An interregnum from posts "Zarathustra's message to humanity."

[To those not very familiar with blogs, one word of advice. In blogs, the posts run in reverse order; chronologically, the current post is placed first, the first/earliest post is at the bottom, (see the Archives on the left). It is necessary to point this because, as far as this blog is concerned, the contents will be better understood by reading the 'end' post first (which is the first/earliest post!), then read the next post above the post read; please read in 'reverse' order.]

The current posts "Zarathustra's message to humanity" will continue for some time, so I felt, some break in this thread by a short write up on interesting information might prove a good interregnum.

Firstly, here are a few of the Gatha verses transliterated to English, to give the reader an idea how 'unique' these jewels are in the original. Below each verse is the translation into English and the syllable structure is shown ie the number of vowel sounds in each line, from each word in each line.

The Ahunavar prayer below, is not part of the 5 Gathas, but along with three other principal prayers are in the Gathic dialect:

Yatha Ahu Vairyo
atha Ratus asat-chit hacha;
vanghaush dazda mananho,
syaothananam angheaus Mazdai,
Xsathrem ca Ahurai a
yim drigubyo dadat vastarem

Just as the (Supreme) Lord is all powerful,
so the Teacher, on account of his store of righteousness;
the gifts of a Pure Mind
are received by good deeds done for the Lord;
the Kingdom of God is upon
him who clothes the poor!

the syllables/ vowels' sounds, in each Gathic line are : 7 9 7 9 7 9
for example:
the first line vowel sounds add up to 7:----Ya-tha A-hu Va -ir-yo
the second line add up to 9 and so on.

there are words above still in use in other languages:

vairyo- victory, mananho-mind, Ratus -teacher is Rishi in Hindi; vastarem - to clothe-in Hindi vaster: cloth.

Scholars, Zoroastrian, European etc relied on the Vedic content of the Indian Rig Vedas translations to translate the Gathas of Zarathustra, the Gathic is only slightly different phonetically from the Vedic language. (At the time of composition, both were spoken dialects, and putting them down in writing came much later)

the first line, above, for example,
"Yatha Ahu Vairyo," in the Vedic would be "Yatha Asu Vairyanam."

Now, the verse Yasna 28:1 from the Ahunavaity Gatha transliterated to English:

Ahya yasa namanha.... ah-ya ya-sa na-man-ha 7 syllables

ustana zasto refedhraya.... us-ta-na zas-to re-fedh-ra-ya 9 syllables

Mainyus Mazda pourvim
Spentahya .... main-yus maz-da pour-vim spen-tah-ya 9 syllables

Asa vipang syaothana.... as-sa vi-pang syo-tha-na 7 syllables

Vanghaus xsratum mananho.... vang-haus xsra-tum ma-nan-ho 7 syllables

ya xsnevisa Gaus ca urvanem... ya xsne-vi-sa gaus ca ur-va-nem 9 syllables


Translated to English:

To Him, I pray, in humble adoration,
With hands outstretched for perfect bliss,
(I pray) to Thy Holy Spirit, Oh Mazda, first of all,
through deeds, inspired by Righteousness,
and for the wisdom gained from Pure Mind,
do I pray-to bring solace to the Soul of the World!

These lines, crying out to His God, not for his own sake but for the world's soul, seem to have impressed his disciples, enough for them to compose a later prayer, where God is entreated to keep all evil away from themselves!

This prayer, below, is a portion from the daily prayer ritual, where the faithful unties and ties back the Zoroastrian sacred girdle around the waist.

From the Khorde Avesta-Book of Common Prayer:

Ohrmazd* Lord! Ahriman He keeps at bay, He holds him back. May Ahriman be struck and defeated, with devs and drujs, sorcerers and sinners, kayags and karbs, tyrants, wrongdoers and heretics, sinners, enemies and witches! May they (all) be struck and defeated! May evil rulers not exist, (or) be far away! May enemies be defeated! May enemies all not exist, (or) be far away!
O Ohrmazd, Lord! I am contrite for all sins and I desist from them, from all bad thoughts, bad words and bad acts which I have thought, spoken or done in the world, or which have happened through me, or have originated with me. For those sins of thinking, speaking and acting, of body and soul, worldly or spiritual, O Ohrmazd! I am contrite, I renounce them.
(from avesta.org)

*Ormazd/Hormazd is a 'later' name of God, evolving from Ahura Mazda.

