Chapter 6
To reinstate the Zarathustrian law, the largest city shall not exceed two thousand souls; and the smallest shall be ten families. Unless they are celibates, in which case a city may be as small as eight souls, having one rab’bah or priest.
The best, highest learned man, who shall be a celibate, shall be the priest and ruler of the city; and the sins of the people of the city shall be upon his head. But if it is a large city, he may choose one, or as many as six priests, to rule with him; and in that case, the sins of the city shall be upon them.
When a matter comes up, the priest shall call whom he will to speak on it; and when they have spoken, he shall decree by his highest light, and that shall be the law without repeal, except by himself.
It shall be lawful for the governor, who is the chief priest, prior to death, to repeal all his laws; so that his successor shall make new laws. For no man shall be bound after death by his own laws, because he cannot come back and repeal them.
But regarding the laws a governor or chief priest makes while he rules over a city, and over all persons whom he has ruled during his lifetime, he shall be responsible for them, both in this world and the next. For if a priest or governor makes a law of darkness, and his people live by that law, their souls will be in darkness in the next world through his fault, and he shall answer to them in the soul world for what he has done in this.
In cases where the manufacture of copper or iron, or other things, requires more than two thousand people, there shall be another city, with five breadths of the first city between them. And the government of the second city shall be like the government of the first. But in no case shall there be more than four cities nearby in the same country.
You shall neither hire nor be hired, either among yourselves or with the kings’ peoples. Neither shall you have servants nor masters, for all shall be alike servants to Ormazd only.
Sin-wah inquired: Was it not taught in the Zarathustrian age to respect the caste of men according to the number of their servants? And whether, according to their genealogy, they were born of parents who had risen above servitude for many generations?
God said: The old law was for the past. It was a good law to improve the breed of men for special trades and learning. And that law has fulfilled its purpose. The physician has found great cures; and he knows all the parts of the flesh and the blood. The miner knows the different kinds of stone, the metals in them, and how to extract them. The farmer knows grounds, their yield, and what they will best bring forth. The spinner and weaver have found the best of fibers for paper and cloth. And so by the Zarathustrian law of caste it has come to pass, that they have perfected these things in all departments, sufficient for the requirement of man.
For which reason you shall teach all things to all; and they shall work with their own hands at all industries; remembering that the highest, best, most perfect man is he who can do all things.
Jon-Le inquired: Since a man dies in a few years at most, why shall he strive to learn things that pertain to the earth?
God said: All learning is like a gymnasium to the spirit. Knowledge is the strength of the soul.
You shall teach all things to your sons and daughters, perfecting them in the talents created with them: first, to useful labors; second, to learning; third, to music and art, in sculpture and painting; fourth, to mining; and fifth, to perfectness.
And you shall intersperse labor and learning with recreation, not only in rites and ceremonies, but in harmless games, as in dancing, racing and playing; and for the old as well as the young.
Cultivating joyous hearts, for these are outspoken words of glory to the Great Spirit.
Every governor, priest and rab’bah shall provide for a successor; they shall be chosen according to the light of the Council of the All Highest.