(17) “Om Tat Sat”— this has been declared as the threefold designation of Brahman. By means of it were created, at the beginning, the Brāhmins, the Vedas, and the Sacrifices.

(20) (And how as to our deluded foes?) Have Daêva-(worshippers) e’er reigned as worthy kings? (This verily I ask of Thee, the Daêva-worshippers) who fight for these (who act amiss? Have they well reigned) by whom the Karpan and the Usig(k) gave the (sacred) Kine to Rapine , whence, too, the Kavian in persistent strength has flourished? (And these have also never given us tribal wealth nor blessings), nor for the Kine have they brought waters to the fields for the sake of the Righteous Order (in our hosts), to further on their growth (and welfare)! 111:1 Some who seldom cite the Pahlavi follow it here; nîyâyisno zak mûn aêtûno nîyâyisno î Lekûm [dînô]. Otherwise one might p. 112 read nemê with B.V.S. (variation) in Y. LVIII, 3, and render, 'how shall I bow myself in your worship?' 112:1 The Pahl. hamkardâr is likewise followed. The alteration to hâkôrenâ is very interesting, but, I think, hardly necessary. 112:2 Observe the great difficulty in referring Khshmâvatô to a human subject. Here we have 'the homage of the One like You (of Yours(?)' some would say); in Y. XXXIII, 8 we have Yasnem Mazdâ (Ahurâ) Khshmâvatô; in Y. XXXIV, 2 Khshmâvatô vahmê; in Y. XLIX, 6 Tãm daênãm yâ Khshmâvatô Ahurâ. Khshmâvatô is sometimes merely a way of saying 'of Thyself,' as mavaitê = to me. 112:3 Observe also the emphasis on his 'drawing near'; otherwise 'let Your one declare it to my friend' (?). 112:4 See Roth, Y. XXXI, 8. See, however, also de Harlez's suggestion, perhaps after the hint of the Pahlavi: 'qu’elle a été l’origine?' Here we have another instance where an entire verse seems to allude to Ahura in the third person with an address to Him thrown in, or at the close. In connection with angheus vahistahyâ Ahura must be the pourvya, as in Y. XXXI, 8, where Roth renders vornehmster. The guardian is also Ahura (see Y. XXXI, 13). 112:5 I cannot fully accept the hint of the Pahlavi here as others do who seldom heed it. I do not think that 'sin' is so much indicated as 'destruction.' 112:6 Mainyû is suspiciously expressive as a vocative; perhaps 'by spiritual power' would be safer. 113:1 'As a generator (?).' 113:2 Bartholomae follows the Pahlavi here as rendered by Ner. putting hveng and starem (-ãm) in the genitive, which is in itself far better than to regard dât as governing two accusatives. One would, however, rather expect hveng starãm adhvânem dât. 113:3 All follow the Pahlavi here, which renders with allowable freedom. Nerefsaitî (= Pahl. nerefsêd; Ner. nimîlati; Persian kâhad) might possibly be explained as a nasalised form of an Aryan correspondent to arbha, as nas = as. 113:4 Possibly from thine influence (?). 113:5 The infinitive vîduyê (= vîdvê) lies here in an unusual place, at the end of the sentence. It is because the word has no stress upon it. The emphasis rests on the objects which he desires to know about; the entire connection deals with 'knowing'; it has no prominence. 113:6 This rendering is not supported by the Pahlavi, which seems to report a rendering from some text with an a privative, and a form of dar. The 'unsupported' object might mean the 'air-space.' See the suggestion of Bartholomae 'the earth and the air-space,' comparing the later Sanskrit. 113:7 Or 'for velocity,' adverbially. Velocity, however, in the abstract as the object yoked-on, is rather too finely drawn. I should prefer p. 114 the fleet ones, the lightnings. My rendering follows the indication of another, as a dual, but not as to full exegesis. One naturally supposes the yoking together of the winds and dark clouds to be meant. 114:1 Recall svàr yád ásmann adhipâ´ u ándho.—Rv. VII, 88, 2. 114:2 Ner.: 'Who gave us the lights with his keen discrimination? And who the darkness? Who, in his keen discrimination, gave (us our) sleep and waking; [that is, our diligence and activity?] Who is he who gave us the time of husaina, and the time of rapithvana [ ], and the method and calculation of him who discerns by means of the just rule [ ]?' 114:3 So also the Pahlavi indicates by 'stavar.' 114:4 So I prefer; but the indication of the Pahlavi deserves an alternative 'giver of bounty'; skar = kar. 