Humanitarianism and the Gathas

T he real triumph for any religion comes from an ardent commitment to faith and education. What our faith needs today is fiery enthusiasm: the flame of our afargan will fade if our youth do not rekindle it.

Zarathushti philosophy implies that all Zarathushtis must participate in humanitarianism at some level. The core of our religion emphasizes humanism, which is concerned with the interests, values and potential of all human beings, and hence requires our societal involvement in putting our beliefs into practice. Our religion expects the conversion of Zarathushti theory into practice, e.g. the metamorphosis of humanist thought into humanitarian action. Our highly individualistic religion renders us successful, yet also sets us apart from others. As successful individuals we must be participative members of a community for we are part of a religion that teaches Asha and Vohu Mana which lead us in a lifelong quest for the love and acceptance of all people. As individualists, our personal or private views often conflict with other members of our community. We need to coalesce this individualism as a collective society, speaking with one voice (not many) that can answer other religious communities in the world. Our ancient monotheistic yet practical and succinct philosophy is an essential model for some of the most widely practised western religions in the world.

Because we are a small, very old religion, we must strive and struggle more vigorously than other religious communities to impress ourselves with the importance of our own ancient beliefs. Our understanding of Zarathushtra’s teachings should enable us to fit into the context of international society as an open community. To do so we need to re-examine the Gathas, for they are our tenets, our essential creed: they define us as Zarathushtis. Translations of our core religious texts in our native languages should be available within arm’s reach to all Zarathushtis. In an effort to reeducate ourselves about our religion, I feel this is the most vital of our concerns and must be taken up as an urgent project.

Within the Zoroastrian community there is a great concern for youth, and there is already some Zarathushti involvement in human rights issues in India. FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America) youth has teamed up with Dr Roda Patel (of Northbrook, Illinois) at the Children’s Program at the Gram Seva Trust Hospital in Kharel, Gujarat to send a couple of youth interns to that organization for a humanitarian-focused internship. This program will in time branch out to other organizations in India, focusing on humanitarian and human rights issues. At the core of this idea is to promote Zarathushti humanitarianism on a wider scale. This program will enable North American and other Zoroastrian youth to participate in humanitarian efforts and aid victims in India of their own age group. The program is also integrative in nature: as Zoroastrians living amongst other peoples in many different parts of the world we must be concerned not only for members of our own faith and culture, but also for others who share our mother countries and sense of community.

The very issues associated with these programs and the already active Zarathushti involvement in them fall perfectly in line with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF) priorities: eliminating poverty and malnutrition in children, fighting HIV/AIDS in youth, and protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse.

Our faith is as important in the current era as it was in ancient times, if not more so. The world needs the benefits that Zoroastrians can provide; we are resourceful through our various successes; we are often philanthropic towards members of our community, and we are courageous. But we need to be more as spiritualists and activists. As spiritualists, we need to put truth to power. Our philosophy needs to speak within ourselves, and we need to feel impressed by the power of Ahura Mazda and our beliefs. In short, we need to feel motivated enough to let our religious beliefs seep into our identities and our daily lives. As activists, we need to allow our individual spiritualism to speak through self-motivated behavior.

We need now, more than ever, to help our neighbors — the neighbors that Zarathushtra once distinguished as our friends, those of different creeds and cultures, those that live amongst us with whom we share common histories. Zoroastrian philosophy is integrative; and so must we be as Zarathushtis. As elders and especially as youth, we must increasingly integrate our religious philosophy into our daily lives and our prayers; ritual and custom must remain secondary only to that. Our humanism must shine to ourselves, to each other, and to the world, or we are not Zarathushtis of the type intended by our Prophet and by Ahura Mazda. Asha is righteousness, Vohu Mana is the benevolent mentality and Spenta Armaiti is beneficence incarnate — the source of our humanism. May we have the wisdom and energy to give fire and life to Zarathushtra’s teachings and our own beliefs in the form of humanitarian action.

Susan Karani is currently pursuing a master’s degree in human rights studies at Columbia University in New York city. She has been active in various humanitarian efforts in India, the United States and France.