Ahriman The Evil One

Ahriman

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahriman

Angra Mainyu (/ˈæŋrə ˈmaɪnjuː/; Avestan: Aŋra Mainiiu) or Ahreman (Persian: اهرِمن) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, the highest deity of Zoroastrianism. The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman 𐭠𐭧𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩 (anglicised pronunciation: /ˈɑːrɪmən/). The name can appear in English-language works as Ahrimanes

In the Avesta

In Zoroaster's revelation

Avestan angra mainyu "seems to have been an original conception of Zoroaster's.” In the Gathas, which are the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and are attributed to Zoroaster, angra mainyu is not yet a proper name.[a] In the one instance in these hymns where the two words appear together, the concept spoken of is that of a mainyu ("mind", "spirit" or otherwise an abstract energy etc.)[b] that is angra ("destructive", "chaotic", "disorderly", "inhibitive", "malign" etc., of which a manifestation can be anger). In this single instance – in Yasna 45.2 – the "more bounteous of the spirits twain" declares angra mainyu to be its "absolute antithesis".

A similar statement occurs in Yasna 30.3, where the antithesis is however aka mainyu, aka being the Avestan language word for "evil". Hence, aka mainyu is the "evil spirit" or "evil mind" or "evil thought," as contrasted with spenta mainyu, the "bounteous spirit" with which Ahura Mazda conceived of creation, which then "was".

The aka mainyu epithet recurs in Yasna 32.5, when the principle is identified with the daevas that deceive humankind and themselves. While in later Zoroastrianism, the daevas are demons, this is not yet evident in the Gathas: Zoroaster stated that the daevas are "wrong gods" or "false gods" that are to be rejected, but they are not yet demons. Some have also proposed a connection between Angra Mainyu and the sage Angiras of the Rigveda. If this is true, it could be understood as evidence for a religious schism between the deva-worshiping Vedic Indo-Aryans and early Zoroastrians.

In Yasna 32.3, these daevas are identified as the offspring, not of Angra Mainyu, but of akem manah, "evil thinking". A few verses earlier it is however the daebaaman, "deceiver" – not otherwise identified but "probably Angra Mainyu" – who induces the daevas to choose achistem manah – "worst thinking." In Yasna 32.13, the abode of the wicked is not the abode of Angra Mainyu, but the abode of the same "worst thinking". "One would have expected [Angra Mainyu] to reign in hell, since he had created 'death and how, at the end, the worst existence shall be for the deceitful' (Y. 30.4)."

In the Younger Avesta

Yasna 19.15 recalls that Ahura Mazda's recital of the Ahuna Vairya invocation puts Angra Mainyu in a stupor. In Yasna 9.8, Angra Mainyu creates Aži Dahaka, but the serpent recoils at the sight of Mithra's mace (Yasht 10.97, 10.134). In Yasht 13, the Fravashis defuse Angra Mainyu's plans to dry up the earth, and in Yasht 8.44 Angra Mainyu battles but cannot defeat Tishtrya and so prevent the rains.

In Vendidad 19, Angra Mainyu urges Zoroaster to turn from the good religion by promising him sovereignty of the world. On being rejected, Angra Mainyu assails Zoroaster with legions of demons, but Zoroaster deflects them all. In Yasht 19.96, a verse that reflects a Gathic injunction, Angra Mainyu will be vanquished and Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail.

In Yasht 19.46ff, Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu battle for possession of khvaraenah, "divine glory" or "fortune". In some verses of the Yasna (e.g. Yasna 57.17), the two principles are said to have created the world, which seems to contradict the Gathic principle that declares Ahura Mazda to be the sole creator and which is reiterated in the cosmogony of Vendidad 1.

