Felicitating Jehan Bagli

"A priest of unstinting devotion, faith and knowledge, an analytic thinker, an erudite speaker, and a bridge builder between different and differing points of view, Jehan has truly left an indelible mark on the face of the Zarathushti community in North America.”

That is how Dr Dolly Dastoor, former president of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA), described Ervad (Dr) Jehan Bagli whom the community honored with a felicitation reception and dinner on October 22, 2005 at the Mehraban Guiv Darbe Mehr in Toronto.

Bagli was presented a token gift including a scroll inscribed by artist Zarene Saklat. Total gift contribution to the tune of Can $ 6,400 was donated per his request and that of his wife Freny to the Manjari Sankurathri Memorial Foundation (MSMF) in memory of their daughter Shiraz who succumbed to cancer in 2004. The MSMF is a registered Canadian charity to promote rural community development through education, health care and disaster relief programs established by Dr Chandra Sankurathri in memory of his wife and two young children who were killed in the Kanishka air crash off the coast of Ireland.

Organized by the "Friends of Jehan Committee” comprising Thrity and Xerxes Bamji, Dolly and Phiroz Dastoor, Shirine and Gev Karkaria, Rashna and Firdosh Mehta, Nergish and Nozer Kotwal, and Mary Rose and Adi Treasurywala, the event had been sponsored by the Zoroastrian Association of Quebec (ZAQ) and supported by FEZANA, the World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO), the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario (ZSO), the Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation (OZCF) and the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY).

Currently president of the North American Mobed Council (NAMC), member of the international board of the WZO, chair of the FEZANA Research and Preservation Committee and coordinator of the religious lecture series of the ZSO, Bagli was the founding president of ZAQ, the first association in North America and founder editor of its newsletter Gavashni, the first Zarathushti periodical published on the continent with well researched articles on various aspects of the religion, notes Dastoor. He was also the first editor of the FEZANA Journal. Bagli represents the ZSO on the Ontario Multifaith Council, undertakes a number of speaking and writing assignments on matters Zoroastrian and had just returned from a successful lecture tour of Australia and New Zealand at the invitation of the community settlements in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Auckland. An award winning Distinguished Research Fellow in the field of pharmacology, Bagli had retired from American Home Products with over 60 publications and 49 US patents, notes the bio data accompanying the invitation card for the occasion. As a fully qualified mobed Bagli has performed umpteen navjotes, weddings and funerary duties all over North America.

Bagli (top and below) with Dastoor (left) and Freny

The evening opened with reflections on the life and times of Bagli presented by nine individuals of varying ages, followed by remarks by Ervad Nozer Kotwal, vice president NAMC, Marzi Byramji of the WZO, president Homi Gandhi of ZAGNY, president Firdosh Mehta of FEZANA, president Sam Vesuna of ZSO, president Phil Sidhwa of OZCF and Ardeshir Bakhtiari representing the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Washington Inc (ZAMWI), indicates the program forwarded by Dastoor. Several of Bagli’s well wishers came for the occasion from out of town, some from neighboring New York and Chicago, some from as far away as California, Texas and Washington DC. Prof Kaikhosrov Irani, Dr Farhang Mehr, Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary of Iran, Dina McIntyre and a host of others, whose lives Bagli has touched, sent messages of appreciation. The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, the Zoroastrian Associations of Northern California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Atlantic Canada, and the Zoroastrian Society of British Columbia also felicitated the community stalwart.

A highlight of the evening was the ‘gift’ by Baglis’ son Dr Darius Bagli who in addition to being a pediatric surgeon is also an accomplished pianist. The performance of Brahm’s Intermezzo, Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words, Chopin’s Scherzo No 2 and Debussy’s Clair de Lune, dedicated to his father, won a standing ovation from the audience, Dastoor informs us. The function ended with a sumptuous candlelight dinner catered by Chisty Bulsara and served by the venturers of the Zoroastrian Scout Troupe of Toronto.

A month after the community event Bagli was one of 270 people honored by the Ontario Honors and Awards Secretariat for their voluntary service to the community at large. There were a number of categories for the award, based on the number of years of service. Nominated by the ZSO in the five-year category (Bagli moved to Toronto from New Jersey in 2000 after retirement, volunteers one afternoon per week at a local hospital) each awardee was presented a lapel pin with the number of years of service engraved on it (Dr Rusi and Moti Bulsara were nominated for a collective volunteer service of 60+ years) together with a couple of citations presented as certificates, one signed by the local Member of Parliament and the other signed by the Ontario premier as well as the minister of citizenship and immigration.

"A fully ordained Ervad who understands what he recites in liturgy and a seasoned and thoughtful speaker, he spelt out his understanding of the scriptures in a step-wise and orderly fashion in his two lectures in Sydney,” Jehangir Mehta of the Zoroastrian Association of Western Australia quotes Dr Sam Kerr’s description of Bagli’s talks. On the question of whether Zarathushtra did convert people to the Zoroastrian religion Bagli’s response was " It depends on how one interprets conversion. Today we relate it to religion, but conversion is also a characteristic of an individual (who) changes and that is also conversion... Zarathushtra was trying to bring mankind on the path of truth — he was trying to bring mankind on the path of righteousness, of being in peace and harmony with nature. In that sense, yes, Zarathushtra did convert the character of an individual or the character of mankind… but that in today’s term may not necessarily be the same. In Zarathushtrian concept conversion is also acceptance from within one’s own self without the need of others.”

In an overall assessment of Bagli’s visit Mehta writes, "Jehan and Freny’s insurmountable energy and their indomitable spirit of enjoying life to the fullest left us in awe. His six-hour marathon lecture in Perth broke all barriers during the trip. There was never a dull moment with them. When not lecturing or answering to questions on religion, they absorbed the sights and sounds of the cities they visited …. There were other milestones in Jehan and Freny’s trip to Australia. Their 49th wedding anniversary was celebrated in Sydney and a cake cutting afternoon with children on Jehan’s 78th birthday in Perth. Jehan often proudly confessed that all that he has achieved would not have been possible without the sacrifice, encouragement and support from his wife Freny.

"Bagli exuded humbleness, and simplicity. His ability to listen was the most important attribute. And to listen requires humility. He made all efforts to try and understand people’s viewpoints and their arguments. After listening to people he gently gave his opinion and not a decree. He always insisted that you make the choice through your good mind, Vohu Mano, and that in turn would lead you to Asha, the righteous path…

"The measure of success lay not in the numbers that came to listen to Ervad Bagli; nor did it lie in the words that he spoke. The success lay in how deeply reinforced some people felt about their quest for truth.”