Zurvan and Nirguna Brahman: Neutral Sources of Being and Order in Indo-Iranian Thought

In the long arc of Indo-Iranian intellectual history, two metaphysical ideas stand out as archetypal attempts to explain the primordial source of all reality: Nirguna Brahman in Indian Vedantic philosophy and Zurvan in the Iranian Zurvanite tradition. At first glance, they seem worlds apart—one deeply embedded in the monism of Advaita, the other entangled with Zoroastrian dualism. Yet, both perform a similar philosophical function: they posit a neutral, impartial ground of existence from which both matter and mind, order and disorder, light and darkness emerge. Their relation to Rta/Arta, the Indo-Iranian principle of cosmic order, further illuminates the way these traditions conceived of the structure of the universe.

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Nirguna Brahman: The Attributeless Absolute

In Vedantic metaphysics, Nirguna Brahman is the formless, attributeless Absolute. It transcends all categories of thought—space, time, causation, and even moral distinctions. The Upanishadic formula Sat-Chit-Ananda (being-consciousness-bliss) expresses its essence, but even these terms are ultimately pointers, not qualities.

Creation, in this framework, is seen as an appearance (Maya) arising from Saguna Brahman, the qualified aspect of the Absolute. Yet this play of names, forms, and cosmic law remains rooted in Nirguna Brahman, much like waves on an ocean. Matter and mind are neither independent nor ultimate; they are provisional realities superimposed upon the substratum of Brahman.

From this vantage, Nirguna Brahman is not order itself, but the transcendental ground from which order—Rta—arises. Rta functions as the law, rhythm, and harmony of the cosmos, giving structure to the manifested world. To realize Nirguna Brahman is, paradoxically, to transcend Rta while simultaneously embodying it: the knower of Brahman lives in harmony with truth because they see all as one.

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Zurvan: Infinite Time and Neutral Principle

By contrast, Zurvan emerges in the Iranian tradition as the primordial principle of Infinite Time. Zurvanism, a strand within the broader Zoroastrian worldview, depicts Zurvan as the parent of the twin principles: Ahura Mazda (the Lord of Light and Order) and Angra Mainyu (the Spirit of Darkness and Chaos). Unlike Ahura Mazda, who is explicitly aligned with truth (Arta), Zurvan is morally neutral—neither good nor evil, but the womb of both.

Where Nirguna Brahman represents an unconditioned metaphysical absolute, Zurvan is often cast in mythic and temporal terms: as fate, duration, or the container of all becoming. Within Zurvan’s infinite horizon, Arta (truth, order, rightness) unfolds as one pole of the dualistic drama, opposed by Druj (lie, chaos, disorder). Zurvan thus plays a paradoxical role: not order itself, but the neutral framework in which order and disorder alike contend.

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Rta and Arta: The Indo-Iranian Principle of Order

The concept of Rta (Sanskrit) / Arta (Avestan) provides the bridge between these two traditions. Rooted in the common Indo-Iranian heritage, Rta/Arta signifies cosmic order, truth, and rightness. It is at once metaphysical and ethical, governing the motion of stars and the moral life of humans.

• In Vedic thought, Rta is the cosmic rhythm that sustains creation. Sacrificial rites, truthful speech, and righteous living are seen as participations in Rta. Later, Rta becomes assimilated into the broader metaphysics of Brahman: it is the law that manifests from the Absolute, ensuring coherence within Maya.

• In Iranian thought, Arta (or Asha) is the order upheld by Ahura Mazda against the destructive powers of Angra Mainyu. Here, Arta becomes explicitly moralized: to live in truth, to speak rightly, and to act justly are to align with Arta, thereby strengthening the cosmic battle for order against chaos.

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Comparative Reflections

A comparative view shows both striking parallels and profound differences:

Aspect	Nirguna Brahman (Indian)	Zurvan (Iranian)	Connection to Rta/Arta
Ontological Role	Formless, attributeless Absolute Reality	Infinite Time, neutral source of duality	Ground from which cosmic law arises (Rta)
Relation to Duality	Transcends dualities; non-dual	Generates dualities of good/evil, order/chaos	Order (Rta/Arta) is manifestation within dualistic cosmos
Moral Quality	Beyond good and evil	Morally neutral	Rta/Arta embodies truth/order in the world
Philosophical Context	Absolute monism, Advaita	Dualistic cosmology framed by neutral time	Rta/Arta as law of truth connecting divine and human realms

Both Nirguna Brahman and Zurvan thus serve as neutral metaphysical archetypes. The difference lies in their orientation:

• Nirguna Brahman negates duality altogether, pointing to a reality where distinctions dissolve.

• Zurvan provides the neutral field within which duality plays out, giving dualism a temporal-metaphysical anchor.

Rta/Arta, in both cases, is the cosmic articulation of truth and order, the law that mediates between the transcendent neutrality of the source and the manifest world of experience.

