Fravasi

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Fravasi. The ‘heavenly self’ or ‘eternal soul’ in Zoroastrianism. There are many Zoroastrian theological analyses of human nature. The most common is to divide a human being into five parts: the tan (body, i.e. the material or getig dimension); the vital spirit (jan); soul (urvan); ‘image’ (adhvenak); and fravasi. The tan is that which remains on earth after death, and the urvan is that which proceeds to the judgement to be confronted by its daena (conscience). The fravasi is thought of as the aspect of human nature which pre-exists birth. In some Pahlavi literature there is a concept of human destiny. Each person has his/her khwarr, the destiny which Ahura has set before them, but all have the freedom to reject that destiny. The essence of a person is sometimes said to be his/her reason (khrat). Although there are these various parts of human nature, nevertheless the person is by nature a unity. Angra Mainyu seeks to destroy that unity, that balance of the parts, and thus to destroy them, through greed, arrogance, despair, and the Lie.