Can Parsis donate organs or the body after death?
On Organ & Blood Donation, Primary, Zarathushtrian facts Add commentsThere is an intensive and ongoing campaign, using high profile stars like Aishwarya Rai, asking people to donate their eyes (cornea) after death. Various associations even send volunteers from house to house asking people to sign up forms which declare their intention to donate their eyes post death. Due to the high incidence of lifestyle diseases there is a long waiting list for people who need various organ transplants, like liver, kidney or even hearts. Also, due to the unavailability of cadavers (whole human bodies) for teaching medical students the art of surgery as well as for research, many institutions are requesting people to donate their entire bodies after death for medical research.
Many Parsis believe that there is nothing wrong in donating various body parts such as the eyes (cornea), kidneys or liver either during life or after death.
They consider such a donation as a great act of charity gaining much merit for them. Several Parsis use the argument that our religion always believes in charity and even the act of putting the body in the Dokhma for the vultures is an act of charity. As such, what is the difference between feeding the body to the vulture and giving the organs to some needy person?
In addition to the levels of religious ignorance being extremely high in our community, there is also an amazing lethargy to find out anything about the religion. Parsis will think of something and then arrive at a decision based on their imperfect (or sometimes complete absence) of understanding of our religion. We are also easily swayed by advertising campaigns or the words of other people who may be high up on the ’social’ ladder. Yet they will not ask their own High Priests or learned scholars about these facts.
So does the Zarathushtrian religion allow donation of body parts? The answer is an ABSOLUTE NO. Why? Please read further.
Firstly, one can give away something only if it belongs to oneself. The 70-80 year old life of a human is not to be viewed in isolation. It is a minuscule part of a very long journey undertaken by the Ruvan (more correctly Urvan), ’soul’ to reach a state of perfection and unite with its maker Ahura Mazda.
As part of this journey, the Ruvan is given various helpers and aids to enable it to complete its mission in the fastest possible time. The main aid is the Fravashi or Guiding Force which stays with it at all times and tries to guide the Ruvan on to the right path. The other important aid is the Baodangh or Divine Wisdom which keeps on growing as the Ruvan progresses.
As part of its mission, the Ruvan passes through our Earth for a limited time. For this mission, the Ruvan is given a ultra-physical core (known as Keherp) as well as a physical body (known as Tanu). These two aids comprise the physical body as we see it. After a specific time, and as part of the Ruvan’s ongoing progress, the physical body loses its ability to regenerate itself. This is known as death (rather the correct term is passing away, since it shows the continuality of the process).
As the Ruvan moves out from its physical shell to begin its further onward journey, it is necessary that the aids given to it in this lifetime (namely the physical body and the ultra physical body) should be returned to their maker. How is this done? The prayers of the Geh Sarna ritual do the work of cutting the link between the Ruvan and the physical body. The first three day’s Sarosh ceremonies succeed in securing the safety of the Ruvan from the evil spirits which may attempt to kidnap it in a vulnerable state. The placing of the physical body in the Dokhma and its eating by the vultures and subsequent excretion through the vulture’s digestive system breaks up the physical body to its basic parts (Anasers). The ceremony of Daham Yazad on the dawn of the fourth day and the Sun’s rays then lift these basic parts and pass them on to Ahura Mazda ( not directly but this is a highly simplified version). The specific Talesam of the Dokhma, which was created by the performance of the Tana ceremony during its construction secures the release of the ultra-physical parts. Finally, the Pad Ruz ceremony (called Uthamna) on the dawn of the fourth day lifts the Ruvan and sends it on its onward journey to Chinvat and beyond.
You will now realize the folly of giving away any organ or donating the body by a Parsi. Such an act would cause IRREPARABLE harm to the Ruvan of the deceased. It will halt the onward progress of the Ruvan in a very retrograde manner, and put a spoke in the wheels of the ongoing march to Frashokereiti. It is beyond the power of any words to describe the spiritual harm this act can cause. Kindly avoid taking this step out of misplaced sense of charity. Like I said, one can only give away that which belongs to us. Clearly from the above, it is seen that nothing in our body belongs to us. So we cannot “donate” anything. It would be more akin to stealing.
Secondly, we need to understand that our misplaced act of “charity” may actually be putting a spoke in Nature’s work. Parsis believe in the concept of action-reaction. The present state of a person is totally due to his/her past deeds. While a blind person certainly does require our help and understanding, we cannot play the part of God and try and restore his vision. That prerogative belongs only to God. We can definitely help him in other ways, such as improving his economic standing or getting a good job for him.
Thirdly, the parts given to us by God are for our own use. Could you understand the implications of a person misusing the eyesight given by your “gift” of a cornea? Would not some part of the evil committed by using that organ also flow back to its original owner? We cannot totally absolve our self of that responsibility. And even though the donation may happen after our death, the ill effects would have to be borne by the Ruvan, thereby halting its own progress.
