Zoroaster — "The Ox-soul lamented to you: 'For whom did you shape me? Who created me? Fury an…"
The Ox-soul lamented to you: 'For whom did you shape me? Who created me? Fury and violence oppress me, and cruelty and bondage.'
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More from Zoroaster
"Doing good to others is not a duty. It is a joy, for it increases your own health and happiness."
"Whoso follows the teachings of Ahura Mazda, him Ahura Mazda will guide."
"Through the best righteousness, we shall see Thee, O Mazda, and through the best thought, we shall approach Thee."
"For the wise, the truth is clear; for the foolish, it is hidden."
"The reward for righteousness is happiness, and for wickedness, unhappiness."
About Zoroaster (c. 1500-1000 BCE (debated))
Iranian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, the first major religion of cosmic dualism between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu). Closely associated with The Buddha (near-contemporary Eastern moral-cosmological revolutionary). For an intellectual contrast, see Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher of 'beyond good and evil' — Nietzsche appropriated Zarathustra's name for Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883) precisely to invert the original's moral cosmology — the historical Zoroaster founded the good-versus-evil framework Nietzsche's character announces the end of.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
The soul of the cow cries out asking why it was created into a world of suffering. It is subjected to rage, aggression, cruelty, and enslavement by humans who treat it brutally. The animal demands to know the purpose of its existence when its life is filled only with pain inflicted by others, questioning the creator about the injustice of being made vulnerable to oppression without protection or dignity.
Relevance to Zoroaster
Zoroaster founded a faith centered on the cosmic struggle between truth (asha) and falsehood (druj), with deep concern for righteous treatment of cattle, which were sacred in his pastoral society. As a priest-prophet, he condemned raiders who stole and slaughtered livestock. This 'lament of the ox-soul' appears in his Gathas, reflecting his core conviction that violence against animals and peaceful herders violated divine order.
The era
Zoroaster lived around 1500-1000 BCE on the Central Asian steppes, where settled cattle-herding communities were constantly raided by nomadic warrior bands who stole livestock and terrorized villages. Cattle were the economic and spiritual lifeblood of these pastoral peoples. Zoroaster's teachings emerged as a moral response to this chaos, demanding protection of productive, peaceful life against the cruelty of predatory raiders who glorified plunder and bloodshed.
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