“Nobody’s child”

The Parsi Press and some members of the Zoroastrian community have been skillfully but unwittingly deceived in the matter of "adoption” of non-Zoroastrians. This is not a subject for after-dinner debate as it could mean life or death for our religious community as we know it in India, Pakistan and worldwide.

The sentimental and pseudo legal arguments of the proponents of adoption as mentioned in "Nobody’s child” (Editorial viewpoint, Parsiana, December 7, 2007) will mean nothing should Parsi homes be burnt, fire temples and dakhmas destroyed and Zoroastrians butchered. Will the Association for the Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ) and others who are so boldly vocal today on this subject be prepared to stake their lives in the defense of our community and our religious institutions when such zealots and militants take to the streets? Are they willing to take responsibility for bringing such a misfortune down on the community due to their rash actions?

There is another matter that must be put to rest once and for all. Some people are expressing doubts regarding the sacred promise made some 1,300 years ago between two of the most honorable men of their time — Hindu Rajput King Jadi Rana and Dastur Nari-yosang Dhaval. For over a millennium that promise has sustained peace and amity between our community and all other communities in India because of which even today a Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian is respected as a person of "his word.” This has protected our religious institutions and our minuscule community during the worst of times. Does anyone of sane mind want to destroy this mutual trust, respect and protection? Such a solemn promise and agreement needs no document to authenticate it.

I weep to think that there was a time within living memory when one’s word and a handshake bound individuals and nations to contracts and treaties that needed no written documents. It is only today, when the villainy of men is more honored than their integrity that one tries to forget or get around promises made by honorable men. Would anyone of us today repudiate a promise made by one’s father or grandfather or great-grandfather to another family only because it was made 50, 100 or 500 years ago and should now be "viewed in perspective?” Do we have to seek reasons to do what is wrong, instead of doing what is right?

Have the proponents of adoption given serious thought to questions like why some couples have no children? Is it because they, of their own accord, married too late? Also, childlessness may be part of a couple’s fate and to interfere with that would bring greater problems for them, their helpers and the community. Have the couple and their helpers ever thought of the advice of Dastur Aderbad Maharespand, that in case of misfortunes, one should remind oneself that "It could have been much worse?”

Is adoption of non-Zoroastrians by the Zoroastrian community in India another Trojan horse? Is it another effort to infiltrate the fortress walls of the Zoroastrian community through the irreligious act of conversion?

If the editors in the Parsi Press allow themselves to be deceived by the ARZ and other supporters of adoption of non-Zoroastrians, it would be a death wish for the Zoroastrian community in India and worldwide. In fact they should dissuade our Zoroastrian brothers and sisters in ARZ and others from continuing on this most dangerous course. That is the natural law of karma or keshash (it is not a Hindu concept) which, according to our scriptures signifies "What you sow, you reap,” which is inexorable, whether one believes in it or not.

MEHLLI BHAGALIA

USA

mehlli@roadrunner.com