'Geus azyau' was later a common expression for a mature animal, but possibly vulgarised from its older special use here. 114:5 Root nî (?). 114:6 I thus add as the Pahlavi translator indicates such an element in uzemem. 115:1 Frakhshnî = in abundance (Pahl. kabed; Ner. prakuram; Persian MS. bisyar). The thought refers back to anyâkâ vîduyê [-vê]. 115:2 Haug sagaciously renders as if mendâidyâi were a miswriting for pendâidyâi, which is in itself very possible, as an 'm' looks much like an inverted in MSS. So the Pahlavi records the irregularity also, from which Haug derived his idea. But Haug explains the word as an allusion to the five prayer-hours of the day. I doubt very greatly whether the five prayer-hours existed at the date of the composition of this passage. Such regulations grew up much later. The Pahlavi translator indicates elsewhere an accusative (meng = mãm) with an infinitive 'that I should give forth,' which is in itself far from impossible. He was aware (!) that meng could also equal man; see Y. LIII, 5. 115:3 Vaêdyâi is infinitively used for vôizdyâi. 115:4 I do think that it is necessary on the whole to postulate two similar words here (although Geldner's suggestion is most keen and interesting). Urvâkhsanguha and urvâkhsukhti do not favour a comparison with vrag here. The Pahlavi is indifferent: Kîgûn denman î li rûbânŏ zak î sapîr hû-ravâkh-manîh? So Ner. uttamânandah. Barth. beglückend. 115:5 Kâ-tâ = kéna-téna. 115:6 Or, 'let those things happen to me;' gam means 'come' more frequently than 'go,' here. Lit. 'let it thus advance.' 115:7 Kîgûn denman î li dînô yôs-dâsar î avêgak yôs-dâsaryôm? Ner.: Katham idam aham yat* dînim pavitratarâm pavitrayâmi; [kila, dînim katham pravartamânâm karomi]? As Zarathustra is p. 116 represented as sanctifying the Fire (in Y. IX, 1), so here he would doubly sanctify the Faith itself. He would 'hallow its name' and meaning. 116:1 Pavanas-hamdemûnîh-ketrûnêd [pavan hamkhadûkîh]. 116:2 I cannot regard the caesura in this verse as possessing ordinary importance, the mahvyau (mahyau) kistôis is especially dependent on the following words. The Pahlavi translator hints at an important solution, which is, that a pause should be made before usen; 'the wish of mine understanding wishes, and I wish (am wishing); Khûrsand hômanam = I am content.' If we can accept a break (a possibility far too little recognised), the usen as representing a nom. sing. would refer back to the meaning in mahvyau (mahyau). But reading îstîs (as irregular for îstayô on account of the metre) we might regard usen as a third pl. Or shall we take it as a quasi-third singular, usen being usãm (en = the nasal vowel; comp. ûkãm as a third sing. imper. after Barth)? Let 'the wish (îstis) of my enlightened understanding wish for Thee.' 116:3 Compare 'aêshãm tôi, Ahura! ehmâ pourutemâis dastê.' p. 117 Auserkoren is a fine but a bold rendering. Election is, however, included in all divine prescience. 117:1 I have no doubt whatever, but that mainyeus and dvaêshanghâ belong together. 117:2 The Pahlavi translation is as follows: 'That which I ask of Thee, tell me aright, O Aûharmazd! when shall the perfect mind come to those persons [that is, when does the mind of my disciples become perfect]? When shall it come to those who declare this Thy Religion, O Aûharmazd? Grant to me before these the proclamation of the truth. Against every other spirit which is malevolent I keep my guard.' 117:3 Yâis adverbially, or possibly, 'with whom I question.' 117:4 Kyanghat is, I think, simply the equivalent for kî (?) anghat = quî fit, how does it happen that? 'Stands' free for 'comes.' 117:5 The Pahlavi on the contrary takes perenaunghô in the sense of combating, pavan anyôkhshîdâ´rîh patkârênd = '(who) are opposing you through disobedience.' It is far from certain that he does not indicate some improvement in text, or rendering. 117:6 Or, 'the counsels of holy men.' 118:1 Ashâi with Geldner. 118:2 The Pahlavi anticipates us in the correct general sense here. It has nas,hônisnŏ. The Persian MS. renders the Pahlavi, hamâvandî nîst dehand î darwand. 118:3 Anâshê seems regarded as an infinitive by the Pahlavi translator, anayâtûnisno. 'For the destruction of those deceivers' is an obvious alternative to the rendering above (â nashê?). 