Eternal flame in Chicago

Eternal flame in Chicago
On the 30th anniversary of the Arbab Rustam Guiv Darbe Mehr in Chicago, an ever-burning "eternal flame” was lit in the prayer hall with the recitation of the Atash Nyaish by their newest priest 12-year-old Ervad Sheroy Gonda. The gas flame will now burn continuously while the natural wood/sukhad flame may be lighted alongside as needed. "Ours was the first darbe mehr built from ground up on the North American continent!...With the eternal flame burning in our prayer hall, let it remind us of the eternal flame burning in each and every one of us,” commented Dinaz Weber, president of the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ZAC) in their October 2013 newsletter. The Chicago Darbe Mehr was inaugurated on September 3, 1983 in the presence of Arbab Rustam Guiv’s widow, Morvarid Khanum Guiv, Dr Rustam Sarfeh and Mehraban Zartoshty, it was recalled.

The pearl anniversary function on September 7, 2013 commenced with a jashan "to give thanks and count our blessings for the invaluable and selfless services offered at our Darbe Mehr over the past 30 years by our dedicated mobeds, board members, committees, religious education teachers and the untiring efforts of countless volunteers who have all brought us thus far in our journey to perpetuate the religion and strengthen the community in the Chicago area,” noted a report on the celebrations. In the absence of "Dastur (Dr) Kersey Antia who was unable to come because of his illness,” his son Ervad Jimmy Antia stressed on the importance of fire that "represents the energy of God prevailing in the universe… The eternal flame is a reminder to let the light in and get darkness out of our being so we can follow God faithfully and bring about the renovation of the world (frashokereti),” added the report.
The practice of creating ever-burning fires dates back to the Achemenid period, reminded the newsletter. The decision to install a gas flame had been taken at the July 2013 ZAC board meeting after which former ZAC and FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America) president Rohinton Rivetna was assigned the task of executing the project. He realized that many packages were available for installing a gas flame for outdoor use but none for interior use. The Gas Technology Institute was thus approached to provide a customized design with adequate safety precautions.
The nitty-gritty of installing the eternal flame, as explained in their newsletter, commenced with the uncapping of the gas outlet in the wall behind the afargan and fitting it instead with a manual shut-off valve, extending the outlet through the tile floor and up the afargan to a gas burner. The burner was placed in a three-inch diameter steel pipe mounted on the top plate of the afargan. The flame emerges through a small afarganyu belonging to the Rivetna family placed on top of the pipe. An ignition cable connects a panel in the wall with an on/off switch to an igniter near the burner. As a safety measure if a "no flame” condition is detected by the igniter, an electronic solenoid shut-off valve in the panel is activated to automatically shut off the gas supply.
Many in the community had reservations before the installation of this gas flame as expressed Aban Daboo, "When I first heard of the eternal flame, I was honestly not so thrilled with the idea. After seeing the actual flame everything fell into place. Now when I want to go and pray alone in peace I won’t have to go looking for some sukhad and divo to light a small fire and then keep a constant eye on it so that it won’t go off…”

The celebration function commenced with drinks and hors d’oeuvres, and the singing of a monajat by the talented ZAC choir led by Freya Dhunjisha and Mani Rao. Following a welcome by Weber who also thanked all the volunteers for working as a team, next-generation speakers Mehrab Deboo and Ervad Hoshi Vazifdar made presentations on "Spiritual and Physical Fires.” After Ness and Zane Damania, Rayhan Driver and Neville Rustomji sang the ZAC Anniversary Song, mezzo-soprano Tina Siganporia got a standing ovation for her performance of I Dreamed a Dream and I Believe in You and Me. Emcee Tushad Driver with Eric Rustomji at the audio system, helped the evening program run smoothly. The celebrity cooks, kitchen staff and servers ensured that the guests enjoyed their dinner on long banquet tables laid with banana leaves flown in from Florida. Following the traditional repast ZAC members were entertained with songs by Daboo and the Natak Mandli until it was time for the final Chhaiyé Hamé Zarathoshti anthem.
Beginning October, the Darbe Mehr is being kept open for two hours in the evening on all five week days in addition to the usual Sunday hours. "This will be an added service to enhance the spiritual needs of our community,” wrote Weber urging members to pay one dollar/day per family towards the Mobed Employment Fund being "a very small price to pay for supporting our religion.” The community considers itself fortunate to have enjoyed the services of Kersey Antia plus eight senior priests and six from the younger generation with even a trained mobedyar. As reinforced Weber, "We at ZAC will set an example to the rest of our community worldwide for a model of how to provide for a fair remuneration to our mobeds for services provided by them.”