Finally, some Parsis believe that the existing conditions at Dungerwadi and the absence of vultures has resulted in the failure of the Dokhmenashini system. They therefore feel that is is better to go for some other method of disposal such as donating the body to medical research. While it is absolutely true that the absence of vultures has somewhat damaged the system of Dokhmenashini, from the above discussion we can now realise that the Dokhmas are not only for the disposal of the dead body. They are also the engines which will fuel the onward journey of the soul. Even though the vultures may not be present, the primary agent – the Sun is still available in abundance. also the Talesam of the Dokhmas (although damaged by the criminal acts of photography and entry of un-authorised persons into the Dokhma) is still working and is the only thing which will enable the Ruvan to rise on the dawn of the fourth day after death and begin its flight to Chinvat. Hence the irregular working of the system today is not an excuse to take the law into our own hands. We are aware that a large part of the money we pay as taxes is wasted by corrupt officials and bureaucracy – does that mean that we have a right to stop paying taxes? No. And the same argument works for the Dokhmas. The system is bleeding, but we have to carry on with it till the arrival of the Saviour.
In conclusion, therefore, please do not let public campaigns and good looking stars sway our minds. Following the tenets of our religion is more important than any other thing. A hasty step or indiscretion can result in a nightmare for us after death.
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram
Respected Sir,
Thank you for the information, as I too was under the impression that it is the final act of charity that one could do.
Dear Ervard Hathiram:
Can an ailing Zoroastrian Parsi with terminal diseases (heart problems, kidney malfuction, cancer etc.); should use modern medicine like ( triple bipass surgery of heart, kidney dialysis, cancer surgery and chemotherapy), in order to go on living a longer life? Also is it alright to replace diseaseed organs like kidney, heart etc. What are your views on this subject.
Aspi Maneckjee.
I chanced upon your wonderful website which comprises a wealth of information about pristine zoroastrianism.
Thanks Ervad Hathiram for sharing your knowledge, wisdom, interalia.
God Bless !
Respected Dasturji Saheb,
Thank you very much for your valuable guidance. May be now I can start thinking fresh and most importantly in correct direction.
One more Question please,
Is it necessary for a parsi to conduct the ritual of Dokhmanashin compulsary for any part of our body that has been amputed due to some medical resons or lost during any accident?In that case our body is still not complete at the time of our natural death of the body?
Dear Ervad Hathiram,
I read your article on “Can Parsis donate organs or parts of body after death”. Permit me to ask you one question to a point which you have not clarified.
Can a Parsi in his life time be a recipient of an organ on grounds of health?
Sincerely yours,
Superb article.Ervad saheb has very good knowledge about our religion.
due to gangrene caused by diabetes my mother’s leg had to be amputated and we had consigned it to the Doogerwadi.
I am happy that we did the right thing after reading your article.
thank you saheb!
I’m sorry, but I have to respectfully disagree. I feel that my journey after death is less important, and certainly less tangible or controllable, than my ability or decision to actually, definitely help someone else by donating an organ. If you are self-minded enough to believe that avoiding the “spiritual harm” of your own soul after death is somehow more crucial than helping the physical, active health of those who are still living, then you are committing the ultimate act against our faith, which preaches good words, good deeds and good thoughts. I despair that a learned, degreed man of our faith–whose earnings as a priest are, ironically, partially dependent upon the charity of other followers–could possibly preach against “taking this step [the act of donating organs/cadavers] out of [a] misplaced sense of charity.” Beyond that, you insult the actions and beliefs of people who donate organs by suggesting that they only do so out of a “misplaced sense of charity:” some do it out of love; others do because, morally, it is the correct thing to do, and I do not believe that these actions are at all misguided.
First of all, there is no way that our tenets could actually address the act of organ donation simply due to the ages during which the tenets were written. Because the concept of organ donation simply did not exist back then, it’s an obvious truth that it isn’t directly addressed in our faith. It is alarming that the simple absence of an idea can somehow be translated into a strong advocation against that idea. While the writings do state that maintaining the holistic nature of the physical body is important to our journey after death, there is nothing that suggests that choosing to take another charitable, noble path would compromise that journey. If you choose to interpret it that way, you are taking a significant interpretative leap from the actual teachings, and, in turn, denying many people life-changing help.
You write that participating in organ donation “will halt the onward progress of the Ruvan in a very retrograde manner, and put a spoke in the wheels of the ongoing march to Frashokereiti.” In turn I suggest that preachings like these halt the onward progress of our faith; indeed, statements like these–which small-mindedly define our great religion by the letter of the faith, rather than in a way that is spiritually meaningful, relevant, and practicable by Parsis today–are the very reason why our faith, and its practicing population, has dwindled to the point of extinction.
