Zoroastrians face reforms

Zoroastrian faith faces reforms

It is human to falter, it is human to be selective and it is human to justify what works.

Throughout the ages, religions have either gone through a reform or about to go through the debates on the interpretation and intent of the original texts.

I am pleased to share two stories that my uncle told me about how the rituals evolve and how faith works.

A small boat is caught amidst storm in the middle of an ocean, all the passengers are scared to death and the boat is rocking in huge waves. A lot of screaming, praying and cursing was going on with no hope of survival. One of the men starts getting up, and his friend asks him what he was doing "Prayers" says the man. The Friend immediately attempts to pull him down " you are such an evil person and you dare not say the prayers". The man disregards the friend and loudly asks every one to join him in the prayer. "Dear Allah life and death is in your hands, and we ask you to save us at this point.... he goes on and on." So they do. An hour later, the boat reaches the beach. Every one gets off and falls on the feet of this great sage whose prayers saved their lives. His friend pulls him over and shouts in his ears, what if the boat had sunk? The man responds, there would not have been any one left to question me, duh!

Another great sage starts walking towards the Ganga (Ganges) River with a brass tumbler in his hand, the people on the bank are in awe and wanted to have he blessings with him. As the sage gets closer to the water, he decides that he has to find a way to save his brass water container.... so he decides to bury it in the sand. He realizes that he has to identify the place when he returns from bathing so he finds a stick, and sticks it in the ground. Well, after a good dip, he returns to find thousands of sticks in the sand.... by his observant followers. Many (not all) a rituals, even today start in a similar manner. Many of us have the tendencies to follow whatever method a smart woman or man follow in a party.

Many a rituals in religions have evolved out of respect to the elderly, a teacher or a sage. One fine day, some one will question that rite? A beginning of divide. Some just want to follow what was being done for years and some do not feel the need for it.

My theory is that, whenever a group increases in size, there will be a competition for influence between two individuals, and each one would have a base group of supporters. Most of the times, the original issue is lost but personalities become the issue. Who do you support, do you support strong enough to split?

All religions will eventually go through debates and most of them have seen a split or know it is coming. Hinduism has many traditions since its inception, it is based on how they believe and worship the same divinity differently. Christianity saw the reform hit them around the 16th Century. Judaism has seen the split between the reformed and orthodox, so is Jainism. Buddhism has gone through many changes now and there are over 4 different groups. Islam went through some reform during from 10th thru the 14th centuries and is facing it again in a massive way. Sikhism and Baha'i are relatively new faiths and they are yet to go through it, however one of the oldest faiths - Zoroastrianism is facing some challenges now.

What is a reform? The issue with most people is the word "reform" itself. Why do we need it? What is wrong with what we have?

Reform is not turning the religion upside down nor denying any of the truths about it. It is rather the desire in an individual to understand the original intent. A few want to understand the essence of their faith and meaning of the rituals. Some do not see the need for a change, it is working for a whole millennia, why change now? The traditionalists feel that some wants to change things for his or her convenience while the reformists want to be in tune with the essence and just not follow it.

If we can take all of this as a naturally evolving process, and honoring individual's desire to know, conflicts fade and solutions emerge.


Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net
www.Foundationforpluralism.com
www.WorldMuslimCongress.com

Rebel Parsis ready with Agiary Plan

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article§id=15&contentid=20070208030508890eef54e2eManoj R NairIt could be an event quite unprecedented in the3000-year-old history of the Zoroastrian religion.

A groupof reformists in the community, called the Association forRevival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ), are planning to set up anagiary or fire temple that will be open to spouses ofcommunity members married outside the fold.The move is likely to create a storm in the community whichbars entry at fire temples to non-Parsis, includingnon-Parsi women married to Parsis and children of Parsiwomen married outside the community.

In August 2005, the group had converted a Colaba apartmentinto a prayer hall more liberal in allowing people to attendreligious ceremonies. The hall also offered navjote orinitiation ceremonies for children of Parsi women marriedoutside the community.Currently, navjote is allowed only if both parents areParsis or if the father is from the community. Non-Parsiwomen married into the community, however, are not allowedto convert, though their children can be initiated into thefaith.

The new fire temple will come up on the Malad-Goregaonstretch of the Western Express Highway near the Nirloncolony, one of the newest Parsi community housing estates.The donor of the land is a business family from thecommunity. The final deeds for the property are in theprocess of being signed, an ARZ trustee said.The announcement about the construction of the fire templewill be made at a function on February 10 at Talyarkhan Hallwhere Zoroastrian scholar Dina McIntyre will deliver alecture on ‘Zoroastrianism: A Universal Religion’.Construction is expected to start once the final deeds arecompleted.Solicitor and columnist Berjis Desai, who advocates thereformist point of view, said that consecration of a firetemple was a long and elaborate process. “There is adifference between a prayer hall and an agiary, theconsecration of which is difficult. However, an attempt willbe made to go as close as we can to the setting up of afull-fledged agiary,” he said.

Kerssie Wadia, a chartered accountant and ARZ trustee, said,“All Zoroastrians, including converts, will be allowedinto the fire temple. However, this should not give thesignal that we are into conversions,” said Wadia.The group feels that admitting the spouses and children ofParsis who have married outside the community is the onlyway to save their faith and bolster their declining numbers.It is estimated that one in three Parsis now marry outsidethe community.

The announcement for the construction of the new agiary isexpected to create another furore in the community after thecontroversy over photographs of decomposing bodies at theTowers of Silence that were circulated by Lamington Roadresident Dhun Baria.However, Desai said that he did not expect much oppositionfrom orthodox members. “When we said earlier that firetemples should be opened to non-Parsi spouses, we were toldthat we could set up our own fire temple for thatpurpose,” Desai added.The Association of Inter-married Zoroastrians, a grouplargely comprising Parsi women married outside thecommunity, is supporting the ARZ initiative.