“The Russian return”

The Mazda Yasna was formed by a group of the Russian Anjoman comprising wise group heads and has a total of 100 Zoroastrians ("The Russian return,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, April 7, 2016). These are neo-Zoroastrians who initiate persons into the group only if they are involved in the translation of the Gathas, teachings of Prophet Zarathushtra, know the names of the creator, the Amesha Spentas, the Prophet’s revelations, kusti prayers with their meanings, the nirang, Sarosh Baj, names of the days, months, religious holidays, etc. In fact, they have to ready themselves with all this and are accepted only when the mobeds are convinced that they are fully prepared with the knowledge as well as practice the teachings of the good faith and are morally good and righteous. Hence, those initiated will have all the virtues of true Zoroastrians, and more. This is a wonderful initiation process and the group will have better Zoroastrians than many of us.
Though our initiation process is pious, pure and meaningful, do the children having their navjote know even 10% of what is being rattled off during the ceremony? Are they ready to keep to the high morals of our faith as they grow up? Without adequate knowledge of the doctrines of the faith, there is every chance that they may forget to keep to the moral standards expected of them as they grow up. Our children are losing interest in our religion because of inadequate information. Philanthropy, an important teaching of our Prophet, is a virtue barely visible today.
We need to re-think how we prepare children for the navjote ceremony. Instead of paying more attention to the party that follows, spending hours with the dress designer, not to mention the fortune that is spent, we should ready children differently. At bedtime most children insist on a story. Replace the fairy tales with simple stories/examples of good thoughts, good words and good deeds and the teachings of our Prophet. Similarly, names of the creator, the Amesha Spentas, the Prophet’s revelation, meaning of the kusti prayers, nirang, names of the days, months, the Gathas, etc can be explained little by little, in simple terms, much before the initiation.
KETTY R. KAPADIA
Calcutta
k_kapadia62@yahoo.co.in