Chants to bridge chasms

At the three-day Festival of Sacred Chanting from October 6-8, 2003 which brought together various cultures and religions from all over the globe in the presence of the Dalai Lama, the four-member Zoroastrian group sang passages from the Gathas and Avesta. The Festival marked the 10th year of the installation of a grand statue of Lord Buddha at the Buddha Jayanti Park in New Delhi.

Certain important and interesting lines from the Zoroastrian texts with their lucid translation were specially selected by scholar Dr Homi Dhalla after which Marazban Mehta composed the music for these chants. At the Festival the well rehearsed team of Sanobar Parabia, Mehta and Darius Dhalla sang these sacred chants to the musical accompaniment of Jemmy Sahiar, reports Dhalla. On the completion of all the chants every participant was presented a scarf by the Dalai Lama.

At the afternoon seminar on "Meeting of Cultures: Spiritual Ways of Sustainable and Non-Aggressive Living,” presided over by the Dalai Lama, Dr Dhalla spoke from the Zarathushti viewpoint.

The next evening’s chanting session was started by the Parsi group. In the 15 minutes allocated they sang chants in praise of Ahura Mazda, Zarathushtra, Behram and Srosh Yazad, etc. Before each chant Darius provided a short translation which was greatly appreciated by the cosmopolitan audience, states Dr Dhalla.

"I believe that music and sound have a particular ability of affecting the mind positively which is why I think music and chanting are useful, particularly in a religious context,” impressed the Dalai Lama, adding, "I continue to believe that if we follow our various different religious traditions properly and implement them in day-to-day life, not just observing them on an intellectual level but actually practicing and implementing them, they have great potential to bring about peace of mind. Once we develop peace of mind then automatically our actions become more peaceful. This is the way to promote a peaceful type of individual, a peaceful family and a peaceful society.”