The following text from Hazrat Inayat Khan gives an introduction to the little-known figure of Zarathushtra. The religion he founded (called Zoroastrianism in English, from the Greek rendering of the prophet’s name) is very ancient, but scholars are uncertain when or where he lived – apparently somewhere in northern Persia, at some time between 1700 and 500 BCE. Many of Zarathushtra’s teachings were subsequently borrowed by the Abrahamic religions, although in modified form. There are now very few followers of this faith, but the last sizeable communities are the Parsis of western India, and Hazrat Inayat would have been in contact with them while he was growing up in Baroda.

The life and teachings of Zarathushtra give an example to those who tread the spiritual path, of the manner in which to begin the spiritual journey. Zarathushtra is said to be born of the Huma* tree. The interpretation of this idea is that the Spirit of Guidance does not come direct from Heaven, he is born from the human family; the tree is the family.

It has been a great error of some religious people, that out of their devotion for their Master, they placed him through their imagination on a pedestal, where they themselves could not ever prove him to be when it came to reasoning. It can only stand in the horizon of faith. No doubt faith is the foundation. Faith is the lamp which lightens the path, but reason is the globe over it to make the light appear.

The purpose of this whole creation is fulfilled in attaining that perfection which is for a human being to attain. All the saints, sages, prophets and masters of humanity have been human beings, and they have shown divine perfection in fulfilling the purpose of being human.

Zarathushtra’s spiritual attainment came by his communication with nature first. He appreciated, adored and worshipped the sublimity of nature, and he saw wisdom hidden in the whole creation. He learned and recognized from that the being of the Creator, acknowledged His perfect wisdom and then devoted his whole life in glorifying the name of God. To those who followed him on the path of spiritual attainment, he showed the different aspects of nature and asked them what they could see behind it. He pointed out to his followers that the form, line, color and movement that they saw before them, and which attracted them so much, have been accomplished by an expert artist. It could all work mechanically and be perfect, but no mechanism, however perfect can run without the help of an individual. Therefore he showed to them that God is not an object which the imagination has made, though He is molded by man’s imagination outwardly. In reality God is the Being—such a perfect Being, that if compared to other living beings of this world, He is beyond comparison; He is the Only Being.

The way of worship taught by Zarathustra was to worship God by paying homage to Nature, for nature suggests to the soul the Endless and Unlimited Being hidden behind it all.

*Huma may refer to a mythical bird of fortune, said to represent the evolution of thought beyond all limitations, but it also indicates a sacred tree from which Zarathushtra was said to be born.