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138
DÂDISTÂN-I DİNİK.
existence1, and his punishment is that of many sins worthy of death; from the demons also there come grievously, hand in hand, pain and suffering, gnawing and stench of many kinds, stinging, tearing, and lacerating, primary evil and discomfort. 6. And through their law and faith his distress in that worst existence is thus until the last change of existence, when the renovation of the universe is produced by will among living beings.
7. But reality (aitoih), as regards living, arises from renunciation of that disobedience; it makes those attract to the good law who seduced him to that evil law, that which established him improperly in the law it eradicates from his conduct (rûbâkîh), advancing sins it again restrains, and whatever has advanced it repairs again anew through the religion of the Mazda-worshippers, and he becomes thoughtful, constant, and steadfast. 8. The sin which he set going he restrains and atones for by wealth, trouble, and authorising commands; even in the body he also undergoes punishment in the three nights (satuth); he then obtains forgiveness, and his soul is saved.
9. And as it is said in the persistent law of the sacred beings, that 'the good religion of the sacred beings, who are the Mazda-worshipping superiors,
1 See Chap. XXXIII, 3.
The foreigners'.
Or, tûbânkâr may mean 'lavish.' The ordering of religious ceremonies, as good works in atonement for sin, is probably intended; and these always imply a lavish expenditure upon the priesthood.
• Referring to the three nights' punishment after the resurrection of the body, which is specially reserved for mortal sinners (see Bd. XXX, 16).
5 Quoting, with some alteration, from Pahl. Vend. III, 151.
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