“LIFE”

 

My Mamma always said, “Life is like a box of Chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

                                                                                        -Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)

(From the movie “Forrest Gump”)

A Tribute to My Idol “Forrest Gump”…

 

 

            I didn’t seem to understand this when I first heard this words in my favorite movie “Forrest Gump”. But if you care to think about it, he was so right! (Warning: - I know this might sound absurd to many but logically and mathematically life can be proved by this concept also, so here I need a thinker not simply a reader!)

 

            Our life, like a box of chocolates is full of choices (this includes both good and bad choices, like good and bad chocolates…). Whenever we see a box of chocolates, we react according to our own nature. Our nature in this way does get revealed when we are faced with a box of chocolates.

 

            Some take the best piece from the box (In life, these are the people who makes it right at their first attempt itself!);

 

Some take the best piece for his/her dear ones and keep the inferior one for him (these people are notable for their love towards other people, they will do the same thing in their real life).

 

Some take more than 1 piece (In Life, these are known as greedy people).

 

 Some take a lot of time to select a piece of chocolate because they are confused by so many choices (In life, these people will never reach to a correct decision), and some select it instantly without a second thought (In Life, these people just take the opportunity, whether it is good or bad only time can tell, these are the people with a “just do it!” mentality…)

 

Some people change their minds at the last moment (they liked a certain chocolate but they chose another chocolate for reasons only known to them), and some people never select any chocolates because chocolates are not good for their health (these people in real life are known as cowards they run away from world’s complexity in life they are also known as incapable people) or they don’t like chocolates (In real life, these are the people who don’t like their life) or they have enough chocolates in their hand or in their stomach.(In Life, these people are known as satisfied people, who don’t want anything from their life, they can be old people or saints, anyway a satisfied soul never progresses in life) , or somebody took away that piece of chocolate which he wanted (this in real life is similar to a rejected lover, who is not willing to consider somebody else in lieu of his previous love!). But we shall consider here those normal people who like chocolates and like to eat chocolates.

 

 

We can know the person’s decision power and his quick thinking ability by the way he chooses his chocolates from a box.

 

Life is like a box of chocolates, full of choices and we are the persons who have to select a chocolate from that box. The choice of the chocolate is actually determined by the person himself and not by anybody else.

 

In life the order of importance by which decisions must be taken are Love, Morals, People, Knowledge, Money & things but our world has completely the order reversed!

 

Sometimes it may happen that you find a chocolate just by accident (this in life is known as an opportunity). Now, whether you take this opportunity or ignore it, it depends upon how brave and clever a person you really are. Opportunity also brings with itself a risk. The chocolate is good or bad depends upon your luck (and also your bad luck, if that chocolate is actually a poison for you).

 

            It also may happen that you loose your chocolate before even putting it in your mouth due to some reasons. This in life is known as an accident. Accidents are unfortunate events that do happen in life. It also may happen that there is only 1 chocolate in the box and you really are in need of a chocolate and so you select it without any of your personal considerations and without your wishes, in life this is known as compromise. We do have to compromise in our life on every step.

 

Luck, accidents and compromises are part of our lives.

 

So, Life is like a box of chocolates where everyone has to select his own piece of chocolate. The selection of the chocolate also depends upon many other things as well. You may select a chocolate just because you should select 1 chocolate from that box, or you are too shy to take the bigger piece (even though you wanted it) and you take the smaller piece just to get away with it and then you feel jealous when a smart guy (not shy) sitting besides you takes that bigger piece and relish it with pleasure. When somebody takes our chocolate, the way we react to this also reflects our nature, some people will shout and claim their own chocolate, some will just select another one (if its available), some will fight for their chocolate, some will sulk & cry in the corner, some will not show their emotions but will take a revenge some day, some are pleased to let go off their favorite chocolate  (in real life these are the people who turn out to be the one who just love to sacrifice without the need to do so!).

 

After we have got the chocolate, the way we react also depends upon our nature. Reflexes depends upon 2 conditions, if we got the chocolate we wanted and if we got the chocolate we didn’t wanted. Every human have different reflexes to this situation.

 

The problem with life is that everybody wants that bigger piece or the best-flavored piece. If you feel yourself like a piece of chocolate then you have to decide for you, which piece you really are or want to become. Nobody really cares for those pieces that are considered the lesser ones, but there are different persons who have different views about different chocolates. The piece of chocolate that is considered by many to be the best may not be the best in the eyes of a few people. They may like some other flavor of chocolate. As I told that every kid chooses his/her own chocolate. The kid actually does make a choice of only that chocolate which suits him/her. To him, what really matters is not the look and wrapping of the chocolate, but how tasty the chocolate is for him (and how bigger his purse is when he is buying the chocolate)

 

            Like the bad chocolate (inferior) even the good chocolate has it’s own set of problems. The good chocolate thinks that everybody is after it to eat it. Like the bad chocolate that suffers from inferiority complex, the good chocolate suffers from a superiority complex (it can be easily said from this that too much of something is actually equivalent to nothing). That superiority complex of the good chocolate breaks, when it meets that rare person who doesn’t like its taste. It is an old saying that from a box of chocolates every chocolate chooses his own kid and every kid chooses his own chocolate, but it is clearly apparent that every chocolate suffers some kind of a complex and every chocolate has its own set of problems. We are just chocolates from that box of life.

 

            If you are lucky enough to get a 2^nd piece of chocolate from that same box, then you don’t know what piece you are going to get the 2^nd time, when you are picking the 1^st piece from that box of chocolates. Life is unpredictable and you need to take the right decision on your 1^st time. Nothing in life beats the thrill of 1^st time, whether it be 1^st Chocolate, 1^st Cry of a child, 1^st Walk of a child, 1^st School, 1^st Love (and also 1^st Eye to Eye contact with her), 1^st Friend, 1^st Job, 1^st Business, 1^st Transaction, 1^st Salary, 1^st Bank Account, 1^st Marriage, 1^st Trip to some unknown place, 1^st Experience of doing some unknown work. 1^st Meeting with some unknown person, 1^st Taste of some unknown food, 1^st view of something yet unknown, nothing is better than doing it right the 1^st time.

 

There may or may not be a 2^nd time for you and there is not even any “take back” button in life so you need to make the right decision at the 1^st time, as it is there in your Computer Game. So, many things can be learnt from just that box of chocolates.

 

            We have compared ourselves to be a chocolate eater and also compared ourselves to be a piece of chocolate, because in life we do both of these roles quite nicely. A chocolate eater is faced by the problem of choice, whereas a chocolate is the one who have to believe in destiny. Sometimes we do make judgment based on our own perceptions and sometimes we cannot do anything regarding a particular situation. So, a chocolate eater and a chocolate reflect two states of a person’s mind.

