Cloning of Zoroastrianism

In order to save our community from extinction there had been many noteworthy attempts done by Parsi trusts and other people. But as we all know that our community is like a leaky bucket, where the water drops off more than it gets filled. There are many holes in this bucket. Like…

1) Death

2) Intercaste marriage

3) Willful acceptance of other religion

4) Infertility among the couples or other medical problems.

5) No wish to have a child.

6) No wish to marry.

We all know that we cannot avoid death, nor can we change a person mind to not to accept other religion (we may only advice but can’t beg him) and there is also the problem of infertility for which medical help is available, but still some cases remain uncured.

But the main trend why Zoroastrian religion numbers are falling is due to the fact that there are many intercaste marriages committed. In order to stop intercaste marriages we have no scheme because our community is not against love. If a person of our caste loves another person of other caste then he has the right to marry that person and we are quite a modern community and don’t even entertain religious extremism. For us being an Indian is more important than being a Zoroastrian.

There is one way by which intercaste marriage can be avoided but that is not recommended at least for an educated community like ours. And that solution is to do child marriages. No, this is not a solution because it is immoral. So, we won’t consider this as a solution at all.

Our Parsi trust had also put forward a solution to remedy the lower population & birth rate problem.

“If a couple has a third child then his expenses will be borne by the Parsi Panchayat of that respective city”(I believe that days will come to change that to second)

This suggestion is a complete failure and our Parsi couples are not a fool to have a third child because of some discount scheme and we don’t want our child to live a life full of Panchayat scholarships. We want that our child be well educated and become some one of great importance like an MBA, Doctor, Engineer, etc. The Parsi Panchayat has its limits well defined. It cannot take care of our children in the same way we care for them.

I also propose a solution to increase population that “If a couple is not able to borne a child for 2 years after marriage then they should be given free medical help if they have medical problems or financial help if their condition is so poor that they can’t afford to have a child or Psychiatric help if they face a mental problem (which involves sex problems). All these expenses should be borne by the Panchayat” this solution will bring more people under its scope rather than couples with 3 children. However, care should be taken that the Panchayat Funds be helpful to genuine persons only who seek financial help from the Parsi Panchayat.

There are other ways by which Parsis can increase their population but they are immoral and don’t deserve any mention here.

No solution is actually working for us and according to the recent statistics by the Government of India, the rate at which our community is declining; our community will be extinct (yes, extinct) within the next 100 years. I am not against luck or Believe in God type persons that they may assure me that everything would be all right but you can’t ignore the ground reality.

Yes, there would be no Parsi walking on this earth after 100 years. Believe it or not. Every probability and statistics possible reflects only this fact. The Paper “Jame Jamshed” which you are reading right now will also be extinct as no Parsi reader will be there to read it. Government will take hold of our Fire Temples, Dharamshalas and Marriage Halls and Dokhma and would do anything with it, may be preserve it as a museum for travelers that once upon a time there were people known as Zoroastrians or Parsis who used to pray here in the Agyari or Atash Behram. I believe that the fire temple of Udvada and all the Atash Behrams will be a tourist spot.

Don’t get too much excited because this is going to happen after 100 years. There is still much time left, after 100 years not even our ashes would remain on this earth. As usual we will sleep, eat, work and die while watching our community decline for the reasons I mentioned above.

Isn’t there any hope of our survival? Well, let us see… some people on reading this might have some brave terminology of their own that “I am a pure Zoroastrian and my children would be also only Zoroastrian and I and my children and their children would only marry Zoroastrians and as long as my family and I are there Zoroastrianism won’t be perished.”

Can we believe in such kind of a wishful thinking? What if that brave person’s grand children fell in love with some other caste person? Again I add that we are not against love.

The fact that I am telling is that we are relying on wishful thinking, on magic or on a deteriorating hope that our community would survive even the baddest days and somehow would get through. Because we people are hopeful people and certainly not hopeless. I am not against hope of that sort but there should be (there must be) much more consolidation filled within our hearts than just a deteriorating hope.

