KEMNA MAZDA –A TRANSLITERATION

The Sarosh Baaj of the Avesta is a farzeyaat prayer; a daily requirement. Though in the Avesta the Sarosh Baaj is one long prayer with no parts,  I have broken it into parts so as to better understand what it is that we pray daily since our childhood.

Sarosh Baaj part III of these transliterations, consists of transliteration of the ‘Kemna Mazda’. On reading these prayers in English, one understands that after a Zoroastrian sings the praise of Sarosh Yazad and boldly professes (in Fravarane Mazdeyasno) his faith in the religion handed down by Ahura Mazda and propagated by the Prophet Zoroaster, the adherent turns to Ahura Mazda for succour against persecution, both personal and religious, and abjures the destructive mind emanating from the evil of Ahriman and Angre Mainyu.

For a better understanding of this religion received from Ahura Mazda an and brought to us by Zarthushtra, please refer to notes in Sarosh Baaj, Part II— a transliteration.

‘KEMNA MAZDA’

From “Kemna Mazda” to “ya ahmai vashi aahmai chit”

O Hormazd, when a bad man looks at me for revenge or  to harm me; who, but you, will protect me and mine, the aatash and my mind?

O Hormazd! For the sake of the Religion, reveal to me that, which by the act of both, leads me further on the Path.

When in difficulty, who is he who will vanquish the foe by dint of the verses on your Avesta; which verses are those that bring purity. O Hormazd, show me the leader who can guide me through both lives (here and hereafter). O Hormazd! For He who you love may His life proceed with a good mind and with Sraosh* (yazad).

From “Yatano tabishyant” to “***Armaitish ijaich”

O Hormazd and Aspendamard, save us from the jealous/envious!                          Go away /leave us! Oh Evil of the demigod;                                                                    Leave us Devidruj (falsity of idols)! O the brave, discard the thoughts of demigods!                                      Leave us Oh the seeds sown by demigods!                                          Leave us Oh the follower of the way of evil demigods! (which way has succeeded so far) ;         Disappear! Oh Falsehoods (druj**)!     Oh Evil run away from here!           Oh Evil be vanquished! Go to the North! The realms of purity (ashoi) are not to be harmed, let good thoughts and prosperity prevail.

*‘Sraosh’ or ‘Sarosh’, the literal meaning of the name is ‘listening’ or ‘sound’; from the root word, ‘Sru’– meaning to obey and hence, obedience to the will of God. This Sraosh or energy of sound is today, treated as an Angel of the Lord who brings us inspiration and who is the guardian of our souls. Sraosh coming with good mind means that men should listen to the inner inspiration of the voice within and then, by voluntary obedience to the divine will his mind be filled with love and thus, be purified.

**‘Druj’ literally means the enemy in ancient Iran the word was used for untruth, the greatest of our foes. In this passage it generally means Evil. North, in ancient Iran was the direction Evil the Abode of the Demons.  Asha is also taken to signify divine law and the entire manifest universe emanating from Ahura Mazda including the Eternal Laws of Nature/Tao.

*** ‘Armaiti’ the spirit of the earth is the fourth of the 6 Ameshaspends. She represents piety and faith. Faith, as devotion personified on the Abstract side and as the genius of Earth on the concrete side. Spenta Armaiti Aspendamard ‘Holy devotion’ retains her dual nature in the younger Avesta. She is the first of the mother Trinity of the Holy Immortals she represents firm unswerving faith in and loyalty towards God and his commands she watches over religion and inspires the Faithful she works with Asha she rules over Earth and in places she represents Mother Earth and is our mother both physical and spiritual. When a Zoroastrian dies he is left in her care after the body is placed inside the Tower of silence and its destruction has begun. The people outside the Tower recite the unfinished portion of Sarosh Baaj which they will have commenced by chanting from the last line of Kemna Mazda.

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SAROSH BAAJ — A TRANSLITERATION. Prayer to the energies of protection

Sarosh Baaj is the prayer Parsi children learn immediately after they learn the ‘Kusti’ prayers. Every morning, after doing the Kusti, every Zoroastrian prays the Sarosh Baaj. This prayer may be recited at any time of the day or night. However, the recitation of the ‘Geh’ in ‘Fravarane Mazdayasno’ will change depending on the time of the day. The Sarosh Baaj is a prayer to the Ameshaspand (energies ) that protect and heal and give prosperity. Check out the translation/transliteration of Haptan Yasht also, on this Blog.

