They also hold the eternal paradise to be the Heavens; and regard the solar majesty as lord of the empyrean; and the other stars, fixed or planetary, as his ministers: thus a person who, through religious mortifications and purity of life, attains righteousness in words and deeds, is united with the sun and becomes an empyreal sovereign: but if the proportion of his good works bear a closer affinity to any other star, he becomes lord of the place assigned to that star: whilst others are joined to the firmament on high: the perfect man passes on still farther, arriving at the æthereal sphere, or the region of pure spirits; such men attain the beatific vision of the light of lights and the cherubinic hosts of the Supreme Lord. Should he be a prince during whose reign no harmless animals were slaughtered in his realms; and who, if any were guilty of these acts, inflicted punishment on the perpetrators of the crimes, so that no such characters departed this world without due retribution; he is esteemed a wise, beneficent, and virtuous king: and immediately on being separated from the elements of body, he is united with the sun: his spirit is identified with that of the majesty of the great light and he becomes an æthereal sovereign. Prince Siamak, the son of Kaiomors declares: “I beheld from first to last all the Abádíán, Jyáníán, Sháíyán, and Yassáníán monarchs: some were cherubim in the presence of the Supreme Lord; others absorbed in the contemplation of the Light of Lights: but I found none lower than the sphere of the sun, the vicegerent of God.” On my asking them concerning the means of attaining these high degrees, they said: “The great means of acquiring this dignity consist in the protection of harmless animals, and inflicting punishment on evil doers.”
According to this sect, labouring under insanity, suffering distress on account of one’s children, being assailed by diseases, the visitations of providence, these calamities are the retribution of actions in a former state of existence. If a person should fall down or stumble when running, even this is regarded as the retribution of past deeds: as are also the maladies of new-born babes. But whatever happens to a just man, which is evidently unmerited, this is not to be looked on as retribution, but as proceeding from the oppression of the temporal ruler, from whom, in a future generation, the Supreme Ruler will demand an account.
According to their tenets, the drinking of wine or strong liquors to excess, or partaking of things which impair the understanding, is by no means to be tolerated: which may be proved by this reflexion, that the perfection of man is understanding, and that intoxicating beverages reduce human nature, whilst in that state, to a level with the brute creation. If a person drink strong liquors to excess, he is brought before the judge to receive due castigation; and should he, during that state, do injury to another, he is held accountable for it, and is punished also as a malefactor.
Among this sect it is permitted to kill those animals which oppress others, such as lions, fowls, and hawks, which prey on living creatures: but whatever animals, whether noxious or innoxious, suffer violence from the noxious, duly receive it by way of retribution: when they slay the former, or noxious animals, that is regarded as a retribution, because in a former existence they were oppressive and sanguinary creatures: and in this generation the Almighty has given them over to other more sanguinary animals, that they might shed the blood of the sanguinary bloodshedder: so that when noxious creatures are slain, it is by way of retribution for having shed blood: the very act of shedding their blood proves them to have been formerly shedders of blood: it is not however allowed to put them to death until they become hurtful: for example, a young sparrow cannot, whilst in that state, commit an injury; but, when able to fly, it injures the insects of the earth; and, although this happens to the insects by way of retributive justice, yet their slayers become also deserving of being slain, as in a former generation they have been shedders of blood. For instance, a person has unwittingly slain another, for which crime he has been thrown into prison; on which they summons one of the other prisoners to behead the murderer: after which the judge commands one of his officers to put the executioner to death, as, previous to this act, he had before shed blood unjustly. But if a man slay a noxious animal, he is not to be put to death, because that person taking into consideration the noxious animal’s oppression, has inflicted retribution on it: but if a brave champion or any other be slain in fighting with a noxious creature; this was his merited retribution; and it is the same if an innoxious animal be slain in fighting with a noxious creature: for example, in a past generation the ox was a man endued with many brutal propensities, who with violence and insolence forced people into his service and imposed heavy burdens on them, until he deprived some of them of life: therefore in this generation, on account of his ruling propensities, he comes in the form of an ox, that he may receive the retribution due to his former deeds, and in return for his having shed blood, should be himself slain by a lion or some such creature. But mankind are not permitted to kill the harmless animals, and these are not shedders of blood: and if such an act should be inadvertently perpetrated by any individuals, destructive animals are then appointed to retaliate on them, as we have explained under the head of the ox.
