Chapter XL
CHAPTER XL.
1. The sage asked the spirit of wisdom (2) thus: 'What is the colder and what is the warmer? 3. What is the brighter and what is the darker? 4. What is the fuller and what is the emptier 2? 5. What end is the more fruitless 3? 6. What is that thing of which no superfluity arises for any one? 7. What is that which no one is able to deprive one of? 8. What is that thing which it is not possible to buy at a price? 9. What is that thing with which every one is always 4 satisfied? 10. What is that with which no one 5 whatever is satisfied? 11. What is that one wish that Aûharmazd, the lord, contemplates 6 as regards men? 12. What is that one wish that Aharman, the wicked, contemplates as regards men? 13. What is the end of the worldly existence and what is the end of 7 the spiritual one?'
14. The spirit of wisdom answered (15) thus: 'The heart of the righteous is the warmer, and that
of the wicked the colder. 16. Righteousness is the brighter, and wickedness the darker. 17. The hope and protection which pertain to the sacred beings] 1 are the fuller, and those which pertain to the demons are the emptier 2. 18. The end of the world-arranging and spirit-destroying man is the more fruitless. 19. It is knowledge of which no one knows a superfluity. 20. It is learning and skill which no one is able to deprive one of. 21. It is understanding and intellect which it is not possible to buy at a price. 22. It is wisdom with which every one and one's own self are untroubled and satisfied. 23. It is stupidity and ignorance with which every one and even one's own self are troubled and not satisfied.
24. 'That one wish which Aûharmazd, the lord, contemplates as regards men is this, (25) that "ye shall fully understand me; for every one who fully understands me, comes after me and strives for my satisfaction." 26. And that one wish which Aharman contemplates as regards men is this, (27) that "ye shall not understand me;" for he knows that whoever fully understands that wicked one, does not go after his evil deeds 3, (28) and nothing whatever of power and help for him arises 4 from that man.
29. 'And as to that which is asked by thee concerning the spiritual and worldly existences, the worldly existence is, in the end, death and disappearance, (30) and of the spiritual existence, in the end,
that of a soul of the righteous is undecaying, immortal, and undisturbed, full of glory and full of enjoyment, for ever and everlasting, with the angels and archangels and the guardian spirits 1 of the righteous. 31. And the bridge 2 and destruction 3 and punishment of the wicked in hell are for ever and everlasting 4. 32. And the wicked soul, apart from the punishment, contemplates the existence, and even the appearance 5, with the demons and fiends just as, in the worldly existence, a healthy man does that with him who is very grievously sick.'
Footnotes
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- 81:1
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This phrase can be used either with reference to time or to eternity. Time which lasts for ever must end at the resurrection, as in this case (see Chap. II, 193), because time then ceases to exist. But eternity which lasts for ever can never end. If this phrase had the same meaning here as in § 30, it would contradict all the other statements regarding the fate of the wicked, which are to be found in Pahlavi literature, including those of the author himself.
- 81:5