 

The 1^st state of a chocolate eater is the state when we are capable to solve a problem and we have to make a choice i.e. things are under our own control.

The 2^nd state of a chocolate comes when we cannot do anything for a particular situation and just hope for the best.

 

It looks like, we need to become good chocolate eaters first rather than good chocolates. A good chocolate eater is a good decision maker, as he selects the best alternative out of the possible choices.

 

            But in life, situations do come up when you think yourself like a chocolate rather than a chocolate eater. In this situation, we must hope that we get a good chocolate eater. This kind of a situation was very common in our school days, when we use to pray that teacher was in a good mood (if on that day his wife hadn’t beaten him) to check our exam papers and give us good marks. At that time we use to write our papers very carefully and waited for our results. In that situation, we had to become an as much good chocolate as possible.

 

            The same strategy of chocolate and chocolate eater is implemented in every day life also.

 

            Take for e.g. in Chess, the attacking side (or the superior) is the chocolate eater and the defending side feels like a chocolate and just hopes to do well.

 

            In Business also, the boss is generally the chocolate eater and the employee is a chocolate for him and he has to select whom to promote. The employees do their best to please their boss, as they are the chocolates.

 

            But in Love, things don’t happen that way. In love, we are the chocolate eaters and the chocolates at the same time. So, love is and always will be an exception to every rule in our lives. In love, apart from the choice of the chocolate eater, the chocolate eater also worries that would the chocolate like me? What if he/she misunderstood me? Actually, the only difference between world and love is, world always wants back something in return and love never wants anything in return. Love can be a nice fairy tale and can also turn out to be a war between two souls, i.e. if the two souls can love each other so much then they also have the capacity to hate each other that much, but whatever the form, it is still only love. I have never fallen in love, but anyway, just consider these nice ideas for now…

1)      William Shakespeare once wrote that “If you fall in love with someone and you have a reason for doing so, then it’s not love!”  And

2)      The Heart has its own reasons, which the reason knows not of! ...  -Pascal

3)      You don’t live your life unless you find someone to die for… - Anonymous

4)      You have to decide for yourself whether you love your own love more or you love that person whom you love because there is a fine line between these 2 loves (In the 1^st One you keep your love with yourself for your entire life, in the 2^nd You don’t keep any love with yourself, you just give it when it comes to you). To correct this, you need to control your own imaginations about her, because these imaginations or dreams when uncontrolled will be a hindrance to your love in the real world! Never imagine anything, just stick to the real world. Attraction begins from the eyes and ends (or may not end) at your heart, but love begins from the heart and lastly ends (or may not end) at your eyes.

5)      In one case, Man Proposes and God disposes and in another case, God Proposes and Man disposes, both these cases yield the same outcome, “nothing”.

6)      It can also be said that In Love and in Dreams, butchers and poets are on equal grounds!

7)      Love and God are many ways similar to each other, if you believe in it then its Love (God) otherwise its just Attraction (superstition).

8)      The only reason a lover leaves his love intentionally is for her happiness. To be loved is to be fortunate, but to be hated in this way by your own love is like to achieve a distinction.

9)      Love likes to break laws. Love challenges every limit that you have as a person. Love destroys prides & egos (Beauties and prides goes to the graveyard!). Love heals everything because Love brings Hope in Life. Love brings you near to God. True Love cannot be hidden, no matter how hard you try it, it's always seen in your eyes. You don't dive in love, you just fall in it. Love unites persons of two different worlds. You can fall in Love with anyone. Believe it or not Love is the hidden force behind everything and every work of mankind. "When you are in Love, you bet everything upon it, including yourself". Love isn't sex; it's far greater than that even greater than God himself and God know this... Love is not based upon Memories, Time, Words, Relationships, Beauty, Luck, Intellect, Knowledge, Sex, Wishes, Thoughts, Understanding, hopes & Valiant sacrifices but it is based on your soul. Well, for our real world, love is based upon Money, Status, Religion, Beauty, Age, Education, Personality, Fashion, Sex Appeal, etc, etc.                        

10)  You don't loose by your love, you loose by holding back... –Anonymous

11)  Lastly, It’s not a big question whom do you love? (You already know that…) An even bigger question in this world is who loves you? Do you have this answer with you?

 

I know this is a very simplistic definition of love (to begin with), but I am trying to explain in a way that chocolate lovers are comfortable with. Anyway, the language of true love is always based upon meanings rather than words (Love, God, Music, Chess, Computers, Mathematics all have their own languages!). So, any numbers of words are meaningless to describe one true love.

 

            But actually, life is not constrained by any box of chocolates theory (Sorry, Forrest!). Life is much more larger than that. Life is not black and white (like Chess) but has many different colors. Your Life actually depends upon your soul. A painter would find his life in the paintings he makes, a mathematician finds himself with life when he is calculating his equations, and a chess player finds life when he is playing chess, a computer programmer finds his life in a computer, a musician finds his life when he is playing his notes, and a lover finds his life when he is with the one whom he/she loves, a teacher finds his life when teaching things to his pupil, in life we do like to do, what we like to do. Each person has his own definition of life to tell, because it depends upon how he sees his own life.

            Now, What can we tell about God, is he a chocolate eater or a chocolate?

 

            Actually God is a chocolate chooser for us. Although we many times believe that he is just a chocolate and he is helpless. That is the design of the God; he does his work quietly, without making any noise. He does not want anything in return. He makes all the hard choices easier for us.

 

            God is actually not even a person. It is energy. He can be anywhere even sitting besides you. He can take any form. He can even be you.

 

            Have you seen a man helping a person, the helper takes the form of God. Actually, that same person is a regular guy and not any mahatma, but god puts in his heart the feeling to help that person and that same feeling is implemented in the real world. In this way god helps the inferior chocolate to be a better chocolate.

 

Actually, there are many people willing to help the Inferior chocolate to become a better chocolate. They are known as Teachers. Teachers are living Gods on this earth. There are teachers of many kinds having different styles. A teacher teaches his pupil many things, he teaches him those things, which his parents are not able to teach him. A teacher also shows us dreams and how to fulfill them. The teacher has a responsibility for the pupil to teach not only the books but also what is real life. In this way even if the teacher does not have any blood relation but he does have emotional relations with his pupil. So, teachers are regarded greater than parents.

 

A teacher is not only human, but can be anything like books, the environment, a circumstance, a failure, a success, our own thoughts, animals, plants, etc. You can learn about life from almost anything.

