Discern and choose · Thought, word and deed · Elias Thorn
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Discern and choose · Thought, word and deed

Avesta · Yasna 30:2–5

30:2 Listen with your ears to what is best; consider the two choices with a clear mind, each for oneself, before the great accomplishment, being aware of what must be accomplished for us.

30:3 The two primal spirits, revealed in a vision as twins, are the better and the bad in thought, word and deed. Between them the wise chose rightly, but the unwise did not.

30:4 When these two spirits came together in the beginning, they established life and non-life, and what the end would be: the worst existence for those who follow the Lie, and the best thought for the follower of Truth.

30:5 Of these two spirits, the one who follows the Lie chose the worst deeds; the most beneficent spirit chose Truth—he who clothes himself in the firm heavens. So did those who seek to please Ahura Mazda through truthful deeds.

Reading notes

The second stanza addresses listeners and their discernment. The following stanzas contrast two spirits through thought, word, and deed; the choice concerns Truth and the Lie, not merely the chooser’s advantage.

The card contains stanzas 30:2–5 rather than the entire hymn. Gathic terms and the relationship between the two spirits have received different interpretations. These lines support a discussion of responsibility in choosing, but do not stand for the whole of Zoroastrian teaching.

English rendering of the Russian working translation, with the same passage boundaries and uncertainties. Four complete stanzas, not the entire hymn. The Russian text draws on C. Bartholomae as presented by I. J. S. Taraporewala, compared with the Avestan transliteration and L. H. Mills (1887). This is not an independent critical edition. “Great accomplishment” in 30:2 is a disputed reading; Mills understands the passage differently. Translations also differ over the two spirits in 30:3. Aša and druj are rendered as Truth and Lie, though their meanings are broader. The Gathas are Zoroastrian; their placement beside Manichaean texts does not make them part of a Manichaean canon.

Open source ↗ (https://www.avesta.org/yasna/yasna.htm#y30)

Avestan text · Yasna 30 (https://www.avesta.org/yasna/y28to34.htm)