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The Avestan term Fravashi does not appear in the Gathas,
the hymns of Zarathushtra, but in Yasna Haptangaithi, a prayer of seven
chapters which was compiled in the post Zarathushtra era. In the Avesta
(Zoroastrian scriptures), this yasna is placed between the first (Ha 28-34) and
the second (Ha 43-46) Gatha in order to give it prominence and credibility. In
the yasna, the word Fravashi appears as:
Asaonam fravash naramca nairinamca
we adore the Fravashis of the righteousness men and women.
The term Fravashi is made up of two parts, Fra which has been interpreted
as "to go forward" and, vashi which comes from the root vaksh,
meaning "to grow". So Fravashi is that power in a substance which
enables it to move forward i.e. to progress. The Avesta tells us that the
Fravashi is inherent in every animate and inanimate object of Nature and helps
in its development. The Fravashis constitute the internal essence of things as
opposed to the contingent and, work as spiritual entities for all of Ahura
Mazda’s creations. The Fravadin Yasht, the longest of the twenty-two
yashts (hymns), is dedicated to the Fravashis and mentions that Ahura Mazda
created the Fravashis before he created the universe. This implies that Ahura
Mazda had conceived a complete and perfect Universe from the very beginning by
forming the spiritual essence of all objects before their creation. The earth,
sun, moon stars, trees and human beings, all have their Fravashis and the duty
of the Fravashis is to watch over the orderly growth of the world and to make it
prosper. Jivanji Mody [1] has interpreted this to mean that the Fravashis help
the universe to evolve and grow.
Fravashis are the divine, spiritual essence and guarding sprits and represent
the omniscience and omnipresence of Ahura Mazda. They are the proto-types of
mankind, the active presence of Ahura Mazda in everyone of us. From zravana
akarena (from time unlimited) Ahura Mazda conceived a most complete,
harmonious and orderly system of universe and the Fravashis in the natural
objects helped the universe to evolve and will lead it to perfection. The
Fravadin Yasht mentions that the Fravashis help the waters to flow, the trees to
grow, the winds to blow and the sun, moon and stars to move in their orbits.
According to the Avesta every human being has (1) Tanu, (2) Urvan and (3)
Fravashi.
- Tanu is the body or physical self made of flesh, blood and bones.
- Urvan is the soul, the nature of every human. It is the decision maker for
it controls the body and is responsible for all the decisions and actions
done by the humans in this world.
- Fravashi is the spiritual guide, the active presence of Ahura Mazda in
every human being. It guides and helps the soul but does not interfere in
the decision making. The soul is free to choose what it wants to do with its
life on this earth and the Fravashi is that inner voice that warns the soul
of evil and guides it away from spiritual danger.
Jivanji Mody says: “A fortunate man is he, who accepts the guidance of his
Fravashi, communicated through his intelligence (baodha), and accepting the
guidance, makes use of his five senses which lead to support his life (ahu) as
would keep his soul (urvan) pure and uncontaminated, so that when he has to pass
on to the other world, he can present himself before God with a pure conscience
(daena)” [1]. Man becomes perfect when his soul realizes and reaches his
Fravashi [2].
After death the uravan and Fravashi are separated from the tanu which is
disposed off. The Fravashi which is pure and perfect returns to the celestial
abode [3]. The soul which is responsible for all deeds done in this world is
frightened since it is now exposed. This is the only time prayers (Paydast
and Sarosh nu patru) are dedicated to the soul and Sarosh Yazata is
invoked to protect the soul from evil. After death, on the dawn of the third
night the departed soul appears at the Chinvat Bridge guided by Sarosh.
The word Chinvat comes from the root Chi meaning to pick up, to collect.
At the bridge the soul picks up the judgement which is rendered by Meher
Yazata who guards the bridge. This yazata, also known as Meher Davar
(Meher the Judge), weighs the actions of the soul, performed during its life in
this world and if the good deeds outweigh the evil ones then the soul is allowed
to cross the bridge and rewarded with Vahista-ahu, the best life or
heaven. If the evil deeds outweigh the good ones than the soul is not allowed to
cross the bridge and it is cast into Achishta-ahu, the worst existence or
hell. Ahura Mazda cannot be held responsible for soul’s punishment for it is
the soul that brought havoc upon itself by not heeding to its Fravashi to follow
the path of goodness during its lifetime.
The Avesta states that the Fravishi of every human being has three periods of
existence, namely, Fravashayo zatanam (Fravashi of the unborn), fravashayo
zavantam (Fravashi of the living) and fravashayo irirathusham (Fravashi
of the dead). The Fravashi of the unborn, with all the other Fravashis, does its
work in the field of evolution. When a child is born its Fravashi comes down to
earth and acts as a guardian sprit, a true friend and an unerring guide. At
death the Fravashi which is pure and perfect returns to its celestial abode and
joins all other Fravashis. However, it is believed that at Frasho kereti
(the end of this universe) all souls, good as well as the evil ones having
cleansed of their wickedness, will rejoin with their Fravashis in a perfect
body, Tan-i-Pastin. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul and of
compensating justice with heaven or hell in the next world forms a fundamental
dogma of Zoroastrian religion and has been a major influence on the other
religions in this world.
