Fire Temples and Varas

FIRE TEMPLE

Physical fire is a symbol of spiritual fire – the activity of life itself. For it to burn brightly the Fire of Life must be kept pure from harmful influences that would disrupt it and make it ill.

An important aspect of the Fire of Life is the Fire of Good Mind. It is the Fire of Good Mind which keeps the Fire of Life going. Thus to Euromazdeans physical fire represents also the Good Mind which must be kept pure from harmful influences for it to remain good.

For the ancient Iranians physical fire was of central importance in their lives. Often they lived in a cold climate and fire was essential to keep them warm as well as to cook food and keep away wild animals. However creating a flame to light a fire was not an easy task for them so it was the practice in each village to keep a fire burning all the time in a dedicated fire-house to which the ordinary householder could go to get a flaming torch to light their own fire at home. The fire in the fire-house needed to be attended around the clock. Thus arose the Zoroastrian tradition of keeping a fire eternally alight.It is worthy of note that the ancient Iranians, like other ancient Europeans, worshipped deities on mountain tops, not in temples, and so the ritual fire on the mountain would have been different from the eternal fire in the village but lit from it. However later the traditions of the fire-house and the mountain ritual combined into the Fire Temple. The Fire Temple is the place where the drama of keeping the Fire of Life and Good Mind continually alight and free from impure influence is ritually enacted. By engaging with this drama Zoroastrians can strengthen their commitment to keep the Fire alive and pure and healthy in the world outside the Temple.

Those setting up a Fire Temple in a modern setting must ensure that all possibly harmful influences are excluded from contaminating the fire (considered as a living being). So the air needs to be free of contaminants, the food given to the fire must be wholesome (e.g. natural wood), those approaching the most sacred fire need to be covered, electro- magnetic devices should be excluded from the inner part of temple, and the temple should be shielded from non-natural electro-magnetic waves coming from outside. In a Fire Temple the priests engage in symbolic ritual enactments of the dramas of the operation of the cosmos. Thus they keep alive in the hearts of man, the essential features of the workings of the world.

VARA

A Vara is a kind of enclosure - a part of the world which is walled off from the rest. Whereas a fire-temple is a ritual enclosure, a Vara is an enclosure for living in. Because the activity within the Vara is sheltered from the activity outside , it is possible for it to develop autonomously according to the needs of the people inside the Vara without distortion by external pressures.

Historically speaking a Vara was probably just a village with a wall around it to keep away predatory animals. However in the history of the ancient Iranians there was a time of a Great Winter when life on the surface of the earth was inhospitable to life. So according to the account we have in the Avesta, they set up a Vara below the surface of the earth – protected from the harshness outside – inside which they built a whole town – lit by artificial lights – and where they lived continuously for many generations. Thus they were able to preserve the continuing fire of human life and culture which would otherwise have gone out.

October 4009 ME / 2009 CE