Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/64

Rh terms Ahura and Mazda are used separately in a single strophe, the one at the opening and the other at the close with different exhortations and prayers to each, yet in both cases as applied to the Supreme Being, Ahura Mazda.

Ahura Mazda is the Being par excellence. Ahura Mazda sits at the apex among the celestial beings of Garonmana. He is not begotten, nor is there one like unto him. Beyond him, apart from him, and without him nothing exists. He is the supreme being through whom everything exists. He is brighter than the brightest of creation, higher than the highest heavens, older than the oldest in the universe. He is the best one. He knows no elder, he has no equal. There is none to dispute his supremacy and contest his place Nor is there one to struggle successfully with him for the mastery of the heavens. He is the first and foremost. He is the most perfect being. He is almighty. He is the absolute sovereign. He is beneficent. He is changeless. He is the same now and for ever. He was, he is, and he will be the same transcendent being, moving all, yet moved by none. In the midst of the manifold changes wrought by him in the universe, the Lord God remains changeless and unaffected, for he is mighty. He will decide victory between the rival hosts of good and evil. He is the most worthy of invocation, and the first possessor of felicity and joy. There is none before him. He is the greatest of all. He is the only God proper, than whom there is none higher. Everything comes from him and through him He is the lord of all. Many are his attributes. They are not accidents of his being, as will be shown below, but are his very essence.

The nature of Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda is spirit in his being. The cardinal attribute Spirit or Beneficent Spirit or Most Beneficent Spirit is his very essence. Zarathushtra acquaints mankind for the first time in the history of religions with the concept of the godhead that is most incomparable in sublimity and unprecedented in the grandeur of nobility. He is higher than the highest being worshipped by mankind before his day. He