History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 11

by Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla

 

CHAPTER XI

 

LIFE AFTER DEATH

 

Death lives by feeding on life. Death is ever at man's heels. It is closer to him than his shadow. Man has always desired to gain immunity from death. It is only when man is downcast and depressed that he looks to death as deliverer and says that he would be better dead than live and suffer. When life becomes dreary and dark, death assumes a bright hue and promises the unfortunate ones to drown their miseries in the darkness of the grave and to give them rest which life has not given them. When life takes its normal course, man blames God that he should have permitted death to stalk the earth. Out of compassion for mankind, it is said, the Babylonian god Ea once endeavoured to secure immortality for it but failed in his attempt. Both gods and men considered the indefinite prolongation of life as the supremest blesssing. But the gods zealously guarded this much coveted boon and kept it as their exclusive possession. They grew jealous and frustrated men's attempt to win immortality, for men would be gods if they got the priceless prize. The hero Gilgamesh passionately longed for immortal life and went in search of an escape from death. He was informed by the shade of his heroic compatriot whom death had taken away from him that death was the final fate of man and he was indulging in futile hopes. Immortal life was for gods only. Death was the lot of mankind and even a hero like Gilgamesh with all his marvellous achievements could not escape it. It was, therefore, advisable for him to give up yearning for what was unattainable and rather whole-heartedly enjoy life as long as it lasted and death was yet far off. He is advised by others to don fine raiment, to anoint himself with oil, to fill his belly with fine food and wine, to love the woman of his bosom, and be merry by day and by night, for death would put an end to his life at any moment.

Death comes with stealthy steps. When the hour sounds and death issues its summons and knocks at the door, nothing in the world can keep it out. Death is a grim harvester. It is absolutely heedless of the seasons of life. It swings its sickle and takes away some in the heyday of their summer. It strikes others when they are in the full vigour of life before their life-work is finished and they have enjoyed the greatness they have built. To others who lie lingering in bed suffering excruciating agonies of pain it comes with cruel slowness leisurely moving with feet of lead and leaves them long writhing in the convulsions of fading life Its kiss is killing and its embrace is extinction. It is difficult to look it in the face without quailing. Its helpless victim lies tossing in bed fighting in vain to keep off its icy hands circling round his neck to smother and squeeze out life. Death's ghastly pallor comes over his livid face, the breath begins to rattle laboriously in the throat, his voice is stilled, he stares with sightless eyes, his dear ones around him watch with bated breath his every breath fearing it to be his last, the convulsions of the body, at grip with the soul struggling to leave it, grow keener, life gradually ebbs out of him, it dries up in his veins, the heart ceases its beating, and he gives up his ghost. Death prostrates him in the dust. He sleeps in solitude in the cold grave to be eaten up bit by bit in its decay by worms or is consumed by the roaring tongues of red hot fire or is torn limb from limb by vultures who make a meal of him.

Death is man's last sleep from which he wakes up in the other world. Death sets man brooding over the whereabouts of the dead who has just ceased breathing and fails to respond to the call of the living. It is the greatest mystery, with the solution of which man is always confronted. Man has ever longed to lift the veil that hides it and look behind it. It was an enigma to the first man upon earth and an enigma still it is to us. From the gray dawn of civilization man has vaguely believed that the dead do not die altogether. The Egyptians are among the earliest of the civilized peoples who have left records of their beliefs they held some seven thousand years ago. They could not account for the disappearance of the individual at his death and conjectured that unseen and unheard though the dead one had become, he existed somewhere and somehow. Though he had dropped his vesture of clay he had adopted some invisible replica of it and had thrown a veil over himself and his doings that cannot be penetrated. The grave where his last remains were deposited, they thought, was his natural abode where he lived the life that he hitherto led, but only invisibly. Naturally enough he hungered and thirsted, worked and rested, loved and hated, as he did while alive. So also did the Babylonians believe that the dead departed to the subterranean regions and lived their invisible lives.

The Indo-Iranians came to believe at an early age that at death man leaves behind all that is mortal. His mortal tenement perishes but the imperishable part of man, his real personality, his soul survives his bodily death. Yama was the first to discover the path of the dead and won for himself the empire of the dead. Yama welcomed the soul of the dead to his abode where it was met by its kith and kin that had preceded it.

