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PRAYERS AND RITUALS
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faithful long to dedicate their songs of praise to Mazda, Asha, and Vahishta Manah and say that they will never incur their provocation.[1] The songs of praise and homage, the prayers and good deeds of the righteous are stored in Garo Demana, the Abode of Song.[2]

Bountiful Ahura Mazda is munificent in showering his gifts upon mankind and he knows what is best to give. Zarathushtra implores him to give what pleases him.[3] He prays for long life;[4] that he may be enabled to perform the good deeds of the Holy Spirit through righteousness.[5] He asks him to apportion all good things of life and further the life of the body through Vohu Manah and Khshathra according to his will.[6] Vigour and endurance are the essential qualities that enable man to fight wickedness and cling to righteousness and Zarathushtra prays for them.[7] These blessings are the earthly counterparts of weal and immortality, the heavenly boons represented by Haurvatat and Ameretat,[8] and Zarathushtra asks Ahura Mazda to bestow them upon him through Vohu Manah according to his commandments.[9] He prays for the possession of spiritual riches of Ahura Mazda,[10] the riches that form part of the life of Vohu Manah.[11] He beseeches Ahura Mazda to come unto him for help in his need with Vohu Manah, Asha, Khshathra, and Armaiti.[12] He asks Ahura Mazda to shower his blessings upon the man who approaches him with invocation.[13] He prays for that divine blessing, the power of Ahura Mazda which he gives through Vohu Manah unto the holy man who furthers righteousness through words and deeds tinged with religious wisdom.[14] He invokes upon all the blessings of Ahura Mazda, Vohu Manah, Asha, and Armaiti, who are all of one will.[15] His best prayer is heard and his ardent wish is fulfilled that those who once opposed his teachings have now come over to the faith to embrace the words and deeds of his religion and Ahura Mazda has extended to him the life of felicity now and for ever.[16]

Zarathushtra faces bitter opposition from those who have played upon the credulity of the ignorant and the superstitious

  1. Ys. 28. 9.
  2. Ys. 34. 2; 45. 8; 49. 10.
  3. Ys. 51. 18.
  4. Ys. 43. 13.
  5. Ys. 28. 1.
  6. Ys. 33. 10.
  7. Ys. 43. 1.
  8. Ys. 45. 10; 51. 7.
  9. Ys. 51. 7.
  10. Ys. 51. 2.
  11. Ys. 43. 1.
  12. Ys. 28. 3.
  13. Ys. 51. 2.
  14. Ys. 51. 21.
  15. Ys. 51. 20.
  16. Ys. 53. 1.