Muktad messages

"Neither were these days made especially for prayers nor were prayers made especially for these days. A misconception is that homage can be paid to our ancestors only on these days,” writes Adil F. Rangoonwalla in his 46-page booklet titled Meditative Thoughts from the Muktad Days, published by him in 2007. "The 10 days before Navroz seem to serve this purpose better only because we choose to take time off from our professional work and we are even ready to sacrifice other recreational activities to better concentrate on visiting agiaries and atash behrams…These days, the forerunners to Navroz, are a blueprint of the kind of life we are going to lead the rest of the year,” he continues.

The greater part of the book deals with Fravashi or Frohar, the essence of Ahura Mazda in his creations. He thus has sections dedicated to the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda, the Fravashis of the Amesha Spentas (the archangels), the Fravashis of the Paoiryotkaeshas (primeval law-givers), the Fravashi of Zarathushtra, the Fravashis of the dear departed members of our family…

Adil Rangoon­walla: percep­-tual filters

According to Rangoonwalla, "Our Fravashis help us remember our purpose in life, namely, we are the soldiers of God and we have to fight evil.” It is through prayers and ceremonies that we worship the divine elements like the Fravashi and urvan (soul).

Just as Zoroastrians pay homage to the departed ancestors during the Farvardegan or Muktad days, Hindus observe Shrad, Jains believe in Paryushan, Muslims follow 10 days of Moulid Shariff and Christians remember their dead on All Souls Day, sums up the author. According to him Muktad days "should be 10 in all.” But weren’t 18-day Muktads also the norm in years past?

Commenting on the unity and harmony between Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas Rangoonwalla writes: "The important lesson we learn from the Amesha Spentas is to work collectively to promote purity and perfection in the world…Everything starts with holiness. So we should be more spiritual. Purity is both, the cause and the reward of a spiritual life.”

The message of the Muktad days, believes the author, is to "help us remember all year round that we are spiritual beings (instead of) living as helpless confused human beings…”