Frashogard

Roj Adar Mah Khordad, 1379 Yz.

Fasli Ava Parab

Our religion lays great stress not only on ritual purity but also on physical purity in daily life. There is a proverb amongst Parsis: ‘Bawa, aapro Dharam to baal kartaa baarik!’, i.e. ‘Our religion is finer than a hair’. This seems to be a contradiction, since hair is dead matter and hence impure. There are specific instructions in our religion regarding how cut hair and nails should be disposed and why it is necessary to have a bath after cutting hair or nails. However the saying can be traced to a miraculous incident that took place nearly one thousand years ago, in the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030 AD), the fierce Afghan ruler notorious for looting various temples of India. Although a strict Muslim, the Sultan was also a lover of ancient Iranian history and it was he who commissioned the poet Firdausi to write the epic Shah Nameh. Here is a drawing of this Sultan in his court.

The fact that the king was enamoured by the stories of the ancient Zoroastrian kings of Iran did not go down well with the more extremist elements of his court. They poisoned the ears of the Sultan, pointing out that in his Islamic state there were still some Zoroastrians who refused to give up the old faith. This was an affront to the strict Muslim king, who believed he was ruling by the will of God. The Sultan summoned the

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Roj Spendarmad Mah Khordad, 1379 Yz.

One evening, somewhere around the end of 1906, on a red-letter day of the Parsi calendar (a Hamkara, when Parsis are supposed to visit the Agiary), Behramshah’s wife told him that though she tried she could not somehow make it to the Agiary that day and since it was a Hamkara, she thought that at least somebody should offer sandalwood to the Padshah on their behalf. But nobody known could be seen that day and as the evening advanced, she requested Behramshah himself to visit the Baug-e-Parsa Adaran nearby and handover the sandalwood and some Chamach money to anyone going inside. It had become time for Behramshah’s normal evening walk too and he agreed and started getting ready to go outside. As he bent down to tie the laces of his shoes, Behramshah suddenly remembered the wise words of the Sraoshavarez Marzbanji Saheb: ‘Behramshah, when you are around 47 years old, and the following planet will enter some house of your horoscope, there will be a sudden and inexplicable series of events which will force you to announce to the outside world where you have been and what you have been taught. It will be the time to teach Parsis the true Zoroastrian knowledge of Khshnoom.’

Behramshah realized that indeed, he had passed the age and in his mind he wondered what would happen next. Having got ready, Behramshah took the sandalwood and the Chamach money from his wife and began walking towards the Baug-e-Parsa Adaran, a short distance away from his house in Machlipeeth, Surat. As he neared the entrance of the Adaran, Behramshah saw a Mobed standing there, so he performed his Kusti and then handed over the sandalwood and the Chamach money to the Mobed Saheb. As he turned around to continue his walk, he saw a group of youngsters and middle aged men sitting in the verandah next to the Adaran, discussing something. Always curious to know more, Behramshah went near the verandah and heard an elderly man talking about Atash to the assembled group. Behramshah stood there silently, listening to the man. The person delivering the talk was Manchersha Master and the group was the Bazm, in its monthly meeting. Manchersha saw the very tall and dignified personage of Ustad Saheb and politely requested him to take a seat and listen to the discussions. Behramshah sat down and listened and soon thereafter, Manchersha Master finished speaking on the topic of the day – Atash Vohufrian.

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Roj Asishvangh Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

The change of century – from 1899 to 1900 brought far reaching changes all around the world. It was a time of great scientific and medical progress, ‘rationalism’, becoming ‘modern’ and throwing out all that was considered ‘old fashioned’. The English Raj was at its peak and India was being systematically bled by the British who used their divide and rule tactic to take over all of India. At the same time, a more sinister movement was afoot. Hordes of Christian missionaries of all kinds – Catholics, Protestants, Presbyterians, Irish and many more were descending in the cities and villages of India with a single purpose – to rid India of her ‘pagan’ religions, to ‘redeem’ Indian souls and send them to heaven by the only way possible – by making them Christian! In their unholy haste to convert India, the missionaries used many tricks and tools – education, literacy campaigns, medical help, welfare societies and good old ’scholarly studies’. The Hindu scriptures were ’studied’, faults found and then compared to the pristine Bible. How could anybody reach heaven without accepting that Christ was the only Saviour?