118:4 Geldner and Roth render mat = Sanskrit mad; otherwise 'with complete protection.' Or is mat ablative for genitive: If thou rulest over me to afford me protection? The Pahlavi affords no indication. 118:5 The Pahlavi translator erred widely in his attempt to render the word anaokanghâ. As it is certain that his MSS. differed from ours often, they probably did so here. The verse alludes beyond a question to some expected battle in a religious war, and perhaps in a religious civil war. It is the most positive allusion to the 'strife of the two parties' (V. XXXI, 2) which has come down to us. It was a struggle concerning the religious vows, or doctrines; avâis urvâtâis yâ tû Mazdâ dîdereghzô. 118:6 The Pahlavi renders vananãm by 'good thing,' explaining 'the sovereign power.' 119:1 Verethrem-gâ thwâ, following the Pahlavi with Westergaard, Geldner, and Bartholomae. 119:2 Compare Y. XXIX, 2 and Y. XXVIII, 3; or it may mean 'promise to establish' (Barth.). Kizdî, however, hardly seems to need an infinitive with it; it may mean 'appoint.' Compare dámsu (patnî) for a better sense than 'house-lord,' also for deng patôis. 119:3 This casts additional light on the 'one that should come' in Y. XLIII, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15. 119:4 This recalls ahmâi yahmâi ustâ kahmâikît. 119:5 The comparison with gar has long circulated among Zendists. Many adopt it. It agrees admirably with the Pahlavi as to sense: Aîmat, Aûharmazd! damânŏ kardârîh î Lekûm, when is Your appointment of the time? 119:6 The Pahlavi va mûnik zak i li gôbisno hômand khvâstar. 119:7 Va sardâr yehevûnisnîh madam Haurvadad va Amerôdâd; Ner. Svâmino bhavishyanti upari Avirdâde Amirdâde; comp. also Y. XLIX, 8 fraêstaunghô aunghâmâ. Professor Jolly compares bûzdyâi with φύεσθαι (Inf. s. 194). The long since circulated comparison with bhug seems to me hardly so probable. It may, however, deserve an alternative: 'to enjoy Weal and Immortality'; but accusatives p. 120 do not fall so naturally to the end of the sentence in Gâthic or Vedic, without preceding related or qualifying words. 120:1 Those suspected of no partisanship for the Pahlavi translation follow it here as against Haug, who translated the words ustremkâ by et amplius! It means a camel; so the Pahlavi translator rendered many centuries ago before Europeans even knew what the Indian úshtra meant, which simple analogy Neryosangh first drew. Horses were material for sacrifice among the Persians according to Herodotus. The reasons for the prayer are not fully expressed. 120:2 So better than as a first person aorist subjunctive, if taêibyô is to be read. The Pahlavi, however, read taibyô, which is not lightly to be passed over. 120:3 The rendering 'take' has long circulated. I do not, however, prefer it here. 120:4 Weal and Immortality, but hî might refer to the two objects, 'the mares' and the 'camel.' 120:5 The ideal Zarathustrian; comp. Y. XXXI, 15; XLIX, 9. 121:1 So also the Pahlavi followed by all. Kadâr valman pavan zak vinâsisnŏ aîtŏ fratûm; [aîgas pavan-vinâskârîh pâdafrâs fratûm maman]? Âkâs hômanam zak mûn valman aîtŏ afdûm [mamanas darvandîh]? Ner. (with regard to him) who does not give the reward which has come for the one fitted for, or deserving of, it [to Garathustra's equal], (the reward) which the truthful man; [that is, the good man] is giving to him, what is the first thing which happens through this sin of his? [that is, what is his first chastisement in consequence of this fault?] (For) I am aware of what his punishment shall be in the end [ ]. 121:2 The Pahlavi translator either had a text with some form of pâ, or was otherwise misled. He renders mûn netrûnd, but gives the word the adverse sense of 'hindering' in the gloss. Ner., however, has pratiskhalanti which points to peshyêintî, and also tends to show that other MSS. of the Pahlavi (and among them the one used by Ner.) read differently from our three, K5, D. J., and the Persian transliteration. Kãm = Ved. kám with dat. 121:3 See Y. XXIX, 1. 121:4 Professor Wilhelm 'vigour' (De Infin. p. 14). Next: Yasna XLV Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism « Previous: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... Index Next: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... » Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism

(2) 'He (Brahman) is the swan (sun), dwelling in the bright heaven; he is the Vasu (air), dwelling in the sky; he is the sacrificer (fire), dwelling on the hearth; he is the guest (Soma), dwelling in the sacrificial jar; he dwells in men, in gods (vara), in the sacrifice (rita), in heaven; he is born in the water, on earth, in the sacrifice (rita), on the mountains; he is the True and the Great.'

(8) The Lord said: Brahman is supreme, imperishable. Its essential nature is called Adhyatma (Self-knowledge); the act of sacrifice that causes the birth of beings is named karma (action).

(10) Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Abode, the Supreme Holiness. All the sages have declared You to be the eternal, self-luminous Person, the first of the gods, unborn and all-pervading; likewise have the divine sages Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaimed. So, too, have You said unto me.

(2) He who thus knows the Râgana, as interwoven in the deities, obtains the same world, the same happiness, the same company as the gods, he reaches the full life, he lives long, becomes great with children and cattle, great by fame. His rule is, 'Do not speak evil of the Brâhmanas.'

(22) For Ahura Mazda knoweth the man whose best gift for the sacrifice is given unto me, and from the motive of Righteousness; (and in thankfulness for all, and in prayer for yet still further grace), I will worship (the eternal ones); yea, I will worship those who have ever lived, and who still live, and by their own (holy) names, and to their (thrones ) will I draw near with my praise! 178:1 It is far better to take Khshathra in its usual and often necessary sense. And it is especially desirable not to confound it with shôithra = kshétra. 178:2 The choice one. 178:3 One is somewhat inclined to regard vîdushemnâis as a monstrous form of vid, which has crept into the text under the influence of the two words vîdushê in verse 8, and owing to an attempt to fill out the metre, the original word having been vîdemnâis. The Pahlavi gives no indication except for a form of dû = to give. Leaving the MSS. intact, I compare dush + vi. I render as above on the principle that the text in the MSS. should not be violated where it is possible to translate it at all. Reading vîdemnâis we might render, 'that kingdom's privileges are shared (it is entered and penetrated) by men who act (by actions) in a manner to further its security, (by actions gaining it).' 179:1 I have rather reluctantly read yêkâ with long ê. Having in mind Y. XXX, 1, where Sp.'s B. reads yaêkâ, and reading yaêkâ here, we might regain the lost dual neuter of the pronoun here as in Y. XXX, 1, and so render, 'and which two things belong to thee, the possession (rule) of wealth and the blessings.' Roth, cited by Geldner, changes to ashayaêkâ here and in Y. XXX, 1; and it is certainly striking that ashâ yêkâ should occur twice. I render as above, first, as, nearer our MSS., and as affording a good sense. 179:2 See Y. XXXI, 17. 179:3 See verse 5. 179:4 See Y. XXIX, 1; Y. XXXII. 180:1 It is hardly necessary to call attention to the fact that these abstracts are personified here, as in so many other places in the Gâthas. We may indeed doubt whether the idea of personification was ever wholly absent, the original meaning being likewise never lost. Professor Wilhelm prefers taking Ashem as an accusative, 'how does one (do they) come to Asha?' This is admirable; but I am, on the whole, inclined to regard Ashem as a nominative with fseratus, Âr(a)maitis, &c., taking the plurals yasô hvyen (hyen) as irregularly extending to the other subjects. 180:2 So Wilhelm (by letter), taking a form of the pronoun as understood. It is difficult to suppose that the vâstrya could be referred to as appointing the Ratu through the influence of his devotion and pious supplications; as Wilhelm justly says, the third line must apply to Ahura. 180:3 See Y. XLIII, 3; notice ahmâi as referring to hôi. 181:1 See Y. XXXI, 17 where the faith of the dregvant is sufficiently recognised to form the basis for a question, rhetorical indeed, but still a question. 181:2 From this and similar occurrences of the 'water and the plants' beside 'Immortality and Welfare' probably arose the later peculiar identification of those names with water and plants. 181:3 Compare perhaps verse 20. 181:4 Otherwise; 'I will speak for Thee, O Lord! for the (all)-wise one should speak.' 181:5 Or, 'from the two arani;' see notes on Y. XXXI, 3 and Y. XLIII, 12. 182:1 Compare Y. XXXII, 7, hvaênâ ayanghâ (lit. iron). Others see the ordeal of fire here, and the bath of melted metal from which the righteous suffers nothing, but in which the sinner is consumed, but râshayanghê seems to point to injury produced otherwise than by dipping, and dakhshta certainly designates a metallic instrument elsewhere; 'sign' is, however, the original meaning. 