Zoroastrian teaching holds free will to be a radical and inescapable responsibility: every conscious being must choose between *asha*—truth, order, righteousness—and *druj*—falsehood, chaos, evil. Human beings are fashioned with the capacity and obligation to decide through thoughts, words, and deeds, and no one is compelled toward either good or evil. This emphasis on choice makes moral accountability central; merit and demerit are understood as entirely self-earned, and salvation cannot be outsourced to intermediaries. The threefold path of *humata* (good thoughts), *hukhta* (good words), and *hvarshta* (good deeds) becomes the concrete arena in which this freedom is exercised.

Alongside this strong doctrine of free will stands an equally firm affirmation of a larger, divinely guided destiny. Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, possesses complete knowledge of all outcomes and has ordained that the cosmic drama will culminate in the triumph of good over evil. Time itself is seen as moving through ordered stages toward *Frashokereti*, the final renovation, in which creation is restored and purified and the forces of *druj* are finally overcome. This ultimate victory of *asha* is not in doubt; it is the fixed horizon toward which all existence is moving.

The relationship between free will and destiny is thus not one of mutual exclusion but of different levels of meaning. The “macro-plan” is settled: the side of light will prevail, and the world will be renewed. Yet within that overarching destiny, the fate of each soul remains genuinely open and is shaped by freely chosen alignment with either *asha* or *druj*. The judgment at the Chinvat Bridge, with its possibilities of reward or punishment, reflects this personal responsibility: each soul encounters the consequences of its own decisions.

In this vision, destiny unfolds through the collective exercise of countless individual choices, and the cosmic struggle between Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu is experienced in the intimate arena of daily ethical life. Divine omniscience does not erase human autonomy; rather, it frames a universe in which every decision, however small, participates in the larger movement toward the final restoration. The end of the story is assured, but the manner in which each being contributes to that end—its spiritual progress, suffering, and joy—remains the fruit of authentic freedom.