From “Paname Yazdaan……pa patet hom.”

The greatness of Hormazd!

In the name of Khoda Hormazd Sahib who promotes /give progress!

May his splendour/majesty and aura (khoreh) increase!

Pure Sarosh! Strong, with body made of prayers, wielder of therapeutic appliances, bearer of victorious weapons, the general of Ahura Mazda Khodai, come to my aid! I do penance for all my sins and become cleansed.

In this world, all the evil thoughts I may have brought to my mind, ill words that I may have spoken, bad deeds that I may have done, those that I have induced or I have begun or that I have encouraged — those sins of thoughts, of words, of deeds, of my body and soul, of this world, of the next world— for these I am remorseful and abstain from them, I do penance for these by observing the three intrinsic goodness ( good thoughts good words good deeds).

‘FRAVARAANE MAZDSYASNO’

A Promise (fravarane) to the Mazdayasne religion

I, the brave follower of Hormazd, follower of the Path revealed by Zoroaster, renounce  the Demons (Div also means senses), a person who behaves in   accordance with the way/command of Hormazd (the Geh is prayed here) promise (fravarane) in order to please, O Sarosh, the strong , whose body is made up of prayers, owner of lethal weapons, follower of the way of /manner of Hormazd, to worship, to sing his praises, propitiate his greatness, laud him so that, the great spirit/ meaning of ‘Yatha Ahu Vairyo’ be revealed to me; the pure sage /expert the learned ‘Atha Rathush Asha Chit Hasha’, be revealed to me.

We Praise the beautiful, victorious, one who gives the world progress, Holy and Pure Sarosh, the leader of sanctity (ashoi).

Ahunavar Shields the body from harm!

‘KEMNA MAZDA’ (Transliteration already on this Blog)

‘YASNEMCHA VAHMEMCHA’

To me, the brilliance and strong aura,  physical strength, bodily comforts, success in this world, wealth of all happiness, children with innate intelligence, longest life ever, enlightenment born of holiness and purity, and attainment of the heaven with all the comforts/happiness . May my wish be fulfilled!

‘HAZEM GAREM’

A Thousand heavenly births;

Ten thousand heavenly births;

A Thousand heavenly births;

Ten thousand heavenly births;

A Thousand heavenly births;

Ten thousand heavenly births.

‘JASHME AVANGE MAZDA’

Come to my aid O Hormazd!

Succour me the aid of:

The innately pure/ good, beautiful, Um (energy that imbues courage),

Behram Yazad created by Hormazd,                                              

Vannati Upartat (energy that oversees environment),

Mino Ram (nourisher/ inducer of nourishment in food),

Vaey Yazad (who works in exists in the upper layers of the atmosphere),

O Vaey Yazad, that part of you that is concerned with the birth of the Spentomino,

The Sky that acts in accordance with the natural laws of creation,

Limitless existence (infinity),

The Guaranteed Perpetuity

‘KERFE MAZDA’

For the Liberation, as my sins so may I in return, receive the reward for the essence of my deeds, for the love of the soul sent to all on the seven continents, the reward is as per spiritual merit to all the pious — tremendous amount of purity/ holiness (Ashoi), as wide as the earth, as long as the river and as exalted as Khorshed

May the pious live long!

May my wish be fulfilled!

At the end of this entire sequence of prayers for the Sarosh Baaj, Zoroastrians pray the ‘Tandarosti’ for the well being of self, family, friends in particular and the cosmos in general.

NOTES:

Jashme Avange Mazda is the last prayer amongst those prayed when tying the Kusti. Jashme Avange Mazda is prayed immediately after the three rear knots of the Kusti are tied by a Zoroastrian. After the Zoroastrian has promised his faith and loyalty to the practice of monotheism, in this ultimate Kusti Prayer, the Jashme Avange Mazda, he reiterates his faith in the religion, and admits to the world at large that he follows the Path of Ahura Mazda

THE TRANSLITERATION

O Dadaar Hormazd, come to my aid! I am a Mazdayasne (believer in the religion of the Mazda Yasnis , monotheist, as against the Dev Yasni, polytheists), as a Mazdayasne Zoroastrian, as one who raises his voice in praise and one who invokes faith, I love you/ my preference is you.

