This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
16
ZARATHUSHTRA

to lose himself in the divine bosom.[1] His whole life is bound up in one idea: Ahura Mazda.

Zarathushtra longs to commune with Ahura Mazda. Zarathushtra has thought out many problems of life but he is still unsatisfied with his discoveries. He has doubts on many points,[2] and who but Mazda can solve them satisfactorily? He asks Mazda for whom has he created the weal-dispensing cattle,[3] who has marked out the path of the sun and the stars, by whom does the moon wax and wane,[4] who has yoked swiftness to winds and clouds, who withholds the earth and the sky from falling down, who made the waters and the trees,[5] what artificer made light and darkness and wakefulness and sleep, who made the dawn and the day and the night that remind man of the intelligence of his duty,[6] who is the creator of Good Mind,[7] who formed the blessed devotion in the divine kingdom and who with wisdom made the son dutiful to his father,[8] how should devotion embrace those to whom his religion is proclaimed,[9] whether devotion furthered righteousness through deeds,[10] how was the prayer to be addressed to him,[11] who was righteous and who was wicked, with whom did the enemy of all side and who was like unto him, was not the person that repudiated Mazda's beneficence himself the enemy,[12] how was the wickedness of those who ran counter to the rules of righteousness and good thought to be put down,[13] how was wickedness to be brought into the hands of righteousness,[14] who would gain victory when the powers of righteousness and wickedness came to grips,[15] who would smite victoriously the enemy with the mighty words of Mazda,[16] how would recompense to the righteous and retribution to the wicked be accorded at the reckoning,[17] how the best existence was to be won,[18] would the divine kingdom be made known to God's faithful through Good Mind,[19] what were the ordinances of Mazda,[20] how should he, Zarathushtra, approach Mazda with love,[21] with what goodness would his soul win felicity,[22] and many such questions pertaining to the way of life. He felt Mazda's in-

  1. Ys. 28. 3; 43. 8.
  2. Ys. 48. 9.
  3. Ys. 44. 6.
  4. Ys. 44. 3.
  5. Ys. 44. 4.
  6. Ys. 44. 5.
  7. Ys. 44. 4.
  8. Ys. 44. 7.
  9. Ys. 44. 11.
  10. Ys. 44. 6.
  11. Ys. 44. 1.
  12. Ys. 44. 12.
  13. Ys. 44. 13.
  14. Ys. 44. 14.
  15. Ys. 44. 15.
  16. Ys. 44. 16.
  17. Ys. 31. 14.
  18. Ys. 44. 2.
  19. Ys. 44. 6.
  20. Ys. 34. 12.
  21. Ys. 44. 17.
  22. Ys. 44. 8.