182:2 So several times; comp. Y. XXVIII, 3, where the depth is unmistakable; see also Y. XXXI, 18 with ahûbîs in the next verse. 182:3 The Pahlavi while not strictly correct, affords the indication of a causative, sûdînêd. 182:4 From this verse probably arose the later association of khshathra-vairya and metal founding and forging. 182:5 As invoking Asha is in the antithesis, I regard ashât as understood here. Gat seems a particle, but also not impossibly = gât. As it is twice followed by tê (tôi), the interesting change is suggested to gatê, infin. 182:6 Or a proper name. 182:7 See the third verse. 182:8 See Y. XLVI, 9, 14. 182:9 See the fourth verse. 183:1 Some other portion of the human body, suggested by the context, may be meant by aodares. The word looks like a verbal form, 3rd pl., but see the preceding dual. 183:2 I render the Pahlavi of this most difficult verse as follows: Far from satisfying me is the Kîk, the paederast, in regard to both of the two particulars [food and clothing] on the path of winter; (far from satisfying me) who am Zartûsht, the Spîtâman, with whom he is; that is, (or 'where') he incites me with his incitation in my bodily (?) (sensations; reading astak (?)); [that is, a person comes, and thus also they, or he, would do it to me]; and this one who (is doing) [that to us] is also leading us on, even in our progress in the cold [of a winter] of accustomed sin, (or in the cold iniquitous winter). This verse seems a very ancient interpolation. 183:3 Haithîm is an adverb; its position also does not so much favour an accusative substantive. 183:4 So our texts; but the Pahlavi translator saw khraozhdaitî (see Y. XLVI, 11) in his MSS., rendering khrûsisnŏ yehabûnd = utter cries: 'while his soul cries fiercely.' 183:5 The occurrence of peretau(âo) in this verse sheds light upon the peretô in the previous one. Âkau(âo) seems to be an attracted form for a loc. as elsewhere. Perhaps it is miswritten. 184:1 Nãsvau(âo) would naturally mean 'reaching'; but the word is also elsewhere used in an evil sense, 'reaching to harm.' Y. LIII, 7. The Pahlavi, however, indicates the reading nasvau by its nasînênd. Does the Avesta show an original evil sense to nas = to reach? May the two nas possibly have some original connection? That hvâis skyaothnâis means here 'by means of' rather than 'because of' is the more probable from the same words in the next verse, and this notwithstanding Y. XXXI, 20. 184:2 So general a term as 'creatures' should be avoided where possible; but see ye dâthaêibyô eres ratûm khshayãs ashavau kistâ (verse 5). 184:3 As to the grammatical structure, all depends on sendâ. Shall we bring down nôit from the verse above; or shall we regard sendâ as in an evil sense from sad as in sadrâ? The Pahlavi favours the former, as also in Y. XXXVIII, 5 (Sp. 15). The general result is not, however, affected. Read as alternative: No friends to the creatures are the Karpans as to perfect (harvests) from the fields, (not) blessing us in the matter of perfect (care and fodder) for the cattle, &c.; (sad in the sense of blessing with nôit). 184:4 Free. 184:5 Or, 'doctrines.' 184:6 See the eleventh verse. 184:7 Alternatives would be, 'Ahura will meet these engagements (?) made when the reward was promised;' or, 'the reward which Zarathustra promised before Ahura came into Garôdman.' According p. 185 to the general form of the Gâthic sentence, kôist parâ go more naturally together than if the force of the parâ was extended to gasat. The coming of Ahura is elsewhere mentioned; here He enters His audience-chamber before His approaching saints. 185:1 Maga may have some such cast of meaning. I have, moreover, more than once suspected that the origin of 'magian' may, notwithstanding the môghu of the later Avesta, be simply this maga so often used in the Gâthas to designate 'the cause.' 185:2 See verse 20. 185:3 So also the Pahlavi translator in his gloss; aîgham bartman pavan nêsmanîh barâ yebabûnêdŏ. 185:4 So also of Zarathustra's daughter, Y. LIII, 4. 185:5 Or, 'cry ye for the gaining of Asha,' as in Y. XXIX, I. 185:6 Or, reading a nominative, 'Gâmâspa is choosing,' which is itself well possible, as var is also conjugated with n; but rapen seems a plural, and vîdô likewise. 186:1 I concede this shade of meaning to the indications of the Pahlavi. 186:2 The Pahlavi gives us our first indication here. 186:3 If Gâmâspô (nom.) is read in verse 18, ahmâi might here refer to him; 'to this one.' 186:4 Or, 'let them grant;' infinitive as imperative. 186:5 Seeking; a dual is here disapproved by the source from which the suggestion originated. 187:1 I refer tem to Ahura, supposing it to stand; reading tãm, I would refer it to ashi. 187:2 Compare Vend. XIX, 31. Next: Yasna LIII Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism « Previous: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasna L Index Next: The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31): The Gâthas: Yasn... » Sacred Texts | Zoroastrianism