 

Failure is said to be a very harsh but still the best teacher. Failure strikes at the inner conscience of the person and teaches him many things that he hadn’t learned so far. Failure can be the first step towards success (at least now you know that which way won’t work!)

 

In our world, the inferior chocolate always dreams to become a better chocolate. In life we have dreams. Dreams are the hidden power and the path towards success .It is due to these dreams only that hope is generated, by hope we get belief, by belief we get confidence, by confidence we get courage, and only courage is the most important element to become a superior chocolate not intelligence, beauty, strength, or money. We have only a brave heart to complete any task in this world, no matter what so ever!

 

            Now, is god needed in our world? God is actually needed in our world. When a kid is not capable enough to choose his/her own chocolate because he is too small, the mother selects the chocolate for him/her. God does the same task everyday for us. So, god is the best chocolate chooser for us because it is only he who knows which chocolate we will like the most and if by mistake we choose a chocolate which is not good for us then god will come and replace it with a good chocolate saying “No my Child! Don’t take this chocolate; it’s not good for you, ah! Here take this one instead, believe me you will like this!”

 

            Is religion needed in our world? Of course not! A man is in need of a religion just like a fish needs a bicycle! You may love God, but it’s not necessary to love religion, because the concept of religion is based upon groupism and the concepts of Love and God are based upon togetherness…

                       

            Life here differs from the box of chocolates theory; in life an inferior chocolate can become the better chocolate.

 

            I don’t say that it will become the best chocolate because the best chocolate is an elusive thing of beauty. Sometimes, the better will be better than the best because the best doesn’t feel the need to move forward than where he is presently but better always likes to move forward. When people tell you that you are the best, it also does mean that you don’t need to move forward and you don’t feel the need to improve but when they say that you are better or you can do better than they do mean that you need to do better, in this way you improve. So our motto in life should be to be better and not best, because best brings us into a rest position. Even if you are best, you must still try to be better. The word best is elusive and better is a realistic word.

 

            We have ignored (or forgotten) 1 thing of specific importance, i.e. the chocolate giver (one who has the box of chocolates in his/her hands & in life it is known as the world) this chocolate giver gives us a box of chocolates (opportunities or choices) to choose the chocolates. The emotion of chocolate giver also affects the choice of chocolate that we make from the box of chocolates. In order to be a good chocolate chooser, we should not care for the chocolate giver (the world) to select the chocolate we like most. In life we would be face with choices from all sides and we must make the choice that is suitable for us and not for the world.

 

            Another thing of importance is the amount of time the chocolate giver will stand in front of you to give you the chocolate, if you don’t respond within that time, the chocolate giver (the world) will move away. In life also, the world gives us many opportunities, if we don’t respond to this opportunity we will never be able to make a choice. So, the choice depends upon the time, when the time is elapsed the chocolate giver moves away to another chocolate eater.

 

            Like the box of chocolates, many things can be learned from the Game of Chess also. Chess players are equals with musicians and mathematicians when it comes to intensity & vanity. Chess is a game of struggle between the superior chocolate (white) & the inferior chocolate (black), which has been going on for ages. They both are playing for their prides & want to win over each other. The inferior chocolate’s task is much more challenging as he is 1 move behind the superior chocolate but still has hopes of winning because he does not like to loose and he is brave in spite of his inferiority. Actually, he fights like a Lion.

 

At first, on the starting of the game, the inferior chocolate has a responsive attitude rather than the initiator attitude, but when the game progress, the inferior chocolate gains his/her ground in the battlefield of life. In this fight, this inferior chocolate has nothing to loose. He goes on fighting. It is like what Shakespeare told once, “The show must go on…” because when Science (thinking) stops, Arts (imaginations) begin and arts have no limits, science does have.

 

In life, sometimes it also does happen that the superior chocolate begins to feel inferior to the inferior chocolate because like Chess, in life the superior and inferior depends not upon the material benefits but on the circumstances and quality of your game. Circumstances can be compromising but not the quality of your game. It’s not important whether you win or loose, but it’s important how you play the game as there are no peace treaties between lions and lambs.

 

Your Life can be similar to anything for e.g. “life can be like a mountain (if you have big goals in your life and you are achieving it step by step these are the people full of resolute and their determination is itself like a mountain), life can be like a castle of cards (if your whole life depends on one single thing, if one card is moved away or if this thing goes away from your life, so does your life go away from you), life can be like a game of chess, life can be like a beautiful painting (if you think everything in your life has to be done beautifully or creatively), life can be a book (if you think your life is based upon rules or forgotten past, these people are mostly honest people because they note down everything so they want to have a good image of themselves in this book), life can be like a computer program (if you think that everything in your life is based upon pure logic and nothing else), life can be like a battle or a war (if you think that you have to struggle for gaining almost every thing), life can be a trap (if your life is confined to one place from which you cannot get out even if you wish to, in our life everything we do is bounded by reasons so in life we are all prisoners of the trap named reasons), life can be an illusion (In life it sometimes happen that you strongly believe in your thoughts that something is true but it turns out that in real life it is entirely false and illogical at that time you realize that your life was just an illusion and nothing else…), life can be an innocence (if you think your life or your surrounding is very innocent like the life of a kindergarten teacher), life can be a misery (for whom everything in his life is a misery, these are generally sad people who in spite of having everything, live their life miserly), life can be an imagination (these are generally creative people who imagine things and have the courage to follow their imagination), life can be a terror, life can be like a mathematical equation, life can be magic, life can be a trick (where you have to use your tricks at every step in your life to accomplish your big and small tasks of your life, trick though against morals is the most wonderful form of bravery, after all everything is fair in love and war, dear!), life can be an investment (where you take every decision in life by visualizing far reaching effects of that decision), life can be an invention (like life of creative people), life can be a discovery, life can be a web full of complications (like Maggie noodles or a jungle), life can be a dream, life can be an accident, life can be a fairy tale, life can be a tragedy , life can be like a balance sheet, life can be like a bank, life can be a science, life can be music, life can be a philosophy, life can be madness, or life can be all of these things combined also and many more!”

 

In simple words, it all depends upon what kind of life you lived and want to live.

 

            OK, I know the rule that “one should never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything”. But, the definition of life is really quite exorbitant and it cannot be compiled in any number of pages because every person has his own definition to tell based upon his own experiences and with what things he compares his/her own life, because in our world there are many different worlds and environments and life exists in many different forms & every life and every character has its own nature (like happy, sad, honest, greedy, emotional, calculative, dominant, submissive, sincere, corrective, careless, communicative, secretive, good, evil, heroic, coward, practical, philosophical, etc). Just like a box of chocolates has different kind of chocolates in it. Life is never ending in these respects; it goes on and on and on and on and is full of different combinations and unpredictable changes till our last moment we live.

