VOHU MANAH

(Avestan: Good Mind), in Zoroastrianism, one of the six amesha spentas (beneficent immortals) created by Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, to assist him in furthering good and destroying evil. According to Zoroastrian doctrine, because the prophet Zoroaster was, in a vision, conducted into the presence of Ahura Mazda by Vohu Manah, any individual who seeks to know the Wise Lord must approach him through this immortal. Since Vohu Manah is the closest of the amesha spentas to Ahura Mazda, the second month of the Zoroastrian calendar is dedicated to him. His sacred animal is the cow, symbol of the goodness that nourishes.