I ask you to consider this concept: history has repeatedly proven that if a faith is entirely unwilling to evolve, or to reconsider obsolete fragments of its beliefs, then it will inevitably fade away. For example, the prohibiting of marriage outside the faith may have been relevant 2000 years ago, but today its enforcement requires a very small population to continuously intermarry. Where the initial goal of this practice was to keep bloodlines pure and increase our population of our faith, today this practice does the opposite very effectively, by repeatedly introducing various cancers and genetic disorders to an increasingly weak, meager pool of offspring.
In fact, it’s even sadder that a Parsi priest would advocate strongly against organ donation when those same donations would help so many other Parsis who suffer from poor health and disease. I believe that, if the act of augmenting the health–and perhaps saving the life–of one of your own people after your own death is considered by our learned men to “result in a nightmare for us after death,” then perhaps we are placing far too much weight on our journey after death rather than the quality of other people’s lives before death. When did such outlandish, almost criminal selfishness become appropriate behavior for supposedly holy people, and why would you justify it — let alone strongly advocate it — by choosing to misconstrue the writings of our faith in such a way?
I am a Parsi and I grew up loving my faith. Today, I am an adult and, while I still love and respect the faith, I worry that the increasingly zealous, overly literal take on our faith will cause its ultimate demise. I mean no offense in this; I simply wish you would consider the repercussions of your above essay from the perspective of the thousands of people — including Parsis — that organ donation could help. And I hope that you don’t just easily dismiss my argument by thinking, “Well, a true Parsi would never accept an organ donation anyway,” because that means you’ve entirely missed the point. I hope you think this over.
Dear Mikhaila,
Thanks for your comments. You have every right to disagree, that is your personal choice. But I would like to correct a few of your statements which, in my opinion, and based on my over 2 decades of rigorous academic and spiritual study of our religion, seem wrong and misplaced.
The Zarathushtrian religion places great emphasis on leading a righteous life. The 70-80 years on Earth is one small part of the overall life cycle. However, since our physical mind is incapable of remembering or recalling the other phases of the lifecycle, we obviously tend to believe that the present is the most important (in some ways it is) and the life “well lived” is more important. But the religion also lays great stress on insisting that the life hereafter will be greatly moulded by our thoughts words and deeds in the physical life. Your comment on good thoughts, words and deeds is simplistic, naive and stated without understanding. Please refer to my post http://www.frashogard.com/does-the-zarathushtrian-religion-teach-only-good-thoughts-good-words-good-deeds to really understand what this means. By the way who defines”good”? Is it man-defined? Then it’s useless since man will twist good and bad to suit his convenience. Good and bad is always defined by God, through his Authorized Messengers, and encapsulated in all the Holy Scriptures. But man being the wily creature he is, suddenly decides that “oh, this rule is not applicable in the 21st century and this won’t be applicable 30 years hence!” In this manner, all rules are lost!
As I have written above, charity can only be done by giving away something which is your own. You cannot do charity from someone else’s fortune! The body is given to you by Ahura Mazda, and it needs to be returned to him in exactly the same manner as is was. You cannot decide, however noble your aims might be and I appreciate your humanism, to “donate” some part simply because it was only given to you for a limited purpose, and when that purpose is over, it goes back to its maker.
Mikhaila, the teachings and tenets of the Zoroastrian religion (and all others) are not constrained by the passage of time. The message of Zarathushtra is for all time. It cannot “evolve” because it is already perfect! Only human thoughts evolve because they are rising towards perfection, whereas Zarathushtra’s thoughts words and deeds are said to be of the most spiritual perfection! (Yanim mano, vacho, shyaothanem, see Yasna 28.0)
Please also let me make it very clear that I do NOT live on charity of others! My earnings comprise of the rightful fees of my own hard work and toil and the difficult life of a practicing priest of which you have no idea or comprehension. The very fact that a “learned degreed man” has written this should perhaps start you thinking that it could not be lightly written?
The point is, today’s modern world, with all its attendant ills has veered off the true path of religion and is on its way to self destruction by trying to play God with everything – plants, minerals, animals, and now, humans too! In just 100 years of “scientific progress” and “medical advances” we have raped Mother Earth to the point where the whole scientific community is itself warning that we are going too far. To avoid the guilt factor for all this, monstrosities like organ donation are tried to be explained away as “charity”, humanism and the like.
You can treat it that way and there is no one to stop you from going ahead. But the truth of Nature cannot be wished away and everyone has to answer for their thoughts, words and deeds. When we face our maker, only the truths of Nature will hold, not the hollow protestations of truth suited to man’s convenience and comfort.
Best regards and without any personal malice,
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram
This is my first visit to your website, due to time constraints(today) I have not even browse thro the contents. Sure I must say there is a lot to be understood. Will visit frequently & sumbit comments regularly. Bye for now and regards.
Could you at your convinience maybe pen an article on the right way of disposing our dead in places where dokhmenashini is not possible nor is it possible to get the body to a Dokhma.
It would be very relevant for the diaspora living in Europe/North America. Although all prayers are conducted by competant Mobeds living here, the disposal choices are burial or cremation. How does that effect the moving forward of the soul?
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks
Minoo