The best mode to be adopted by merciful men for putting to death destructive creatures, such as fowls, sparrows, and the like, is the following: let them open a vein, so that it may die from the effusion of blood: there are many precepts of this kind recorded in the Jashen Sudah of the Móbed Hoshyár: but philosophers, eminent doctors, and durveshes who abandon the world, never commit such acts: it is however indispensably necessary that a king, in the course of government, should inflict on the evildoer the retaliation due to his conduct. The Móbed Hoshyár relates, in the Sarud-i-Mastán, that in the time of Kaíomors and Siamak, no animal of any kind was slain, as they were all obedient to the commands of these princes. So that one of the Farjúd, or miraculous powers possessed by the Yezdanian chiefs of Iran, from Kaíomors to Jemshíd, was their appointing a certain class of officers to watch over the animal creation, so that they should not attack each other. For instance, a lion was not permitted to destroy any animal, and if he killed one in the chase, he met with due punishment; consequently no creature was slain or destroyed, and carnage fell into such disuse among noxious animals, that they were all reckoned among the innoxious. However, the skins of animals which had died a natural death were taken off, and in the beginning used as clothing by Kaíomors and his subjects: but they were latterly satisfied with the leaves of trees. Those who embrace the tenets of this holy race attribute this result to the miraculous powers of these monarchs, and some profound thinkers regard it as effected by a talisman; whilst many skilled in interpretation hold it to be an enigmatical mode of expression: thus, the animal creation submitting to government implies, the justice of the sovereigns; their vigilance in extirpating corruption and evil, and producing good. In short, when in the course of succession the Gilsháíyán crown came to Húshang, he enjoined the people to eat the superabundant eggs of ducks, domestic fowls, and such like, but not to such a degree that, through their partaking of such food, the race of these creatures should become extinct. When the throne of sovereignty was adorned by the presence of Tahmúras, he said, “It is lawful for carnivorous and noxious creatures to eat dead bodies:” that is, if a lion find a lifeless stag, or a sparrow a dead worm, they may partake of them. In the same manner, when Jemshid assumed the crown, he enacted: “If men of low caste eat the flesh of animals which die a natural death, they commit no sin.” The reason why people do not at present eat of animals which died in the course of nature, is, that their flesh engenders disease, as the animal died of some distemper: otherwise there is no sin attached to the eating of it. When Jemshid departed to the mansions of eternity, Deh Ak,[301] the Arab, slew and partook of all animals indifferently, whether destructive or harmless, so that the detestable practice became general. When Faridún had purged the earth from the pollution of Zohák’s tyranny, he saw that some creatures, hawks, lions, wolves, and others of the destructive kind, gave themselves up to the chase in violation of the original covenant: he therefore enjoined the slaughter of these classes. After this, Jraj permitted men of low caste, that is the mass of the people, to partake of destructive creatures, such as domestic fowls (which prey upon worms), also sparrows and such like, in killing which no sin is incurred: but the holy Yezdanians never polluted their mouths with flesh, or killed savage animals for themselves, although they slew them for others of the same class. For example, the hawk, lion, and other rapacious animals of prey were kept in the houses of the great, for the purpose of inflicting punishment on other destructive animals, and not that men should partake of them: for eating flesh is not an innate quality in men, as whenever they slay animals for food, ferocity settles in their nature, and that aliment introduces habits of rapacity: whereas the true meaning of putting destructive animals to death, is the extirpation of wickedness. The Yezdanians also have certain viands, which people at present confound with animals and flesh: for instance, they give the name of barah, “lamb,” to a dish composed of the zingú, or egg-mushroom; gaur, or “onager” is a dish made out of cheese: with many others of the same kind. Although they kill destructive animals in the chase, they never eat of them; and if in their houses they kill one destructive animal for the food of another, such as a sparrow for a hawk, it is done by a man styled Dazhkím, or executioner, who is lower than a Milar, called in Hindi, Juharah or “sweeper,” and in modern language Hallál Khúr, or one to whom all food is lawful. But the dynasty preceding Gilshah, from whom the Yezdanians derive their tenets, afforded no protection whatever to destructive animals, as they esteemed the protection of the oppressor most reprehensible. In the time of the Gilsháíyán princes, they nourished hawks and such like, for the purpose of retaliating on destructive animals; for example, they let loose the hawk on the sparrow, which is the emblem of Ahriman; and when the hawk grew old, they cut off his head and killed him for his former evil deeds. The first race never kept any destructive creatures, as they esteemed it criminal to afford them protection; and even their destruction never took place in the abodes of righteous and holy persons.