Zarathushtra systematically speaks of two different worlds, this one and the next. The present, or the earthly world, is called astvant, 'corporeal,' and the other or the heavenly world is called manahya, 'spiritual,' literally, 'of thought.'^[1] Body and soul are the two main constituents in the formation of man. These two have their respective organs and other spiritual and material essentials. So long as these work in unison man lives, and lives for the best in this world. The Evil Spirit has introduced death in the world,^[2] which brings the dissolution of these diverse elements. The soul exists for the short span of its life on earth in the tenement of the body. When the material frame crumbles into dust it flees heavenward. The bodily death does not mean the death of the soul, for that is immortal.^[3] Death is not the end of man's life, for he lives in heaven in spirit and he lives upon earth in posterity. The present life is a prelude to the future life. It is a pilgrimage to a higher life. Man should therefore bethink himself to prepare for the journey to the next world when he departs from this life. He will get in heaven what he craves for in vain upon earth. He will have for actual experience in heaven the best and perfect condition which he visualizes but imperfectly in thought on earth.

The belief that he will one day meet the dear departed lightens man's burden of bereavement. Death casts the greatest gloom around us. Time, in its fulness, softens the sorrow of the bereaved, wipes away his tears, and heals the wound inflicted by death. But there are always persons of deep emotional nature and gentle feelings who are disconsolate. Their dear ones are torn from them whom they cannot forget. Death lacerates the heart of fond parents by snatching away from their bosom their only child that was the apple of their eyes. The devoted wife in the neighbourhood is deprived of her doting husband, who was the idol of her heart and was all that she most loved on earth. Life seems to be empty and hollow to yet another father who has lost his youthful son, who was the joy of his heart and pride of his life. The bereaved grieve and weep, sigh and sob, cry and pray that God may give them back their dear ones, who had shared their joys and sorrows at the fire hearth, but God does not give them back. The dead have gone to the world from where there is no return. With the passing away of their beloved ones, flowers seem to have lost their fragrance, life is shorn of its sweetness, the world has lost its light, and everything around seems to be dead to them. The dead do not pass out of their lives. The music of their voices lingers in their minds, their images float before their vision, their faces haunt them during the day, and they dream of them at night. If they walk in the garden they think they see the airy figures of their dear ones under the shade of the pine trees; if they turn aside they feel they are followed by the ghosts of their dead; if they close the door of their abodes they think they hear the dead knocking at their doors; if they open the doors they fancy they hear the retreating steps of the dead.

Unto countless millions of such aggrieved persons driven to hopeless despair, comes the welcome tidings that their dead ones are living in the yonder world and they will one day be able to meet them. Death has parted them now, but they will be united with them some day. They will themselves go the same way that their dear ones have gone; only they have preceded them and are now awaiting their arrival. When they will go to the world of the dead, they will meet them face to face, they will know one another; greet one another with open arms, and live thereafter together in peace and felicity. If God has taken away their beloved before their time, it must be because in his infinite wisdom he must have thought this world not good enough for them. For those whom God loves most, he calls to himself sooner than others.

The anomalies of earthly life and their final adjustment in heaven. The unequal distribution of earthly possessions among mankind, the unequal opportunities held out to men, the undeserved sufferings of the righteous, the unmerited success of the wicked, and various other anomalies of life have led man by long ages of thinking to postulate a place where wrongs shall be ultimately adjusted, outraged righteousness expiated, and undetected wickedness punished. Death is the entrance into eternal light or eternal darkness. The order of this world is far from perfection; the innocent often suffer, while the guilty escape with impunity; the virtuous poor man pines under grinding poverty, while the rich man prospers. The doctrine of a future life of rectification where justice will be administered with exactitude in accordance with the divine ordinance, where grievances of this world will be redressed, and where every injustice, borne patiently, will be rectified, gives mental tranquillity and spiritual calm to the afflicted. A vista of hope thus opens before those who are roughly handled by this world. This hope brings peace that the world had not hitherto given them. It enables them manfully to endure pain and privation, suffering and sorrow, in the pious hope that a higher life awaits them in which they will receive their due. This hope assures man the continuation of what little happiness he has had in this world and the cessation of what great misery he suffered on earth. It gives meaning to the life of the individual, and inculcates a robust faith in the goodness of God. Man thus learns that he is not the sport of some evil-designing spirit who has carelessly thrown him on this world, resourceless and helpless. When in spite of his own honest work and hard labour he finds himself hopelessly lost in the feverish struggle for existence, he does not complain that some unjust and partial Maker has made him of clay inferior to that of his intensely selfish competitors, and given to him lesser opportunities for success than to his rivals in the race of life. The cheerful idea dawns upon him that the gloomy and dark night of anguish of his broken heart and troubled spirit will be followed by an eternal morn which will dispel all darkness and shed light on his path. He consoles himself with the belief that his life of misery upon the earth is a precursor of happy life in heaven. When life upon earth brings no solace, the hope of heavenly recompense comforts and sustains him.