            And then, there lastly comes at last a stage when all the chocolates get empty from that box of chocolates, this actually is known as the end of life, which brings us to the most important part of our life, called Time, life is not limited by anything except Time given to it. After a certain point of time, when the chocolate is not eaten it may get spoilt and we just throw it away, every box of chocolate is eatable till a certain point of time only. Just as every box of chocolates gets empty, so does our life gets finished in some way or the other. That signifies that one day we all have to die. Death signifies the end of Life, and at that moment we think that Eh! This was my life… everything else was just an illusion??

 

I know that I still may have left out many important things of life (like friendship, house, jobs, money, and many more but these things may or may not be there in your life!), but the nature of life is itself like that, it never let’s you know everything You never get all the answers in your life for all the things connected with your life, many things remain a mystery or undefined from you for your entire life. Life never gives you all the answers.

 

            If you didn’t understand my article fully or think it’s too long then always remember that life also has the same characteristic. Whatever may be life’s definition, but one understands his own life completely only at the moment when life seems to have passed away in front of his eyes…

 

 

Want a Chocolate Sir!

 

Story of Forrest Gump: - The Story of Forrest Gump can be summarized in only 4(four) lines, here they are….

 

“There was a lady sweet and kind,

Was Never pleased by my mind;

I did but see her pass by,

And yet I love her till I die…”

                       

From:

Mahernoz Percy Daruwala,

DT: 7^th February 2005

                                                                  “SHAH YAZDEZARD SHAHRIAR”

Written By Poet Firdawsi Tusi in Persian

            English Translation by Mahernoz Percy Daruwala

 

This is the story of my people, the Zoroastrians; the story’s name is Shahnameh. Shahnameh means “The Diary of the Kings” which includes all the stories of Persia’s greatest Kings right from Gayomard (the 1^st Persian King) to Yazdezard (the last Persian King). Stories like Sohrab and Rustam are also taken from it. Shahnameh is much more bigger in depth than Homer’s Iliad and is as detailed as the Mahabharata. Poet Firdawsi Tusi wrote the Shahnameh with the intention that the future generations of Zoroastrians do not forget their ancestor’s rich heritage. Here is the story, which changed the lives of the Zoroastrians completely and shows under what circumstances Zoroastrians migrated to India.

 

Shah Yazdezard Shahriar, The Last Shah Of Iran

Shah Yazdezard Shahriar (Yazdezard III) was the last unfortunate Shah of the Sasanid dynasty who lost Persia against the invading Arabs.

 

The Story

 

The Great Iranian astrologer Buzurchmeher was renowned for his accurate predictions for the future. He had foreseen in the time of the Shah KhushrooPerviz (grandfather of Yazdezard III) and announced his prediction to the Shah  “ One of the successors of your dynasty will have a black spot on his left thigh and he will be unfortunate for your kingdom. Under the rule of this Shah, the rule of Iran will end for ever; after that there will be no Iranian Kingdom anymore.”

           

Shah KhushrooPerviz took this prediction to his heart as he had no doubt on Buzurchmeher’s validity of the prediction and decided to end his family by keeping his only son Shahriar unmarried. If there will not be any successor then Iranian Kingdom will be saved from the prediction; which resembled like a curse at that time to KhushrooPerviz.

 

For this Shah KhushrooPerviz enacted a plan “He put Shahriar in a house prison where no woman can come near him. So that Shahriar would not have his son and Iran’s destruction will be prevented. The Palace where Shahriar was held captive was very heavily guarded.”

           

In this way Prince Shahriar was having this punishment without any guilt on his part, though he did enjoy all the other comforts as befitted to a prince.

           

Shahriar’s mother “the Queen” Shirin was not able to accept the punishment, which had befallen on her dear son. Why was he punished without any crime? She believed that keeping the prince unmarried for whole life would be a sin according to Zoroastrian religion’s principles. Stopping the family in this way is an open revolt against god. So she chose a noble lady from a very rich family, and then she sent her in men’s clothes to Shahriar as his personal assistant who would take personal care of the prince. This whole thing was kept secret and not even the Shah knew anything about it. The Shah thought that the personal assistant in service of the prince was a man. Shirin was waiting for her grandson. Then one day she came to know that Shahriar is going to become a father.

 

            A son was born and Shahriar was a father. Shah KhushrooPerviz was at first furious by his wife’s wishes, but then Shirin’s request to forgive her melted the kind hearted Shah. Shah thought that this might be the will of Ahura Mazda (God). Fate is inevitable and what was bound to happen; did happen and what is bound to happen will always happen.              

           

            Shah KhushrooPerviz ordered his maid to have a look at the child’s thighs. As per the prediction there was a black spot on his left thigh. The prediction had come true. Buzurchmeher’s prediction based on ancient Zoroastrian astrology was never going to be false. Shah KhushrooPerviz trembled from inside and feared that Iran was going to be destroyed and plundered in very near future. The last days for the Iranian kingdom were very near.

The child was named Yazdezard. The Shah decided to watch closely the qualities of the child. Days went by and the child was now of 5 years. Shah thought that for the benefit of the country he must kill this child, but again Shirin requested the Shah “Please don’t worry my dear and don’t kill an innocent without any crime as all predictions don’t come to be true”.

 

Shah KhushrooPerviz loved his queen Shirin so much that he accepted all her appeasements but only on one condition that the unfortunate child should be kept away from his eyes.

 

One day Shah KhushrooPerviz along with his queen Shirin went in the jungle for hunting. After finishing hunting when they were resting near a river. Just then a messenger came and respectfully gave salutations to the Shah and told that the message was from Prophet Hazrat Mohammed. The messenger read a short message, which said, “ If you leave your Zoroastrian religion and accept Islam, then your Iran will be saved”. Shah KhushrooPerviz, who loved his Zoroastrian religion more than his life, got very angry and in front of that messenger, he broke the wooden rukka (on which the message was written) into pieces and threw those pieces into the river.

 

Prophet Hazrat Mohammed came to know that Khushroo not only refused Islam but also insulted Islam. So, he sent another message to Khushroo “ The way in which you broke my rukka into pieces, the same way Allah will break your Kingdom into pieces and the Iranian kingdom will be destroyed completely.” Khushroo didn’t understood why such a curse was given. Then after a long time passed away.

 

In 628 A.D, after the death of Shah KhushrooPerviz, his son Shahriar was declared as the new Shah. Then after Iran saw many difficulties. After the death of Shahriar, within 4 years 5 Shahs came to the throne, they were either assassinated or dethroned by jealous ministers. Destruction had started for Iran. It was a punishment to Iran for some hidden sin.