In Zurvanite Zoroastrianism

Zurvanism – a historical branch of Zoroastrianism that sought to theologically resolve a dilemma found in a mention of antithetical "twin spirits" in Yasna 30.3 – developed a notion that Ahura Mazda (MP: Ohrmuzd) and Angra Mainyu (MP: Ahriman) were twin brothers, with the former being the epitome of good and the latter being the epitome of evil. This mythology of twin brotherhood is only explicitly attested in the post-Sassanid Syriac and Armenian polemic such as that of Eznik of Kolb.

According to these sources the genesis saw Zurvan as an androgynous deity, existing alone but desiring offspring who would create "heaven and hell and everything in between." Zurvan then sacrificed for a thousand years. Towards the end of this period, Zurvan began to doubt the efficacy of sacrifice and in the moment of this doubt Ohrmuzd and Ahriman were conceived.

Upon realizing that twins were to be born, Zurvan resolved to grant the first-born sovereignty over creation. Ohrmuzd perceived Zurvan's decision, which he then communicated to his brother. Ahriman then preempted Ohrmuzd by ripping open the womb to emerge first.

Reminded of the resolution to grant Ahriman sovereignty, Zurvan conceded, but limited kingship to a period of 9000 years, after which Ohrmuzd would rule for all eternity.: 419–428 Eznik of Kolb also summarizes a myth in which Ahriman is said to have demonstrated an ability to create life by creating the peacock.

In Zoroastrian Tradition

In the Pahlavi texts of the 9th–12th century, Ahriman (written ʼhl(y)mn) is frequently written upside down "as a sign of contempt and disgust."

In the Book of Arda Viraf 5.10, the narrator – the 'righteous Viraf' – is taken by Sarosh and Adar to see "the reality of God and the archangels, and the non-reality of Ahriman and the demons" as described by the German philologist and orientalist Martin Haug, whose radical interpretation was to change the faith in the 19th century.

This idea of "non-reality" is also expressed in other texts, such as the Denkard, a 9th-century "encyclopedia of Mazdaism", which states Ahriman "has never been and never will be." In chapter 100 of Book of the Arda Viraf, which is titled 'Ahriman', the narrator sees the "Evil spirit, ... whose religion is evil [and] who ever ridiculed and mocked the wicked in hell."

Book of Jamaspi 2.3 notes that "Ahriman, like a worm, is so much associated with darkness and old age, that he perishes in the end." Chapter 4.3 recalls the grotesque legend of Tahmurasp (Avestan: Taxma Urupi) riding Angra Mainyu for thirty years (cf. Yasht 15.12, 19.29) and so preventing him from doing evil. In chapter 7, Jamasp explains that the Indians declare Ahriman will die, but "those, who are not of good religion, go to hell."

In Bundahishn 4.12, Ahriman perceives that Ohrmuzd is superior to himself, and so flees to fashion his many demons with which to conquer the universe in battle. The entire universe is finally divided between the Ohrmuzd and the yazads on one side and Ahriman with his devs on the other. Ahriman slays the primal bull, but the moon rescues the seed of the dying creature, and from it springs all animal creation. But the battle goes on, with mankind caught in the middle, whose duty it remains to withstand the forces of evil through good thoughts, words and deeds.

Other texts see the world created by Ohrmuzd as a trap for Ahriman, who is then distracted by creation and expends his force in a battle he cannot win. (The epistles of Zatspram 3.23; Shkand Gumanig Vichar 4.63–4.79). The Dadistan denig explains that Ohrmuzd, being omniscient, knew of Ahriman's intent, but it would have been against his "justice and goodness to punish Ahriman before he wrought evil [and] this is why the world is created."

In present-day Zoroastrianism

In 1862, Martin Haug proposed a new reconstruction of what he believed was Zoroaster's original monotheistic teaching, as expressed in the Gathas – a teaching which he believed had been corrupted by later Zoroastrian dualistic tradition as expressed in post-Gathic scripture and in the texts of tradition. For Angra Mainyu, this interpretation meant a demotion from a spirit coeval with Ahura Mazda to a mere product of Ahura Mazda. Haug's theory was based to a great extent on a new interpretation of Yasna 30.3; he argued that the good "twin" in that passage should not be regarded as more or less identical to Ahura Mazda, as earlier Zoroastrian thought had assumed, but as a separate created entity, Spenta Mainyu.