Vast numbers of men and women have always believed in heaven and hell as certainties. The fear of punishment in the next world has had a great deterrent effect upon many wicked persons. They have dreaded death opening the door to their damnation.

Reward for the good and retribution for the evil. Looking to the history of the origin of this belief among the cultured peoples prior to the advent of Zarathushtra, we find that the growth of ethical concepts led the early Egyptians to believe in the judgment of the soul in the next world. The heavenly tribunal was presided over by Osiris and his associates. Before each of these subordinate judges the soul had to declare that it had not committed the various sins which were enumerated before it name by name. Its heart was weighed in a balance. The soul that came out successful from the trial was escorted by Horus to Osiris who now awarded it bliss. Woe unto the one who could not stand the test at the seat of judgment, for a hippopotamus sitting on the watch pounced upon it and made a morsel of its diet.

The Babylonians did not entertain the belief in the reward and retributions to the righteous and the wicked on an ethical basis. The heavens never formed the abode of the dead. It was in the subterranean regions full of darkness and gloom where all the dead departed. Tired by the gloom and monotony of their imprisonment, the dead longed for an escape to the world where they had experienced joy during life. But the guardians of the lower world kept a careful watch and did not let the unfortunate incumbents escape to the upper world.

In the abode of Yama, according to the Vedas, was found sensuous enjoyment, sweet music was heard and milk and honey and wine flowed amid abundance of food. There was no sickness or old age or suffering. In the early period all souls went to the abode of Yama, but the later belief was that only the righteous abode in the heavens and the wicked went their way to the world of nothingness. Immortality was not inherent in man; he won it as a reward for his righteous life upon earth.

The doctrine of reward and retribution in the other world forms the chief part of the ethical teachings of Zarathushtra's Gathas.^[4] All precepts in the sacred stanzas are generally accompanied by a repeated mention of reward or retribution in this or the next world. Men of elevated minds may hold that it is not a high moral standard in which an individual practises virtue in the hope of reward and eschews vice for fear of retribution. But to be entirely disinterested in the acting of righteousness, or to follow virtue for virtue's sake, is a saintly prerogative. And the world is not made up of saints. The saint is the acme in the moral sphere, as is the intellectual genius in the realm of reason. Both form the climaxes in the two distinct spheres of human activity. The world begets tens of millions of average men, in contrast to the few isolated types of master-spirits who inspire the world with their boundless devotion or enlighten it by their profound intellect. These give a new life and impetus to the moral and intellectual activities of mankind. The saintly type of virtue is the goal which humanity feebly attempts to reach. Humanity, as a whole, is evolving towards this ideal type of virtue, but meanwhile—and let this be emphasized till the striven for goal is reached—it needs some sort of incentive to good conduct in the lives of its masses. Hence the prime motive of their embracing righteousness is the hope of future reward, and that of shunning wickedness is the fear of retribution. In human affairs we have to be content with getting something less than ideal.

It is no wonder, then, if we find an elaborately worked out system of rewards and retributions in the ethical code of the sacred hymns. The faithful generally pray, among other boons, for endurance, durability, riches and happiness in this world, and for rewards, weal, and immortality in the world to come. Zarathushtra implores Ahura Mazda to grant him long life in his Divine Kingdom,^[5] and inquires what will bring happiness to his soul.^[6] In the same manner, the devout lift up their praises of the Lord to the throne of the Almighty.^[7] Ahura Mazda is the giver of rewards to the righteous as well of punishment to the wicked.^[8] He is entreated to grant the riches of both the worlds.^[9]

The soul reaps as it has sown. The soul is the master of the body and is responsible for the good or the evil deeds it has done in this life. Man carves his destiny for the next world by his thoughts, words, and deeds in this life, and good or evil destiny awaits the soul in the next, or the spiritual world, which is essentially the place of reward and retribution. The life in this world is incomplete without its prolongation in the heavenly world, for it is only a life of probation, and the harvest of good or evil deeds sown here is to be reaped hereafter by the soul in the world of the spirit. Whether the soul, on embarking to the next world, will be greeted by the righteous or seized by the wicked, depends entirely on the sort of life it has led in this world. If it wins beatitude, it is on its own merits; if it loses this, it is equally through its own fault. If it ascends to heaven, it is owing to its righteous life in this world; if it sinks into hell, it is due to its wicked life here.

