homage to him who is given here, given against the Devas; to Zarathustra, pure, lord of purity, for the sacrifice, for the invocation, for the prayer that renders favorable, for the benediction. (May I address my homage) to the lords (who are) the days, the parts of days, &c., for the benediction; that is to say: (may I address my homage) to the lords (who are) the days, the parts of days, the months, the seasons of the year (Gahanbârs), the years; for the sacrifice, for the invocation, for the prayer that renders favorable, for the benediction."[1]
The rest of the Yaçna consists mainly of praises or prayers
addressed to the very numerous objects of Parsee adoration,
and most of it is of little interest. The following short section
however, deserves remark:—
Yacna 12.
1. "I praise the thoughts rightly thought, the words rightly spoken, and the deeds rightly done.
2. "I seize upon (or resort to) all good thoughts, words and deeds.
3. "I forsake all bad thoughts, words, and deeds.
4. "I bring you, O Amesha-çpentas,
5. "Praise and adoration,
6. "With thoughts, words, and deeds, with heavenly mind, the vital force from my own body."[2]
In the following verses again there is some excellence:—
1. "May that man attain that which is best who teaches us the right
way to our profit in this world, both the material and the spiritual
world, the plain way that leads to the worlds where Ahura is enthroned,
and the sacrificer, resembling thee, a sage, a saint, O Mazda.
2. "May there come to this dwelling contentment, blessing, fidelity, and the wisdom of the pure."
8. "In this dwelling may Çraosha[3] (obedience) put an end to disobedience, peace to strife, liberality to avarice, wisdom to error, truthful speech to lying, which detests purity" (Av. ii. 186, 187.—Yaçna 59).
- ↑ Y. pp. 585, 588, 592. The concluding stanza is simpler and more intelligible in Spiegel.—Av., ii. 44.
- ↑ Av., vol. ii. p. 85.—Yacna, 12. The ch. xii. quoted above is No. 13. in Spiegel.
- ↑ Craosha is an important divinity in Parsee worship, who is considered by Spiegel to express the moral quality of obedience.
