1. THE next resurrection was six thousand million souls, and God and his Lords and his sub-Gods had maintained the Diva, and maintained all the orders of heaven, and the divisions and kingdoms, save what had confederated with Ahura and his kingdoms. And God and his Lords had preserved their colleges, schools, factories, hospitals and nurseries, and their standard in the temples with mortals. And of mortals who remained Faithist, that is, the I'huan race preserved in purity, God, his Lords and ashars held command for the glory of Jehovih.
2. But of the mongrels, who were multiplying fast on the earth, Ahura, his Lords and ashars held command. But alas for the grade of Ahura's hosts in heaven! In less than one thousand years he had abolished his colleges and schools, save what pertained to acquiring a knowledge of the earth and atmospherea. He taught not his people to look higher for other worlds, and herein he began the work which was in after time to be his own downfall.
3. Jehovih had said: Whoever provideth not a philosophy for the endless acquisition of knowledge, dammeth up the running waters I have made. Suffer Ahura to teach what he will; the time will come when he will be obliged to find an outlet for My created beings. And rather than acknowledge Me in My Person, he will profess to send souls back into earth to be re-incarnated.
4. Ahura's heavenly kingdoms numbered more than six thousand million souls, and half of them were little better than drujas, being slaves to certain masters, doing whatsoever they were bidden without knowing, or desiring to know, the reason therefor.
5. As yet there were six hundred years to pass before another dawn of dan, in which God, his Lords and their people had faith that Jehovih's hosts would come from on high to help deliver heaven and earth out of darkness.
6. On the other hand, Ahura, although having been taught the cycles in his early education, spread the word abroad in heaven and earth, that there p. 296 were no cycles; that, as things are, they had been, and would continue to be.
7. So, as much as God's hosts prophesied a coming light, Ahura and his hosts prophesied that nothing of the kind would come. Ahura, moreover, sent the following order to his Lords, to be taught in heaven and earth, to wit: Am I not he who inspired Zarathustra, the All Pure? Spake I not to him, face to face? Are not all created things mine own? Who, then, knoweth but I will light up the world again? Behold, I am the Personation of Ormazd, Who was VOIDANCE, but now is Me, Ahura'Mazda. In Me only is life and death and resurrection. Whosoever calleth: Ahura'Mazda, Ahura'Mazda! is mine, and within My keeping. Suffer not thy judgment to be warped by prophets who hope for impossible things.
8. In the sixth dan and the eightieth year, Ahura's numberless heavenly kingdoms began to be disturbed by his sub-Gods' lack of advancement, and so, sixty of them congregated together and appealed to Ahura, saying;
9. In reverence to thee, O thou All Highest God! Many hundreds of years have we served thee. And we have paid thee tribute whenever thou requiredst of us. We have helped to adorn thy capital, Ctusk; with diamonds and pearls we have laid thy streets. Thy mansions have we built with precious gems. And as to thy throne, what one of us is there but hath contributed to glorify it before thee. Yea, in all things have we been most loyal and tributary to thee.
10. Nor are we unmindful of our own wisdom. We remember thy arguments of old. Thou didst say to thy God: Behold, thou hast long promised we should be raised to more exalted kingdoms, but, behold, two hundred years have elapsed, and there is no advancement. This thou didst use as an argument for seceding from thy God's kingdoms. Behold, now we have served thee and thy kingdoms more than a thousand years. We come to thee to know wherein we can now serve thee that thou mayst exalt us into kingdoms commensurate with our wisdom and power?
11. To this Ahura replied, saying: Most humble and well-meaning Lords and sub-Gods, why came ye not before me, face to face? Why have ye consorted in private? Was not my capital, and before my throne, the proper place for your argument? Had ye suggested any way whereby advancement was possible unto you, I had answered your demands.
12. But his Lords and sub-Gods came not before him, but sent this answer, to wit: As thou promisedst us advancement provided we served thee, so promised we our ashars, and our marshals and captains. Now they come to us, saying: For hundreds of years have we served; give us preferment. But we have nothing to give. Think not, O God, that we are unwise, or that we hunger and come begging; or that diadems, or gems, or costly thrones, would satisfy us. We know what thou hast to give--promises! We know every corner of thy vast kingdom, and that all places are full, and that thou canst not exalt us. Wherefore, then, shouldst we have spoken before the throne in Ctusk? Would not our voices but breed mischief amongst thy other Gods and Lords? Rather let us err in our proceeding, bringing just punishment upon ourselves, than that we should injure thee and thy kingdoms. Hear us then, O Ahura'Mazda:
13. Whence the desire for endless advancement if this heaven be all? If a little knowledge giveth power, wherein is not great knowledge desirable. We have destroyed our great colleges, saying: Higher than we, ye must not go. Remember thou, O Ahura, we were students under the Faithist's God and Lords when thou secededst; and thou said unto us: Behold the long training of your course; a curriculum of a thousand years! Come with me; I will give you kingdoms at once.
