who have helped Zarathushtra in his mission, to live with him in the same abode.[1]
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.[2] The fruition of paradise belongs to them. Those who have helped the prophet in his great work are rewarded in the spiritual world.[3] There the righteous enjoy felicity in immortality.[4] Zarathushtra prays for long life of blessed existence in the Kingdom of Mazda,[5] and seeks to know his soul will reap the good that will rejoice it.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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
