Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla

“ In this world of joy and sorrow, Providence has provided joy in abundance for men and women in all stages of their lives to make their lives livable.
The rich and poor, high and low alike can feast their eyes on the wealth of natural beauty and the marvels of natural phenomena. It is superstition that converts lovable nature into a haunt of dreadful demons and ghosts, goblins and witches. Everything in nature wears a cheerful outlook and a bright hue. New life is blossoming all around and nature throbs with joy. The dawn has her charms reserved for those who rise early. ”

“ Virtue is the health of the spirit, for vice is its disease. Righteousness is the life of the spirit, for wickedness spells its death.
There can be no compromise between good and evil. Incessant warfare is raging between good and evil. Man's duty is to commend good and co-operate with it; to condemn evil and enter into conflict with it.
"Resist Evil" is the clarion call of Zarathushtra to humanity. Evil is equally the enemy of Ahura Mazda and man, and man is created a comrade in arms to resist it in all its manifestations. It is his birthright to fight evil. ”

“ Light in its various manifestations, whether as the fire of the hearth on earth, or the fiery substance in the bowels of the earth, or as the genial glow of the sun in the azure vault of heaven, or the silvery sheen of the crescent moon in the sky, or the flickering brilliancy of the stars in the firmament, or even in the form of the life-giving energy distributed in the entire creation, is emblematic of Mazda. ”

“ Jesus promises eternal life to those who sacrifice their all to follow in his steps. God is a spirit. He does not relish burnt offerings and sacrifices. He demands that man shall worship him in spirit. He is merciful, forgiving, and just. He makes the sun rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. The inhumanity of man has extinguished all hope in the heart of man that erring humanity can ever be redeemed. Jesus consoles man that all hope is not lost. God can help man in his woe, if only man has faith in God. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Man finds that sometimes life glides peacefully like the moon that sails across the heavens; on other occasions it runs a rough and ruffled course. Zarathushtra teaches man to adjust himself to the diverse ways of life. Man has to accept life on its own terms, take it as he finds it, make as much of it as he can, rejoice in it, and glory in it. He has to be a radiating centre of cheer and happiness to all with whom he comes in contact. It is the duty of every one to be the bearer of joy and light in gloomy and dark homes.
Man has an unquenchable thirst for joy, pleasure, and happiness. ”

“ To others still, freedom from existence has seemed the only salvation.
The existence of evil is a stubborn fact of life. The creation has not only a bright but also a dark side, and the latter is to be accounted for. All is not well with the universe. There is something that savours of bad. The optimist who says that all is right with the world is as much at fault as the pessimist who says that all is wrong. It is not good to dilate upon wrongs, real and imaginary, and pine away under melancholy and gloom ”

“ Every one eagerly wishes to put off the moment of this catastrophe. No one prays for death before its time, and no one likes to hasten to the jaws of this all-devouring demon. The philosopher may speak of death with sublime resignation, the theologian may console himself by depicting death as the birth into a higher life, the mystic may long for the dissolution of the body as a heaven-sent liberation of the spirit, but the majority of humanity thirst for life and thirst for a long life. The death-toll which Astovidhotu exacts from the world is appalling. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The transcendental immanence of Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda has his celestial mansions in the highest heavens, upon the vast expanse of the earth and in the hearts of the righteous persons. He is transcendent in as much as he is infinitely more sublime and greater than his creatures. Yet he is not so remote and ineffable as not to be approached and addressed and greeted by his ardent worshippers. He is immanent in the sense that man can enter into close and loving relations with him, and own him as his father and brother and friend. ”

“ It is a great joy to sit or lie under the shade of trees with their leafy branches gently swaying to and fro to refresh us with cool breeze fanning our faces, or to sit in a rose bower redolent of sweet perfume, or to sprawl or roll about or walk barefooted on the grass, or to romp in the gardens, or to run wild in the fields and woods, or to rest our eyes on the tender green of the grassy lawns stretched before us. Often do we long for calm and it gives us soothing calm to sit in the fields with nothing but the rustle of dry leaves to break the stillness. ”