The soul is created pure and innocent. The lost soul that traverses the regions of inferno after death was at the first moment of its original entrance into the bodily world as pure and perfect as the soul of its neighbour now entering paradise. In the spiritual world, class distinctions are unknown. There are no white or black, red or yellow, high or low, touchable or untouchable souls, as man has most selfishly branded his brethren from the difference of the colours of their skin or their low rank in society. The noblest of souls may dwell in the tenement covered with the darkest skin; the vilest of souls may take the body with the whitest skin for its vestment; the loveliest of spirits may be found in the body with the ugliest complexion and the foulest of souls may lurk in the fairest body.

The Bridge of Judgment. When man began to people the heavens with the celestial beings and came to the belief that the dead go heavenward, he naturally began to think of the means to scale the heights. Nature often showed the beautiful rainbow spanning the space between the earth and the sky in glorious colours, and the shining Milky Way paving its circular path with silvery stars. With the development of the eschatological ideas, the Egyptians believed that the souls of the dead lived in the starry regions which were generally reached by means of a huge ladder.^[10]

We are given in figurative language by Zarathushtra the image of a bridge, called Chinvat, literally 'of the dividing one,' that connects this world with the unseen world, and serves as a medium to cross the deep chasm that separates the two. The reckoning of the good or evil deeds of the souls takes place after death,^[11] and judgment is passed upon them before they can cross the bridge. The souls fare here as is their due. The righteous souls come to this place in pious expectation of the reward that awaits them. Zarathushtra helps those righteous souls to cross the Bridge who have devoutly practised his religion.^[12] But the wicked souls, who have estranged themselves from the Path of Righteousness by their own evil thoughts, words, and deeds, stand trembling at this judgment span.^[13] Writhing with the pangs of their conscience and crying words of woe, they are now led by their own conscience to perdition.^[14]

 

Heaven

Abode of the righteous after death. The sharp antithesis that existed between the righteous and the wicked in the material world finds its counterpart in the spiritual world. The righteous in this world formed ashahyā gaethā, 'World of Righteousness,' as against the dregvants who belonged to the world of wickedness. The place reserved for the pious souls that approach heaven is called garo demāna, 'Abode of song.' Ahura Mazda first entered this home of the blessed ones and Zarathushtra has promised that the faithful of all times will win admission to it through thinking good thoughts and practising righteousness.^[15] The prophet says that he will sing praise unto Ahura Mazda in such a manner that it will be heard all along the path leading to Garo Demana.^[16] He will carry the dutiful homage of his own and of his followers unto Ahura Mazda to his resplendent House of Song.^[17] Here the pious souls are surrounded by choirs of celestial beings. Those who win fair report of their lives in this world, live in the happy lodgings of Ahura Mazda, Vohu Manah, and Asha.^[18] We have already seen that paradise itself comes to be known by the name of Good Thought or Best Thought. In one instance this region of felicity and bliss is called vangheush demāna manangho, 'Abode of Good mind.'^[19] Ahura Mazda with his heavenly host, and the souls of the righteous ones, live here. He will welcome King Vishtaspa and other friends of the faith who have helped Zarathushtra in his mission, to live with him in the same abode.^[20]

The nature of reward in heaven. The blessed ones now enter into felicity. To the pious souls Ahura Mazda gives the good reward which their goodness has earned.^[21] The fruition of paradise belongs to them. Those who have helped the prophet in his great work are rewarded in the spiritual world.^[22] There the righteous enjoy felicity in immortality.^[23] Zarathushtra prays for long life of blessed existence in the Kingdom of Mazda,^[24] and seeks to know his soul will reap the good that will rejoice it.^[25] The good leave a good name and fame behind them on earth, and attain reward in the abode of Ahura Mazda, Vohu Manah, and Asha.^[26] The weal of the blessed ones in heaven knows not any woe; it is the lasting happiness which is never followed by misery, and the bliss is without alloy, for the riches of Vohu Manah are everlasting.^[27] Earthly happiness is fleeting, it may be supplanted by misery at the very moment that man thinks himself most secure in its enjoyment. The joy of life may at any moment be eclipsed by a passing cloud of sorrow; but the heavenly bliss is abiding, knowing no end, and having no pain in its train. It is the highest blessing of life, says Zarathushtra, which Mazda will give for ever and aye to all those who are the faithful followers of his excellent religion.^[28]

