“A dangerous and...”

I refer to the letter dated September 30, 2004 written and signed by all the seven revered Vada Dasturs to the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), expressing their emphatic and unanimous dissent to the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) and the BPP joining the proposed World Body of Zoroastrians ("A dangerous and foolish move,” Parsiana, November 2004).

All the seven Dasturs have, beyond any doubt, established their faith, dedication and devotion by whole-heartedly supporting the public meeting organized by The Parsee Voice in Bombay in November 2003, where the community passed a resolution (without a single dissenting vote) strongly disapproving of any well-established Zoroastrian organization joining or associating with any such ‘fake’ — artificial, bogus, ersatz — institutions, like the proposed world body of Zoroastrians.

We are all aware that in the so-called "free society” (especially of the western world) endowed with freedom of speech and freedom of action (either right or wrong), anyone is free to form a "body” that he/she may wish to, or choose to, worship, believe in and act according to their freedom of choice. However, there is absolutely no need for the Zoroastrian community in India and any of its institutions to get involved with such "bodies” in any way, least of all by joining it.

As rightly pointed out by our Dasturs, this proposed world body of Zoroastrians will "accept as members, directly or indirectly, self-proclaimed converts from around the world” and such a world body "with the kind of mixed membership, now or in future, will not only threaten the religious identity of our community but will also endanger the survival of our race, religion and its institutions, defeating the very purpose for which our ancestors first came to India.”

Nothing can be achieved or gained by confronting the so-called "Zoroastrian” organizations or bodies like the World Zoroastrian Organisation or the one which is now proposed, because they are not Zoroastrian institutions at all in any shape or form — neither in precept, tenets, customs or the time-honored traditions of the Parsi/Iranian Zoroastrian faith and religion. In fact, these bogus organizations do not have any "locus standi.”

The time has now come to simply form a ‘World Body’ or an ‘Organization’ strictly of traditional Parsi/Irani Zarathushtis who are determined to preserve, protect and nurture their sacred faith, beliefs, precepts, tenets, customs and traditions as practiced by their forefathers from time immemorial. With the blessings of Ahura Mazda, let the traditional Zoroastrians come together in unity for this cause, in spite of various differences. And, above all, to preserve and protect the sanctity of our sacred consecrated places of worship such as our pak atash behrams, atash adarians, atash dadgahs, dakhmas, etc, which are now being ‘illicitly threatened’ by these non-Zoroastrian organizations. After all, the cause is greater than any one of us.

We have a right (or, perhaps, I should say) we have the right to preserve and protect our consecrated places of worship. In fact, it is our sacred duty to do so.

Ervad DARIUS N. SETHNA