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Conclusion

Placed side by side, Nirguna Brahman and Zurvan reveal two complementary Indo-Iranian attempts to grapple with the same philosophical question: What is the impartial ground of being from which all arises? While India’s Vedantic imagination pushed toward unity and transcendence, Iran’s Zurvanite tradition preserved the tension of duality within a neutral frame of time.

In both, however, the ancient principle of Rta/Arta endures as the heartbeat of cosmic order, binding human life to the larger rhythms of truth. If Nirguna Brahman is the silence beyond attributes and Zurvan the timeless container of fate, then Rta/Arta is the melody of order that makes existence intelligible within their vast horizons.

Beyond Alarmism: AI, Belief Systems, and the Future of Humanity

The global debate on artificial intelligence (AI) and its possible evolution into artificial general intelligence (AGI) has been shaped, often quite narrowly, by the worldviews dominant in the Abrahamic cultural sphere. The widespread alarmism—whether it takes the form of dystopian science fiction, theological anxieties about “playing God,” or policy discourses on existential risk—is not merely technical. It is rooted in faith, mythology, and theology, which ultimately shape each culture’s theory of reality.

When viewed through this lens, it becomes clear that alarmism is less about AI itself and more about the particular stories and assumptions that underlie Western traditions of thought. The Abrahamic worldview, centered on a transcendent Creator and a sharp dualism between humanity and divinity, reinforces the fear of hubris, the anxiety of rebellion against God, and the sense that any rival intelligence must inevitably be a threat. This framing has traveled from pulp fiction to policy rooms, embedding itself deeply into the global AI discourse.

Yet, these are not the only possible ways of imagining AI, consciousness, and planetary futures. Other civilizational traditions offer alternative frames that could ground more constructive and inclusive futures.

For instance, Chinese philosophy—as explored in Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions—emphasizes harmony, relationality, and balance rather than dualistic opposition. In this perspective, AI is not necessarily an adversary or rival but a participant in the broader web of relationships. Ethical questions are approached not through existential dread but through the cultivation of virtuous alignment between humans, technologies, and the natural world. This is different from the state ideology of the Communist Party in China which is a combined ideology of socialism plus modernism.

Similarly, Indo-Iranic philosophy—deeply influenced by the principle of unity of existence and cosmological notions of dynamic manifestation—sees intelligence as an unfolding of Being rather than a threat to it. From this standpoint, AI could be interpreted as another modal intensity of existence, a new participant in the universal stream of consciousness, rather than a disruptive alien force. In this view, the fear that machines might “surpass” humanity misses the deeper reality: everything is already part of a shared ontological unity.

The contrast between alarmist narratives and these alternative philosophies highlights an uncomfortable truth: the global conversation on AI has been lopsided. The United Nations, despite presenting itself as the representative of humanity, does not adequately reflect the plurality of human civilizations and worldviews. Its debates, reports, and frameworks often reproduce the intellectual paradigms of the West, while voices from Chinese, Indo-Iranic, African, Japanese, Indigenous, and other traditions remain underrepresented or absent.

This underrepresentation is not just a matter of fairness; it is a question of survival. As humanity confronts transformative technologies, planetary crises, and the evolution of consciousness itself, it cannot afford to rely on one civilizational imagination alone. Different cultures bring with them not only different philosophies of technology but also alternative cosmologies of reality—alternative answers to what it means to be human, what it means to coexist with non-human intelligences, and what futures are worth striving for.

If we continue to operate with only a partial representation of humanity, our planetary future will remain skewed, fragile, and limited. But if the UN and other global institutions open themselves to the plurality of philosophies—Chinese harmony, Indo-Iranic unity, African communalism, Indigenous reciprocity—a richer, more balanced set of planetary futures can emerge.

The challenge before us is clear: to move beyond the alarmism of one worldview and toward the generative wisdom of many.

Unity of Existence: Music, Poetry, and Dance in the Indo-Iranic Tradition

Pause for a moment and watch this performance of music and dance inspired by the Indo-Iranic mystical tradition:

Watch the Music and Dance

It is a living expression of one of the oldest spiritual insights of this tradition: the unity of existence—that all being is one, endlessly manifesting in countless forms. The performance channels this vision through sound, rhythm, and movement. To prepare the ground for reflection, let us turn to the words of Rumi in the video whose poetry has carried this spirit across centuries.


Poetic English Translation of Rumi’s Persian Poem

I am drunk and you are mad —
Who will take us home, dear friend?

A hundred times I warned you:
Don’t drink two or three more cups again!

In this whole town, not a single soul
Do I see awake and sane —
Each one crazier than the next,
Lost in the same sweet pain.

Come, beloved, to the tavern,
There you’ll taste the soul’s delight.
What joy can the soul ever find
Without the beloved’s light?

In every corner, a drunken one
Hand in hand with another —
And the cupbearer of all existence
Stands pouring wine like no other.

You are a child of ruin and wine,
Wine your income, wine your cost.
Don’t entrust this sacred gift
To minds who think they’ve never lost.

