The Gothss ore the HYrnnsc,omposed' by Zo rothushfro q,b-out3,500 yeors ogo. The Poeti 'ccompl'exity ond beouty of these .songs is ofmost beyond befief.Eoch Ho (one of the ChoPters)hos its own symmetric strucfut?Gs;on'd eoch verse contoins, quiteoflen, porollel structures sorne'times coordinoted ond sometimescontrosting. Sin'ce the theologYof the Gofhss hos been discussedoften, I sholl l imit myself to theinnovotive o,nd: lofty religiouse lements ' con lo ined inZorothushlro's Hymns.

The most r,evolulionsry ond{or-reoching: coil,Geption wo's theshift of focus o,f reli'g'iotrs corrt'ilrilrnenl from f:he tribof to theindlvldusf . Rel igious s66mil 'rnenf is viewed os on oct of in'dv iduol ref lect ion, choice, ondoc t i ve ded i co t i on , wh i ch hosnothing lo do with ihe foct of birthin o community or tribe. fhe con'sequence of th is is the unovoid 'ob le ind iv id 'uo l respons ib i l i t ybe{ore God for o worthy life, ondthe foundotion of personol sol,'vo t ion , Such on ideo wos todifferent from the fr:ibol {ocus ofth,e vorious Indo'EuroPeoo ol1'cient rel igions, thot i ts ful l impli '

*W]IAT DO WE FINII IhI'T'TIE GATHAS"by Prof Knikhosrazt D ' lrani

(A reprint from FEZANA Journal)

Koikho-srov D, &''onf

csfions wsr's recognired onlY bYlho intef le,etuo lly d iscern ing r.cl,i'gious fh:inkers o,f h'on ond ol,sool oncienf Indio snd Greece.

Turning to th:e notion of thercflglout scl. Ordinorily peopletoks this to be on oct of worshiP,ond indccd thare ore GothicHymns expressing venerotion ondworshipful invocofion of AhuroMo,zdo, Asho, Vohu-mono ondSpenfo-Armoity. Ahuro Mozdo isfhe Divinity on-d the rest ore thepersonolired e$sances throughwhich o,ur'lives orre to be g'ui6td.However; the centrol sct of reli 'gious comrnitrnent is living o lifeof refl'Bctivg r',ig'hfeousness, ofGood Thought, Word, ond Deed.

The f'undurnontol teoching ofthe,Gothos is i ts Erhic , lor whichl ron wos known throughout theoncienf wor ld ' The Ethic of theGothos is reflective, not prescrip-iive; though prescriptive elementswere introduced into the foith,yeors loter. Ancienf .religio-morolirod itio,ns corn monly'e'nu nciotedp:rescriptions, thol is, rules speci-iying whof to do ond whot not todo. the Gothos offer no such rules;they ploce upon the i,ndividuol theheo,vy responsibility to discern the

Truth, thot is, whol ony siiuo'tionid.eolly should be, t,h'roug:h thaGood-Mind, ond o,ct $o, os topromote it.

The world we live in is 9'oodond wos meo'nf fo evolve foperfecfion, but ii is confo'minotedwith the effects of the SPirit s{Opposition, the Spirit of Evil. Thiscontominotion we ore suPPosedto rernove, or minimize, with ouroctions. And when our ocf ionsrend,er lhe wronged world right,in physicol ond sociol existence,then we orB [ustified. When f hewhof e of hurnonitY ocfs thus, evilis destroy€d. For when evil is notch,osen, when its monifestotionsore removed, then i t is trulY de'stroyed. This bri 'ngs obout iheodvent of the finol renovotion inwh ich we, humons, 'P loY o c ru 'c io l ro le.

This is the oPtimistic rnessogeof the Gothos; to oct free of ongerond hotred , f lee of the guih ondsin, directing effort of thoughl ondoction to t t ' t . cleonsing o{ theworld,, espocioll'y our sociol world,toword, whot Ahur:o Mozdo hosossured us, the downing of operfecfed exi'stence.