A MANUAL OF "KHSHNOOM" - Traditional Zoroastrianism: Tenets of ...

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his WILL-Primum mobile, eternal first motion, and the idea of
Time arising from it. Zurvan is the boundless fiery motion, Zrvana
Akarana, with which his Will divine was promulgated. Thus
Zurvan though closest to AHU, yet is not the 'father of Ohrmazd
and Ahriman'. This AHU issues his Will or edict called Ahuna-var
(Ysn. 19).
After issuing and promulgating His Will Ahunavar, AHU
alienates himself by the creation of 'Niru' (Nerok) literally power
(Pazand Afrin), which is a screen of light impregnable from
Ahunavar side. It is of such a nature that while AHU does not
incorporate himself in the Universe, He is not incognizant of the
activities in the Universe. In this way AHU alienates himself and
takes no part in the affairs of the Universe. Hence the words 'this
evasive deity is at once the god of light and of darkness’ evidently
refers to AHU (p. 56). In the first of his 'Ratanbai Katrak Lectures''
(p. 10) Prof. Henning quotes Nyberg where Ahura Mazda (AHU)
is mentioned as 'Deus otiosus' (God serving no practical
purpose)... "the shadowy gods of the Gnostic system, who are
known as "the nameless god" or the "stranger". Thus we see that
though in their folklore they haven't the Avestan terms, yet the
interpretation is correct.
The whole colossal Plan of AHU for the creation of the
Universe and the perfect and imperfect lights which were all in
dormancy were in Ahunavar. So he is referred to as 'the seed of
seeds' ('Zurvan' _ pp. 107 & 215). Hence it will be understood that
Ahunavar and Yatha Ahu Vairyo are not the same. The former is
AHU's Will, the latter a prayer formulated by the Prophet based on
the same vibrations of Ahunavar, which is said to be 81 times
more powerful than Yatha Ahu Vairyo prayer, as stated in the
description above.
Prof. Zaehner being unaware of the description of the precosmo-genesis
world says "The name of the mother is of obvious
importance, if we could find a satisfactory explanation" (p. 64).
We have seen above that this allegorical mother is Paourva
Fravashi. On p. 60 the author states "Eznik and
Yohannan……..speak of 'pondering' or 'reflecting', while
Theodore. . . says more explicitly that he 'doubted'. We have seen
in the description that Paourva Fravashi meditated (that is,
pondered or reflected) on the dormant lights in Ahunavar. With
regard to 'doubting' it has been shown there that it was Anhuma
that doubted. As also stated there Anhuma and Ohrmazd have a
common spelling in Pahlavi. So instead of Anhuma they seem to
have read Ohrmazd.
Thus it will be seen that Prof. Zaehner with all his wide
knowledge of philological scholarship and his great learning of
'Eastern Religions and Ethics' could not understand who is the