In the name of the Father of Greatness, and of all His emanations.
How great, how praiseworthy is He! He sent the prophets to reveal the way to salvation and truly He is the one who helps the soul attain it.
I was reading through the catechism section in the Compendium, and something specific caught my eye. The catechism, structured as a series of questions and answers, asks whether the soul can attain salvation unaided. It responds:
No, without the assistance and intervention of the Light Mind, the soul would certainly stay in a state of slumber. It is important to emphasize, however, that the Soul is helped at every stage of his/her spiritual life, by God's grace and the assistance of His Saints.
It is a good reminder that because the light within us is trapped in darkness, we cannot help ourselves. We alone cannot free that light within us. We are not just helped by the Father of Greatness, rather, we rely on Him in order to free it.
The Catechism, in response to the question of how He achieves this, writes:
Manifesting as Intuition in the Soul, as the light of Conscience and Grace, He works from within, eliminating the vices and dark desires, and planting the fragrant flowers of every virtue in the heart. He also assists us through his messengers and the holy church.
The Father of Greatness is the giver of life. And so in the midst of darkness, He plants the seed of virtue. If we allow it to grow within us, it will blossom into vibrance. By this, we will be able to suppress the demons from corrupting our soul. We must cooperate with Him in allowing ourselves to be fixed, however. We ourselves must resist the temptation of the devil, to let the seed of virtue grow within us. For truly, the seed that is planted in bad soil will not grow, but the seed that is planted in good soil will flourish.
O Father of Greatness! What are we without You? You gave us our life, but the darkness trapped our souls. Yet through You we still persist in the struggle, and by your grace we shall succeed. O Great, O Bright, O Divine One, forgive our wrongdoings that we may detach ourselves from the darkness, and join your brilliance and splendor instead.
O Prophet Mani, your teachings are the great lamp, they illuminate us. Allow us to be faithful in our devotion to the great Zurvan, and allow us to be illuminated by your message, and the message of all the prophets.
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