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FRAVASHIS...."In the ancient Persian tradition, fravashis were powerful supernatural beings able to protect their descendants if duly worshipped. Yast 13." ..Mary Boyce, "Zoroastrians Their religious beliefs and practices", Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, UK, 1979.
"In Zoroastrian tradition, life is a temporary state in which a mortal is expected to actively participate in the continuing battle between truth and falsehood. Prior to being born, the urvan (soul) of an individual is still united with its fravashi (guardian spirit), and which have existed since Mazda created the universe. During life, the fravashi acts as a guardian and protector. On the fourth day after death, the soul is reunited with its fravashi, in which the experiences of life in the material world are collected for the continuing battle in the spiritual world. For the most part, Zoroastrianism does not have a notion of reincarnation, at least not until the final renovation of the world. Followers of Ilm-e-Kshnoom in India believe in reincarnation and practice vegetarianism, two principles unknown to Orthodox Zoroastrianism.".....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism
"There are many gods....They are always present everywhere.....the dieties of the indigenous traditions of Western Europe and The Americas especially were dismantled, suppressed, undermined, abused, forgotten...followers were not even allowed to mention them.....but they still have not been able to destroy them, even with the desecration of the entire planet...the drala principle exists everywhere, always."..(Chogyam Trungpa)
"Stone carved Faravahar in Persepolis.....Faravahar...the winged disc has a long history in the art and culture of the ancient Near and Middle East. Historically, the symbol is influenced by the "winged sun" hieroglyph appearing on Bronze Age royal seals (Luwian SOL SUUS, symbolizing royal power in particular)[citation needed]. In Neo-Assyrian times, a human bust is added to the disk, the "feather-robed archer" interpreted as symbolizing Ashur.....While the symbol is currently thought to represent a Fravashi (approximately a guardian angel) and from which it derives its name (see below), what it represented in the minds of those who adapted it from earlier Mesopotamian and Egyptian reliefs is unclear. Because the symbol first appears on royal inscriptions, it is also thought to represent the 'Divine Royal Glory' (Khvarenah), or the Fravashi of the king, or represented the divine mandate that was the foundation of a king's authority."
"The belief in a double of the living and dead, animate or inanimate things, which influences the persons involved....The fravashis are a class of higher intelligences playing a prominent part in the world of humanity. (fravashi or fravarti:the Persian King Phraortes in 647 BC). The last ten days of the year are especially set aside for their cult. The 19th day is consecrated to their memory and the first month of the Iranian calendar receives its name after them. The Fravashis resemble the Vedic Pitrs, the Roman Manes, of the Platonic Ideas. The Fravashis constitute the internal essence of things, as opposed to the contingent and accidental. They are not mere abstractions of thought but have objective existence and work as spiritual entities. They are immanent in the particular bodies that come into this world after their divine images.Every object which has a name is endowed with a Fravashi. Some Fravashi are wise, beautiful, courageous, efficacious, etc. From the greatest god down to the tiniest shrub, every object has this divine element implanted in it. During the lifetime of every individual, his Fravashi accompanies him to earth...they render great help to those who invoke them...They rush down in the thick of battle to crush the foes...They are eager to communicate with the living...loving when propitiated, dreadful when offended...(Dhalla: 1963..pg 234)...
FRAVASHIS...."A class of higher intelligences...guardian spirits and prototypes of mankind in its purest creation. The Persian name of the Median King Phraortes (647 BC), and also the Median rebel mentioned in the Behistan inscription to Darius is derived from the word fravashi or fravarti. One of the longest of the Yashts is dedicated to the fravashi. The nineteenth day of every month is consecrated to them. They resemble the Vedic Pitrs, the Roman Manes, or the Platonic Ideas, though they are wholly the same. The multifarious objects of this world are so many terrestial duplicates of these celestial originals. They are the manifestations of energy...They are eager to communicate with the living and seek their invocation...They bless those who make offerings and become dreadful to those who offend them....they come down to the rituals on the days consecrated to them...They are not all of equal rank..." (Dhalla: 1963..pg 233+)
FRAVASHIS ......"A class of higher intelligence that are ancient Persian guardian warrior spirits. The 19th day of every month is consecrated to them. King Phraortes' (647 BC) Persian name is derived from the term."(Dhalla:1963..pg 235)..... "Hence Finite Time and Finite Space control man's destiny from the cradle to the grave. Yet the whole of the macrocosm is kept in being by the Fravashis (Dralas ??), the spiritual powers that are indissolubly linked with each human being and with humanity as a whole. Finite time-space, then, is not a kenoma, an empty nothingness, but a pleroma, a 'full' and vital organism...."...(Zaehner..1961..pg 150)...
