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328
SHẤYAST LÂ-SHAYAST.
thus: “Whoever shall mutter, O Zaratast ! my allotment of the Ahunavar—that is, shall softly take it inwardly—and shall let it escape again—that is, shall utter it aloud so much as a half, or one-third, or one-fourth, or one-fifth, his soul will I shield, I who am Adharmazd, from the best existencethat is, I will keep it away—by so much of an interval as the width of this earth.'
27. The rule is this, that one is to proceed with great deliberation when he does not know whether it be a sin or a good work, that is, it is not to be done.
28. The rule is this, that an opinion (andâzak) of anything is to be formed through consultation
fargard. It also occurs, in nearly the same words, in Pahl. Yas. XIX, 12-15, and as Yas. XIX is called the beginning of the Bakân' in some MSS., it is possible that the three Häs (Yas. XIX-XXI) which relate to the three short Avesta formulas are really the first three fargards of the Bagh Nask, which are said to have treated of the same subjects.
The text is corrupted into min zak-ili, Zaratūst! bêstârîh-i min Aliunavar drūgist, which might be translated, in connection with the following phrase, thus : 'Of my vexation, O Zaratûst ! from the Ahụnavar, the most fiendish is that one shall softly take it,' &c. But very slight alterations of the Pahlavi letters in accordance with Pahl. Yas. XIX, 12) convert min into mûn, bê stârih into bakhtârih, and drügist into drengad. Instead of allotment of the Ahunavar' we might read 'predestination, or providence, from the Ahunavar;' because the Pahlavi translator, by using the word bâkhtarih or bakhtârih, appears to have understood the Av. bagha in its sense of divinity, providence,' rather than in that of part, portion.'
. Reading rânînêd or rahôînêd. The Pahlavi translator seems to think the sin consists in breaking the spell of the vâg or inward prayer (see Chap. III, 6) by speaking part of it aloud ; but the original Avesta of this passage attributes the sin to obscuring the meaning by imperfect recitation.
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