Islam

In Islamic discourse, Ahriman embodies the absolute evil (the Devil) in contrast to Iblis (Satan) who represents an original noble being still under God's power. Although the divs, the creations of Ahriman in Zorastian beliefs, entered Islamic literature, to the point of being accepted as reality by Muslims, Ahriman is mostly a stylistic device to refute the idea of absolute evil. The divs were yet another creation by God although prior to the devils, angels, jinn, and humans, mentioned in the Quran.(pp 40)

Anthroposophy

Rudolf Steiner, who founded the esoteric spiritual movement Anthroposophy, used the concept of Ahriman to name one of two extreme forces which pull humanity away from the centering influence of God. Steiner associated Ahriman, the lower spirit, with materialism, science, heredity, objectivity, and soul-hardening. He thought that contemporary Christianity was subject to Ahrimanic influence, since it tended towards materialistic interpretations.

Steiner predicted that Ahriman, as a supersensible Being, would incarnate into an earthly form, some little time after our present earthly existence, in fact in the third post-Christian millennium.

Thy Darkened Shade - Drayishn-i Ahriman o Divan

Lyrics:

Hollowness disperses firstborn of Zurvan

Infidelity's god denounced by His forefather

In hollowness He forebode, ripen daevas within

And there He (shall) repose to blight the universe

Three thousand years of reverie, conceiving the supplication

Deifications of hankering yearnings

Solemn to Jahi, the forebearer of all

Daẽvanm Daẽvõ, your commencement is aphorism

Plead on the throne and dominion

Eradiate thy demons omnipotent

Ascertain the path of existence

Sanctimony to the arch-daevas for self apotheosis

Commence seven headed dragon,

Anticosmic awakener, overseer of the synagogues

Bequeath His antisubsistence scarlet goddess thine

In the ceremonious liturgies of serpents

Unify with thy black viper as I dislodge the corpus mortar

Abolish dualism to Sahasrara discern

Circumvent by the oneness amass

Thou shall not rest till Apokathilosis

Ohrmazd, stasis specter of secretion scornful

Thy sightless Self scals sublunar wraiths

With bereavement to jubilate the lifeforce of allegiance acausal

Within the crystalline sky, the waters become sand

Earth succumbs to naught and mortals eternally scald

Ascertain the path of existence

Sanctimony to the arch-daevas for self apotheosis

Commence seven headed dragon,

Anticosmic awakener, overseer of the synagogues

From thy northern throne I summon thee

Ahriman, Aka Manah, Saura, Indar,

Naonghas, Taurvi, Zairich!

Angra Mainyu, preeminent rebelliousness, divine Self, draconian Lord.

The Contradiction - RUBRIC OF AHRIMAN feat. Jacob Wallace of BROJOB

I can feel him drawing near with every breath, every heartbeat. That I still have either is a miracle, especially now.

He is coming to kill me, of course. I can feel his anger, his hurt pride and his great regret. I know what he thinks I have done. He thinks I have betrayed him, but I have not. Truly, I have not. None of our cabal betrayed him; we did everything we could to save our brothers.

It has come to this, a father set to kill his favoured son.

That is the greatest tragedy of the Thousand Sons. They will call us traitors, but such an irony will go unrecorded, even in the lost books of Kallimakus. We remain loyal, as we have always been.

No one will believe that, not the Emperor, not our brothers, and especially not the wolves that are not wolves.

History will say they unleashed the Wolves of Russ on us, but history will be wrong. They unleashed something far worse.

