The Desatir- Sacred Writings of the Ancient Persian Prophets

Preface The Desatir contains teachings which are not merely universal, but which run far back into the night of human history: For example, in the first chapter, the Book of the Great Abad, the first and foremost prophet suggests the existence of seven sacred planets (vv. 15-21), each star and planet having an intelligence, a soul, and a body (23), the kingdoms of nature on the cosmic ladder of life (54-60), reincarnation (69-72); cosmic cycles and their rulers (101-112) and the grand periods or activity and rest (114-16), life after death (Sasan I: 19 Comm.). The spiritual path is characterized by practical compassion and universal justice. A remarkable thread running through several books belonging to various prophets over time is the attitude towards (harmless) animals, and the understanding of the kingdoms of Nature in general.

Don't kill harmless animals In the Book of the Prophet, the Great Abad, the first and greatest prophet to whom all fourteen other prophets are successors and representatives, we find:

"Do not kill harmless animals" (74); "The killing of a harmless animal is equal to the killing of an ignorant, harmless man" (76); and in books of later prophets: "Know that to kill harmless animals is tyranny, and call it not justice" (Jainism 77) and still much later we find: "The prophet of the world then said: "We deem it sinful to kill harmless animals, and no man hath authority to commit this wicked act" Zirthusht [Zarathustra] 155).

Harmless animals are defined as animals that do not destroy others.

The non-violent or ahi? sr attitude towards animals is so basic to these Persians that doing this evil may override good qualities. In the Book of Abad, a sect not mentioned by name is criticized because of their meat-eating habit: Abad 131 prophesizes: "A band next succeed, who know good, and practice evil, vexing harmless creatures." And the last prophet, the Fifth Sasan, who lived in historical times, wrote in his commentary on this statement: "The distinctive mark of this band is that they love knowledge and ingenuity: and yet vex harmless animals, and stain their mouths with the blood of un offending creatures, and fill their bellies with them." Wouldn't that apply to our present humanity as well?

"One class deem themselves prophets, in spite of their molesting harmless creatures". But, "without kindness to harmless animals and self-mortification, none can at-rive at the angels." "Such abide beneath the sphere of the moon, and by virtue of their little self-mortification, following their own fancies, liken what they see to other things, and thus come to act wrong" (Abad 136 - 138).

There is however a distinction between ravenous and harmless animals, and the killing of ravenous animals is not only accepted but is even praised thirtyish 154): The sage Mezdam-hertaiendeh said: "It is right to kill ravenous animals, just as it is to open a sick man's veins". This is supported by the commentary of the Fifth Sasan: "For the whole world is one body, and the killing of an animal like that in question, is like diminishing the blood in the body; And as disease would prevail if this blood were left in the body, so if the blood of ravenous beasts were not shed, they would afflict many animals, all of which are parts of this huge animal [the earth]; and hence it is laudable to shed their blood, for the comfort of this body."

Introduction The dictionary.babylon.com states that the Desatir is an old Persian work, filled with elements of enormous antiquity, expressed in places eloquently and poetically. In the words of its translator and 'publisher, Mulla Firuz, it "professes to be a collection of the writings of the different Persian Prophets, who flourished from the time of Mahabad to the time of the fifth Sasan, being fifteen in number; of whom Zerdusht, or Zoroaster was the thirteenth and the fifth Sasan the last. ... " Between the Book of Zitherist and of the First Sasan we find the Book of Instructions to Sekander (Alexander the Great) who was not a prophet. The writings of these fifteen prophets are in a tongue of which no other vestige appears to remain, and which would have been unintelligible without the assistance of the ancient Persian translation".

Mahabad or The Great Abad was the first of the great prophets.

All the other prophets propagated the same faith. However Mahabad was not the founder of the religion, because he merely propagated the religion pleasing to Yezdan. The fifth Sasan comments on this in the last book of the Desatir, called The Book of the Respected Sasan the Fifth: "The expression which is everywhere used by Yezdan, 'stablish the faith of the Great Abad ', does not mean that the religion was formed by Abad. To me it is clear that it may be denominated the faith pleasing to Yezdan, since the faith which leads to Him must be pleasing to Yezdan. This faith acceptable to Yezdan was revealed to Abad by the great Yazd, and in this faith did all the prophets come; and the doctrines of Abad are not only pleasing to Yezdan, but of this line of prophets is not a particular sect or religion, but a line of spiritual workers who strive to establish and maintain a universal esoteric religion, as far as it can be given out, and of which much remains hidden for those who do not yet have the eyes to see, for the good of mankind - and the Persians were, due to their high spiritual and intellectual development at that time and part of the world the best channel to do that.

In The Book of Jyafram it is said that "there are two books of Yezdan. The name of the first in Do-Giti, Two-Worlds, and it they call the Great Book; or in the language of Heaven, Ferz-Desatir, or the Great Desatir, which is the Great Volume of Yezdan. And the other Book is called Desatir, the doctrines of which Mehabad and the other prophets from Mehabad down to me have revealed. And it is a doctrine which blazes on the heart, not a breath of the voice. But this breath of the voice is its mould, for the purpose of impressing the hearing 'of it. And in the heavenly tongue this is called Derrick Desatir, the Little Desatir, as being the Little Book of God."

The contents have been criticized by several modem scholars! , who for linguistic reasons do not grant it any standing- as a work coming down from ancient times. However, it contains teachings which are of far earlier date and certainly did not belong to the general belief~ of the period to which Corbin and others refer; for example it teaches the existence of seven sacred planets, that each star and planet has an intelligence of its own, a soul, and a body, about the kingdoms of nature on the cosmic ladder of life.

Reincarnation is extensively explained as well as universal causality and retribution, cosmic hierarchies and their government and the grand periods of activity and of rest. It also gives details about life after death. The keynotes of the Destin are practical compassion, universal justice and hierarchical and multiple intelligent government behind all phenomena and events. Throughout the book we find that the successive prophets were chosen and asked to sacrifice themselves - i.e. to be born in the flesh - to guide and sustain humanity for a period and to annihilate the evil that had developed at the end of a previous period among humankind.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages