomes possible. Having surrendered our reward, we no longer need to hang around to collect it. We are free from all bondage and nothing remains, not even the restraint of reward, to bind us to the material plane any more.
The salvation of the soul and our entry into the abode of Light is at last at hand!
What it means to put into practice the message of ‘Ashem Vohoo’ is nowhere better seen than in the example of our Prophet and nowhere better expressed than in his own words:
“As sacrifice to Mazda does Zarathushtra offer up the life-breath of his whole being as well as the first fruits of his loving thoughts, and at the feet of Asha does he offer up the best of his deeds and words, his willing obedience and the whole of his strength.” (G.Y.33-4)