Artist: Pouya Zarif

Hellwell - Acheronomicon II. The Heart of Ahriman

Lyrics:

No choice of mine

The heart I have to find

His venom binds me to his will

Serpentine wine

That blurs my possessed mind

With nightmares of the gem that kills

I'm cursed to search the lands

Across the Stygian sands

The Heart of Ahriman

The key to Acheron

I've searched for years

Enslaved by magik's fear

To find the Heart of Ahriman

This sorcerer's key

Can rise the dynasty

That was the mighty Acheron

I'm cursed to search the lands

Across the Stygian sands

The Heart of Ahriman

The key to Acheron

I found the tomb

Where hid the gem of doom

I feel my master call to me

Into his hands

I gave the fate of man

And now I fear the earth shall bleed

I'm cursed to search the lands

Across the Stygian sands

The Heart of Ahriman

The key to Acheron

Pictures Videos Music and Additional Reading

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Lucifer and Ahriman's Tug of War

Source: http://www.lifecycling.net/lucifer-and-ahrimans-tug-of-war.html

About 25 years ago I found myself in my first Rudolf Steiner study group trying to understand Anthroposophy, the philosophical underpinnings of Waldorf Education and Biodynamic Agriculture. For me just learning how to pronounce Anthroposophy was hard, let alone my attempts at understanding this complex philosophy. I found myself disagreeing with much of the little bit I did understand but something held my attention and I continued my studies in the years that followed.

If I had to summarize the part of Anthroposophy that is important to me it would be that this is a philosophy that develops the ability to strive for true human freedom. This, of course, is just my opinion. If you were to ask someone else who is familiar with Anthroposophy they would probably have another opinion on a personal summary.

In Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom (now titled Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path) the reader is led along using a logical sequence through a certain philosophical concept (for example, Kant’s theory on knowledge expressed in the Critique of Pure Reason) then Rudolf Steiner proceeds to tear this concept apart also using logic.

After several wash, rinse and repeat cycles I began to realize that any point of view could sound reasonable given the proper logic. Logic is what traps us into a certain way of thinking, thus preventing true human freedom. If indeed we are trapped when we develop our logical paths then how do we free ourselves from this inevitable entrapment?

This brings us to Rudolf Steiner’s version of the story of Lucifer and Ahriman which has relevance to today’s global events. (For a great summary read the five lectures by Rudolf Steiner; “The Influences of Lucifer and Ahriman – Human Responsibility for the Earth”, translated by D. S. Osmond, GA# 191 and 193 – 1919).

This Earthly story began with the incarnation of Lucifer in Asia in the third millennium before the birth of Christ. Lucifer was responsible in bringing intellectual consciousness, wisdom and deep insights into the world’s processes. Before Lucifer these insights were brought about through revelations but now insights were brought about through the intellect.

Instead of being separate, humanity was part of the Cosmos; part of the whole and through these insights paganism was born along with the development of the Mystery Centers. Out of this stream of consciousness Greek philosophy and art developed which ushered in the incarnation of Christ and the impulse of educating the intellect.

Ahriman is yet to incarnate sometime in the third millennium after the birth of Christ. What characterizes Ahriman is materialism. Where Lucifer wants humanity to come together as a whole, Ahriman wants humanity to be divided, increasing the desire for nationalism. In preparation for Ahriman’s incarnation mechanistic influences will spread throughout the world.

Scientific thought will consider the cosmos and humans as complex machines which can be completely explained mathematically. Artistic and cultural life will exist if there is some useful quantitative outcome, not for a qualitative inner experience. In the time period before the appearance of Ahriman the mechanistic forces will increase and further develop scientific and technological feats, solidify dogmatic beliefs and divide the population.

Through human cleverness and ingenuity, technology will solve many challenges that humanity will face. Ahrimanic forces bring many advances that can be utilized in the evolution of humankind, however, without the balance of Luciferic forces the increase in the number of challenges will outpace the advances made. Steiner indicates that through being aware, being conscious of Ahrimanic and Luciferic forces, destructive forces can be overcome and we can experience the benefits of both in the balance of the Christ impulse.

