Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/440

Death is the completion of life. The faithful is warned, in the Pahlavi texts as in the Avesta, that he should always remember the transitory state of earthly existence, the death of the body, and the responsibility of his soul;^[1] for, in the end, the body will be mingled with the dust, but the soul will survive; and man should therefore labour for the future welfare of the soul.^[2] Death is the completion and perfection of life.^[3] It is not an extinction of individuality, but a transfer from one state to another; it is the transition of the soul to a higher life, in which it gives up one duty to take up another.^[4] Death brings the dissolution of the body, the earthly elements are dispersed, and the spiritual elements accompany the soul, which now proceeds to the next world to render the account of its deeds.^[5] The body served as the garment of the soul as long as the soul wore it during life, but when it is outworn the soul flings it behind it. The body is likened, in more than one Pahlavi passage, to a house, of which the soul is a tenant; for when the body is divested of vital power and falls to the ground, the master of the house leaves it to crumble into dust.^[6] Just as a rider becomes helpless without his saddle and his weapons to overthrow his enemy, so does the soul lose all hopes of routing the Druj, when the body perishes; for the soul is the lord of life and conducts the battle between good and evil.^[7] It is the master of the body.^[8] The body becomes useless and perishes when the soul leaves it.^[9]

Man should not put his trust in the possessions of this earth;