 

We had seen that after the death of KhushrooPerviz, his son Shahriar was declared as the Shah. He assumed the name of “Kobad”. After Kobad came Ardeshir, and then after FeraaIn. They all ruled for a very short period of time and they all had no sons.

 

As there were no princes left in the royal family (excluding Yazdezard), a princess named Purandokht sat on the throne for a short period. She ruled for only 6 months. But she also had no son. Then after princess Azarmdokht sat on the throne. She also ruled for only 5 months. This was the sign of the fall of the Iranian Empire. This was the sign of God’s anger upon Iran, which had befallen on Iran because of the curse. Stars were not in favor of Iran.

 

Queen Azarmdokht was a very zealous and a beautiful woman. Khurasan’s King Farsebzaad grew mad after her. One day he tricked the queen to a lonely place and tried to rape her, the queen in order to preserve her honor killed the evil Hakem with her sword and saved herself.

 

Farsebzaad’s son Rustam had the queen Azarmdokht assassinated to take the revenge of his father’s death. And in this way the zealous and brave queen Azarmdokht ruled only for 5 months, and she died.

 

At last the people of Iran declared Yazdezard as the Shah and preserved his right to rule as he was also from the royal family. At that time when Yazdezard was declared as the Shah, his age was just 15 years.

 

In that period there was a rule in Iran that who ever is nominated as the Shah of Iran. In his name a calendar is to be maintained and from the start of the day on which he is crowned a new year is to be started. In the name of Yazdezard, the Yazdezardi Calendar was started. He was actually the last Emperor of Iran. So that’s why only even after coming to India, a group of Parsis still today, in order to show their loyalty towards the Shah are known as Shahenshaahi (the followers of the Yazdezardi Calendar). Shah KhushrooPerviz did all that he could have done to stop Yazdezard from being the Shah, but fate can never be turned down nor can be avoided even if you know the end. We cannot do anything against the god’s will. It was clearly seen that it is god’s wish that Yazdezard had to be the Shah. What was bound to happen did happen.

 

Yazdezard was a very kind, caring, truthful, and a zealous Shah his love for the people was especially notable and his judgments in matter of disputes were perfect. In those days the Shah himself was the judge. But luck for the Unlucky Yazdezard had never been any good. When he sat on the throne, fanatic Arabs surrounded his kingdom from all 4 sides to spread Islam everywhere. They were converting whole countries to their religion by using any means. On one hand they held a sword and on the other hand they held their religious text (The Koran), and those who did not accepted Islam were killed mercilessly by their sword and the jihadees (soldier of Allah) on killing the innocent became happy and shouted  “Allah O Akbar”. They were making their religion acceptable to those people by rude force. One by One every neighboring states were converted to Islam, but the Zoroastrians were not ready to convert themselves to Islam. They were ready to fight for their religion, to stand up against the cruelty of the Jihadees. They were ready to give up their lives but not their Zoroastrianism in lieu of Islam.

 

At this time the Great Prophet Hazrat Mohammed died and Khalif Omar took the Kingship in his own hands. Khalif sent a warning message to Yazdezard to let all people of Iran accept Islam without spilling a single drop of blood in war. Moreover to spread Islam in Iran he sent to Yazdezard’s court a special ambassador accompanied by fanatic old Arabs, they will help in the conversion process of the country.

The Arab Ambassador Sheik Magura entered Yazdezard’s court and respectfully read the message to Yazdezard, “The Great Khalif Omar has a wish for Islamism for Iran, and it is Allah’s command that all Iranians must accept Islam as their religion, and to obey that command is our duty, but if the Iranians are not ready to convert themselves to Islam and want to stick with their Zoroastrianism, then Iranians must face the consequences of that in the battlefield. Blood will be spilt and much destruction will be inflicted upon your country.”

 

After hearing Sheik Magura, the Zoroastrian loving Shah was furious and told him “Sheikh Magura! With my salutations to Omar tell him our people’s reply that we Zoroastrians do not need to get converted. Our religion is the best religion of all. Our religion is at the top among all religions in every matter in this whole world. Our people are highly spirited, faithful & so religious that they can even give up their lives for their great religion if needed. You Arabians may have your own ways but we believe that nobody can force a religion on anyone. Religion is a matter of a person’s inner faith. We have let you people (the Arabs) stay in Iran as foreigners, so live in peace & happiness and let us live in peace. Why do you need to convert us or try to disturb our faith? Go to the Khalif and tell him that we Iranian Zoroastrians are faithful to their religion and are ready to fight with their lives, body and souls and all that they have got for their Zoroastrianism, but they will never leave their religion.”

 

After saying this, Shah Yazdezard in this way sent back the ambassador. Immediately after that a gathering was called for all the officials and the people in the central square of the city where Yazdezard himself announced to the entire nation that war had been force on us and we should be ready for the religious war against the Muslims. The people accepted the announcement in full support to Yazdezard. The spirits went high for all the people of Iran; they were ready to fight Islam in order to protect their religion, their lands, and their loved ones from the religiously fanatic Arabs, who would have had attacked them if their King had not declared war on them.

           

A big Army was prepared in no time. Every young man and strong lads joined this army and were trained. Weapons production started in full speed. Swords were sharpened, bows were made (Persia was famous for it’s archers), and shields were manufactured. Castles were repaired and some were even improved, crops & other food supplies were stored to meet the future needs of the army and the people in the times of war. Most notable was that internal differences between people were also forgotten and people used to work day and night with utmost dedication and coordination. Even little kids and women helped as best as they could.

 

The command of the Iranian army was given to a strong man called “Rustam-bin-Hormazd”. Now, all were ready to fight the religious war against the Arabs under the Kavyaani flag. (This flag is regarded as the most prestigious symbol of Zoroastrian history even from the times of Shah Fareduun).

 

Khalif Omar came to know that the Iranians have decided to fight straight away and have also raised a huge army against the Muslims. Omar took on the Jihad. Along with his faithful Arab soldiers the Mongols and the Turanis also accompanied him.

 

This famous Jihad is known as the War of Kadusyaa. This war continued till 30 months day and night. The Zoroastrians fought bravely against the Arabs by keeping their lives on stake. Many sacrificed their lives but were never afraid of the Arabs and fought them till their death. Many brave soldiers from both the sides died in this war.