Also another danger, which is lurking is that if the population will decline below a certain level, the rate of intercaste marriage is going to increase even more than now and that can bring the downfall of our community much faster than 100 years limit.

There is another problem of location as in these days our people are not at one location as it used to be in Iran, some Parsis have also shifted to some other countries where no Zoroastrian population exist for e.g. some parts of Africa, China, Russia, etc. and they marry the girl of that country who is outside of our caste because of many reasons and one of the reasons is they are not willing to accept a girl/boy outside of their own new environment because as it is said that “We are True to our own Environments”.

If some boy was born and brought up in China he would have only Chinese women to watch in his surroundings so he will begin to like Chinese women more, and would insist on marrying an Chinese woman rather than an unknown Parsi woman and one day he will fall in love with such a woman of his dreams. The same rule applies to girls also. This might look rubbish to some but this is reality of our present generation. So it is really hard to maintain your Zoroastrianism when we live in some places where Zoroastrian people are very scarce or are hard to find. The parents also won’t interfere in their child’s way because they know the situation.

The problem of location do happen within India also as we know that Mumbai based Parsi Boys/Girls are not willing to marry outside Mumbai because they can’t leave Mumbai. So, our religion is basically concentrated more on Mumbai where 55,000 of the possible 65,000 Parsis live, and with the fashionable culture these days people will prefer an inter caste marriage with a smart person rather than an arranged marriage with a dull person.

Now where does the solution lie?

Let us rethink the whole situation again. We cannot stop people falling in love; we cannot accept the person of outside caste because it will spoil our environment and our blood (that’s funny but many still believe this).

Our youth is mature enough to choose their life partners. It’s not necessarily only attraction when it comes to intercaste marriages, but some other factors as well like relationship, friendship, true love, etc., so our lecturers (those old people who use to bore us) should not use the word “attraction” when it comes to intercaste marriages as it reflects their own hidden mental status!

I respect the fact that Parsis will not include outside caste members in the Zoroastrian religion. I also believe that the Persian blood must be preserved and as much as possible a Parsi should marry a Parsi only.

But the heart has its own reasons. All the logic in this world won’t prevent you from falling in love with a person you never intent to. We also can’t tell our love that, “Don’t come near me! I am a Zoroastrian! I need to save my religion!” Actually, it just happens. Love defies all logic.

So, at the same time we have the responsibility to preserve our Blood and also our Love. When a choice does come to choose Religion or Love we naturally choose Love (being the kind of emotional fools we all are!). We also want that our spouse should be respected and accepted in the same way as we get accepted in our community. But here all the problems start.

Intercaste marriages (though the bravest!) are looked upon as inferior marriages (this is in every community). The couples that do intercaste marriage do not get accepted fully by either side, not our side nor theirs. You tell me, what was their fault? Their fault was that they loved each other and also married overlooking the fact that they were both of different castes. I don’t say that, but this is what they go through every day. Even in gatherings like marriages, parties, etc. But these couples don’t care for the world or society they just care for each other. They are modern people, but sometimes they do feel it from their inside that, neglect…

I think that we must make the lives of such couples easier.

My thinking is based upon the line written in the Book of the HA written by Prophet Asho Zarathrustra “Zoroastrianism is for the whole mankind” I don’t read any Persian scripts but Dr. Chatterjee a renowned scholar on Zoroastrianism has stated this years ago and also criticized the Parsi community for keeping the religion to Iranians only.

Our present religion’s Architecture has many flaws. The major flaw of this Architecture is simple, it doesn’t work.

And my Software Engineering discipline states, “If the old design is inflexible then it is better to make a new design which is flexible enough to accept changes, which will lead to a long lasting system”

Remember, we must leave the old design as it is and protect the honor of good blood. We can’t change the old system made by our great ancestors. Each religion has it’s own rules and traditions, and we must respect the traditions of the religion in which we are and like the ARZ we must not think to include outside members in our present religion. I wrote to ARZ about my idea, but ARZ is only interested in conversion and I am talking about a new World Religion, which would be even better than the present one, because we are capable of making one.

