This excerpt from a Gatha (one of the seventeen hymns believed to have been composed by Zarathustra) comes from the Avesta, the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism. The dates of composition of the various parts of the Avesta are uncertain, but this text reflects Zoroastrians’ belief in the divine power of their supreme god and creator of the world, Ahura Mazda, and in his loving and protective care for his worshippers.

I announce and [will] complete [my worship] to Ahura Mazda, the creator, the radiant and glorious, the greatest and the best, the most beautiful, the most firm, the wisest, and the one of all whose body is the most perfect, who attains His ends the most infallibly, because of His Righteous Order, to Him who puts our minds in right order, who sends His joy-creating grace far and wide; who made us, and has fashioned us, and who has nourished and protected us, who is the most bounteous Spirit!

I announce and I (will) complete (my worship) to the Good Mind, and to Righteousness the Best, and to the Sovereignty which is to be desired, and to Piety the Bountiful, and to the two, the Universal Well-Being and Immortality. . . .

And I announce and complete my worship to all the stars . . . to the Moon . . . to the resplendent Sun . . . to Ahura Mazda . . . to the guardian spirits of the saints. . . .

And I announce and complete my worship to you, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda’s son, together with all the fires, and to the good waters, even to all the waters made by Mazda, and to all the plants which Mazda made.

O all you lords, the greatest one, holy lords of the ritual order, if I have offended you by thought, or word or deed, whether with my will, or without intending error, I praise you [now the more] for this.

Source: The Zend Avesta, translated by James Darmesteter and L. H. Mills. Copyright © 1880, Oxford University Press.

Question to Consider

How does this song demonstrate the worshipper’s understanding of his relationship to the supreme god?