Meeting of mobeds

Zoroastrian priests in North America who officiate at lagan/gavah (wedding) and navjote/sedreh pushi (initiation into the faith) can now expect a payment of $ 500 (Rs 32,500), as recommended by The North American Mobeds Council (NAMC). Acting on a request from several North American associations and individuals, at the last annual general meeting of NAMC in Washington on May 16 and 17, 2015, attended by 16 priests, guidelines were laid for ashodad (gifts) for priests. For participation in ceremonies like jashan, geh sarna, dasmu (dahom), masiso (siyom), varsi (saal), the payment recommended for each priest was $ 250 (Rs 16,250). Not only are the laity expected to provide the sukhad, loban and divo, they should also be willing to bear the travel expenses (pre-paid plane ticket or fuel costs per mileage depending on air/land journey required) plus hotel accommodation. For participation in muktad ceremonies, member associations are free to decide on the payment. NAMC president Kobad Zarolia suggested that Zoroastrians could be requested to donate air-miles for use by NAMC members, when required.
There were other subjects too that were raised at the 28th annual general meeting as per the minutes forwarded by Zarolia. Interest in the mobedyar program is steadily rising, with one request from Seattle that is being handled on Skype by Ervad Soli Dastur who is currently recovering from a major cardiac surgery. Ervad Behram Panthaki of Washington is assisting Hormazd Katki from the same city. Ervad Pervez Patel of New York stated that a 62-year-old lady has shown interest in becoming a mobedyar too.

Kobad Zarolia (sitting 4^th from left) with fellow priests at the 28^th AGM Photo: Mehbad Dastur

Members believed the possibility of ordaining a male child of an interfaith marriage as a navar would not be acceptable in India. [When Percy Sam Modi, born to a non-Parsi mother was initiated as a priest at Bombay’s Saher Agiary in 1993 three high priests had declared "the said ceremony has no validity and is ultra vires of the long-standing customs, practices and traditions of our religion (see " The making and breaking of priests,” Parsiana, June 1993).]
Ervad Fariborz Shahzadi of California who performs ceremonies according to both Iranian and Parsi rituals suggested that email invitations should be sent to Iranian mobeds to participate in the NAMC activities. He offered to compile a list of such mobeds and send them suitable invitations. Currently there are 234 mobeds and mobedyars listed in the directory that features on the NAMC website namcmobeds.org of whom barely three surnames indicate their Iranian origin. The rest are surnames as adopted by Parsis in India.
Whether requests should be heeded from Muslim families wanting to return to the Zoroastrian fold, it was asserted that after checking the applicant’s sincerity and verifying his/her basic knowledge of the religion and kusti prayers the person’s sedreh pushi ceremony may be performed. Shahzadi though warned against fake applicants of Arab descent who could be claiming to be Zoroastrian for immigration or Green Card purposes.
Hearing of small pockets of Zoroastrians in Russia, Norway, France, Kurdistan, Tajikistan, Armenia and other countries, it was decided that the NAMC executive may offer assistance through religious books or websites although they would not be permitted NAMC membership nor would priests from those countries be certified as mobeds/mobedyars.
Twelve afarganias of varying sizes were shipped to Toronto by Shireen Desai and Kersi Treasurywalla, the trustees of the Batliwalla Agiary at Tardeo in Bombay. These afarganias are for use at community centers in North America.
To disseminate religious information among the mobed fraternity, Athravan, the four-year-old online NAMC newsletter of four-five pages, carries independently researched articles pertaining to religious history. Whilst conscious efforts will be made by the Mobeds Council to organize weekend workshops and seminars for younger mobeds, the latest offering for them is Understanding and Practice of Concise Navar Ceremony compiled by Ervads Jehan Bagli and Adi Unwalla which has easy to follow, sequential arrangement of prayers, rituals and ceremonies with notes and explanations. Ervad Jal Panthaky has undertaken a similar exercise, having translated and compiled an illustrated document from the original prepared by his brother Ervad Rustomji Panthaky, the former principal of the Athornan Madressa in Bombay. Jal will next be working on the Rapithvin and Visparad, it was announced.