CHAPTER 22.  ADORATION OF THE FRAVASHIS (GUARDIAN ANGELS OF THE SAINTS).  I will praise the Fravashis, who have existed from time immemorial.  Those of the houses, villages, and provinces, who preserve order in the heavens above, on the earth, and in the waters.  I praise the Fravashis of Ahura-Mazda, the Fravashis of the bountiful immortals, and those of Zarathustra and of the Holy Counsellors.  All good Yazads (7) deserve homage and sacrifice.

CHAPTER 35.  AHURA-MAZDA AND THE IMMORTALS ADORED AND SUPPLICATED. We adore thee, O thou great God, Ahura-Mazda, and also the bountiful immortals.  We laud all good thoughts and words and deeds that have been, are, or will be.  It is our duty to live the good life, for that is best for both worlds.  Thine, O lofty spirit, is the kingdom, thine the power, and thine the glory.  Thy righteous rule surpasses every other rule; thy praise all other praise; thy hymns are the loftiest and best.

CHAPTER 57.  IN HONOUR OF SROSH.  We pay homage to thee, Srosh, the obedient and blessed one, the first of creatures to worship Ahura-Mazda, the Creator.  Thou didst also worship the bountiful immortals, and wast the first to brandish the veresma and to sing the Gathas.  Thou didst slay the all-destroying demon, and thou protectest the world and its denizens.  Thou sleepest not, nor slumberest day or night.  Thou teachest men the true religion—­that of Ahura-Mazda.

THE FIVE GATHAS

[Gatha means “song,” and is the same word as the Sanscrit Gita (Cf. p. 61 Bhagavad-Gita).  These five gathas include yasnas 28-34, 43-46, 47-50, and 51-53.  In metre, vocabulary, and matter, the gathas prove themselves to be the oldest part of the Avesta.  The doctrines taught are likewise purer and more rational.  Note the following:—­I.  There is one supreme good deity, Ahura-Mazda, the conception of whom is so lofty that, in order to save his character, a spirit of evil (Ahriman) has been invented.  To the supreme good spirit are ascribed six attributes which are often personified.  In the later parts of the Avesta these attributes are made independent persons (the bountiful immortals, or the Amesha Spentas).  But in the Gathas they form with Ahura-Mazda a unity much resembling the Sabellian trinity. 2.  The doctrine of reward and punishment that is taught in the Gathas is subjective, i.e., it makes a man’s reward and punishment consist in change of character, disposition, etc.

It is a strange coincidence that the highest form of Indian and Iranian belief is to be found in the earliest literature of these religions, i.e., the Vedas and the Gathas.  This does not agree with the opinion that most prevails, that in religions there is ever progress from lower to higher forms.