For those who have landed on this page and not inclined to visit the earlier posts, here is some basic information:
Briefly, the Zoroastrian sacred scriptures, collectively called the Avesta, (the Lore) of Knowledge, comprise of
The Yasnas, 72 chapters of invocations and ritual prayers said at the time of performing the Yasna(Vedic yajna) rituals, the central liturgy which can be recited only by ordained priests, on specific occasions, celebrating God's creation. Within the 72 chapters of the Yasna, chapters 28 to 34, 43 to 46, 47 to 50, and 51, and 53 comprise the 5 Gathas, Zoroaster's own compositions, faithfully memorised and passed down from father to son.

The Avesta is a huge compilation of sacred writings and prayers, some of the latter are further compiled as the Khorde Avesta (the Little Avesta, actually very voluminous in themselves) as common prayers for the priests and laity to recite on a personal basis. Besides the 72 Yasnas, and the Khorde Avesta, other books of the Avesta are the Visperad, invocations to various spiritual beings, the Vendidad, "the Law Against Devils," a compendium of laws for correcting various "sins" and transgressions by believers, and in the environment.

The first chapter in the Vendidad lists the perfect lands made by Ahura Mazda (which are sullied and made imperfect, for now, by the Devil-Ahriman) and these lands cover present day north-eastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea.

To the far north is, the first perfect land created by Ahura Mazda, Airyana Vaeja, the Aryan 'Valley' -Land of the Aryans, with 10 winter months and 2 summer months!

Devout Zoroastrians believe the entire Avesta, not just the 5 Gathas, are the work of Zarathustra; in any case, all portions were most definitely composed by High Priests and spiritually advanced individuals, who predate or follow the Prophet, with beliefs, forming the contents, from times even earlier to the Prophet!

With the Avesta, as the 'basics,' later writings, right down to the early Islamic times, include a huge lore of philosophical treaties, including cosmology-the events through a Zoroastrian Timeline, all written in Pahlavi- Middle Persian, and later in modern Persian...........see avesta.org

These later writings contain many gems of religious and secular beliefs, for example, from the Denkart, a 9th century seven volume treatise on various studies of the religion, here is a fine example:

From Denkard, Book 3 :

A student questions the wise holy sage:

"The question was put: It is declared that by repentance the path to hell does not remain at all: what is the reason of this?
ANSWER.
Be it known that, by the soul becoming impure through sin, the road (for it) is to hell; and the remedy for the remission of sin and for obtaining purity is through the dastur (learned priest) possessing a knowledge of the good religion, who knows to prescribe medicine for the soul and is a great purifier of it from sin. For, as in the profession of the physician, medicine and other things are potent in each disease, and the giver of explanation about them is the physician of the body, and the ailing body is relieved and renovated through the instrumentality of the physician and the surgeon who are the pointers out and doers of remedies for the ailments of the diseased constitution and the deformed body; so, for the soul that is rendered unholy and polluted by sin, if, by the injunction of the dastur of the good religion, it be a hearty repenter for sin, a seeker of pardon by speech, and repenter by deed, there is remission of committed sin through the physician of the soul, the dastur of the good religion, and the soul becomes purified of the unholiness and pollution of sin, and thus the road to hell is cut off."

The fifth question put was this: Which among the deeds of men is most beneficial to the world, the cause of much pleasure to the yazads (Divine Beings-angels), the cause of much pain in the (wicked) world, and is the highest in rank of all?

ANSWER.
Be it known, that among the deeds of men, the deed that is highly beneficial to the world is the remaining in submission to one's meritorious master and just king, who is a giver of commands for the improvement of the people (the deed that is); the producer of pleasure to the yazads is the remaining firm in the Mazdayasnian religion and the keeping people righteous. And the deed that is highest in rank of all is the imparting of knowledge to worthy students, the originators of all righteous deeds.(!)"

From Denkard, Book 4 :


"Be it known that the One God is the cause of the beginning (of creation) and is the causer of causes. Cause is not for Him (i.e. He is uncaused.)

2. (ref. to) Cf. Vendidad. 22nd chap., and the Ohrmazd Yasht. "I who am Ohrmazd is the Creator of the good creation." "Mine is the name of the creator, nourisher, and preserver."

4. Among those connected with (God) the second as the second (if we regard Ohrmazd as the first), (and) first among the original creation is Vohuman (Pure Spiritual Being-Pure Mind [of God])
(5) The commencement of creation was with Vohuman. And the origin adverse to him (i.e. Vohuman's adversary) is (Ahriman) the blemish giving cause of the creation."

from Avesta.org digital copyrights fully acknowledge by me herewith.)