What is this life? What is this world? "What is the source of this Existence? Who set the sun and stars in their orbit? Who arranged the waxing and waning moon?" [Ushtavad Gatha: 3] For what purpose this turning sky turns and these shining stars shine? Who are we? What is the meaning of life? These were the questions coming into the mind of seekers when they first looked to the sky.
As far as the earth is from heaven, as far as the east is from the west, so great is the wisdom and mysteries of our path. So is narrated to us by ancient myths that in the beginning was the two: the Good and the Evil. The Good was Ahura Mazda, the great God, the true God and God of light, the progenitor of virtues and beauty. And the Evil was evil, the false god, the dark king and source of ugliness and discord. They were separated, time was endless and the heartbeat of existence had not started yet ...
Then a corridor stretched in between them. Evil became aware of Good and beheld its creation: a magnificent world of light, luminous angels and heavenly beings. Evil made an attack to destroy all this. For it was taken by envy and destroying Ahuric beauty and glory would give him a lustful pleasure (And this is the same pleasure man feels when entertaining thoughts and motives for plunder and illicit immoralities.)
But Evil's attack was driven back by the valor of guardian angels. Then Evil made its own creation, a dark world with distorted and discorded demons. And he continued his attacks. The good God proposed a battle for a set time, after which the loser will be cast into the abyss for eternity. This way the battle will not continue forever but ends forever. So they agreed, and thereupon time became finite and the light limited. The luminous world of Ahura came in contact with the dark world of Evil, and behold, this world was born: a world mixed of good and bad, of beauty and ugliness, of virtue and vice.
This myth described the nature of this world, and how Godly and demonic qualities are mixed and manifest in everything and everywhere, in marvelous and oftentimes monstrous ways. So you see a beautiful forest and magnificent trees, this is a Godly quality and manifestation of Divine. But under the same tree a tiger is tearing a deer and it is a blood shed and vile scene. This is a demonic attribute and a manifestation of Evil. Or you see rain pours and sun shines to bring forth crops, and their tender stalks are heightening gradually and nicely but then the same sun and rain produce a storm and destroy them all. Or you see a woman who has Divine beauty and charm but inside has demonic jealousy that brings about the fall of her life and her husband. Or you see one part of nature works to bring forth nutritious fruits and another part works simultaneously to bring forth poisonous fruits. All our observations show that in everything and every corner and stage of this world there is a mix of Good and Evil, and an ongoing battle between them.
For this world itself is the result of Good and Evil battle and indeed it is the battlefield itself with both forces present and performing. The center of this battle is human, and it is where the majority of the fight is fought and arrows thrown. Nothing pleases Evil more than haunting and dragging the human soul to itself. For the human soul is indeed Divine and has the Divine light and effulgence. And this light is what Evil and its demons are jealous of and afraid of. They want to destroy it, to stifle it.
As the myths narrate in symbolic and secret words, in the beginning of the Ahuric creation (creation of the good God) it was this Divine light that displeased Evil and raised him to attack. And it was this hatred and jealousy for that light which made him say: "I will turn all your creatures away from you, and your worship" Thus, Evil's prime goal is to capture Divine beings, drag them down into the abyss and strip them from that Divine light. And in this stripping, there is immense pleasure for Evil and his demons. This is what is called "extinguishing of existence", an antonym to "creation". It is the annihilation of Light and its transmutation into Darkness. It's a mystic and most horrific phenomenon, but it is real and likely.
How can Evil capture and strip humans from the light? Is it done by force, like a soldier dragging a captive? By no means! A Divine being cannot be forced, but it has to "choose" by its own free will. It has to choose to be captured, to be Evil and become a demon. So then Evil operates by means of deception, to deceive humans to act Evil on their own choice. Evil plants and induces all types of thoughts in the human mind: thoughts of greed, thoughts of jealousy, thoughts of hatred, and then a glimpse of a false glory and bliss if one follows these Evil acts. On another occasion, it induces "what-if" thoughts, as in "what if I lose all my money and become homeless?", to create stress and cause one to act cowardly and brutally. Many are Evil suggestions, as many as stars in the sky and as dark as night sky. Its voice never ends, nor it can be forced to be silent.
Evil is depicted as a man with a tripod fork. The fork is to harrow human souls like a farmer. Each tooth of the fork is a deception and a way of perverting people, and there are many teeths and many forks that demons are holding. The forks of demons are spread in the world and everyone has hairs tied to one fork, and thus the creatures are struggling.
And the myth ends here but its meaning and implication continues on and on. And behind the crust of these tales there hidden a profound truth that the nature of this world is battle. Every moment of life creates two paths of good and evil in front us to choose from and battle for. So I step out of my room and notice my roommates are still sleeping, two paths appear: one path is to be quiet and another path is to not care and talk loud on my phone. Next, I step out of my house and an angry driver honks, two paths appear: one path is to make a friendly gesture and make a complementary apology, another path is to honk back and curse back. Next, I step out of the car and see an oppressor is spreading corruption, two paths appear: one path is to stand against him and get the harm, another path is to join him and get the bribe.
In every moment in life, in every step in life, the famous two paths appear and the man's battle is in choosing between them. With each choice, a change in man's rank of being and worth takes place: choosing good raises it and Evil choices lower it. At the end of life, depending on his choices and battles, he either becomes an angel and goes to Ahura's bright house, or becomes a demon and falls into the abyss and Evil's dark house. These two branches are symbolically represented with letter Y with one branch being the path to the bright house and the other the path to the dark house. This is the symbol of life in this world, its meaning and purpose.
Humans are created for this purpose, to actively participate in life and its battles, not to turn away and seek refuge in isolation and solitary life. Man's mind and psychi are adopted and created for such a battle, and they find peace only when he is fighting. Sitting idle in a chair, watching movies, playing games, going to spa and other escapist activities won't give a lasting peace. Peace is obtained when you stand against the tyrant, peace is obtained when you go to war, war with unkindness, war with unfriendliness, war with greed, and other vices, each being a head of the same dragon.
Some spiritual paths today seek peace by such means as meditation, mantras, salt baths, and others. But temporary is the result of such actions, and the realities of the world will pull the mind back to worry and weariness. Peace is obtained when man gives up the idea of peace and makes a plan for the battle of life. All religions of the world are created in battle fields even though their message was peace. For it is when a man puts his life at stake for a great purpose that the integrity of the soul is achieved.