 

Intermediary Place of Rewards

Between heaven and hell. We learn from Pahlavi works that an intermediary place, situated between earth and the star-region, is reserved for the souls in whose case the records of what may be called the Book of Life show that their good deeds are on a par with their evil deeds. The strict logic of the doctrine of Zoroastrian eschatology and the symmetry of the entire system demand a place where the souls whose good and evil deeds exactly balance and who cannot ascend to heaven because of the heaviness of their sins, and yet are not so weighed down by sin as to descend into hell, and find their resting-place till the final judgment. The Avestan and Pahlavi texts record in full detail this eschatological doctrine, while the Gathas appear to recognize either in spirit or in the abstract, so that we may be justified in concluding that the concept of the intermediate place was embodied in the teachings of Zarathushtra from the beginning.^[29] Whoso wavers between good and evil through his unsteady thoughts, words and deeds will in the end find his place in intermediate region.^[30]

 

Hell

The wicked are consigned to perdition. In contradistinction to the Best Existence, the abode of sinners after death is achishta ahu, 'Worst Existence.'^[31] The region of hell is called drujo demāna, 'Abode of Wickedness,'^[32] or achishtahyā demāna manangho, 'Abode of the Worst Mind.'^[33] Darkness is the characteristic trait of the inferno.^[34]

The nature of retribution in hell. The Gathic texts casually mention that torment and woe, punishment and sorrow, fall to the lot of the wicked in hell,^[35] and that the demons greet the lost souls with foul food.^[36] This figurative expression and other poetic metaphors of like nature are taken literally in the later periods, when hell is materialized and the concept of physical torture is systematically worked out. The soul writhes in agony owing to the consciousness of its alienation from Ahura Mazda. Its vicious life proves in the end its own perdition. From day unto day it has made its own hell, and now its own conscience condemns it to the damnation of hell.^[37]

Duration of punishment in hell. The Gathas speak of the punishment as lasting for a long period.^[38] The idea of eternal damnation, that is confinement in hell, until the day of Renovation, which is markedly manifest in the later works, exists in embryo in the Gathas. A passage expressly speaks of the misery of the wicked souls as lasting for all time.^[39]

 

1. Ys. 28. 2; 43. 3.
2. Ys. 30. 4.
3. Ys. 45. 7.
4. Ys. 30. 10, 11; 31. 14, 20; 45. 7; 51. 6, 8, 9.
5. Ys. 43. 13.
6. Ys. 44. 8.
7. Ys. 45. 8.
8. Ys. 43. 4.
9. Ys. 28. 2.
10. For parallels to the Bridge see Soderblom, Les Fravashis, p. 70 f.
11. Ys. 31. 14.
12. Ys. 46. 10.
13. Ys. 51. 13.
14. Ys. 31. 20; 46. 11.
15. Ys. 51. 15.
16. Ys. 50. 4.
17. Ys. 45. 8.
18. Ys. 30. 10.
19. Ys. 32. 15.
20. Ys. 46. 14.
21. Ys. 30. 11; 43. 5.
22. Ys. 46. 19.
23. Ys. 45. 7; 51. 8, 9.
24. Ys. 43. 13.
25. Ys. 44. 8.
26. Ys. 30. 10.
27. Ys. 28. 8.
28. Ys. 53. 1.
29. Cf. Ys. 33. 1; 48. 4. Bartholomae in ZDMG. 35. 157, 158; Roth, ib., 37. 223-229; Geldner, Aus dem Avesta in KZ. 30. 530.
30. Ys. 48. 4.
31. Ys. 30. 4.
32. Ys. 46. 11; 49. 11; 51. 14.
33. Ys. 32. 13.
34. Ys. 31. 20.
35. Ys. 30. 8, 11; 31. 14, 15, 20; 43. 5; 44. 19; 45. 3, 7; 49. 4; 51. 8, 9; 53. 7.
36. Ys. 31. 20; 49. 11; 53. 6.
37. Ys. 31. 20.
38. Ys. 30. 11; 31. 20.
39. Ys. 46. 11.