(5) The lower knowledge is the Rig-veda, Yagur-veda, Sâma-veda, Atharva-veda, Sikshâ (phonetics), Kalpa (ceremonial), Vyâkarana (grammar), Nirukta (etymology), Khandas (metre), Gyotisha (astronomy); but the higher knowledge is that by which the Indestructible (Brahman) is apprehended.'

(4) These hierarchies of Gods, then, being thus and [in this way] related, from bottom unto top, are [also] thus connected with each other, and tend towards themselves; so mortal things are bound to mortal, things sensible to sensible. The whole of [this grand scale of] Rulership, however, seems to Him [who is] the Highest Lord, either to be not many things, or rather [to be] one. For that from One all things depending, and flowing down from it,—when they are seen as separate, they’re thought to be as many as they possibly can be; but in their union it is one [thing], or rather two, from which all things are made;—that is, from Matter, by means of which the other things are made, and by the Will of Him, by nod of whom they’re brought to pass. XX

(5) Necessarily, then, the first leaders of our Hierarchy, after having been filled themselves with the sacred gift, from the superessential Godhead, and sent, by the supremely Divine Goodness, to extend the same gift successively, and, as godly, earnestly desiring themselves the elevation and deification of those after them, presented to us--by their written and unwritten revelations--in accordance with their sacred injunctions, things supercelestial, by sensible images, the enfolded, by variety and multitude, and things Divine, by things human, and things immaterial, by things material, and the superessential, by things belonging to us. Nor did they do this merely on account of the unhallowed, to whom it is not permitted even to touch the symbols, but because our Hierarchy is, as I said, a kind of symbol adapted to our condition, which needs things sensible, for our more Divine elevation from these to things intelligible. Nevertheless the reasons of the symbols have been revealed to the Divine initiators, which it is not permitted to explain to those who are yet being initiated, knowing that the Lawgivers of things divinely transmitted deliberately arranged the Hierarchy in well-established and unconfused ranks, and in proportionate and sacred distributions of that which was convenient to each, according to fitness. Wherefore trusting in thy sacred promises (for it is a pious duty to recall them to thy recollection) -- that, since every Hierarchical sacred word is of binding force, thou wilt not communicate to any other but those Godlike initiators of the same rank with thyself, and wilt persuade them to promise, according to hierarchical regulation, to touch pure things purely, and to communicate the mysteries of God to the godly alone, and things perfect to those capable of perfection, and things altogether most holy to the holy, I have entrusted this Divine gift to thee, in addition to many other Hierarchical gifts.

(413) Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is bright like the moon, pure, serene, undisturbed, and in whom all gaiety is extinct.