14. So we came to thee, and we were suddenly puffed up with great pride. Behold, now we look abroad and the same stars shine upon us. We have not visited them. We know not how to go so far. The countless etherean worlds lay beyond ours. We are told that they are habitable. We know not. We have no knowledge enabling us to get away from these heavens; save, indeed, back to the filthy earth.
15. To this Ahura replied, saying: It is plain to me ye are beside yourselves. This heaven is good enough. If there be higher heavens, let them come or stay. I go not to them. But, in truth, with your present convictions, I would be an unwise God not to grant you dismissal from my kingdoms.
16. This ended the matter, and the sixty sub-Gods then deliberated on their course, and finally sent to God, in Mouru, the following address, to wit:
17. In reverence to thee, God of the Faithists in Jehovih: We have had sub-kingdoms, and know our rank is beneath thine. But we are reaching outward and onward; to thee we submit p. 297 our cause. First, then, there are sixty of us, of the rank of sub-Gods, and we hold seven hundred million subjects. Disaffection hath risen betwixt ourselves and Ahura'Mazda, from whom we are alienated. But whether we shall unite our hosts into a new kingdom of our own, or affiliate with some might God, that is our question?
18. What preferment canst thou give unto us if we turn our subjects over to thee?
19. God answered them, saying: Brothers, hear me patiently, and consider my words. First, then, I am not God of the Faithists, nor of any other people, but God of the locality which was assigned me by the Father, through His Son. Neither can ye give your subjects unto me; for by my service to Jehovih I can have nothing, and, least of all, my brothers and sisters.
20. In the next place, I can give you no preferment; I have nothing, neither to give nor to sell. Wherein the Father giveth me wisdom and power, I impart them unto others. Besides, until ye have also learned to know that ye have nothing, neither subjects nor jewels, also desiring nothing, save wisdom and strength to impart to others, how hope ye to gain admittance into my places of learning?
21. And lastly, since ye have kingdoms of your own already, raise ye them up, and thus prove unto me your just merit.
22. To this the confederated Gods replied: What meanest thou? That Gods and angels must labor for others than themselves forever, and receive nothing therefor?
23. God answered them: Even so; save and except ye shall receive an abundance of happiness, and it will endure forever! Here the matter ended for two whole years; and the sub-Gods understood not the plan of Jehovih's kingdoms. But their kingdoms were out of sorts, having no head; and hundreds of thousands of their subjects were deserting them and returning down to the corporeal earth, becoming wanderers and drujas.
24. Finally the sub-Gods again appealed to God in Mouru, inquiring as followeth, to wit: Is not a God a God, whether he be for another or for himself? Behold, we have helped to build up Ahura; he is a mighty God! If we affiliate with thee, we will labor to build thee up also. Yea, we will adorn thy throne and thy great heavenly city. But since we have been sub-Gods we desire not to enter thy service as menials and servants. What, then, shall we do, that both thee and ourselves may have honor and glory?
25. God answered them, saying: Ye cannot serve me; I have no servants. Serve ye Jehovih only. Behold, we are all brothers, being Sons of the same Great Spirit. As for building me up, sufficient is it for me that He who created me will build me up according to my just deserts. As for adorning my throne, ye can only bring substance to it from the lower kingdoms, which I desire not. Why will ye adorn the heavenly city of Mouru? Behold, it is but a resting place on the great journey to the kingdoms of endless light. In a few hundred years, at most, not only I but my hosts will rise from this place to return not to it forever.
26. And lastly, to be a self-God, as is Ahura, is to own all things possible, and hold on thereto; to be a God as I am, is to own nothing, and to retain nothing; but to be forever giving away all one receiveth. Said I not to you before: Begin with your own hosts and exalt them. Inasmuch as ye asked for subjects, behold, the Father gave unto you. Think not that He will suffer ye now to cast them aside or barter them off. Nor shall ye suffer them to become wanderers, nor to return back to the earth as drujas. As much as ye raise up the kingdoms that have been intrusted to you, so will ye also be raised up.
