Zoroaster — "When, O Mazda, shall the dawn of the days of existence rise, when shall the worl…"
When, O Mazda, shall the dawn of the days of existence rise, when shall the world be restored to its purity?
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More from Zoroaster
"To him who chooses me, I shall give as a reward the best of existence, but to him who does not choose me, I shall give the worst."
"Everything that is created was first a Thought."
"Satisfaction linked with dishonor or with harm to others is a prison for the seeker."
"Devotion, like fire, goeth upward."
"Righteousness and Good Mind for the people. To enable me to apprise all, teach me O Mazda Ahura, Through Thine own Spirit and Thine own Words, the principle of creation of the first existence."
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 speaker asks when a long-awaited renewal will finally arrive, when existence will be cleansed of corruption and set right. It is a cry of longing for a decisive turning point, a future morning that ends the present struggle against wrongdoing. The question is aimed at the highest good, voicing patience strained by waiting and trust that the proper order of things will eventually be reestablished.
Relevance to Zoroaster
Zoroaster founded a faith built on the cosmic contest between truth (asha) and the lie (druj), and he taught that history moves toward a final renovation called Frashokereti in which evil is purged and creation is perfected. Addressing Mazda, his supreme god Ahura Mazda, fits his role as prophet-poet of the Gathas. The yearning tone also matches his reported experience of persecution before finding royal patronage under Vishtaspa.
The era
Zoroaster preached in the Iranian Bronze or early Iron Age, among pastoral tribes whose older polytheism centered on ritual sacrifice, warrior raiding, and cyclical nature worship. Life was precarious, plagued by cattle-raiders, droughts, and feuding clans, so a promise of a purified world order spoke to real social chaos. His monotheistic ethical vision and linear view of time, pointing toward a cleansed future, broke sharply from the surrounding mythic worldview of endless recurrence.
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