“A little learning”...

In your Editorial Viewpoint, "A little learning” (Parsiana, March 7, 2010), you state, "How can any Parsi-Irani object to a person of any nationality, creed, color, sex, age choosing to become Zoroastrian or opting for the priesthood?” Perhaps you need to learn that in our religion, priesthood is hereditary; even Parsi-Irani behdin boys cannot become navars. This is an established custom and usage of millennia! Because you have mentioned the Hindus, may I remind you that even the Brahmin caste is strictly hereditary! Additionally, consecrated Hindu temples bar entry to intermarried Hindu men as well as women as was reported in The Times of India, July 1, 2006.

Who needs to learn about our history? You state that the Achemenians were not Zoroastrians. Then why do they mention the name of Ahura Mazda on their rock inscriptions (Ganj-Nameh near Hamadan and at other places)? Do other religions mention this divine name of Ahura Mazda as their God? No!

With reference to the article "The shame at Sanjan” in the same issue, please permit me to inform you that Dr Meher Master-Moos forgot to mention to Parsiana that she wanted two crore rupees to stop further similar "baresh­nums” taking place at her College at Sanjan and she also wanted a varasiaji to be sent to St Petersburg! Is religion a business deal which can be conveniently bargained for an amount, or for a varasiaji? No.

Besides, her allegation regarding the "theft of a mobile phone” is under question because at the police station she was insistent that her "camera” was stolen! I hope there is some difference between the two!

As a lawyer, she should have known that Mikhail Chistyakov came on a tourist visa and as a tourist he was not supposed to "study” the higher rituals of another religion, leave aside getting initiated as a navar. Master-Moos told the police inspector that Chistyakov was a Parsi priest, accepted by the Parsi priests of India! Chistyakov himself said at the police station that he was not a Parsi, he was a Zarathushti, and that his parents were neither Parsis nor Zarathushtis and their navjotes were therefore not performed! Can he prove his athornan and/or Zarathushtrian/Parsi lineage?

PERVIN J.MISTRY

Dr Meher Master-Moos replies

With reference to Pervin Mistry’s letter regarding the pieces entitled "A little learning” and "The shame at Sanjan” this is an open challenge to her and her fellow conspirators from the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ, also known as the Worst Apartheid Practitioners in Zoroastrianism) and the self appointed guardians of the faith from Jimmy Mistry’s Parsi Resource Group in the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) who participated in the shocking attack on a well-known educational institution on February 18-19, 2010. Can they produce a single line from the extant Avestan texts that the Mazdayasnie Zarathushtrian daena is restricted only to Parsi Zoroastrians? The teachings of the Prophet are diametrically the opposite of what she imagines. The Avestan texts clearly state that the daena is meant to be propagated and spread through all the Haft Keshvar regions; and the Fravardin Yasht has long lists of names of good men and women. She is equally mistaken in her notions about who can become a navar.

She, along with her co-conspirators who resorted to violence, have acted diametrically contrary to the main teachings of good thoughts, good words and good deeds in perpetrating this heinous attack and physical assault on myself and a good Zoroastrian gentleman who for many years is functioning as the Zoroastrian priest of the Zoroastrian Society of St Petersburg.

Perhaps it is she who needs to learn about our Mazdayasnie Zarathushtrian daena by studying at the Zoroastrian College. She appears to be equally ignorant about laws. The untouchability based Hindu caste system has been abolished under the Constitution of India. Is she trying to create a caste system for Zoroastrians? She can take a course on Constitutional Law and International Law at the Zoroastrian College if she wishes to educate herself, before rushing into print to air her ignorance.

It is a total falsehood on her part to state in cold print that I wanted two crores to stop further "bareshnums” taking place at the internationally well known educational center near Sanjan conducted by the All India Shah Behram Baug Society or that I wanted to send a varasiaji to St Petersburg. Both her statements are defamatory. Her penchant for twisting facts is also apparent from her next allegation of attempting to change my statement regarding theft of my mobile phone to that of "camera.” I have already reported the theft of my mobile phone to the police and concerned mobile phone company. At the Talasari Police Station I had also reported theft of photographs taken on my camera by this bunch of bigots and hooligans; and damage done to my camera which was thrown on the ground by one of their gang during the assault.

Regarding her next statement as to what a tourist can and cannot do in India, for her edification, the Constitution of India gives freedom of conscience to all persons; and thousands of persons from the former USSR republics come to India every year in quest of spirituality and stay at Satya Sai Baba’s ashram and other places in India on tourist visas to learn about Hinduism and other faiths. Does she think she is "playing God?” Or does she set herself up above the Constitution?

Her last paragraph is again a heap of twisted and garbled statements as to who said what. The correct facts are as stated below. I informed concerned officers at the Talasari Police Station that Mikhail Chistyakov is a Zoroastrian from St Petersburg Zoroastrian Society where for many years he is functioning as their community priest. He has met the Parsi Zoroastrian priests in India in 2005, 2008 and 2010 and has been accepted by them as a Zoroastrian priest and he has also received training from them in India to improve his own knowledge for better performance of his priestly functions. Chistyakov stated as a matter of fact that in the Soviet period in Russia no religions were allowed by the Government; and during the period of his parents and grandparents nobody was allowed to practise any faith. Where does the question arise of his "proving” his athornan and/or Zarathushtrian/Parsi lineage? He is a Russian Zoroastrian and proud of it.

Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians, both in India and abroad, are shocked and amazed that the BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and Soli Katpitia, ex-Surat Parsi Panchayat, should stoop so low as to lead an attack on an educational establishment taking along with them a bunch of ruffians, poking their noses into the well respected work of other NGOs, instead of minding their own business.