I laud the thoughts that are thought by the  pious (Nek vichaar), I laud the words that are spoken by the  pious, I laud the deeds that are done in piety, I laud the Mazdayasni Din that vanquishes  all hostility, that causes men to relinquish their weapons, instills self confidence and makes them follow the Path ( Raasti).

Of all the religions existing today or those that will come hereafter, *Hormazdi Zoroastrianism (Av: ‘Ahuirish Jarthutrish’) is the greatest, best and purest.

I acknowledge openly that all nature/ creation is from Hormazd.

To know this is to praise the Mazdayasne Din.

*‘Ahuirish Jarthutrish: The ultimate object of a Zoroastrian life is to strive towards world order, progress and ultimate perfection of the world through the three tenets —

1) Good thoughts good words good deeds;

2) There is no path other than the path of Asha i.e. Raasti. There are always the two opposing forces both in cosmology and morals; the idea is to choose the Raasti, the Path of Ashoi;

3) Do the right not because one derives material advantage from it but because it is the thing to do including, protecting the Environment.  Zoroastrians believe that everything He created is pure and should be treated with love and respect.

Zoroastrian Mazdayasni faith believes that there is one, and only one, universal, transcendent, supreme being, Ahura Mazda meaning ‘the Wise Lord’; Almighty but not omnipotent. He is the creator ‘Asha’, truth/order justice. — The Creative force in the cosmos.

Ahriman, the destructive force in the Cosmos and the morally evil ‘Druj’, chaos, falsehood and disorder, does not emanate from Ahura Mazda. In fact, He creates no evil; consequently, the much debated idea of cosmological dualism in Zoroastrianism among scholars. Angre Mainyu and his Akem Mana (evil thinking) is the opposite of Spenta Mainyu. The entire cosmos, including each and every human being (read Zoroastrian), has a role to play in the resulting conflict between this good and evil. Ahura Mazda has manifested his supreme victory over Ahriman by articulating the Ahuna Vairyo.

The Zoroastrian divinity is a being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge, this has given rise to some scholars describing the religion ‘as a belief in an immanent self-creating universe with consciousness as its special attribute’. Thereby causing Zoroastrianism to be defined as pantheistic, a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe.

Ahura Mazda works through the Spenta Mainyu , good spirits/bounteous immortals. The creation, in its turn, experiences this created Universe through the seven primary Ameshaspends and the entire host of the Yazads (Worthy of Worship) guided by Ameshaspends. Each Yazad is founded on a moral or physical aspect of creation.

It is these Ameshaspends and Yazads (that stand under and support the Zoroastrian Wise Lord, Ahura Mazda) and the host of energies that is the foundation of the Zoroastrian divinity.

Zoroaster, himself is not worshiped. To the Zoroastrians, he is the prophet of God who taught man of Asha and Raasti.

Thus, here, we bring to mind the poison of this world and its maker/producer; our souls as well as those of the animals; those animals which desire to keep us alive (i.e. animals that feed us) and (those animals) because of whom we exist and which exist because of us.

(The prayer here, refers to the ‘The interdependence of man and his environment’ and injuncts one to honour this dependence on each other, to take care of and heed his need of these environs).

We bring to mind the soul of the traveler and the soldier (the rider of animals); we bring to mind the soul of pious men and women when ever born, and who honour the Law or will honour or have, already, honoured the Law.

Thus, here, we praise the honorable men and women, the immortal, the Ameshaspends who perpetually/unceasingly make to our lives, a difference for the better. Those Ameshaspends, both, male and female, that resides in the honorable minds.O Hormazd! We regard you, similarly we comprehend your greatness and similarly are constantly reminded of you, by all the good you have thought, spoken, created and done. O Hormazd! Hence, we bow to you and thus are we beholden /indebted to you.

O Hormazd! We grow ever nearer to you through proper welfare, proper holiness/purity (Ashoi), praiseworthy behaviour like the female angels and the bliss induced in us by the good *Aspendamard.

*NOTE: Aspendamard also called Armaiti, and often shortened to Spendamard

is the attribute of the Perfect Mind in human beings. A perfect mind being a

balanced one having piety, faith, devotion, dedication, loyalty, kindness,

munificence, humility, modesty, generosity of spirit, an unassuming nature, educated mind, trustworthy.

This Ameshaspand is assisted by Avan (water), a Yazad of the physical world, DaepDin (giver of religion), Ashishvang (blessings) and Marespand (holy words), Yazads of the spiritual world.