" Jehovah is a local deity who abides on Mount Sanai.............we would like to make a pilgrimage.........what we will do with Jehovah is what Padmasambhava did.... He is going to be one of our friends.........Jehovah is a "very gentle person".....He will be subjugated as the local deity of Mt Sanai. We have to look for the site.......We have to perform the appropriate ceremonies for him to come along......Subjugating Jehovah is conquering both the Christian and Islamic traditions at the same time."
"Subjugation is bringing the gods around so that they begin to realize some basic understanding. They can't be purely "I am what I am" which they have to give up ......they have to be willing to relate and be willing to work with the other world altogether...they have to work for the sake of others rather than creating their own kingdoms......"
"Boyce speculates that perhaps the fravashis are the remnants of the hero-cult of the "Iranian Heroic Age" (c. 1500 BCE onwards), when ancestor-worship was widespread.....Although there are parallels with the Indian pitaras and Greek Prythani, the historical development of the concept is unclear.....Yasht 13 (Farvardin Yasht), the hymn that is addressed to them and in which they appear as beings who inhabit the stratosphere, and aid and protect those who worship them. In this hymn, the farvashis are described as a vast host of "many hundreds, many thousands, many tens of thousands".....Each family or clan has its own spirit, which guards and looks after only them......Each individual’s fravashi, distinct from his incarnate soul, subtly guides him in life toward the realization of his higher nature. ...The Avesta tells us that the Fravashi is inherent in every animate and inanimate object of Nature and helps in its development. ......In the Parsi festival Fravartigan, the last 10 days of each year, each family honours the fravashis of its dead with prayers, fire, and incense......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fravashi
"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....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...http://www3.sympatico.ca/zoroastrian/fravar.htm
The drala brotherhoods (Groups of 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 21) (Nebesky: 1956..pg 319)..."13 dgra bla" (Norbu: 1995..pg 60)
"The origin and importance of the nine dgra lha." (Nebesky: 1956..pg 336)
"The Gods and spirits of the Tibetan landscape are not necessarily favorably inclined towards human beings.....It is necessary to keep on good terms with the local gods to secure good fortune in this world of everyday life"...(Geoffrey Samuel..Civilized Shamans)
The Drala Manifestation of Gesar of Ling....Rinchen Terdzo Blog.....November, 2008 by Walker Blaine
DEITIES...."eight classes of non-human beings: dud, tsen, lu, lha, nyen, mamo, shinje, gyelpo, and then shaza, nodjin, sinpo"..(Nebesky: 1975..pg 254)..."divine and semi-divine beings such as lha, lu, nyen, sadag, dud, mamo, shinje, tenma, kyongma, etc."..(Norbu: 1995..pg 125)...
DEGYE..."there are nine cosmos creating deities. These may be regarded as principles since they have many local manifestations. The main iconographical feature is the PER, a kimono like tibetan garment. The main degye is called SE, who wears a white PER with crystal armor and helmet. He rides a white horse." (Trungpa:1978)....."Nine gods of light...nine brothers and nine sisters." (Stein: 1972..pg 242)..."The eight degyes are thought to descend from heaven on the smoke of the lhasang. (Trungpa: 1978)..."the primordial beings are described as a King and a Grandmother; while on the other hand, they are spoken of as nine brothers and nine sisters." (Paul: 1982..pg 55)..."the lineage descends from the 'gods of light' and especially from nine or ten Mu deities." (Stein: 1972..pg 242)..."The first 3 of the nine brothers are more important than the others. They are called phyva-srid-skos-gsum"...(Karmay:1975..pg 192)..."Most of the Tibetan gods whose origin is not Indian can be traced back to the parents and the eighteen brothers and sisters."..(Karmay: 1975)
TIBETAN DRALA....There are two different Tibetan terms: Drala (sGra bla) and Dralha (dgra lha)... Whereas "la" is translated variously as "life force, spirit, soul, vital essence" and lha as "god"..."Jamgong Kongtrul the Great made things more curious by writing in his work: 'dgra-bla'."..(Karmay: 1975..pg 218)...
