Are we enlightened?

The time has come to resolve many conflicts within the community, not through zealous fundamentalist despots but through intelligent men and women, young and old, married outside or not, who still profess and hold dear the religion and have tremendous faith in the survival of the Zoroastrian race and religion.

We must be willing to change and adapt, as our forefathers did. They were visionaries who defied tyranny and fled persecution to keep our religious tenets alive. When given sanctuary in India they adapted to a new environment where they lived and flourished, integrated and assimilated. The Parsis adopted all things Gujarati, taking to the language, script, clothing and festivities. They chose to change so that they did not perish. The text of our prayer books was rendered in Gujarati vernacular. Our past scholars accepted this change. They read and prayed from the new script.

The next major change was to adopt English customs and language. Parsis became proficient in business, industry, aviation, the armed forces, banking, medicine, contributing to the development of the nation. With astuteness they made a name for themselves as a race with progressive thoughts, words and deeds.

Today fundamentalists refuse to be versatile. The long-winded tirades of today’s Mistrees and their Merry Men (and women) are leading us to religious rigidness. As all-knowing scholars they want to forcefully teach and preach by repetition, expecting all to accept things uncritically. This is indoctrination, brainwashing and pompous moralizing.

Never before have we bickered so bitterly over the burning question of disposal of our dear departed, leaving them with no dignity or choice. Remains can be and should be disposed of as per the wishes of the deceased, whether at the dakhma, crematorium or burial ground. Our Doongerwadi has the capacity to house them all.

But freedom of choice is curtailed and taboos are imposed. The clergy declares that any other mode of disposal is irreligious. Is the clergy ignorant of the fact that aramgahs built in India and abroad have provided a decent resting place to Parsis where dakhmenashini did not exist and the clergy has performed full services? This system has prevailed since centuries. How absurd and hypocritical of the clergy to reject this now.

The fundamentalists’ columns in the national dailies must stop as they are degrading our race and faith by distorting everything, preaching religious hara-kiri. What they print is just dirty politics, using people as pawns in their religious games. All they do is criticize, moralize and proudly print: "We did this and we did that” and so many hundreds of people attended The World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) functions and free (loaders) lunches and dinners. I would define them as Wily And Parasitic Insidious Zealots (WAPIZ).

Religion and science co-exist. Over thousands of years our faith has developed a balance in religious and scientific equations. But the prophecies of these learned scholars are dictated by self serving needs. Enlightened men do not demand, resort to blackmail and bully to further their causes. They have not only turned the heads of the reverend head priests, but have allowed the remains of our dear departed to remain in a decomposed state.

They tell Parsis living abroad, "You people are affluent, so give and should give and dig deep.” Why this begging bowl attitude when they themselves live in very affluent localities which house expensive properties?

The Parsis are considered enlightened and all other communities respect us. With all the mud-slinging in national dailies their respect for us will diminish. The many controversies which these fundamentalists and their presumptuous supporters thrust upon the community are threatening the very existence of not only Doongerwadi but also of Zoroastrianism.

All Zoroastrian Parsis must remember: "Fire is lit to bless the arrival/Lead kindly light on departure/Let the light dawn on us.” PERVEZ ANTIA