Distortion of our sacred Fravardin Yasht by non-Zoroastrians

by Ervad Jal Birdy

Friends:

The following article, which is mainly addressed to the Parsi community, will bring home to the silent majority on the (liberal) alias the deception that is being practised in the name of our religion by persons who are assumed to be scholars and religious leaders.

On March 28, 2000, while reporting on the proceedings of the 10th anniversary celebrations of his Assembly, Mr. Ali Akbar Jafarey, the leader of the Zarathushtrian Assembly, under its banner, posted the following mail on the Internet. In this posting he has deliberately distorted our sacred Fravardin Yasht, which is prayed during the performance of the Farokhshi ritual for the benefit of our dear departed souls, and which has also been prayed by thousands of devout Parsis for millennia. The glaring distortions, which are an insult to our faith and beliefs, are highlighted in capital letters and are meant mainly for those Parsis who may be wondering why we should not have Mr. Jafarey preaching at our community gatherings.

The opening passage is taken from Fravardin Yasht, Karda 24. Notice how in the fifth line from the end, Mr. Jafarey has cunningly changed the Avesta word 'ATHRAVA' (meaning an Athravan or Priest of the Hightest Order) to 'MANTHRANO', which he translates as a thought-provoker. Please also note that the next line, which associates Zarathushtra with the Yazashne ceremony, performed by our priests in Agiaries and Atash Behrams, has been deliberately omitted.

The surprising element in this deception is that only last year Mr. Jafarey had published the same passage on the cover of his Spenta Magazine celebrating the birthday of Asho Zarathushtra, only at that time he had substituted the word "YO RATUSH" for the same Avesta word "ATHRAVA". Again, the succeeding two lines were deliberately omitted. Should we wait another few years to find out what word Mr. Jafarey would find most suitable for distorting our scriptures?

All this is because, having generally ridiculed and denigrated our priesthood, he does not want his cult members and others to see Asho Zarathushtra being associated with priests in the scriptures. So he changes and cuts out the relevant sections with impunity. Simple - who is ever going to find out? Or so he thinks!!!

This is just one more example of how our scriptures are slowly being distorted by his new cult. One more reason for being very wary of what you hear from Mr. Jafarey and his Assembly. We just happened to stumble upon this distortion in passing; who knows how much more we would find if we were to really delve deep into Mr. Jafarey’s much self-heralded writings!

The offending posting follows:

********************************************************************

-----Original Message-----
From: ZAssembly@aol.com <ZAssembly@aol.com>
To: zoroastrians <zoroastrians@listbot.com>
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2000 10:28 PM
Subject: CELEBRATING ZARATHUSHTRA'S BIRTHDAY

>zoroastrians

>CELEBRATING ZARATHUSHTRA'S BIRTHDAY
>
>zarathushtrahe spitāmahe idha ashaonō
>ashīmca fravashīmca żazamaide.
>paoiryāi vohu mamnānāi
>paoiryāi vohu vaokushe
>paoiryāi vohu vāverezushe
>paoiryāi fravaźdhāi
>paoiryāi fravaźdhayamnāi
>paoiryāi hanghananāi
>paoiryāi hanghanushe
>gćmca ashemca
>uxdhemca uxdhah'yāca
>sraoshem xshathremca
>vīspaca vohu mazdadhāta ashacithra.
>żehe zćthaźca vaxshaźca
>urvāsen āpō urvaråsca
>żehe zćthaźca vaxshaźca
>uxshin āpō urvaråsca,
>żehe zćthaźca vaxshaźca
>ushtatātem nimravańta
>vīspå speńtō-dātå dāmćn,
>ushta-nō zātō māńthranō

[THE WORD ‘MANTHRANO’, TRANSLATED BY MR. JAFAREY AS ‘THOUGHT-PROVOKER’, IS ACTUALLY ‘ATHRAVA’ IN THE AVESTA, MEANING AN ATHRAVAN-PRIEST OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. HAVING DENIGRATED OUR PRIESTHOOD THOROUGHLY, MR. JAFAREY DOES NOT WANT HIS CULT MEMBERS TO ASSOCIATE ASHO ZARATHUSHTRA WITH THE PRIESTHOOD; SO HE CHANGES OUR SCRIPTURES WITH IMPUNITY, THINKING NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THE DIFFERENCE OR SO HE THINKS!!!]

>żō spitāmō zarathushtrō.

[NOTE ALSO : THE NEXT LINE - FRA NO YAZAITAY ZAOTHRABIYO STERETO BERESMA ZARATHUSHTRO - HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY OMITTED, BECAUSE IT ASSOCIATES ASHO ZARATHUSHTRA WITH THE BARSAM USED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEZASHNE CEREMONY. MR. JAFAREY CUTS IT OUT WITH IMPUNITY, THINKING NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. OR SO HE THINKS!!!]

>idha apćm vījasāiti
>vanguhi daźna māzdayasnish
>vīspāish avi karshvćn żāish hapta.
>
>We venerate the Reward and the Religious Choice of
>the Righteous Zarathushtra Spitama,
>who is the foremost
>to think, speak and do good;
>who is the foremost
>to learn for himself and teach others,
>who is the foremost
>to understand for himself and for others,
>[the following facts] --
>the living world, the Universal Law of Asha,
>the Divine Message and the need to listen to it,
>the Divine Dominion, and all the good things
>created by the Wise One as of Righteousness.
>
>In whose birth and growth
>the waters and plants flourished,
>in whose birth and growth
>the waters and the plants increased,
>and in whose birth and growth
>the entire progressing creation shouted:
>
>Hail to us, for a thought-provoker [WRONG!! - A PRIEST OF HIGHEST CALIBER, PLEASE]
>is born - Zarathushtra Spitama!

[NOTE: THE NEXT LINE WHICH MEANS - BY THE POWER OF THE BARSAM OR YAZASHNE CEREMONY, HE WILL LIBERATE US - HAS BEEN DELIBERATELY OMITTED for the reasons given above.]

>Henceforth the Good Religion
>of Mazda-worship will spread
>all over the seven climes of the earth.

***********************************************************************

The remainder of the posting gives an account of the 10th Anniversary celebrations of Mr. Jafarey’s cult, The Zarathushtrian Assembly. It is not included here because it is of little relevance to this article.

Mr. Jafarey would have his followers believe that he is the Saoshyant predicted to restore the Zarathushti religion to its pristine purity, but little do they realize that he is doing it by deception and distortion of our sacred scriptures and by duping his followers. This is just one more reason why we do not want anything to do with Mr. Jafarey or have him anywhere near our community gatherings. WZC2000 Co-Chairs, Board Members and administrators may wish to make a note of this posting.

With kind regards,

Ervad Jal N. Birdy.

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