Within the Parsi community also, there were great changes happening. Always at the forefront to adopt anything from the British, the leading Parsi families of that time began aping the British at all levels. Fancy mansions, non-Parsi cooks and butlers, giving up the practice of segregation, abandoning the Parsi dress and wearing the British coat and tie – all these and more were being picked up by members of our community. The British, known for the shrewd behavior, encouraged this aping, heaping awards and titles of Rao Bahadur and Khan Bahadur on prominent Parsis, the walls of whose houses were adorned with the photographs of the King and Queen Victoria!

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Roj Fravardin Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

Finally, Behramshah reached Surat and met his dear mother who had waited all these years for him. Behramshah was a very changed person from the stammering adolescent which his mother had last seen him as. Behramshah narrated to his mother all the incidents which had happened in his life and his great fortune to meet the Abed Sahebs. The mother was overjoyed to see her son and listened to all his adventures with great delight and admiration. One of the first clarifications which Behramshah sought from his mother was regarding the incident of Rashidji and the fake telegram. Behramshah was curious to know what had transpired on that day.

His mother explained that on her Roj birthday, she and Behramshah’s sister were sitting in their house in Surat having the traditional birthday lunch of Dhan-Dal, curd and fish when a very tall Mobed, dressed in the priestly robes suddenly walked right into their house and up to the very table where the mother and daughter were seated and began asking ‘where is Behramshah?’ The two of them were very surprised and a bit alarmed and Behramshah’s sister got a little annoyed and spoke sharply to the Mobed: ‘how can you suddenly walk into our house like this, there is no Behramshah or anyone else here!’ Hearing this, the Mobed turned around and walked out of the house! Behramshah’s mother immediately asked her sister to call the Mobed back so that they could get some information about her missing son from him. But there was no sign of him and he seemed to have vanished as quickly as he had appeared!

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Roj Dae-pa-Meher Mah Ardibehesht, 1379

Fasli Meherangan

After this debate, a Muslim gentleman who had a unique power came on to the stage. He had developed a relationship with a low level spiritual entity (Jin) which enabled him to get things from afar in an instant. He would ask people to put money on the table and ask for something, say from another city. As the money was put on the table, the man would pray something and the money would fly off. In a few seconds the item which had been asked for would appear on the table. Ustad Saheb went on watching this tamasha for some time and then made a sign to his friend Hakim Jalalshah. Now a person in the audience put a rupee on the table and asked for some sweets from a famous mithai shop of Delhi. Ustad Saheb concentrated his thoughts and began staring at the rupee coin. The magician started his prayers but nothing happened. The more he prayed, the more steady the rupee remained on the table! Soon he realized that there was a person more powerful than him in the audience. With his developed eyes, the magician saw Behramshah staring at the rupee and realized his game was up. He came up to Behramshah and requested him to lift the gaze. As soon as Behramshah looked away the rupee flew off the table and a few moments later, the famous sweets from the mithai shop of Delhi appeared on the table.

The assembled scholars were appreciative of this Parsi gentleman’s unique knowledge and power and at the end of the Jamaat, Ustad Saheb was presented with a walking stick with a silver head, which is considered a mark of great distinction in their scholarly circles. The presence of Behramshah in the Jamaat remained a topic of discussion for many years in the scholarly circles of Moradabad, because many years after this incident, a person seeking Behramshah came to Surat, asking everybody if they knew the “ilumdar Behramshah”.

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Roj Tir Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

The dynasty of Mewar is one of the oldest in India, if not the world. The dynasty claims descent from the Sun God Himself and are hence called “Suryavanshi”, stretching back to around 4000 BC! The historical records are available from around 600 AD and show an unbroken line of succession from those days. A unique feature of this dynasty is that they do not claim to Kings, rather they call themselves custodians of the Divine Kingdom of Shri Eklinji, a manifestation of Lord Shiva. In the long history of India, where various outsiders came, attacked and conquered, the House of Mewar was one of the few, if not only which did not bow down to any of the attackers, fiercely maintaining their territory and also their distinct family lineage. They refused to give their ladies to outsiders, married within themselves and hence have succeeded in maintaining their racial identity till this day. Despite the Mughal Emperor Akbar’s best efforts, Mewar refused to bow down to him, giving rise to one of India’s most celebrated heroes, Maharana Pratap. Even during the British empire, Mewar was one of the few princely states which did not bow down to the British. They maintained a strict aloofness from the British, never visited them or attended their fancy Durbars.