“ Life is bondage. The bonds that bind the soul to the world and prolong and postpone the period of its liberation are actions. The actions are fetters that bind the soul to the wheel of rebirths. The individual who goes to heaven or hell after death experiences reward or retribution according to his desert. But after a life of many a summer in the world beyond the grave, when the merit or demerit of his good or bad actions is exhausted, he will have to descend upon the earth to work out his destiny according to the residue of the actions of his past earthly life. ”

“ Though living in the tabernacle of clay on earth with the soul, and in the midst of the storms of passion and vice, the Fravashi remains unaffected and untouched, ever pure and ever sinless. From the time the soul embarks on its unknown voyage to this world, as we can judge from Zoroastrian teachings, its Fravashi leads it, day and night, to the path of safety, and warns it of the rocks and shoals, storms and cyclones. If it is off the track, the Fravashi hoists the danger signal. The bark moves smoothly so long as the soul follows the wise counsels of its guide. ”

“ It is man's own fault, in consequence of which he suffers. Man is born good, it is said, but when he goes astray from the path of goodness, he brings calamity on his head. When there were strife and chaos stalking the earth, the sages felt that peace and harmony reigned above in heaven. Perfect was the Way or Heaven or the Tao or the one universal principle, the ultimate reality. Happiness would fall to the lot of mankind, if it followed faithfully the Way. ”

“ A ladder takes the pious souls from one story to another. When the souls have traversed the seven zones, they enter the last paradisaic abode of eternal light and beatitude. At the end of time, Ahriman will destroy the world. Mithra will then come down upon the earth and will bring about the resurrection of the dead. The dead that have come to life again will recognize one another. Mithra will separate the righteous from the wicked. A bull, akin to the primeval Bull, will appear on earth. Mithra will immolate it and give its fat with wine to the righteous that will make them immortal. ”

“ On the dawn of the fourth day after death, the romantic journey of the soul begins and its voyage into the hereafter is described in allegorical and picturesque words. The soul of the righteous one makes its triumphal ascent to heaven, wending its way among fragrant perfumes, and amid a wind that blows from the regions of the south, a sweet-scented wind, sweeterscented by far than any which the soul ever inhaled on earth. [21] There appears then to the soul its own daena, or religious conscience, in the shape of a damsel of unsurpassed beauty, the fairest of the fair in the world. ”

“ Ahura Mazda is the Being par excellence. Ahura Mazda sits at the apex among the celestial beings of Garonmana. He is not begotten, nor is there one like unto him. Beyond him, apart from him, and without him nothing exists. He is the supreme being through whom everything exists. He is brighter than the brightest of creation, higher than the highest heavens, older than the oldest in the universe. He is the best one. [2] He knows no elder, he has no equal. ”

“ Zarathushtra best exemplifies Asha's righteousness in his life. Zarathushtra is pure in body, mind, and spirit He is the embodiment of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds He thinks, speaks, and acts righteousness. He lives in the atmosphere of righteousness and radiates it all around him. He is the very righteousness itself living in flesh for the good of mankind. Righteousness sustains him in his hardships and trials. ”

“ The origin of evil has been the deepest problem of life. [1] It confronts every human being in one form or other. If there is one question which has eluded all investigations of the keenest intellects of all lands and all times; if there is one problem which has called forth volumes of writings from the profoundest of thinkers; if there is one riddle that has baffled all attempts of the sages at solving it; if there is one problem on which the last word yet remains to be said, despite the world's voluminous literature of some ten and twenty centuries—it is the problem of the existence of evil. ”

“ Jainism likewise teaches that Karma or actions elongate the chain of rebirths. The ideal of life, therefore, is to divest oneself of Karma. Actions should be performed without passion or attachment. Karma, thus born, lives but a momentary life and dies. The sooner is the Karma extinguished, the quicker follows the liberation from the trammels of existence. It is the life of renunciation accompanied by bodily mortification that enables man to free himself speedily from Karma. The soul that wins liberation lives its individual life of peace and rest in heaven for ever. ”

“ Ignorance is the penalty that the soul pays when it enters the body. The senses introduce it to the fleeting show of the world. The mind broods over the objects and is drawn in attachment to them. Attachment gives rise to desire which is insatiable like fire. ”