[Zarathustra asked:]
I
"O You, 
Creator of the
World ! You, One and only
God ! I
pray to You,
do 
reveal to
me : which is
the foremost 
place where the
Earth does
feel the
greatest 
Joy
?"
II
Ahura Mazda
answered, and
said : " Hail,
O Zarathustra
! It is that
place, on which one of the
followers of
ASHA, who
lifts up his
voice 
in full
accord with the Law of
ASHA,
steps forth
: with his
good
thoughts, good
words, and good
deeds ! .
[And Zarathustra asked:]
III
"O You,
Creator of the
World ! You, One and only
God ! which
is the second
place where the
Earth does
feel the
greatest Joy
?"
IV
And Ahura
Mazda
answered : "It is that
place, on
which one of the
followers of
ASHA
does erect a
house,
with a
teacher in it, with a
wife,
with
children, and with
good herds ; and in which from
then on
everything continues to
prosper: where
Fire does
flourish and
every blessing
of life is
increasing."
[And again Zarathustra asked:]
V
"O You,
Creator of the
World ! You, One and only
God ! which
is the third
place where the
Earth does
feel the
greatest Joy
?"
VI
Ahura Mazda
answered and
said : " Hail,
Zarathustra
! It is that
place, on which one of the
followers of
the Law of
ASHA
sows the
most of
corn, of 
grass, and the
most of
fruit : where
he 
waters that
ground which is 
dry, or
drains the
too wet
soil.
VII
Unhappy is the
land that
has long been
lying
unsown by the
seed from the sower and
wants a
good
husbandman like it is with a
well-shaped
maiden who has
long been
without child and is in
want of a good
husband.
VIII
He, O
Zarathustra ! who is willing to
till
the Earth,
with the left arm and with the right
[= "with both hands", working hard], to
him
she will
bring forth
plenty of
fruit ; just
like when a
lover is
sleeping with his
bride on her bed ; the
bride will bring forth
children
; the Earth
will bring forth plenty of
fruit.
IX
To him who is
willing to
till
the Earth,
O Zarathustra
!
with the left arm and with the right, the
Earth
speaks
thus: "O man !
you who do
till
me,
with
the left arm and with the right, here I shall
always go on
bearing and
bringing
forth all manner of
food,
bringing
first, to
you, the
corn."
X
To
him who does
not till the
Earth, with
the left arm and with the right, the
Earth
speaks thus:
"O man !
you who do not
till me,
with
the left arm and with the right : you will
always be
standing at
the door of the
stranger, amongst
those who
beg for their bread, and the
refuse and
the crumbs of the bread will be
brought to
you,
brought by
those who have
profusion
of
supply.
XI
He who
sows
corn, grass
and fruit,
sows ASHA :
he is making the
ASHA of
Mazda to
progress ; he
fosters the ASHA
of Mazda,
as well as he
could do
pampering
a spoiled child with the help of
a hundred men’s feet, with a thousand
women’s
breasts, or ten thousand
sacrificial rites.
XII
No one, who
does not
eat will have
strength enough to do the
works of ASHA
:
strength enough to do the
works of
husbandry,
strength enough
to
beget children. XIII
By
eating,
every material creature will
stay alive;
by not
eating, it
will
die away.
XIV
The ASHA of
Mazda, O
Zarathustra !
purifies the
followers of
ASHA from every evil
thought,
word and
deed, just
like a swift-rushing mighty
wind does
cleanse the
plain. XV
So let the
deeds that
he does
from now on
all be
good deeds, O
Zarathustra
! so that a
full atonement for all of his sins will be
effected by
virtue of the
ASHA of
Mazda."