 

Yazdezard’s luck was not supporting him. In the end Nature betrayed him. Unexpectedly a big storm came in the battlefield where the fight was going on. The wind’s direction was opposite of the Iranians (Iranians mainly relied on a wall of archers but as the wind was so strong the archers couldn’t aim bows at the enemy as they used to do it so now the archers which were pride of Iran had to fight with their swords), but they continued their fight even in such adversity, but the wind went on blowing more furiously then ever, and some even became blind, some couldn’t even breathe and died. Many men died, as they couldn’t face the Arabs.

 

In this storm, the wind was blowing from the Arabs backside so they could tolerate it. Their trouble was much less. The Iranian Army’s soldiers sacrificed their lives one by one by killing as many Arabs as they could. Iranians suffered a horrible destruction of life & property. The Iranian woman sacrificed their lives by jumping from mountain cliffs in order to save their honor, but they never sacrificed their religion.

 

The Iranian Army’s commander in Chief Rustam’s tent was taken off in this sand storm. The force of the storm was such that the brave Chief Rustam had to hide between the camels so that he could be saved from the storm. Even the bravest have to lean before nature.

 

On this camels the Iranians had put heavy rations and weapons. The war finally came to an end. Some of the Arabs taking the advantage of the sand storm moved forward in the Iranian territory to steal Iran’s valuable goods. They came near those same camels under which Rustam lied hidden. The goods were tied to the camels back with a help of a strong rope. The Arabs then cut the ropes and one huge sack felled to the ground on Rustam’s back. Rustam’s backbone was broken. He yelled with pain and became unconscious.

 

When Rustam opened his eyes he saw that the enemy surrounded him from all the sides and owing to his broken backbone he could not even fight them. He had no option other than to surrender. He couldn’t even stand on his feet. The Arabs told Rustam to accept Islam to save himself, but Rustam smiled and denied bravely.

 

The Arabs beheaded him by their sword at one stroke. Some Zoroastrians who were fighting at that time in the battlefield lost their courage due to the death of Rustam, so they ran away from the battlefield without anyone seeing them. They didn’t understood what to do at that moment.  They all met in a cave. 30 thousand Zoroastrians gathered and decided to fight the Arabs once more. After the storm settled they began their attack. They were very less in numbers in comparison to the huge Arabian army. But if the luck is weak then what the braves can do? All of the 30 thousand

Zoroastrians died bravely. The sacrifice was everlasting in the name of Zoroastrianism.

 

            In this religious Jihad, the Arabs stole the famous Kavyaani flag from the Zoroastrians. It was the same flag that was held with honor from the time of the great Shah Fareduun and the flag was decorated with jewelries on special occasions. As that same flag was stolen it signified a bad omen and maybe the end of Iran.

 

            Meanwhile Shah Yazdezard’s most trusted man took the Shah in a protected place. They were having shelter in midst of mountains. They had still not lost their courage and were ready to give those Arabs a hell of a fight. The Jihad now ceased, and then after a long time Yazdezard sent messages to Kings of Kosan and Tabristan for help. If their military help is taken then Iran and the religion’s honor may be saved. Yazdezard was hopeful of their help, as both these kingdoms were also Zoroastrian kingdoms.

           

            Considering the request of the Shah, both the kings united and decided to help Shah in every possible way. Both of these Kings gathered their armies in the grounds of Nehaanvad, and the leadership of this combined army was given to the army general named “Firuzaan”. So again battle plans were laid and preparations started for the final war against the Arabs.

 

            The Arabs gave their army’s leadership to an Arab named “Nomaam”. The Irani leader Firuzaan was very cunning and zealous. He didn’t want his army to get slaughtered in an open battle with the Arabs.

 

            Instead of War, he decided to frustrate the Arabs with a plan. The Iranian army was camped safely on one side of the river with sufficient stocks of food. Then the surroundings were dig up into huge valleys and water was filled in them. Now, nobody can enter the castle, but the Zoroastrians could come out of the castle whenever they wished. The castle design was similar to the English Castles at that time and as the Arabs didn’t had any siege weaponry at that time to break through the castle nor did they had any knowledge about it. The Arabs simply didn’t expect the Zoroastrians to go for the castle defense because the Zoroastrians had always been fighters on the open ground. The walls of Nehaanvad were very strong & high, which allowed archers to be positioned at their preferred spot. It was a brilliant idea to resist the Arabs in this way.

 

Castles cannot be broken down with bare hands and also there was the moat to cross before even reaching the walls, on the walls there stood skillful archers positioned, there were 2 archers on each spot, one stood after the another as soon as the first archer fired from his bow, the 2^nd archer loaded his arrow on the bow and this process would continue unless all enemies are dead, so to undermine such a castle’s defense, looked quite an impossible task for the Arabian army. So the Arabs decided to encircle the castle at a specific distance, as coming closer to the castle was suicidal as Zoroastrian arrows were waiting for them quite eagerly. The Great castle of Nehaanvad had everything quite well designed. There were cattle’s, foods and sufficient water supply and large abundance of weapons. The Arabs had no access to the river water supply as the river was quite close to the castle and it was dangerous to go near the castle.

 

The Arab leader tried to lure the Iranian Army into battle by challenging them on the open grounds, but the Iranians rightly didn’t paid any heed to it. The Iranians prayed to the God for help. In this way 2 months passed by, the stocks of food were still sufficient enough. But the Arabs food supply was getting shorter day by day. Due to hunger, great dissatisfaction aroused in their army. They even began to fight with each other for food. The Arabs became frustrated and Nomaam felt himself helpless.

 

He decided to play a trick on the Zoroastrians; he waved the white flag of peace, indicating that he will not attack the Zoroastrians. The Zoroastrians knew the deceitful nature of the Arabs and especially their leader “Nomaam” and rightly didn’t pay any heed to them. Nomaam now played another trick on the Zoroastrians, in the midst of the night he sent a spy to the castle with a message for peace to the Iranian Chief Firuzaan, he also instructed the spy to let him know the strength of the Iranian army and how many men are inside the castle and what provisions the Iranian army had made for it’s defense.

 

            The Arab spy slyly killed an Iranian guard and wore his clothes and moved further into the castle to the tent of Firuzaan. He went to the tent and revealed his identity and expressed his concern to meet the Iranian leader. Firuzaan came out of his tent and the peace letter with the Royal Seal of the Arabs was shown to Firuzaan. Firuzaan denied any such request and beat the spy heavily and ordered him to be thrown out of the castle. The Castle was so heavily well guarded and well designed that the spy couldn’t get much information from it.

 

            The Arab leader now enacted a 2^nd plan to trick the Zoroastrians. He privately called upon his men and told his plan to them. The next morning a false announcement was made to the Arab army that “The Great King Khalif Omar had died and the whole army must go back to Medina for his death mourning. The War is over.” All Arab soldiers cried & beat their chest with their bare hands and waved black flags to mark the mourning of their beloved King. The Arab soldiers began to depart from Nehaanvad.