Zoroastrians venerate their dead relatives and the Fravashis are considered to
be the medium between the dead and the living. The Fravashis of the departed are
invoked because they expect to be remembered and respected by the living and
they, in turn, bless the living with spiritual wealth. In order to receive the
blessing the living must lead a virtuous life full of righteousness for the
Fravashis feel satisfied and contented if they see virtue and goodness or else
they become distressed. Many prayers, such as Satum, Farokshi, Afringhan,
Jashan,
are dedicated to the Fravashis who are specially remembered on dehum (tenth),
sirouz (thirtieth) and salruz (anniversary) after death. These
prayers invoke the Fravashis, praise them and ask for their blessings.
It is believed that once a year all the Fravashis come down to earth during the
annual festival of Hamaspathmaidya which coincides with the sixth Gahamber.
In early Iran this was a one day festival and the Fravashis were believed to
dwell with the families and relatives they had left behind. On the dawn of the
next day, which happened to be the New Year’s day (Noruz), the Fravashis
departed from this world and returned to their spiritual abode. During the
Sassanian period, the extension of the Zoroastrian
calendar to 365 days caused a lot of confusion and the original one day
event became a ten day affair, known as Fravadigan days. This ten day
festival has been mentioned in the Fravadin Yasht and among the Parsees of India
it is known as Muktad which is the corrupted version of the word Mukhtar,
meaning supreme or important. Thus, the Mukhtad are considered to be important
days of the year when prayers are recited in honour of the Fravashis, flowers,
fruits and meals are offered during the rituals and consecrated after the
ceremony.
During the Avestan period, a distinction was always maintained between the urvan,
conceived to be masculine and Fravashi, which is feminine. In the Avestan
portions of the Khorshed and Meher Nyaishes, our soul and Fravashi are
invoked separately by the words:
Haom urvanam Yazamaide, haom fravashim yazamaide
we revere our soul, we revere our Fravashi.
Even the Fravedin Yasht mentions urvan and Fravashi as two separate entities:
Ahumcha daenamcha baodhascha urvanemcha fravashimcha yazamaide,
we revere life, conscience, intelligence, soul and Fravashi.
However, during the Sassanian period the distinction between the Fravashi and
Urvan disappeared and the soul was believed to come to earth during the
Fravadigan days. The Satum no Kardo (a prayer for the deceased) mentions:
Nam chesti anusheh ravan ravani ....
Among all the souls we name the departed soul .....
Later on, this intermingling of the soul and Fravashi gave rise to the idea that
the prayers offered by the living helps the soul of the departed to progress
from a lower to a higher place in the cycle of life. This concept of
reincarnation is totally alien to Zoroastrian doctrine and has been vehemently
denied by many scholars who have correctly advocated the concept of one life.
In pre-Zoroastrian times, the spirits of the departed heroes were believed to be
powerful winged beings and were invoked by the living for protection and help
[4]. The winged figure shown below is mostly observed in the ruins of ancient
Iran and has been incorrectly interpreted by many foreigners to be the figure of
Ahura Mazda. According to the Avesta, Ahura Mazda has no shape, form or colour
and, is an invisible power from which emanates light and goodness.
The winged figure, know as Fravahar, is believed to represent devine
glory which shines only in the hearts of righteous kings. It is seen in the
carvings on royal palaces and buildings of the Achaemenids era and there is no
trace of it during the other dynasties in Iran. The Achaemenid kings Darius and
Xerses adopted this winged symbol to indicate that they had received the glory
and sovereignty from Ahura Mazda.
The Fravahar signifies divinity and the three layers of feathers in the tail
depict Humata (good thoughts) Hukhta (good words) and Huvereshta (good deeds).
The five layers of feathers in the wings represent the five gahs (periods) of
the day and the two hooks depict the two opposing forces of good and evil that
exists in this universe. The raised hand depicts the truth and the central ring,
the power of righteousness.
References
- Jivanji Mody, "The religious ceremonies and customs of the parsees",
Society for the
Promotion of Zoroastrian Religious Knowledge", Bombay, India, 1986.
- Maneckji Dhalla "History of Zoroastrianism", K.R. Cama Oriental
Institute, Bombat, 1963.
- Khojeste Mistree, "Zoroastrianism: An ethnic perspective",
Zoroastrian Studies, Bombay, India, 1982.
- Mary Boyce, "Zoroastrians Their religious beliefs and
practices", Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, UK, 1979.
This
page has been taken from
www3.sympatico.ca/zoroastrian.
Please send your comments or suggestions to:
soli.bamji@nrc.ca
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