Frashogard

Roj Meher Mah Bahman, 1378 Yz.

We have seen earlier that our mind is constantly in the process of originating, analyzing and processing various thoughts. These thoughts, which can be either good, or Gav encouraged; or bad, or Vohun encouraged give rise to a sublime body which forms around our physical body. This sublime body is called ‘Tevishi’ – the emotions, or desire body. Thus our every thought and the resultant word and deed gather around our physical frame in a particular manner and form the Tevishi body. This body, although invisible to us, can be easily seen and understood by spiritually advanced persons, who can then immediately tell us what we have been up to in the last 24 hours. Spiritual Masters of all faiths are experts at visualizing and understanding this web of emotions around our physical body.

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Roj Tir Mah Bahman, 1378 Yz.

Prayers are known in the Avesta as ‘Manthra Spenta’. Manthra means Divine Words, a revelation, while Spenta implies something which gives spiritual progress and benefit. The Avesta Manthras are thus not compositions of a human, but are the essence of the Divine Wisdom received by Zarathushtra from Ahura Mazda, condensed and formulated into a language that can be spoken by the human tongue. These original Avesta Manthras were of various categories, which were then further expanded and added to by the authorized disciples of Zarathushtra, who are known by the name Zarathushtrotemo – those who best take forward the work of Zarathushtra. At different times, based on the spiritual advancement of the persons taking birth during that time period, Rainidars – the spiritual executors of Prophet Zarathushtra and the Repairers of the Faith, appear, and after proving their spiritual authority by passing through miraculous tests, rearrange the Avesta Manthras to better suit the needs of the people to be born thereafter. The last such Rainidar was Dastur Adurbad Mahrespand who lived around 320 AD during the reign of the Sassanian King Shahpur II (309-379 AD). The current Kusti prayers and the Khordeh Avesta are the compositions of Dastur Adurbad Mahrespand, from the original Avesta.

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Roj Avan Mah Bahman, 1378 Yz

Khshnoom – which is the mystical knowledge of the Zarathushtrian religion explains that man’s soul, called Urvan in Avesta or Ruvan in Pahlavi is on a long journey. This journey took the Ruvan from its original destination, which was very close to the Supreme Lord Ahura Mazda, to very far away. Currently, the Ruvan is on its way back ‘home’ – to Ahura Mazda. Why did the Ruvan have to set out on this journey? For the limited purpose of understanding our primary subject of prayer, we can say that the Ruvan was found lacking in certain aspects. These deficiencies had to be removed from the Ruvan to bring it back to its pristine state. In order to remove these deficiencies, it was necessary to set up a whole apparatus and procedure through which this could be done. Further, the Ruvan had to go through a process of fragmentation through which the original Ruvan was broken down according to certain laws of decimalization. Thus the Ruvan which is present within ourselves, as well as in all animate as well as inanimate objects is part of the original whole Ruvan.

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Roj Adar Mah Bahman, 1378 Yz.

Today is the second death anniversary or Baj of Ervad Eruchshah Edulji Karkaria. I am posting the tribute I had written for him when he passed away so that readers of this blog may know what a great person we lost in his passing. It is a shame that our so-called community papers did not have the time or the decency to print even a small obituary on him when he passed away. This tribute is my small way of remembering someone who I was very close to and who helped me and continues to help me in many ways. I request all readers to please recite one Ashem Vohu after reading this tribute as your own personal mark of respect to a great

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Roj Dae-pa-Adar Mah Bahman, 1378 Yz.

Of the many gifts given to Parsis by their Prophet Zarathushtra, that of the Manthras is one of the most significant. Manthras are the divine words of the Prophet and His appointed disciples which form what we loosely call today the ‘Avesta’. Over the thousands of years that have passed since the time of the advent of Zarathushtra, the great majority of the Manthras have been, unfortunately, lost. What we have left is not more than 5% of the original, which are used for daily prayers as well as the rituals which form the core of the faith. The question is often asked: What is the use of praying in a language we do not understand? Cannot the same prayers be translated in to a common language like English and the same said with more concentration and meaning? Would it not be better if some newer and shorter prayers were introduced? In order to answer these and related queries, it is necessary to firstly understand who man is, what is his role in nature, what is prayer, why does man need to pray and what benefits accrue from praying.

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Roj Behram Mah Dae, 1378 Yz.

I have written earlier about the tremendous power possessed by our consecrated Padshah Sahebs, housed in the numerous Agiaries and Atash Behrams around the country. There are so many incidents that happen in these sacred places which go unnoticed, or unreported. There is a great oral tradition in our community, where certain stories are handed down from generation to generation. And of course there are miracles which happen even in this polluted day and age.

The incident I am going to write about today happened maybe 50 to 70 years ago, and as is the case, the names of the persons involved are lost. The facts remain, and they make for very interesting reading.

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