27. Nevertheless, if ye desire to affiliate with Jehovih's kingdoms, the way is open unto you; and your first labor would be, to gather together all your own hosts, and to labor amongst them, teaching them wisdom, strength and individuality equal with yourselves; and when the lowest of them is so risen, then can ye enter the kingdoms of the Father. As ye have had the profit of your subjects for hundreds of years, return ye now unto them service for service. Jehovih is Justice!
28. The sub-Gods made no answer to this for awhile, but Jehovih moved upon their hearts, and they perceived wisdom and justice, and they repented, bitterly bewailing the loss of the thousand years in which they had espoused kingdoms. But they had neither power nor learning sufficient to extricate themselves; so they petitioned God for more light. Whereupon, God affiliated them, and appointed Vishnu Lord unto them and their hosts.
29. And Vishnu took three hundred thousand teachers, captains, physicians, nurses and laborers, and went to them in Maitraias, a heavenly place p. 298 to the west of Vindyu, and there established a Lordly division, with messengers in connection with Mouru, in Haraiti. And Vishnu sent his captains with sufficient forces, under command of the sub-Gods, to arrest such as had become wandering spirits, or had returned to the eart as drujas. And whilst these were on this duty, Vishnu organized his Lord-dom, and this was the first Lord-dom established in heaven, which is to say, as mortals on earth have military stations, so was the Lord-dom of Vishnu.
30. Jehovih's Voice had spoken to God in Diva, saying: Behold, the time is coming when the sub-kingdom of Ahura, the false, will begin to revolt. And they have thousands of millions of slaves who will strive to go back to the earth to dwell with mortals. They dwell in darkness, and thou shalt not suffer them to regain the earth, lest the races of men go down in darkness, even as before the submersion of Pan. For which reason, thou shalt establish a Lord-dom, and raise a sufficient army to shield the inhabitants of the earth. And thou shalt make Vishnu thy Lord in My behalf.
31. When it was known in Ctusk, the heavenly place of Ahura, that sixty sub-Gods, with their hosts, had affiliated with Jehovih's kingdoms, general disobedience to Ahura was manifested by the remaining sub-Gods, of whom there were yet more than eight hundred, who had within their dominions upward of two thousand million angels, all slaves, and with light of no other heavenly place than the small precinct where they had been kept in drudgery hundreds of years.
32. The Voice of Jehovih came to God, saying: My Son, take advantage of the seed of disaffection in Ahura's kingdom. Send thou an otevan of great power throughout the heavenly kingdoms. And thou shalt put trumpeters in the otevan, and they shall prophesy the dawn of dan within two hundred years.
33. God perceived, and he had his workmen build an otevan of great power; and he provided trumpeters, and sent them forth, saying to them: Ten years shall ye travel in the heavenly places around about the whole earth, prophesying: In less than two hundred years, Jehovih's etherean hosts are coming. Prepare ye for the resurrection; His kingdoms are open for the weary; His Lords and Gods will give you rest!
34. Ahura summoned his Council of false Gods, hoping they might invent a remedy to counteract so great a prophecy. And he and his Council sat forty days and forty nights in their heavenly capital; but there was no high light amongst them, merely each one giving his opinion. But at the end of forty days Ahura resolved upon the following method, to send a prophecy of his own.
35. Accordingly, he had an otevan built, and sent trumpeters forth with these words, to wit: I, Ahura'Mazda, Only Son of the All Nothing Presence, personated in My Very Self, proclaim from My All Highest Heavenly Judgment Seat! Hear My words, O ye Gods, and tremble! Hear Me, O ye angels, and fall down! Hear Me, O mortals, and bow down to My decrees. Behold, I sent My fire-ship, prophesying that in less than two hundred years I would come in a dawn of dan! But ye obeyed not; ye were defiant before Me! Then I swore an oath against all the world! Ye shall know My power! Then I came down out of My holy, high heaven; and I am already come. Now is the dawn of dan! I send My trumpeters first; after them come my lashers and enchainers, whose captain is Daevas, whose God is Anra'mainyus. I will have Mine, and I will give druks and drujas by thousands and tens of thousands over to everlasting torments.
36. Ahura's Gods had become acquainted with him, during the hundreds and hundreds of years, and they no longer trembled at his commandments. In their hearts they knew he could not do what he professed; they knew his prophesies were vain boastings. Yea, his very trumpeters believed not what they proclaimed.