 

            The Arab leader Nomaam took back his army in the direction of Medina. Seeing this Zoroastrians were tricked and committed the same mistake which their forefathers committed against the Spartans and even the Trojans committed the same mistake against the Spartans by ignoring Prince Hectors warning that an attack could unify the Spartans and might bring Troy’s downfall. It is rightly said that the Greatest Empires like Great Men fall not because of their enemy but because of their own mistakes. Firuzaan made only one mistake and it was this. They couldn’t resist the temptation to attack a retreating army. They wanted to take advantage of their momentum. So they left their strong fortress and came into the open grounds to follow the retreating Arabs. In this way the Arabs tricked the Iranian army out of their strong fortress for a fight on the open ground.

 

            The Arab leader Nomaam was too cunning, he had already ordered his archers beforehand to move to a nearby valley as fast as they could and surround it. For two days, the Arabs marched towards Medina. When it looked that the whole Iranian army was in the valley and there was no possibility of a retreat in their castle. It is now the Iranians who were trapped. Nomaam ordered the Arabian army to attack the Zoroastrians and spare no one alive. The archers on the top of the valley along with the Arabian cavalry of camels mercilessly attacked the Iranian soldiers. A lot of bloodshed was done on both sides. In this battle, the Arab leader Nomaam was struck by an arrow from a Zoroastrian soldier. The arrow pierced his chest and he fell from his camel and died on the spot.

 

            Now the other Arabian generals were in jeopardy, if the Arabian army comes to know that their leader had died the moral of the army might be lost, so they took away the dead body of Nomaam from the field. Nomaam’s look-alike brother was given Nomaam’s clothes and armor and the leadership of the Army. In this way the morale of the Arabian army was maintained.

 

            The Zoroastrians fought very bravely but luck was not on their side, after much destruction and loss of many Iranian soldiers lives, they finally lost. The Zoroastrian leader Firuzaan was severely injured in this battle. The fortress of Nehaanvad now didn’t have many men to defend it and so it was finally taken after a hard struggle. This battle of Nehaanvad was fought in 641 A.D. It looked as if the gods were angry with the Zoroastrians, as they had committed many sins such as quest for power, bloodthirstiness of the Iranian army to attack weak territories, dishonesty, disunity, and treachery.

 

The reason for attacking Iran was that the Muslim religious clerics wanted to spread Islam in every part of the world and for that they wanted greener lands of Iran where access to Europe can be made. In order to fight Christianity, they needed an area where they have plenty of natural resources and not like desert (in which they were presently) also Iran was a very rich nation in comparison to them. Iran was much better place for encampment than the desert in which they lived at that time. Moreover, instead of the hard and tough Zoroastrians (which their ancestors feared hundreds of years ago at the time of King Cyrus and Darius) the Arabs were surprised to find that the present generation of Zoroastrians was not that much harder to beat.

 

The Arabs had decided to completely destroy the Zoroastrian religion, once and for all. They destroyed every fire temple they could find and also burned down any Zoroastrian literature they could find. They were bent on destroying any thing they could find which pertains to Zoroastrianism. It looked like a curse had fallen from the heavens.

 

In spite of all these hardships many Zoroastrian priests (known as the Dastoors) were able to save some religious texts in the mountains. If someone was spotted with a Kusti (a religious knot tied on the waist), he was immediately killed. The Unfortunate Shah Yazdezard was once again in the mercy of his guards for his security. The Arabs wanted Yazdezard dead or alive. Yazdezard along with his flock traveled at night and hid in the caves at daytime.

 

At last Shah Yazdezard came to the city of Marav. The Hakem of Marav named “Maahui” was under gratitude for Yazdezard. The Shah took his shelter.

 

The Hakem was pleased to offer him shelter. He served the Shah, and his men quite well and personally took care of the Shah. The Arabs were searching for Yazdezard everywhere. They warned that those who will offer shelter to Yazdezard would be prosecuted to death and the person who will give information about Yazdezard will get a huge reward.

 

The Hakem greedily sneaked one evening to the Arabs and told them about the Shah’s whereabouts. The Shah was cheated.

 

A team of Arabs raided Maahui’s house, Yazdezard’s soldiers fought the Arabs to save him, and Yazdezard managed to escape out of the borders of Marav by changing his appearance into a bearded man. Yazdezard was now tired of running endlessly. He also didn’t had his faithful soldiers. They were all lying dead at Maahui’s house killed by the Arabs. The soldiers fought and died so that their king can have the safe passage out of Marav City.

 

Now he was far away from Marav city and was entering the woods. He saw a hut. It was getting dark. The Shah decided to take refuge in the hut for the night.

 

The Hut belonged to a poor windmill farmer. His name was Khushroo. Yazdezard told him that he was a traveler and wants accommodation in the hut for one night. Khushroo kindly agreed. He also gave the Shah some dry grass to sleep on. The Great Shah of Iran lay on the floor and slept peacefully on a dry grass mat. It is truly said that men are not strong but only his time is strong. Gone were those good days of the Palaces.

 

 The enemy was prowling for the Shah everywhere. From somewhere they got the information that Yazdezard was having refuge at the place of the windmill farmer Khushroo. In the morning light, Khushroo immediately recognized the Shah’s face. The Shah pleaded him for help. Khushroo was very kind hearted and agreed to let the Shah stay and also warned the Shah to be careful of the existing danger.

 

The Hakem summoned Khushroo in the court and threatened him, “If you will bring Yazdezard’s head in my court then you shall have a huge reward and if you don’t you will be punished and killed along with your family…”

 

Khushroo was helpless in front of the Hakem. He was not willing to spoil his hands with Yazdezard’s blood. He was not worried about himself nor for the money he will get but he was worried about his family because he loved them so much. He was now forced to do an unholy murder. Under his helplessness he prayed to the god to forgive him for the unholy act he was about to do. At dinnertime, when Yazdezard was having food, Khushroo came from behind and with a heavy heart stabbed Yazdezard on his back repeatedly. He wept in front of the Shah’s body and pleaded to forgive him. Then he cut the Shah’s head and showed it to the Hakem.

 

The Hakem had the Shah’s body naked by taking off his diamond ring, the armor, and the hidden royal seal of Iran and threw the body into a nearby river. This unfortunate Shah didn’t even had the fortune to have proper rituals after his death.

 

In this way King Yazdezard came to the throne at the age of 15 and lived a life of troubles and died tragically at 35. On his death, every hope of a Zoroastrian Iranian Empire also ended, as Yazdezard didn’t had any successor. There was no safe place left for the Zoroastrians in Iran.