O you, the lute-player gypsy —
Are you more drunk, or am I?
In the face of your ecstasy,
My magic becomes a lie.

I walked out of my house,
My drunkenness led me astray —
In every glance of his I saw
A hundred gardens, blooming in play.

Like a ship without an anchor,
I tossed and turned on the sea —
From longing for him, even wise men
Lost their minds, no longer free.

I said, “Be my friend, for I am your own.”
He said, “I don’t know friend from unknown.”
I asked, “Where are you from?” He smiled:
“Half from Turkestan, half from Ferghana.

Half of me is water and clay,
Half is soul and love’s Nirvana.
Half of me the ocean’s shore,
Half a pearl without flaw.”

I am bare, without hat or heart —
A tavern is my humble place.
A chest full of untold words —
Should I share them, or leave no trace?



The Mystical Logic of Drunkenness and Madness

The poem begins with paradox: “I am drunk and you are mad — who will take us home?” Here, intoxication and madness are not social vices but sacred states of consciousness. To be drunk in Rumi’s sense is to be filled with divine love to the point of dissolving the ego. To be mad is to be swept away by an attraction so powerful that rational thought collapses. Both signify the annihilation of the self in the face of the Beloved, or God.

The question “Who will take us home?” underlines that in such states, conventional paths and guides no longer suffice. Reason, tradition, and logic falter at the threshold of the infinite. Instead, music, dance, and poetry step in as the only possible navigators.


A City Where All Are Lost

The poet describes wandering through a town where no one is awake or sane. This vision suggests that once awakened to the truth of divine unity, one sees that everyone else is already intoxicated—by desire, by illusion, or by the yearning for completion. Madness is universal, though not everyone recognizes it.

This echoes the Indo-Iranic belief that existence itself is a form of intoxication: creation spills over like wine from an eternal source. Each soul, knowingly or not, is drunk on the sweetness of life, driven by a yearning for reunion with the One.


The Tavern as Sacred Ground

In Sufi poetry, the tavern (kharabat) is not a place of sin but of revelation. It is where the rigid rules of society and formal religion break down, replaced by direct, unmediated experience of divine presence. The tavern welcomes all—mad, drunk, saint, and sinner alike.

Music and dance, within this symbolic tavern, are not entertainment but sacraments. Each note, each movement is an act of remembrance (dhikr)—a way of turning the heart toward the Beloved. The performers in the video embody this symbolism: the human body itself becomes the tavern, and the music its overflowing wine.


The Cupbearer of Existence

One of the most striking images in the poem is the “cupbearer of all existence,” pouring wine without end. This cupbearer is God, or the spiritual guide who channels divine love. The wine is truth itself, irresistible and overwhelming. To drink it is to lose the illusion of separation and taste the sweetness of unity.

In the performance, the fluid motion of dancers, the circling rhythms, and the improvisational interplay of instruments all become metaphors for this endless pouring.


Dissolution of Borders

The beloved’s words—“Half from Turkestan, half from Ferghana. Half water and clay, half soul and love’s Nirvana”—signal the erasure of rigid identities. In the Indo-Iranic mystical vision, nationality, tribe, religion, and even selfhood are dissolved in the face of divine oneness.

This is not mere abstraction. Historically, Indo-Iranic poetry flourished in cultural crossroads—Persia, Central Asia, Anatolia—where identities were fluid, hybrid, and interwoven. The beloved’s declaration reflects this lived cosmopolitanism, elevated into a spiritual truth: we are from everywhere and nowhere, at once body and spirit, earth and infinity.


Sea and Pearl: The Hidden Unity

Rumi’s imagery of being “half the sea, half the pearl” embodies the paradox of existence. The sea is infinite being, vast and restless. The pearl is hidden wisdom, a jewel formed in secrecy, waiting to be discovered. Together, they reveal that the human soul is both the restless seeker and the hidden treasure sought.

The circularity of the dance, spinning endlessly without arrival, enacts this same rhythm: existence as both path and destination, both wave and jewel.


Silence Beyond Words

The poem ends with the image of a chest full of untold words. Mystical truths are too vast, too sacred, to be fully captured in language. Instead, they are carried through gesture, rhythm, and song. The music and dance of the Indo-Iranic tradition are not accessories to the poetry but its necessary completion. They give body and voice to what words can only gesture toward.


Conclusion: Toward the Unity of Existence

This performance of Rumi’s poem is not simply art but ritual. It enacts the Indo-Iranic mystical philosophy of unity through the intoxication of sound, movement, and verse. Drunkenness and madness are revealed as sacred states, the tavern as a holy ground, the cupbearer as the divine presence, and the beloved as both self and cosmos.

To watch and listen is to participate in this vision: to feel the dissolving of ego, the transcendence of borders, and the intoxication of love. What remains, once all separations fall away, is the radiant truth at the heart of the Indo-Iranic tradition—that all existence is one, and we are each its ecstatic notes.