Prayers that heal

At a meeting of Parsis there were the rigid, unbending ones, tolerant ones and those who believe in live and let live.
The meeting was long, interesting and deeply personalized with comments not only from those on the dais but from lay Parsis as well. All were given a patient hearing. When one highly educated Parsi lady said that her young family members preferred prayers which they could relate to, knowing their meaning, rather than the Avesta prayers, it made me go back to the time I was learning my navjote prayers.
I had asked my grandmother how the prayers could help, as I didn’t know what they meant. She had told me at that time that we didn’t need the meaning, as the sound of our prayers has a beneficial effect on us, mentally as well as physically and could even cure ailments. Perhaps, I had looked cynical, so she asked, "When our family doctor gives us some medicines, do you ask him what the pills contain? We take them because we trust him, and we do get cured because we leave ourselves in his efficient hands. It is the same with God.” As I grew up I realized how many of our prayers were helping both our bodies and our minds.
One particular Avesta prayer, the Ardibehesht Yasht and the Ardibehesht Yasht Nirang which follows it have worked miracles. It is prayed in front of a patient with the person reciting the Nirang doing the pichhee (literally, feather, which was used in olden times) by passing a handkerchief over the patient and casting off the illness. From my growing years onward, I have marveled at this healing prayer which has never failed. It is difficult to express in words the experience of seeing my maternal grandmother and my mother using this divine treatment to cure all ills — from a young girl, who had lost the use of her mobility, with very weak and limp legs and hands, to my father recovering from a nervous breakdown.
And the best part of these prayers is that they also treat non-Zoroastrians effectively. Some Parsis pulled up my mother for this. "Sacrilege!” they called it. Do doctors only treat their own kin or community? Does one’s religion teach this difference — leading to communalism and prejudice? Think this over carefully. I have often compared these prayers to the science of healing, reiki.
I urge fellow Zoroastrians to recite prayers because they have a calming, medicinal, energizing and stimulating effect on us. And our religion does not prevent us from reciting prayers of other religions. Religion does not teach one-upmanship.
Ours is an active religion. It teaches us and enjoins us to extend our service and bonding from family, to neighbors, from immediate surroundings to the city, state and country. This practical teaching has helped us for centuries to create a niche, acceptability, and yet individuality amidst so many castes, creeds and communities without letting us feel segregated. So, while keeping to the tenets of our religion, let us use our prayers not only for ourselves, but for those who need their healing touch. MEHER D. DHONDY
Gurgaon, Haryana