Esfendiar says: “By this is understood, that when they quit this mortal frame, they cannot reach the world on high, owing to their want of knowledge and good works; being thus rejected, on their return to the elemental world, they cannot obtain human bodies, but are invested with the forms of the brute creation.” As this parable nearly resembles what has been heretofore mentioned, it is unnecessary to describe it more in detail.
“When thou departest from the inn of the body, there is no other storehouse;
Why dost thou not therefore procure supplies for the road in this place of sojourn?”
Isfendiar also records: “Zardusht once said: ‘Two persons of one house were partners, and were both possessed of great capital; they said:—We have gained a sufficient stock of wealth in the world, and live and dress in a manner suitable to our great riches; we now only want some beloved object, that our existence may be more blissful: therefore, to attain our desire, it will be necessary to undertake a journey. They directed their course to a city, the inhabitants of which were famed for beauty and gracefulness; on arriving there with the caravan, one of the partners gave himself up to traversing the gardens, and was so absorbed in admiring the beauties of the city, that he attended to no business whatever, whilst the other partner obtained a mistress of exquisite beauty. All of a sudden the garden-door was closed.’”
Isfendiar says “Záíd and Amru[522] may serve as an example of the two friends; ‘the capital and stock,’ the original world; ‘the city of beauteous persons,’ this world; ‘the desirable beloved object,’ good works; ‘the rapacious animals, reptiles, and beasts’ are anger, lust, excessive desire, hatred, envy, concupiscence, malignity, and avarice; ‘the herbage and gardens’ are sloth and pride; ‘the garden-door,’ the dakhmah (or sepulchral vault); ‘the urn,’ the grave, or the place of burying the dead; ‘shutting the garden-door’ the moment of death.”
His reasons for enumerating the urn, dakhmah, and grave are, that according to the faith of Azur Húshang, or Máhábád, they sometimes put the body of the deceased into a jar of aqua-fortis, as among them the body is deposited indifferently either in the dakhmah or the jar: but the sepulchre is in use among the people of Room, and the funeral pile among those of Hindustan.
King Gushtásp also relates the following parable of Zardusht: “A certain man delivered his son to a preceptor, saying: ‘Within such a time teach this boy the accomplishments necessary for a courtier.’ The boy, however, through a fondness for pleasure, sport, and amusements, was unwilling to give himself any trouble, and was slow in learning any thing; he however every day secretly brought from home sweetmeats and agreeable objects, as his tutor had a great inclination for such enjoyments. When the preceptor’s time had passed in this manner, and his pupil had become habituated to revelling, sensual pleasures, and enjoyments, the tutor at last fell dangerously indisposed through these excesses, and laid himself down on the bed of death. His pupil well knew he had no other place left, and that he must return to his parents, so that when his master fell sick, he became sensible of his own state. Through dread of his father, shame of his mother, the disgrace of ignorance, and a sense of contrition, he went not near them, but pined in melancholy and wandered about in obscurity.”
This parable has been thus explained by Gushtásp: “‘The preceptor’ signifies the five senses; ‘the son,’ the immortal spirit; ‘the father,’ the universal intelligence; ‘the mother,’ the universal soul; ‘the sweetmeats and mistresses,’ worldly enjoyments; ‘the indispensable necessity of the immortal spirit,’ that it should, through the senses and the common reflection which is their instructor, attain the objects of intellect and amass provisions for its return, so that it may become the associate of the only true king. If this purpose be not effected, it of course feels terror at the death of the body. When it has become thus biassed to sensual pleasures and devoid of all goodness, on being separated from the body, although still possessed of sufficient energy for mounting on high, yet through shame and confusion, it feels no desire of arriving there and beholding its parents, soul and intellect.”
The venerable Húryár once said to the author: “I have seen the following narrative in the Ramazastán of Zardusht: ‘The prime minister to the sovereign of the world had so many sons, that their number surpassed all computation; these he first sent to a place of education, where, along with the children of Rayas (cultivators), they might attain knowledge. If the minister’s sons became intelligent, the Dustúr summoned them to his presence, and enrolled them among the king’s confidential servants; but if they remained without science, they were not regarded as the Vizir’s sons, but classed among the Rayas; were not permitted to come into his presence; and were cut off from all share in their father’s inheritance.”
The author replied: “It occurs to me that, by ‘the king of the world,’ is meant the supreme God without equal; by ‘vizir,’ the primary intelligence; and by ‘the sons of the vizir,’ the souls endowed with reason; by ‘school,’ the elemental world, and the bodies formed of the elements; and by ‘the children of the common people’ the corporeal senses and passions.”