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Roj Khorshed Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

In addition to the Aksir-e-Azam, the Sraoshavarez gave certain other very valuable gifts to our Master. These included a small silver Taaveez, or amulet, shaped like a betel nut. Inside this was inscribed a powerful Avesta Nirang, which had the effect of discouraging any wild animals, carnivores or any malevolent spirits from getting anywhere close to or attacking the Master during the various travels which he was about to undertake in Iran and India.

Our Master had already been taught Ilm-e-Sezda, whereby he could converse with his Master, the Sraoshavarez Marzbanji Saheb at any time. This Ilm was further strengthened and deepened and even after his arrival in India, whenever the Master was in any doubt, he would always go into this practice and was able to converse with the Sraoshavarez and the other top Abeds of Demavand.

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Roj Dae-pa-Adar Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

It was late in the afternoon one pleasant day in Firdaus, Behramshah was in the house of one of the resident farmers, chatting with the family, when a message was sent that the Sraoshavarez wanted to see Behramshah. The eager student immediately set off to meet the Master, who had just emerged from his afternoon prayers. Taking Behramshah by his side, the Sraoshavarez began to speak to him in a very kind and gentle voice: “My dear son, nearly three and a half years have passed since you were brought to Firdaus. In this time you have won our hearts and minds with your innocence and cheerfulness. But now the time has come for you to leave us and return home not only to your beloved mother who waits anxiously for you, but also to begin the most important part of your life’s mission.”

It was as if a dagger had pierced through Behramshah’s heart. He fell at the feet of his Master and began sobbing uncontrollably, begging him not make him leave this pure paradise. My dear Parsis, just writing these words brings tears to my eyes as I try to picture that scene nearly 150 years ago when Behramshah realized that his time in Demavand was drawing to a close. Who, in his right mind and senses, would want to leave paradise and come back to the material world of treachery and lies? Who would want to move even one step away from the august presence of a Sraoshavarez? Who would want to stop breathing the pure, spiritually charged air of Firdaus in exchange for the pollution filled air of the outside world? The Sraoshavarez picked up Behramshah and comforted him: “You shall always be in our hearts, and whenever you need us, we will always be there for you, Behramshah. I have made arrangements for everything.”

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Roj Ardibehesht Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

The education of Behramshah continued at an intensive level, given his short stay. The following description may seem a little complicated some of my readers but I am going into some deep details to give you an idea about the depth of knowledge which was imparted to Ustad Saheb.

According to the Zarathushtrian mystic revelation, the all-encompassing knowledge or Ilm, can be grouped under four main categories:

• Ilm-e-Simia
• Ilm-e-Kimia
• Ilm-e-Rimia and
• Ilm-e-Limia

All knowledge, whether discovered in this current Zravane Daregho Khadata or not, falls under any one of these four categories. A brief description of each of these four categories is given below.

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Roj Hormuzd Mah Ardibehesht, 1379 Yz.

In addition to being the spiritual sanctuary of the Zarathushtrian faith, the secluded dimension of Demavand also serves another very important function – that of being the repository of knowledge, arts, crafts, culture, literature of the Iranian civilization from earliest times till today. Thus every topic which will arise and vanish within the 81,000 year cycle of Zravane Daregho Khadata, all the art and culture, crafts and knowledge of this entire time period is stored in a specially earmarked area of Demavand called the Talesam of Tangistan.

The Tangistan area is situated in a very large part of the Demavand Kash and is called Talesam to indicate its locked and secret nature. It is not accessible to any but the most chosen few senior members of the settlement. The senior Abed Sahebs of Demavand including the deputy Sraoshavarez Rashidji, and Shaharyar Saheb under the direction of the Sraoshavarez took Behramshah for a visit to this amazing place. The route to the Tangistan area is long and arduous but provides fantastic scenery and a beautiful environment. Despite this natural beauty and clean air, the long walk began to tell on Behramshah’s stamina. As his thoughts began to wander, Rashidji Saheb immediately sensed Behramshah’s discomfort, and in turn, focussed his thoughts on how nice it would be should Abed Shaharyar, who was known in Demavand as ‘neem-Rustam’, i.e. Rustam Junior because of his incredible build, height and strength would lift both of them. The wise Abed promptly caught his senior’s thoughts and laughing, picked up Behramshah under one arm and Rashidji under the other, and proceeded to carry both of them the rest of the way, talking and laughing all the way!

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