May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced! May Angra Mainyu be destroyed! by those who do truly what is the foremost wish (of God).
I praise well-thought, well-spoken, and well-done thoughts, words, and deeds. I embrace all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; I reject all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.
I give sacrifice and prayer unto you, O Amesha-Spentas! even with the fullness of my thoughts, of my words, of my deeds, and of my heart: I give unto you even my own life.
I recite the ‘Praise of Holiness:’
‘Ashem Vohû: Holiness is the best of all good. Well is it for it, well is it for that holiness which is perfection of holiness!’
I confess myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathustra, one who hates the Daêvas and obeys the laws of Ahura;
For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto [Hâvani], the holy and master of holiness;
For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto [Sâvanghi and Vîsya], the holy and masters of holiness;
For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto the Masters of the days, of the periods of the day, of the months, of the seasons, and of the years;
Unto AHURA MAZDA, bright and glorious, be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification.
Yathâ ahû vairyô: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness: the riches of Vohû-Manô shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave him to relieve the poor.
Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
‘What of the Holy Word is the strongest? What is the most victorious? What is the most glorious? What is the most effective?
‘What is the most fiend-smiting? What is the best-healing? What destroyeth best the malice of Daêvas and Men? What maketh the material world best come to the fulfilment of its wishes? What freeth the material world best from the anxieties of the heart ?’
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Our Name, O Spitama Zarathustra! who are the Amesha-Spentas, that is the strongest part of the Holy Word; that is the most victorious; that is the most glorious; that is the most effective;
‘That is the most fiend-smiting; that is the best-healing; that destroyeth best the malice of Daêvas and Men; that maketh the material world best come to the fulfilment of its wishes; that freeth the material world best from the anxieties of the heart’
Then Zarathustra said: ‘Reveal unto me that name of thine, O Ahura Mazda! that is the greatest, the best, the fairest, the most effective, the most fiend-smiting, the best-healing, that destroyeth best the malice of Daêvas and Men;
‘That I may afflict all Daêvas and Men; that I may afflict all Yâtus and Pairikas; that neither Daêvas nor Men may be able to afflict me; neither Yâtus nor Pairikas’
Ahura Mazda replied unto him: ‘My name is the One of whom questions are asked, O holy Zarathustra!
‘My second name is the Herd-giver.
‘My third name is the Strong One.
‘My fourth name is Perfect Holiness.
‘My fifth name is All good things created by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle’My sixth name is Understanding;
‘My seventh name is the One with understanding.
‘My eighth name is Knowledge;
‘My ninth name is the One with Knowledge.
‘My tenth name is Weal;
‘My eleventh name is He who produces weal.
‘My twelfth name is AHURA (the Lord).
‘My thirteenth name is the most Beneficent.
‘My fourteenth name is He in whom there is no harm.
‘My fifteenth name is the unconquerable One.
‘My sixteenth name is He who makes the true account.
‘My seventeenth name is the All-seeing One.
‘My eighteenth name is the healing One.
‘My nineteenth name is the Creator.
My twentieth name is MAZDA (the All-knowing One).
‘Worship me, O Zarathustra, by day and by night, with offerings of libations well accepted. I will come unto thee for help and joy, I, Ahura Mazda; the good, holy Sraosha will come unto thee for help and joy; the waters, the plants, and the Fravashis of the holy ones will come unto thee for help and joy.
‘If thou wantest, O Zarathustra, to destroy the malice of Daêvas and Men, of the Yâtus and Pairikas, of the oppressors, of the blind and of the deaf, of the two-legged ruffians, of the two-legged Ashemaoghas, of the four-legged wolves;
And of the hordes with the wide front, with the many spears, with the straight spears, with the spears uplifted, bearing the spear of havock; then, recite thou these my names every day and every night.
‘I am the Keeper. I am the Creator and the Maintainer; I am the Discerner s; I am the most beneficent Spirit.
‘My name is the bestower of health; my name is the best bestower of health.
‘My name is the Âthravan; my name is the most Âthravan-like of all Âthravans.
‘My name is Ahura (the Lord).
‘My name is Mazdau (the all-knowing).
‘My name is the Holy; my name is the most Holy.
‘My name is the Glorious; my name is the most Glorious.
‘My name is Full-seeing; my name is Fullest-seeing.
‘My name is Far-seeing; my name is the Farthest seeing.
‘My name is the Protector; my name is the Well-wisher; my name is the Creator; my name is the Keeper; my name is the Maintainer.
‘My name is the Discerner; my name is the Best Discerner.
‘My name is the Prosperity-producer; my name is the Word of Prosperity.
‘My name is the King who rules at his will;
My name is the King who rules most at his will.
‘My name is the liberal King; my name is the most liberal King.
‘My name is He who does not deceive; my name is He who is not deceived.
‘My name is the good Keeper; my name is He who destroys malice; my name is He who conquers at once; my name is He who conquers everything; my name is He who has shaped everything.
‘My name is All weal; my name is Full weal; my name is the Master of weal.
‘My name is He who can benefit at his wish; my name is He who can best benefit at his wish.
‘My name is the Beneficent One; my name is the Energetic One; my name is the most Beneficent.
‘My name is Holiness; my name is the Great One; my name is the good Sovereign; my name is the Best of Sovereigns.
‘My name is the Wise One; my name is the Wisest of the Wise; my name is He who does good for a long time.
‘These are my names.
‘And he who in this material world, O Spitama Zarathustra! shall recite and pronounce those names of mine either by day or by night;
‘He who shall pronounce them, when he rises up or when he lays him down; when he lays him down or when he rises up; when he binds on the sacred girdle or when he unbinds the sacred girdle; when he goes out of his dwelling-place, or when he goes out of his town, or when he goes out of his country and comes into another country;
‘That man, neither in that day nor in that night, shall be wounded by the weapons of the foe who rushes Aêshma-like and is Drug-minded; not the knife, not the cross-bow, not the arrow, not the sword, not the club, not the sling-stone shall reach and wound him.
‘But those names shall come in to keep him from behind and to keep him in front, from the Drug unseen, from the female Varenya fiend, from the evil-doer bent on mischief, and from that fiend who is all death, Angra Mainyu. It will be as if there were a thousand men watching over one man.
‘ “Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances? Teach me clearly thy rules for this world and for the next, that Sraosha may come with Vohu-Manô and help whomsoever thou pleasest.”
‘Hail to the Glory of the Kavis ! Hail to the Airyanem Vaêgah ! Hail to the Saoka, made by Mazda! Hail to the waters of the Dâitya! Hail to Ardvi, the undefiled well! Hail to the whole world of the holy Spirit!
‘Yathâ ahû vairyô: The will of the Lord . . .
‘Ashem Vohû: Holiness is the best of all good. . .
‘We worship the Ahuna Vairya. We worship Asha-Vahista, most fair, undying, and beneficent. We worship Strength and Prosperity and Might and Victory and Glory and Vigour. We worship Ahura Mazda, bright and glorious.
‘Yênghê hâtãm: All those beings of whom Ahura Mazda knows the goodness for a sacrifice [performed] in holiness, all those beings, males and females, do we worship.’
‘Yathâ ahû vairyô: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness . . .
‘I bless the sacrifice and the prayer unto Ahura Mazda, bright and glorious, and his strength and vigour.
“The Zend Avesta, Part II (SBE23), I. Ormazd Yast.” Sacred Texts, 1882. https://sacred-texts.com/zor/sbe23/sbe2306.htm.