As our community people has always been great initiators we can do one thing which no other religion has ever done for its kids, we can make a new design, yes what I am talking about is we must make a mirror image of Zoroastrianism which is based upon Indian laws and not the Persian laws formulated some 1500 years ago. This new religion will be known as the “Protestant Zoroastrianism” and this religion will accept all the members from any community and also intercaste couples from any community. So this religion would be the “First Lover’s Religion” on earth. Religion has always been a hurdle against love and love has always been a hurdle against religion, but no longer.

This religion won’t behave in any special way as the Orthodox Zoroastrians (which we are presently) but in the same way as other religions in India behaves. No special treatment.

The Protestant Zoroastrian religion will not be a sub caste of the Orthodox Zoroastrian religion but a completely different religion with a different set of values.

Anybody can go into the Protestant Zoroastrian Agyari or Atash Behram or Dokhma, and can offer their prayers. Anybody can be included in Protestant Zoroastrian only if he/she wishes and not by force or greed. The Protestant Agyaris will have their own Dastoors. If Orthodox Zoroastrian dastoors do wish to help to train Protestant Zoroastrian dastoors they are most welcome to do so, but keeping the Protestant rules in mind.

The Protestant Zoroastrians will be known as True Zoroastrians in the eyes of Prophet Asho Zarathrustra and God Ahura Mazda they don’t need any certification from Orthodox Zoroastrian authorities. But I know that the Orthodox Zoroastrian won’t be comfortable with the Protestant Zoroastrian because they suffer from their egos of pure blood but what really counts in the eyes of God is not the language, body, blood, environment, etc. but the soul and only the soul. But the Protestant Zoroastrians don’t want any stamp on them or help from the Orthodox Zoroastrian people in the matters of their personal opinions. I am confident that if the new person is given an environment similar to Orthodox Zoroastrian then he may begin to like Zoroastrianism, as it is a religion free from any orthodox values and a “Modern Religion”, which will have all the good points of Orthodox Zoroastrianism.

Intercaste marriage would also be allowed in this new religion. There is no need for the Orthodox Zoroastrians to join in this religion. They can keep their spouse in the Protestant Zoroastrian and remain themselves as Orthodox Zoroastrians also if they wish to.

On the other hand, the Orthodox Zoroastrians should not view the Protestant Zoroastrians as lower people because this is the religion, which will survive the test of time after they have perished within some years so they must try to help this new religion as much as they can. Although the language of Protestant Zoroastrians would not be similar to Parsis, the environment also won’t be similar to the Parsis, not even the body would be similar to a Parsi, in fact it would be a mixture of many cultures, but as I told you all these things are trivial in front of the soul. Consider the case of the Muslim religion, an Afghan, Arab, Indian Muslim, Turkish Muslim, African Muslims, etc. they all are different having different language, body, blood & environment but they are still Muslims because Muslim religion is for the whole mankind and not for any one group of people. In the same way Protestant Zoroastrian will be for the whole mankind and not for the group of people and would be free of any orthodox values and a Modern Religion, which encourages love and scientific thinking.

The Protestant Zoroastrian will have their own Avesta books translated in many different languages as needed. The Avesta books would also show the meanings of the Prayer text in that respective language. So people who have complaints that they can’t understand their own prayers would have a better insight on the meanings of prayers they utter. For this Protestant Zoroastrian should have their own printing press to publish various books relating to Zoroastrianism. If the Orthodox Zoroastrians are willing to provide books to the Protestant Zoroastrian then they are most welcome to do so.

The Protestant Zoroastrian Navjote ceremony and marriage ceremony would be similar to the Orthodox Zoroastrian ways.

The Protestant Zoroastrian will have its own calendar; the member’s council (which will be held every year) of the Protestant Zoroastrianism would decide this calendar. So, the Protestant Zoroastrian New Year might be different than the Orthodox Zoroastrians New Year.

