Sacred Laws of Aryas

SR No.: 007687
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Gorge Buhler
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1897
Total Pages: 1979
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 36 MB

Page 452

lvi
VENDÎDÂD.
$ 11. The first Genius under Ahura is Vohu Mano, "Good Thought,' who is his first spiritual creation and the moving principle of the world. He was created first of all beings; through him in the beginning Ahura created the world and the religion; and Ahura takes his advice before proceeding to any of his acts. Besides being his first creation and the instrument of his other creations, he is the type of mankind. At last, in the next world, he is the intercessor between Ahura and man.
When we define Vohu Mand in the words of the Avesta, we define the Logos : and inversely Vohu Mand may be defined in the same terms as Philo's Móyos Ocios : 'as the first manifestation of the divine powers, he is the first-born, the first archangel of God; as an ideal type of human nature, he is the perfect man. Like Vohu Mand in the Gathas and still more, the Logos is the instrument of creation. Like him, he is the perfect intercessor, for he applies to the Father to obtain for men the forgiveness of sins and plenty of benefits. As Zarathustra applies to Vohu Manð for his first instruction, so is the Logos the messenger of God, his elect, the transmitter of his revelations. Both Philo's Logos and the Avesta Vohu Manô are God's first-born and first instrument, the ideal man, the intercessor, the revealer.
$ 12. If Vohu Manô is a Zoroastrian adaptation of the Logos, it will follow that the Amshaspands themselves are a post-Alexandrian development; for Vohu Mand is the type of the Amshaspands. As Vohu Mand was chosen to represent mankind, so there grew up round this initial ideal divine abstractions that might be attached, somehow, to the other departments of nature to help like Vohu Mano, and with him, in the creation of the world. This is the series of the six Amesha Spentas: Vohu Mano, Good Thought, reigning over Man (and cattle). Asha Vahista, Perfect Righteousness, , Fire. Khshathra Vairya, Good Royalty,
Metals. Spenta Armaiti, Pious Modesty,
Earth. Haurvatât, Health,
Waters. Ameretåt, Immortality,
Plants. Here again Philo presents us with a striking parallel.
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