Section 1
Complete prayer
Asha is the best good. It is radiant happiness; radiant happiness comes to the one who lives for the sake of the highest Asha.
Foundational
Ashem Vohu
The prayer of Asha and true happiness
Any timeBeginnerWord-for-word reader
eFireTemple Interlinear EditionOriginal · Literal · Natural English · Asha Commentary
A three-line declaration that truth, righteousness, and right order are the highest good.
TEXT COVERAGEComplete original prayer
12 words analyzedEvery word in the complete prayer is analyzed.
SOURCE TEXT
Original-language text
Ashem vohū vahishtem astī; ushtā astī, ushtā ahmāi; hyat ashāi vahishtāi ashem.
This text is kept separate from English interpretation. Punctuation and word division are editorial aids.
INTERLINEAR
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COMPLETE SEQUENCE
Full English translation & ritual order
Natural English
Truth and right order are the highest good. Deep happiness belongs to the person who chooses truth because truth itself is worthy.
The Asha understanding
The prayer refuses to separate spirituality from ethics. Happiness is not promised as a reward for empty belief; it is the condition created by living in Asha.
Text, method, and limits
Complete Old Avestan prayer. English is an original learner rendering informed by public-domain translations of Yasna 27.14.
Avestan and Pazand are inflected languages. A responsible interlinear may need several English words for one source word—or no single English equivalent. The confidence marker distinguishes direct lexical analysis from contextual or provisional reader glosses.
Read the interlinear method and source policy.