Yasna LV. The Worship of the Gâthas as Concluded, and That of the Staota Yêsnya as Beginning

The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31), L.H. Mills, tr. [1886], at sacred-texts.com

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YASNA LV (SP. LIV).

THE WORSHIP OF THE GÂTHAS AS CONCLUDED, AND THAT OF THE STAOTA YÊSNYA ¹ AS BEGINNING.

1. We present hereby and we make known, as our offering to the bountiful Gâthas which rule (as the leading chants) within (the appointed times and seasons of) the Ritual, all our landed riches, and our persons, together with our very bones and tissues, our forms and forces, our consciousness, our soul, and Fravashi.

2. That which Gâthas (may) be to us, which are our guardians and defenders, and our spiritual food, yea, which (may) be to our souls both food and clothing, such are these Gâthas to us, guardians, and defenders, and (spiritual) food, even such they are, both food and clothing to the soul.

And (may) they be to us (for this our offering) abundant givers of rewards, and just and righteous ones, for the world beyond the present, after the parting of our consciousness and body. 3. And may these (Praises of the Offering) come forth, and appear for us with power and victorious assault, with health and healing, with progress, and with growth, with preparation and protection, with beneficence and sanctity, and abounding with gifts ² toward him who can understand; yea, let them appear (with free liberality to the enlightened), let them appear as

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[paragraph continues] Mazda, the most beneficent, has produced them, He the one who is victorious when He smites, and who helps the settlements advance, for the protection, and the guarding of the religious order of the settlements which are now being furthered, and of those which shall bring salvation to us, and for the protection of the entire creation of the holy (and the clean).

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4. And may’st thou, (O Asha! who abidest within the Gâthas ¹), give to every holy man who comes with this prayer for a blessing, and endeavouring to help himself ², according to his good thoughts, and words, and deeds.

5. We are therefore worshipping both the (divine) Righteousness and the Good Mind, and the bountiful Gâthas, that rule as the leading chants within (the times and the seasons of) the holy ritual order.

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6. And we worship the Praises of the Yasna which were the production of the ancient world, those which are (now) recollected and put in use ³, those which are now learned and taught, those which are being held (in mind, and so) repeated, those remembered and recited, and those worshipped, and thus the ones which further the world through grace in its advance.

And we worship the part(s) ⁴ of the Praises of the Yasna, and their recitation as it is heard, even their memorised recital, and their chanting, and their offering (as complete).

Footnotes

294:1 Staota Yêsnya seems to designate that part of the Yasna which begins with the Srôsh Yast.

294:2 Frârâiti; or possibly 'to the freely giving,' (the term. '-ti' as a dative).

295:1 Conjectural; see Ashem below.

295:2 Pahlavi avŏ nafsman.

295:3 Recited from memory, and used in the ceremonial.

295:4 The part, 'each part.'