REJOINDER to Grant's article in Parsiana

Dear Sir,

This is in reference to the letter from one n. grant from Poona that has been published in your mazagine "Parsiana".

Since your magazine favours the liberals and the inter-marrieds whose aim is obviously to dilute and ultimately destroy our sacred religion that our forefathers preserved for thousands of years, we are not surprised to see such letters being printed in the pages of the openly liberal and anti-Zarathushtri magazine that the Parsiana has turned into over the past decade, to the great sorrow and disgust of many religious Zarathushtris the world over.

Mr. grant obviously favours the Muslim jafary, a renegade who has discarded his own divine religion of Islam and now seeks to distort and damage another great religion, the Mazdayasni Zarathushtri religion of our forefathers.

First of all, may we ask Mr. grant if he is in any way affiliated to this millionaire Muslim from America, and the Dr. Goebbels-like Spenta University that the Muslim has started in Poona, in order to "re-educate the Zoroastrian masses" to the liberal anti-Zarathushtri way of thinking. If Mr. grant is so affiliated, then the bias he bears in this matter is obvious and he cannot be said to be an impartial observer.

Mr. grant has erred in declaring "the chief antagonist against 's inclusion is Khojeste Mistree". Thousands of Zarathushtris, Parsee as well as Irani protested against the inclusion of the Muslim renegade in a Zoroastrian congress. The protest included the High Priests of our religion and was backed up by a strong anti-inclusion letter from the Bombay Parsi Punchayat, the largest body of Zarathushtris in the world.

So, Mr. grant must reeducate himself and find out the true scope of all the worldwide protests against this Muslim, who over the past decade has continuously attacked our religion and insulted the religious feelings of thousands of Zarathushtris worldwide, in saying that our Hormuzd Yasht is a forgery, our Prophet Zarathushtra was NOT a Prophet, our Shah Faredun was a Bhang drinker, our Meher Yazad was a SNEAK, our Adarbad Marespand was a stuntman and a publicity seeker, and insinuating that our Priests used to enjoy prostitutes in our fire temples in the past, besides openly distorting and substituting words in the Avestan scriptures.

Mr. grant says: "none of us was ever born a Zarathushtri but was converted to the faith by Zoroaster from whatever religion we were then following in Iran." This shows the minimal extent of the religious knowledge of Mr. grant. Every student of the religion knows that our Aryan ancestors followed the Mazdayasna (Worship of Ahura Mazda) religion for thousands of years before the arrival of the Prophet Zarathushtra, who re-revealed the ancient faith of the Aryan forefathers in all its pristine purity. From there on we called ourselves Mazdayasni Zarathushtris, followers of the Mazdayasni faith as taught by Zarathushtra.

As such there was no "conversion" in the Muslim/Christian sense of the word, which is what jafry seems to have drummed into the mind of Mr. grant.

Mr. grant says the Muslim's "low opinion of our clergy" is "shared by most enlightened people in the community". Mr. grant must mean, by the term "enlightened", the INGRATES of our community who do not appreciate the great debt our religion owes to the Dasturjees and Ervads over the centuries, who are the CUSTODIANS and PROTECTORS of our religion - even the Gathas would not be around today, if they had not been preserved by the faithful priests.

Faithful Zarathushtris would always appreciate the great importance of priests in our religion, however Muslims like jafary would not - since there are no priests in Islam, which is the religion that jafry belongs to.

Mr. grant says "how else can one account for members of our community going in droves to visit shrines of Sai Baba of shirdi or meher Baba of Nagar, or Khwaja Pir of Ajmer, or the St. Michael's Church at Bombay?" The fault for such activities lie with the followers, who have become too liberal and dabble freely in all religions like the hippies in the West did in the 60's, rather than be steadfast and have FULL FAITH in the sacred relgiion they were born in. And the presence of Zoroastrian "adherants" such as Mr. grant, who favour non-Zoroastrians attacking the very things their own father or grandfather beleived in, does nothing to draw these people back to their own faith.

