First Book of God

So God did not speak to Brahma for eighteen years, but Brahma remained faithful, and Yu-tiv was full of hope. But when the time was fulfilled in Ormazd’s own way, He came with renewed light, which was on Hog’s twenty-first birthday.

While Brahma and his family were seated on mats, eating breakfast at sunrise, lo, a light, like that of a sun, came within the hut, passed over Brahma’s head, and then disappeared. And out of the void, in the space above their heads, came these words: From this time forward, the twenty-first birthday shall be the time of maturity for man. Be watchful for the voice of Ormazd; He is Ever Present!

And all of them saw the light and heard the words, except Hog, for he, having been begotten in unbelief, could neither see the light nor hear the voice. And when they all had exclaimed: Behold the light! Hear that voice! || Hog spoke before them:

For many years you have prophesied this would come to pass when I reached my twenty-first birthday. Because of the love you all bear me, I know you would not pull a joke on me; but I am seriously grieved that you say: Behold the light, and hear the voice! For I say to you, these things are not in reason, and cannot be so. But in much hope, faith and belief, all of which you have cultivated for years, you allow your imaginings to stand for realities.

Now while Hog was thus speaking, the light came again and stood over Brahma’s head while one might count to twenty; and the Voice said: Blessed are you, O Brahma; blessed you, O Yu-tiv! These things had to be fulfilled. I do not preach by reason alone, but provide living examples! (In his old age Brahma had attained iesu!)

Again all of them saw and heard the manifestation of Ormazd, except Hog, for he could neither see nor hear what came of the Spirit. Hog said: Do I not have eyes as good as the best? Show me a hair that I cannot see; let a mite fall that I cannot hear. Then Whe-ish, the first-born, answered him, saying:

First, my brother, I greet you with my love, for you are the fairest and best of all the great sons born of this God and Goddess, our father and mother. And I appeal to you in your great wisdom, how could we all have imagined the same light at the same time and in the same place? And greater yet, how could we have imagined the same spoken words? Hog replied:

How can my answers cope with one who has wisdom like you, O my brother? You have confounded me; but still I do not understand how you, and you, my most loving brothers, can see and hear things that I cannot. Do we not all have the same parts, so like one another that our neighbors can scarcely distinguish us from each other? And above all else, we are all fruit from the same father and mother, the holiest and wisest of created beings.

Now Yu-tiv spoke, saying: I am in Your judgment, O Ormazd! That which I have done, I have done! Deal with me for my great unbelief; I have sinned against heaven and earth. Even while You quickened into life within my womb this star of everlasting light, lo, I put out his eyes and stopped up his ears against You. The unbelief of my soul penetrated the walls of my womb and shaped the fruit of my holy husband into a man of darkness. O Ormazd, why was Your daughter born!

And Yu-tiv fell into tears. Hog said: O Goddess, mother! Do not weep, but rejoice for the glory of my birth. Because you and my holy father, a very God among men, brought me into life, my soul is boundless in rejoicing. I declare to you, O mother, I am not in darkness, nor am I blind and deaf. If there is another world, what does it matter to me? The glories of this one are boundless. And if there is a Great Light and a Voice, what are they to me! You have so filled my every vein of blood with your warm love, and with the sweet love of these, my holy brothers, and with the wisdom of my father, God among men, that I know nothing but to rejoice and to invent praises and thanks to you all, with all my wisdom and strength.

And now the Light gathered within the soul of Brahma, and he was as one with the Father. Then Ormazd, the Creator, spoke through Brahma, saying:

I created the earth not to be despised, as the Zarathustrians do through the hearts of monarchs and priests, but so that it should be the glory of man. This was the Zarathustrian law, but, for the sake of profit, bondage and evil, they have perverted My doctrines and bound up My peoples. They profess Me, even Ormazd; but they have turned My commandments and My doctrines upside down.

I came through Zarathustra and delivered those who called on Me in faith; and they became My chosen for a season; but they allowed evil to usurp their hearts; they squandered My substance in building temples and providing a superabundance of priests and priestesses. They raised up the sword and spear for Me; yes, by blood and death they established kingdoms and called them by My name, Ormazd!

The spirit of My Voice they put aside; but the words they retained, and added earthly meaning to them, by which they proclaim darkness for light, and light for darkness. And the poor and distressed who worship Me in truth and in spirit have learned to hate the established words. For which reason they are persecuted, bound, taxed, and despitefully used.

Yes, they impress into service of war, those who would not kill because of their natural love for Me and for My created sons and daughters. Thus they take these from their kindred, saying to them: Come away from peace and kill! Be a slayer of men; be a soldier of death for the glory of the king.

I commanded them, since ancient times, to kill not at all. My words were plain. But the kings commanded the priests to interpret My words in such a way that war could be justified.

I commanded them against taking that which was another’s. My words were plain. But the kings commanded the priests to interpret the meaning in such ways that the kings could exact tribute for their own glory. And so they levy wherever and whenever they desire, saying: For the defense of the king and the country!

Thus they have perverted My commandments from beginning to end. But I declare to you, that in My sight, I will hold him accountable who kills one man; and ten times accountable if he kills ten men, and a hundred times for a hundred. They shall not hide death and murder from My sight by the word war.

Neither shall they excuse stealing by levying tax for the king or for the country’s protection. For by their own evil, it has come to pass that they talk about protection. Have I made a law that one king or one country shall protect itself against another? Does any man not see that these doctrines come from the flesh and not from the spirit? (For as My kingdoms in heaven need no protection from one another; why should those on earth, who profess Me, require protection from one another, unless they are heeding the flesh and not Me?)

They profess to be Faithists in Me. But they immediately go and build fortifications of earth, stone and wood. And as for those who know Me in spirit and truth, perceiving I am wrongly interpreted for evil’s sake, being those who rebel in their souls against these iniquities—these they seize and impress as lifelong slaves, or, if refusing, they kill them.

And those who work such wickedness say: Behold, we have the Zarathustrian law, the I’hua’Mazdian law, the Ormazdian law; ours is the holy, the revealed word. Let no man raise up his voice against these truths, or he shall surely be put to death!

But I looked down from My holy heavens and saw, and My ears heard; and I cried out in My soul for the evils of the earth. I said: Behold, I will go and deliver those who have faith in Me in spirit and truth. And I went over the lands of the earth, but I found no man in whom My light could shine. So I called My holy masters of generations, My angels high raised in heaven, and I said to them: Come and dwell on the earth many generations, and by inspiration raise Me up one in whom My light shall shine, for I will surely deliver My people.

Now I declare to you who are assembled, the time is at hand, and you are all so many parts in My work. Even as through My angels you named these sons; so also according to their names, I will establish My kingdom.

Therefore, permit Vede to write down the words I have spoken, for lo, he has learning and memory provided to that end. Be watchful for when I come again!

Jehovih (Ormazd) ceased, and Brahma woke as from a trance, though he had heard all that was said. So Vede remembered every spoken word, and he wrote them down on cloth prepared for that purpose. And this was the beginning of a new name of a people on the earth, for though they were in fact Faithists, and nothing but Faithists, yet their neighbors sometimes called them Vedans and sometimes Brahmans.