(2) This, then, is the revelation of their names, so far as we can give it; and we ought to say what we think their Hierarchy is. For I suppose we have sufficiently shewn above, that the purpose of every Hierarchy is an unswerving devotion to the divine imitation of the Divine Likeness, and that every Hierarchical function is set apart for the sacred reception and distribution of an undefiled purification, and Divine Light, and perfecting science. And now I pray that I may speak worthily of the most exalted Minds--how the Hierarchy amongst them is exhibited through the Oracles. One must consider, then, that the Hierarchy is akin, and in every respect like, to the first Beings, who are established after the Godhead, who gave them Being, and who are marshalled, as it were, in Its very vestibule, who surpass every unseen and seen created power. We must then regard them as pure, not as though they had been freed from unholy stains and blemishes, nor yet as though they were unreceptive of earthly fancies, but as far exalted above every stain of remissness and every inferior holiness, as befits the highest degree of purity--established above the most Godlike powers, and clinging unflinchingly to their own self-moved and same-moved rank in their invariable love of God, conscious in no respect whatever of any declivity to a worse condition, but having the unsullied fixity of their own Godlike identity--never liable to fall, and always unmoved; and again, as "contemplative," not contemplators of intellectual symbols as sensible, nor as being led to the Divine Being by the varied texture of holy representations written for meditation, but as being filled with all kinds of immaterial knowledge of higher light, and satiated, as permissible, with the beautifying and original beauty of super-essential and thrice manifested contemplation, and thus, being deemed worthy of the Communion with Jesus, they do not stamp pictorially the deifying similitude in divinely-formed images, but, as being really near to Him, in first participation of the knowledge of His deifying illuminations; nay more, that the imitation of God is given to them in the highest possible degree, and they participate, so far as is allowable to them, in His deifying and philanthropic virtues, in the power of a first manifestation; and, likewise as "perfected," not as being illuminated with an analytic science of sacred variety, but as being filled with a first and pre-eminent deification, as beseems the most exalted science of the works of God, possible in Angels. For, not through other holy Beings, but being ministered from the very Godhead, by the immediate elevation to It, by their power, and rank, surpassing all, they are both established near the All-Holy without any shadow of turning, and are conducted for contemplation to the immaterial and intelligible comeliness, as far as permissible, and are initiated into the scientific methods of the works of God, as being first and around God, being ministered, in the highest degree, from the very source of consecration.

(421) Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who calls nothing his own, whether it be before, behind, or between, who is poor, and free from the love of the world.

(1) These, then, are the sacerdotal Ranks and elections, their powers, and operations, and consecrations. We must next explain the triad of the Ranks being initiated under them. We affirm then that the multitudes, of whom we have already made mention, who are dismissed from the ministrations and consecrations, are Ranks under purification; since one is being yet moulded and fashioned by the Leitourgoi through the obstetric Oracles to a living birth; and another is yet to be called back to the holy life, from which it had departed, by the hortatory teaching of the good Oracles; and another, as being yet terrorized, through want of manliness, by opposing fears, and being fortified by the strengthening Oracles; and another, as being yet led back from the worse to holy efforts; and another as having been led back, indeed, but not yet having a chaste fixedness in more Godlike and tranquil habits. For these are the Orders under purification, by the nursing and purifying power of the Leitourgoi. These, the Leitourgoi perfect, by their sacred powers, for the purpose of their being brought, after their complete cleansing, to the enlightening contemplation and participation in the most luminous ministrations.

(16) 'That (imperishable) syllable means Brahman, that syllable means the highest (Brahman); he who knows that syllable, whatever he desires, is his.'

(400) Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is free from anger, dutiful, virtuous, without appetite, who is subdued, and has received his last body.

(4) This doctrine (beginning with III, 1, 1) Brahman (m. Hiranyagarbha) told to Pragâpati (Virâg), Pragâpati to Manu, Manu to his offspring (Ikshvâku, &c.) And the father told that (doctrine of) Brahman (n.) to Uddâlaka Âruni.

(5) 'Breath is Brahman, Ka (pleasure) is Brahman, Kha (ether) is Brahman.' He said: 'I understand that breath is Brahman, but I do not understand Ka or Kha .' They said: 'What is Ka is Kha, what is Kha is Ka .' They therefore taught him Brahman as breath, and as the ether (in the heart) .

(1) Harih, Om. There lived once Svetaketu Âruneya (the grandson of Aruna). To him his father (Uddâlaka, the son of Aruna) said: 'Svetaketu, go to school; for there is none belonging to our race, darling, who, not having studied (the Veda), is, as it were, a Brâhmana by birth only.'

(15) He who, undeluded, knows Me thus as the Supreme Self— he knows all, Ο Bhārata, and he worships Me with all his heart.