Defending the attacks of the outsider on the Zoroastrian after death ceremony of the dog sighting the corpse, Mr. grant shrieks "to continue such a ritual now seems bizarre". May I remind Mr. grant that science does not understand the spiritual things in this world. The dog's gaze is considered by us Zarathushtris to be purifying and spiritual, and it derives away evil influences from the dead body. This cannot be replaced by a cold stethoscope or a brain scan.

If mr. grant does not understand the spiritual importance of these ceremonies of his father and forefathers, it is better that he does not attack them in this manner.

The Muslim has also demeaned the ritual in which we Zarathushtris consume the consecrated Nirang, and in defending the outsider's attacks on his own religion, Mr. grant spouts "before the advent of antiseptics like Listerine or Dettol, perhaps bull's urine was used for the purpose. However, to continue this today seems repugnant."

This attack is DESPICABLE and shows the extent of Mr. grants knowledge of our religion. Nirang is not just an antiseptic like Mr. grants Listerine or Dettol, but a powerful spiritually sanctified liquid charged with the power of our Mathravani so as to have the power to drive away evil, sanctify a place, create an Atash Behram or Agiari and also be used in the purification of a Navar Martab, an advanced Zarathushtri priest. Indeed it is the CORNERSTONE of our religion and any attack on Nirang is an attack on the very roots of our sacred religion. Mr. grant would do well not to attack his own religion on the promptings of non-Zoroastrians such as jafrey.

Mr. grant says "it is therefore necessary for religion to bend to serve the needs of man in the time he is living in, and not vice versa. It is for this reason that this ancient of all religions must never be allowed to get outdated." I would ask Mr. grant if he has any idea about what he is talking out. Does he know that the rules of Righteousness, ERETA in Avestan or RITA in Sanskrit are eternal and can never bend or change with time? Can the definition of Good or bad ever change with time? Can Ahura Mazda, who is All Good, ever change with time?

Mr. grant has no idea of the "changes" that are being introduced by jafrey in his cult in California. Already this outsider has declared that there are NO RULES of right and wrong in Zoroastrianism. This has led to his followers declaring an "open season" - and doing anything at all in the name of our religion, including openly practising homosexuality as in the case of an European follower, since their Muslim master teaches them "there are no rules at all".

Mr. grant, this is not our religion you are talking about, but a cult in California started by this Muslim. Wake up to the truth, and divorce yourself from this Muslim and his unfortunate followers, who will come to no good in the end when their souls will be judged by God and punished for the evil they have done in their lives.

Lastly, Mr. grant bends over backwards to show his great admiration for the Muslim who has distorted our religion: "if there is anyone amongst those opposing him who has more knowledge of the true Zoroastrian faith, or who leads a better Zoroastrian life than does, let him then cast the first stone at that man."

Mr. grant, I can show you a THOUSAND such simple Zarathushtris who have more faith in their fingertips, then your Muslim master has in his whole body. It is not enough to have knowledge, one must have faith in the religion that our forefathers followed and preserved for so long. Without faith, knowledge is useless.

And as for leading a "Zoroastrian life", I am sorry, true Zoroastrians do not leave their own religion nor do they pervert and distort other religions, which is what your Muslim master has done. A good man does NOT attack any religion, he honours and respects all religions and their teachings. Based on that principle alone, your Muslim master is not a good man.

This letter will be published on the Traditional Zoroastrianism Home page at http://www.ParsiZoroastrianism.com for the reference of the world wide Zarathushtri community. The page is visited by tens of thousands of visitors worldwide.

Administrator,
Traditional Zarathushtris Mailing List (TZML)
To subscribe: TraditionalZarathushtris-subscribe@egroups.com
(A FREE Mailing list with hundreds of born Zarathushtri members on the internet)

Traditional Zoroastrianism Home Page

Chapters of the Saga

Saga of the Aryans Home Page

How to get the Saga in book form