The Protestant Zoroastrians will have their own offices, which will administrate the affairs of the Protestant community and would do all the welfare work in a similar way done by the Parsi Panchayat of Orthodox Zoroastrian. The headquarters of such offices will be decided by the council and can be anywhere in this world. An annual meeting will be held at these headquarters to discuss changes to be included in the Protestant faith.

The Protestant Zoroastrian would be the first religion to get updated every year. There would be no stagnant beliefs & no religious extremism, but dynamic logical behavior, which will guide the members of the community. Even the Bible or the Koran does not get updated so frequently and what had been written a thousand years ago (with good intentions in those times) is not necessarily true today. But Protestant Zoroastrian will update every belief with the change of times.

There always had been a war between Religion and Science also as religion relied on hope and science relied on principles and logic. After the advent of Protestant Zoroastrian this problem will be eliminated, as the Protestant Zoroastrian religious books will be compliant with the latest available scientific literature. This will be the first religion, which will keep both Love and Science as its base rather than culture or environment (on the basis of which other religions were founded). As I told you that this is going to be the first Modern Religion.

There also has been a war between Religion and Philosophy as religion relied on extremism and idea of groupism & philosophers believed in world peace & togetherness, so Philosophers are most welcome in the Protestant Zoroastrian faith to discuss their ideas, how ever radical it might be.

Also the intercaste couples will have an environment in which all accepts them and the problem of neglect by the society would also end as a new society already awaits them & the Orthodox Zoroastrian children who had married outside their caste would still remain Zoroastrian, in this way. They can even go to Protestant Zoroastrian Agyari with their spouse and children.

Also those people who have the claim that they are Zoroastrians but are not admitted in the Zoroastrian religion would find a place in the Protestant Zoroastrian; also the Protestant Zoroastrian will be based on better ideologies than the current Zoroastrian ideologies. These kind of people have been scattered all over the world after the loss of Iran War by the Parsis, it is said that large numbers are in Russia, but now in frustration they are accepting Islam as they are not accepted in Zoroastrianism. Such people can enter the Protestant Zoroastrian faith.

The Orthodox Zoroastrians are divided into 3 sub castes Shahenshahi, Irani, and Kadmi but the Protestant Zoroastrian will only be 1 whole body and there won’t be any further sub castes. So the problem of sub castes would also be eliminated.

I hope you find my solution of cloning the Zoroastrianism quite useful, and the advent of the newer religion named Protestant Zoroastrianism is the only way by which our Parsi community will survive the test of time.

There is another way but I don’t recommend it, which is we start to include all members of outside community in our religion. But as I stated earlier we must try to preserve Zoroastrian blood & culture as much as possible as we are a very small community trying to preserve our culture and environment and our lecturers (those old people who never like to depart with their mikes) won’t also agree to include outside members in our religion. The Zoroastrian Scholars should come out of their libraries and watch the real world. We need to keep another bucket under that leaky bucket so that the water remains preserved in some way.

I do hope that you like my suggestion to save the Parsi community from extinction. I just don’t want to write papers on this thing because doing is more important than saying (this also implies to thinking, dreaming, wishing, and writing) and I alone cannot do anything but much support will be needed from other people also who have the same ideologies as mine. Remember, I don’t want to change the existing Zoroastrianism nor do I want any partition on the existing religion.

The start of something new brings the hope of something great. We people are much capable of defining a new religion than those who lived 1500 years ago. To save our religion we cannot wait for any Behram Varezavand (the savior) to come to earth (is he on vacation right now?). This would be just another wishful thinking that we are in right now. We must not be dependable on any wishful thinking. We can’t wait for the gods to help us; we have to do this thing ourselves.

Together we can start this new religion and save mankind from present religions, which are now problematic & full of Religious extremism and we must give the whole mankind a Modern Religion to live with which will be based upon Love and Science rather than on Culture and Environment. The Youth should step forward to fight against the orthodox society, which cripples their own freedom and make this idea a success.

Yours truly,

MAHERNOZ PERCY DARUWALA

26^th January 2005

DIARY OF MAHERNOZ

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