These forces are not so cut and dry and depend on many factors such as time, place, and awareness making it hard to overcome. For example, let’s consider Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793. This incredible invention freed up the labor of countless people in separating the seeds from the cotton and fueled the industry of the cotton mills that met the growing demand.

The Southeast United States had ideal conditions to grow the amount of cotton to supply the growing cotton industry, however, slavery was used to grow and harvest the cotton. The northern states had outlawed slavery, however, still benefited economically by, in a sense, rationalizing and looking the other way.

At some point, as history bears, slavery became an issue that could no longer be ignored and now today because of conscious awareness, our society no longer accepts slavery in our country. We overcame the Ahrimanic forces of dividing the population of slaves and non-slaves and looking back it is hard to imagine how slavery ever existed.

Let’s fast forward to the present time, the time when technological advances have made it possible to receive information at the touch of a button, in fact at the touch of a few buttons I was able to gain the information needed to write this article. Over the internet I was able to read the Rudolf Steiner’s lectures and fill out my picture of Lucifer and Ahriman and also find the consequences of mining the cobalt needed for the lithium – ion batteries that power my technology. (Information on the consequences of cobalt mining are from two sources – The Washington Post, “The Environmental Impact of Cobalt Mining”, Feb. 28, 2018 – and – CBS News March, 2008).

The mining process destroys the environment and quality of water affecting the lives of the people who live in these areas and do this work. Much of the cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the population lives in extreme poverty. Children, instead of going to school, work long hours only to bring home after the day’s labor the much needed dollar or two, institutionalizing a new kind of acceptable slavery.

After all, no one actually owns these children; however, they have no other options. Our society is also trapped since most aspects of our lives are influenced by computers, from our food source and clothing, to our housing and transportation. We are forced to some degree to look the other way.

According to Steiner we can only avoid this trap and become free if we consciously become aware of our actions through a conscious balance of Luciferic and Ahrimanic forces. The scientific and technological innovators have to consult those with the spiritual wisdom and insights to gain the full picture of what is needed for forward movement, and those with the spiritual knowledge can find grounding in the scientific and technological advancements needed for our evolution. It usually always comes down to some sort of balance.

The Aims of the Initiates of the East, of the West and of Jesuitism. The Demonic Influence of Ahriman upon Mankind through Technology

(Dornach, 19 August 1918)

From "Human Evolution: A Spiritual-Scientific Quest CW 183"

Dark Funeral - Temple of Ahriman

Lyrics:

We summon thee through Jahi - Angra Mainyu

The Whore shall bring impurity - Angra Mainyu

We will destroy for you - Angra Mainyu

In the name of the serpent - Angra Mainyu

Welcome to the Temple of Ahriman

The infernal torture chamber no one survive

Retaliation and sacrifice

- and a thirst for blood and to end more christian lives

I eat your eye to fuel my fire

I rip your flesh to make you scream

Vultures awaits at the Tower of Silence to eat the flesh from your bones

The moon shall be painted red by blood and eternal darkness shall follow

I rape your soul so bad no god will ever come near

I crack your bones as I'm watching you mumble your prayers

Welcome to the Temple of Ahriman

The infernal torture chamber no one survive

Retaliation and sacrifice

-and the thirst for blood and to end all human life

We summon thee through Jahi - Angra Mainyu

The Whore shall bring impurity - Angra Mainyu

We will destroy for you - Angra Mainyu

In the name of the serpent - Angra Mainyu

Welcome to the Temple of Ahriman

The infernal torture chamber no one survive

Retaliation and sacrifice

- and the thirst for blood and to end all living

Welcome to the Temple of Ahriman

The infernal torture chamber no one survive

Retaliation and sacrifice

- and the thirst for blood and to end all human

Welcome to the Temple of Ahriman

The infernal torture chamber no one survive

Retaliation and sacrifice

- and a thirst for blood and to end all christian life