1.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright; when praise is to be offered, how (shall I complete) the praise of the One like You 1 , O Mazda?
Let p.
112 the One like Thee declare it earnestly to the friend who is such as I, thus through Thy Righteousness (within us) to offer friendly help 1 to us, so that the One like Thee 2 may draw near 3 us through Thy Good Mind (within the soul).
2.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright, how, in pleasing Him, may we serve the supreme one of (Heaven) the better world 4 ; yea, how to serve that chief who may grant us those (blessings of His grace, and) who will seek for (grateful requitals at our hands); for He, bountiful (as He is) through the Righteous Order, (will hold off) ruin 5 from (us) all, guardian (as He is) for both the worlds, O Spirit 6 Mazda!
and a friend.
p.
113 3.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright: Who by generation 1 was the first father of the Righteous Order (within the world)?
Who gave the (recurring) sun and stars 2 their (undeviating) way?
Who established that whereby the moon waxes, and whereby she wanes 3 , save Thee 4 ?
These things, O Great Creator!
would I know 5 , and others likewise still.
4.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright, who from beneath hath sustained the earth and the clouds 6 above that they do not fall?
Who made the waters and the plants?
Who to the wind has yoked on the storm-clouds, the swift and fleetest two 7 ?
Who, O Great Creator!
is the inspirer of the good thoughts (within our souls)?
p.
114 5.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright; who, as a skilful artisan, hath made the lights and the darkness 1 ?
Who, as thus skilful, hath made sleep and the zest (of waking hours)?
Who (spread) the Auroras, the noontides and midnight, monitors to discerning (man), duty's true (guides) 2 ?
6.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright these things which I shall speak forth, if they are truly thus.
Doth the Piety (which we cherish) in reality increase 3 the sacred orderliness within our actions?
To these Thy true saints hath she given the Realm through the Good Mind.
For whom hast Thou made the Mother-kine, the producer of joy 4 ?
7.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright; who fashioned Âramaiti (our piety) the beloved, together with Thy Sovereign Power?
Who, through his guiding wisdom 5 , hath made the son revering the father?
(Who made him beloved 6 ?) With (questions p.
115 such as) these, so abundant 1 , O Mazda!
I press Thee, O bountiful Spirit, (Thou) maker of all!
8.
This I ask Thee, O Ahura!
tell me aright, that I may ponder 2 these which are Thy revelations, O Mazda!
and the words which were asked (of Thee) by Thy Good Mind (within us), and that whereby we may attain 3 , through Thine Order, to this life's perfection.
Yea, how may my soul with joyfulness 4 increase in goodness?
Let it thus 5 be 6 .
9.
Themes
◆Ahura Mazda Principlecosmology
The divine ordering principle of truth and light.
The passage is a direct address to Ahura Mazda as the supreme creator and source of truth.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
Multiple questions explicitly ask about the origin and creation of cosmic elements like the sun, moon, earth, and waters.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Ahura Mazda is described as actively sustaining the earth and clouds and guarding both worlds.