dGra ...dgra: enemy, foe, adversary, opponent...."He is the drala (dgra bla) who extended the power of Shang Shung"..(Mipham text in Norbu: 1995, pg 58)...dgra lha: "foe-god" (Hoffman: 1975..pg 97)... dgra lha: protective warrior god..(Lopez: 1997..pg 4)...dgra-lha (enemy god): "the enemy who prevents man from being potent" [Paul:1982].... dgra-lha (warrior gods) [Stein:1972].... dgra-lha (enemy god): King Gesar is called "the King Gesar, the dgra lha of Zhang Zhung." [Nebesky:1956..pg 318]....dgra lha (war gods) [Kornman:1997]....drala (dgra bla) literally "above the enemy" Beyond aggression. Divine principle that protect against attack or enemies. [Nalanda Translation Committee:1997]...dgra dul: to vanquish the opponents, enemies...dgra lha: war god, deity of war....dgra bla: warrior spirit...norbu dgra'dul: Gesar......Zhang Zhung Gi Dgra Lha: war goddess of Shangshung. "Great Glacier Lady of Invincible Turquois Mist"...
"Pre-Zoroastrian notions of the fravashis reach back in time to the Indo-Aryan period and, earlier, to a primitive moment when as spirits of the deceased they continued to exercise power over human affairs in life. Ancestor-worship and the cult of the dead have ever since played a major part in religious observances throughout human history.....Where we a change from the old ancestor-worship is in the innovative Ch17. There we encounter the fravashi of the paoiryo-tkaesha (those adherents of the primitive doctrine) who are often presented in later Avestic and Pahlavi texts as true adherents of Mazdayasna. There can be little doubt that Mazda-worship existed, among other cults, well before Zarathushtra's time....The qualities of the fravashis are generosity, valour, beneficence, power, radiance, and steadfastness. .....Another set of ancient heroes (Ch 130-138) includes Yima (Jamshid). Thraetaona (Faridun) Aoshnara,..... the fravashi - of the paoiryo-tkaeshas (followers of the primitive doctrine)......http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions/iranian/Zarathushtrian/decent_fravashis.htm
>Paoiryo-Tkaesha.....The opening paragraphs of the Avesta's Farvardin Yasht and the Yasht's verse 13.150 also tell us that Gaya Maretan and the other Pre-Zoroastrian Mazdayasni were called paoiryo-tkaesha meaning keepers of the original ancient law. In order to differentiate early Mazda worship from the later Zoroastrian Mazda worship, we will call this original Aryan religion, Mazdayasni Paoiryo-Tkaesha. ....The word 'mazda' is thought by some to be related to the Sanskrit 'medha' meaning intelligent or wise. In usage, the word Mazda was used to mean God, that is, a creator who caused creation through wisdom, indeed, through a divine thought. Mazda therefore can be translated as God......
Ardavarz has left a new comment on your post "Shamis en Balkh & FRAVASHIS": ........Avestan Fravashi etymologically corresponds to the Sanskrit word pravartī (f.) meaning something that flows or moves forward or causes such movement. It is interesting that its Middle Persian form "fravahr" is used by the Iranian Manicheans as designation of the first of the five elements of light - usually translated as "breeze" and associated with the ether and the golden colour. However I think that the actual correspondence of the ether is not this, but the third Manichean element - the light (white colour), while the first ("fravahr" - element of life/spirit) stands here instead of earth as complementary to the element of wind (air - blue), just as fire (red) is complementary to water (green). Those correspondendes were most likely derived from the laws of colour perception which Mani being himself a painter has known well.
The Mother of Life (Syriac: ima de-khaye)
The First Man (Syriac: Nāšā Qaḏmāyā; Middle Persian: Ohrmazd Bay, the Zoroastrian god of light and goodness; Latin: Primus Homo)
His five Sons (the Five Light Elements; Middle Persian: Amahrāspandan; Parthian: panj rošn)
Ether (Middle Persian: frâwahr, Parthian: ardâw)
Wind (Middle Persian and Parthian: wâd)
Light (Middle Persian and Parthian: rôšn)
Water (Middle Persian and Parthian: âb)
Fire (Middle Persian and Parthian: âdur)
Email....okarresearch@gmail.com
John Hopkins.....Northern New Mexico….January 2013
Avestan Fravashi etymologically corresponds to the Sanskrit word pravartī (f.) meaning something that flows or moves forward or causes such movement. It is interesting that its Middle Persian form "fravahr" is used by the Iranian Manicheans as designation of the first of the five elements of light - usually translated as "breeze" and associated with the ether and the golden colour. However I think that the actual correspondence of the ether is not this, but the third Manichean element - the light (white colour), while the first ("fravahr" - element of life/spirit) stands here instead of earth as complementary to the element of wind (air - blue), just as fire (red) is complementary to water (green). Those correspondendes were most likely derived from the laws of colour perception which Mani being himself a painter has known well.
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