Hymns of Zoroaster, The by West M. L.; West M. L. ;

Author:West, M. L.; West, M. L. ; [West, M. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 688315
Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Published: 2010-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

The first stanzas take up the idea at the end of Yasna 33, that the worshipper’s pious thought, speech, and action are his offering to the Mindful Lord. (1) From such offerings the Lord builds up his stock of those desirable qualities, continuing life and health in the way of Right, that are his to bestow on deserving mortals. We offer these to Thee, Lord – and there are many of us! (2) But it is one man, Zoroaster himself, who makes this dedication in the presence of his whole ‘flock’ through his songs of praise. (3) He commends the whole flock, which has been raised on the fodder of good thought, to the Mindful Lord and to Right. Its collective worth assures the benefit sought by the one who so generously offers it.14

(4) They pray for the Lord’s powerful fire, which will help their cause and harm the enemy’s. If, as other passages would suggest, this is the fire that is instrumental in the allocation of their deserts to the good and the bad after death, the present prayer will mean, ‘we look forward to meeting this test and seeing our foes finally undone by it’.

(5) Zoroaster asks the three principal entities about the extent of their power to protect him, their poor dependant who is at their disposal. They answer that they have pronounced him worthier than all those who harass his community, both the human marauders and the gods they worship. This is not a guarantee of his safety, but the implication is that the divine Lords will give him their best support.

(6) If that is really so, he continues, let them demonstrate it in every situation as he goes through the ups and downs of life. Then, when he goes to meet them with worship and praise, he will do so all the more joyfully.

(7) We could wish that the Mindful Lord had a whole regiment of agents, trained in the principles laid down by Good Thought and in the consequences of following or neglecting them, to combat all the contrarieties of life. But where are they? Zoroaster knows only the Mindful One himself and his immediate associates; so let them give us the protection we need against the wrongful.

(8) We are fearful of them because of the way they have behaved in the past, with their aggressive actions that threatened the welfare of many in the region. They repudiated the Mindful One’s law and failed to think on Right, and Good Thought removed itself far from them.

(9) That is what happens when perpetrators of bad acts reject the Zoroastrian’s piety because they are lacking in Good Thought: it and its companion Right distance themselves as far from them as those marauders that instigate evil (stanza 5) are removed from us (by our rejection of them).

(10) Anyone wise will advise holding firm to the course of action that springs from good thought; holding firm to Piety, which produces and abides with Right; holding firm to the whole set of virtues that belong in the Mindful Lord’s sphere.

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