Chapter 7
When night came, the king sat privately with Zarathustra; and I’hua’Mazda cast a light on the wall, and the soul of So-qi came and appeared before Asha. So-qi said: Do you know who I am? And Asha said: Yes, So-qi.
So-qi said: True, O king, the soul is immortal! || And then it disappeared. Asha said: It seems to be So-qi. And yet if it were he, would he not have called me, Asha, instead of, O king? Then spoke Zarathustra, saying: Call for some other spirit? Asha said: Permit, then, the soul of my wife to appear.
Again the light appeared, and the soul of Asha’s wife inhabited it, and he saw her. Asha said: It is, indeed. And then she disappeared. Asha said: Had it been my wife, she would have spoken. Zarathustra said: Call for another spirit. Asha called for Choe’jon, the songster, who looked like no other man under the sun. And Choe’jon also appeared; and even sang one of the songs about the slaughter of the infants.
Asha said: It was like Choe’jon; but had it been he, he surely would have mentioned the miracle. Then Zarathustra said: Call yet for another spirit. And Asha called, and another appeared; and thus it continued until twenty souls of the dead had shown themselves, and talked with him, face to face, and every one had related things pertinent to themselves.
Then Zarathustra spoke, saying: Tomorrow night you shall sit with me again. Now on the next night, twenty other spirits of the dead appeared and spoke face to face with the king. But yet he did not believe. So I’hua’Mazda spoke through Zarathustra, saying: What will satisfy you, O man? For I declare to you, that spirit is not provable by corpor, nor corpor by spirit. There are two things: one grows by aggregating; and the other grows by dissemination, of which All Light is the highest. As by darkness light is known, and by light darkness known, similarly diverse are corpor and spirit known.
I’hua’Mazda said: Your generations, O king, have long been bred in unbelief in spirit, and unbelief is so entailed upon you that evidence is worthless before you. Who do you think I am?
Asha said: Zarathustra. Then Zarathustra asked him, saying: Who do you think I am?
Again Asha said: Zarathustra. To which I’hua’Mazda said: Because you see this corporeal body with your eyes, and hear this corporeal voice with your ears, even so does your corporeal judgment find an answer.
But I declare to you, O king, there is a spiritual judgment as well as a corporeal judgment. There is a spiritual man within all men, and it never dies. The spiritual man, which is within, is the only one that can discern spiritual things. It is the only one that can recognize the spirits of the dead.
Then Asha said: How can I be sure that there is not some element belonging to you personally, that is like a mirror, reproducing a semblance (likeness, copy, image), of whatever is within your thoughts?
I’hua’Mazda said: What would that benefit you, if proven? And what benefit if not proven? Hear me, then, for this is wisdom: There are millions of souls in heaven who are in the same doubt you are now in, not knowing that they themselves are dead; especially those slain in war and in unbelief of spirit life.
The king said: Who, then, do you say you are? I’hua’Mazda said: First, there is Ormazd, Creator, Who is over all and within all, Whose Person is the Whole All. Then there are the unseen worlds in the sky; then this world, and the stars, sun and moon. After them, mortals, and the spirits of the dead.
Hear me, O king; because the dead do not know the All High heavens, the Ormazd, Whose name signifies Master of All Light, sends His exalted angels down to the earth as masters and teachers, having captains and high captains, so that their labor is orderly. The highest captain is therefore called I’hua’Mazda, that is, master voice over mortals and spirits for their exaltation.
Know, then, O king, I, who speak, have you and your city and your country within my keeping. I come to stop man’s bloody hand. And through Zarathustra I will reveal the laws of Ormazd; and they shall stand above all other laws. Because you are the most skilled of men, I made you king; because you have seen that man must have an All Highest Law, I have come to you. Yes, from your youth up, during your long life, I have spoken to your soul, saying: Asha, find the All Highest; Asha, you shall have a strange labor before you die! Asha, you, who have attained to the measurement of the stars, shall find a Power behind the stars!
The king said. Enough! Enough! O stranger! You turned my head with wonders. I hardly know if I am living or dead, because of the mastery of your wisdom. Alas, my kindred are dead; my friends are fools! I have no one to tell these wonders to. You shall live all your days in my palace, and whoever you demand for wife, shall be granted to you.
I’hua’Mazda said: Till I come again to you, O king, keep your own counsel. For the present, I must return to the forest. Give me, therefore, some of your choicest ink, brushes and writing cloth, and send two servants with me. Asha said: Allow me to be one of your servants, and I will abdicate my throne!
I’hua’Mazda said: I shall need you where you are. Thus ended the interview with the king. The next day Zarathustra returned to the forest, to write the Zarathustrian laws.