Among the Sipasíyan sect were many exemplary and pious personages, the performers of praiseworthy discipline: with them, however, voluntary austerity implies “religious practices” or Saluk, and consists not in extreme suffering, which they hold to be an evil, and a retribution inflicted for previous wicked deeds. According to this sect, the modes of walking in the paths of God are manifold: such as seeking God; the society of the wise; retirement and seclusion from the world; purity of conduct; universal kindness; benevolence; reliance on God; patience; endurance; contentedness; resignation; and many such like qualities—as thus recorded in the Sarúd-i-Mustán of the Móbed Hushyar. The Móbed Khodá Jáí, in the “Cup of Kái Khusró,” a commentary on the text of the poem of the venerable Azar Kaivan, thus relates: “He who devotes himself to walking in the path of God, must be well-skilled in the medical sciences, so that he may rectify whatever predominates or exceeds in the bodily humours: in the next place, he must banish from his mind all articles of faith, systems, opinions, ceremonials, and be at peace with all: he is to seat himself in a small and dark cell, and gradually diminish the quantity of his food.” The rules for the diminution of food are thus laid down in the Sharistan of the holy doctor Ferzanah Bahram, the son of Farhád: “From his usual food, the pious recluse is every day to subtract three direms, until he reduces it to ten direms weight: he is to sit in perfect solitude, and give himself up to meditation.” Many of this sect have brought themselves to one direm weight of food: their principal devotional practice turning on these five points: namely, fasting, silence, waking, solitude, and meditation on God. Their modes of invoking God are manifold, but the one most generally adopted by them is that of the Múk Zhúp: now in the Azanan or Pehlevi, Múk signifies “four,” and Zhúp “a blow;” this state of meditation is also called Char Sang, “the four weights,” and Char Kúb, “the four blows.” The next in importance is the siyá zhúp, “the three weights” or “three blows.” The sitting postures among these devotees are numerous; but the more approved and choice are limited to eighty-four; out of these they have selected fourteen; from the fourteen they have taken five; and out of the five two are chosen by way of eminence: with respect to these positions, many have been described by the Móbud Sarúsh in the Zerdúsht Afshár: of these two, the choice position is the following: The devotee sits on his hams, cross-legged, passing the outside of the right foot over the left thigh, and that of the left foot over the right thigh; he then passes his hands behind his back, and holds in his left hand the great toe of the right foot, and in the right hand the great toe of the left foot, fixing his eyes intently on the point of the nose: this position they call Farnishin, “the splendid seat,” but by the Hindi Jogies it is named the Padma ásan,[302] or “Lotus seat.” If he then repeat the Zekr-i-Mukzhub, he either lays hold of the great toes with his hands, or if he prefer, removes his feet off the thighs, seating himself in the ordinary position, which is quite sufficient—then, with closed eyes, the hands placed on the thighs, the armpits open, the back erect, the head thrown forward, and fetching up from the navel with all his force the word Nist, he raises his head up: next, in reciting the word Hésti, he inclines the head towards the right breast; on reciting the word Magar, he holds the head erect; after which he utters Yezdan, bowing the head to the left breast, the seat of the heart. The devotee makes no pause between the words thus recited; nay, if possible, he utters several formularies in one breath, gradually increasing their number. The words of the formulary (Nist hesti magar yezdan, “there is no existence save God”) are thus set forth: “Nothing exists but God;” or, “There is no God, but God;” or, “There is no adoration except for what is adorable;” or this, “He to whom worship is due is pure and necessarily existent;” or, “He who is without equal, form, color, or model.” It is permitted to use this formulary publicly, but the inward meditation is most generally adopted by priests and holy persons; as the senses become disturbed by exclamations and clamors, and the object of retirement is to keep them collected. In the inward meditation, the worshipper regards three objects as present: “God, the heart, and the spirit of his Teacher;” whilst he revolves in his heart the purport of this formulary: “There is nothing in existence but God.” But if he proceeds to the suppression of breath, which is called the “knowledge of Dam and Súmrad,” or the science of breath and imagination, he closes not the eyes, but directs them to the tip of the nose, as we have before explained under the first mode of sitting: this institute has also been recorded in the Surud-i-Mastan, but the present does not include all the minute details.[303]
It is thus recorded in the Zerdúsht Afshár; the worshipper having closed the right nostril, enumerates the names of God from once to sixteen times, and whilst counting draws his breath upwards; after which he repeats it twenty-two times, and lets the breath escape out of the right nostril, and whilst counting propels the breath aloft; thus passing from the six Kháns or stages to the seventh; until from the intensity of imagination he arrives to a state in which he thinks that his soul and breath bound like the jet of a fountain to the crown of the head: they enumerate the seven stages, or the seven degrees, in this order: 1st, the position of sitting; 2d, the hips; 3d, the navel; 4th, the pine-heart; 5th, the windpipe; 6th, the space between the eyebrows; and 7th, the crown of the head. As causing the breath to mount to the crown of the head is a power peculiar to the most eminent persons; so, whoever can convey his breath and soul together to that part, becomes the viceregent of God. According to another institute, the worshipper withdraws from all senseless pursuits, sits down in retirement, giving up his heart to his original world on high, and without moving the tongue, repeats in his heart Yezdan! Yezdan! or God! God! which address to the Lord may be made in any language, as Hindi, Arabic, etc. Another rule is, the idea of the Instructor: the worshipper imagines him to be present and is never separated from that thought, until he attains to such a degree, that the image of his spiritual guide is never absent from the mind’s eye, and he then turns to contemplate his heart: or he has a mirror before his sight, and beholds his own form, until, from long practice, it is never more separated from the heart, to which he then directs himself: or he sits down to contemplate his heart, and reflects on it as being in continual movement. In all these cases he regards the practices of the suppression of the breath as profitable for the abstraction of thought: an object which may also be effected without having recourse to it.
Another rule is, what they call ázád áwá, or the “free voice;” in Hindi Ánahid; and in Arabic Sáut Mutluk, or “the absolute sound.” Some of the followers of Mohammed relate, that it is recorded in the traditions, that a revelation came to the venerable prophet of Arabia resembling “the tones of a bell,” which means the “Sáut Mutluk:” which Hafiz of Shiraz expresses thus:
“No person knows where my beloved dwells:
This much only is known, that the sound of the bell approaches.”