Our culture is exotic

Thou, Ahura Mazda, art the divine artist who hast designed and built and sculptured and painted thy sublime nature that speaks to us and sings to us and inspires us and elevates us. Real greatness of a people consists not in its hoarded wealth or its territorial possessions as in the accumulated treasure of the cultivated qualities of its mind and the virtues of its heart. Culture is the fertile efflorescence of the human mind in the arts and sciences of life. It is man's most matchless achievement.

Our culture is exotic, receptive and imitative. It threatens to atrophy our communal soul. We have lost our country and we have lost our kingdom. Avesta and Pahlavi and Pazend, our ancient languages, are dead and our literature indited in these tongues has mostly perished. In ruin lie at Persepolis and Pasargad and Behistan and around, the marvels of our national monuments that speak of the past greatness and grandeur and glory of our dear fatherland. In the loss of our cultural achievements, we have lost our all, O Lord.

Help us to create anew our indigenous culture under a new sky, that can nourish and invigorate our spirits to noble deeds, refine our nature, ennoble our character, and exalt our communal life. Give us passionate love for literature and arts and sciences. Give us richness of imagination and originality of intellect. Give us minds endowed with the keenest intellect and give us betimes a genius for the artistic creations of the mind. Give us the gift of creating great works of art and poetry, the masterpieces of music and painting. Give us for our sons and daughters, thinkers and writers, poets and artists, painters and musicians, sculptors and scientists who can contribute our community's share to the immortal cultural heritage of humanity, we pray, Ahura Mazda.

This page was last updated on Friday, February 11, 2005.