 

When Yazdezard Shahriar lost the battle and was running here and there to save his life, the ladies of the royal family were without any shelter or help as the Arabs, Mongols & the Turanis were looking for these ladies. In order to save their honor they hid at various places in the hope that time will improve for them.

 

These ladies hid themselves in a cave of a huge mountain near the city of Yazad. The enemies reached there also. They were not ready to sacrifice their honor. They prayed to God to save their honor. God heard their prayers and a miracle happened. A loud explosion occurred with a volcanic eruption of the mountain and a deep valley was formed, the ladies jumped into this valley. The valley was then sealed with the volcano’s lava. The mountain became their natural tomb. This is now a religious place in Iran.

 

Even today, Iranian Zoroastrians perform various prayers and Jashan on this “Kohe Payvand” mountain. Every year a fair is arranged on a specific day in memory of those brave Zoroastrian women.

 

When Yazdezard was loosing the War of Kadusyaa, he knew that the Iranian empire was coming to a bitter end. So he warned the Zoroastrians, “ O my brothers! Now the time has come that you may have to leave Iran to protect our sacred fire and our religion. After me there will be no Shah of Iran… Iran’s good days are gone. This is the will of Ahura Mazda.”

 

The Shah further told, “ My heart says that you will get protection and shelter in some country located in east from here. Don’t be afraid, every thing, which progresses, is bound to regress one day. Those who will survive will live in harmony, peace and love with all the people in that country. You will be honest towards that country, which provides you shelter and that only that country shall be your motherland from then on, but don’t forget our Iran.”

 

There were tears in the eyes of the Shah & the people who were listening. The Shah further told, “… Do Establish “Aatash Kadehs” (Fire Temples) in that country to thank god for our survival and consider Aatash as your “Iran Shah” from now on.  He shall be your protector & judge from now on. Keep weapons in his court. (The Zoroastrians still keep weapons in their fire temple). Don’t leave your faith from our religion. May god bless our religion and may the fire of Zoroastrianism always remain alight”.

 

The Shah further predicted, “ The enemies of our religion won’t succeed in their intentions, and also cannot extinguish the fire of Zoroastrian faith from this world, and our religion’s prosperity shall duly return one day in our own hands. Keep the honor of our good blood…”

 

As the religion must survive, Yazdezard ordered his men to fill all the ships with all the necessary provisions for a long journey. No riches were taken. After this thousands of Zoroastrians were sent in a convoy of ships, consisting of Men, Women & Children. The convoy also contained a huge cauldron of holy fire. This was the holy fire of Iran. The convoy also included religious priests of Iran known as the Dastoors.

 

The Zoroastrians chose India as their destination because they had heard stories about how the brave Indian people were able to beat “Alexander The Great” and also Indian people were their long time friends and trading partners. So, the Zoroastrians felt much secure in going to India, rather than anywhere else.

 

In the journey towards India, there was also a fierce sea storm, which might have drowned the whole convoy. But the Zoroastrian sailors braved this storm and prayed for their survival. At last their prayers were answered. They finally reached India on the sea coast of Sanjan (a princely state of the grandson of King Vikramaditya named Jade Rana) in a tired and helpless state. The Zoroastrian leader was summoned immediately into the court of Jade Rana. The Zoroastrian leader begged for refuge to live in India and pledged to serve India as their motherland.

 

The King Jade-Rana was a very cunning king and wanted to test this unwelcomed guests so he decided to test the Zoroastrians by giving them a riddle. He gave a Golden bowl full of milk to the Zoroastrian religious leader. This bowl signified that “Like this Golden bowl full of Milk, my province is very rich but it is densely populated and I have no space for anybody in my Kingdom.” The Zoroastrian religious leader demanded a handful of sugar balls and one by one he dropped every sugar ball in the bowl of milk, after one melt he dropped another. In this way he dropped all the sugar balls in the bowl and handed that bowl back over to the King and said

“O King! As you have seen that the way in which this sugar melted in the milk and made it sweet, we the Zoroastrians promise that in the same way we will mix with your people.” The King was very impresses by the wit of these new people and welcomed them to live in India.

 

The people of India called the Zoroastrians as the Parsis as they came from Persia. So the Parsis are a group of People and not the religion name. The religion name had always been Zoroastrian. The Parsis adopted the Gujarati language as their mother tongue and mixed with the Indian society. That cauldron of fire was taken to Udwada (a small town near Sanjan) where the holy fire is still not extinguished even after more than 1350 years.

In India, they are still the best-respected minority of all. But, acc. to the recent statistics the population of Parsis is falling drastically and within the next 100 years this good community will be wiped out.

The Parsis had given their mother-land (India) honest service and preserved their honor of good blood as promised to Shah Yazdezard.

Great Personalities in Indian History like the Tatas, Godrejs, Madam Cama, Field Marshall Sam Maneckshaw, Dadabhoi Navrozji, etc. are Zoroastrians.

 

--Conclude—

Dear Editor,

I sincerely believe that the story of Shahnameh deserves at least a film (How about 2 parts?) to be made to give tribute to this peace loving and honest community, which is coming near to extinction (it will be extinct in the next 100 years, believe it or not). How often do we get a chance to do such great things?

            The film should also show why religious extremism is so bad. The film should also focus on dilemma of a nation (Persia) that is being under verge of defeat where people were leaving their country to save themselves & their families and out of fear, the unity was also deteriorating among those people. This film will put the audience under an entirely different perspective, as this time, concentration is on the losing side rather than on the winning side.

I think that James Cameron (Director of Titanic) would be an appropriate maker of this film as he had beautifully presented how the glorious Titanic was drowned and even in such adversity the crew of Titanic was so brave and up to the task. People also reacted acc. to their characters, brave died bravely and saved many lives, people evacuating the ship, the crew was faithful; even after the ship sank, and the captain preferred to die with his ship, and the sinking of the ship, and the memories and remains of Titanic, were all shown in the movie.

In “Shahnameh” the same thing has to be shown. The glory and beauty of Persia, the war that was forced on Zoroastrians, the army of Iran was up to the task, even after Yazdezard was defeated, People here also reacted acc. to their characters, brave sacrifices, people evacuating the country, the army was faithful; and the King preferred to die in Iran, and finally the complete defeat of Iran & establishment of Islam in Iran, and the memories and remains of the old Persia, all these must be shown in this movie.

This film should not be viewed as against the Muslims but should be viewed as an historical film especially for the Parsis as this is the only film on an important part of Parsis history & Persian culture & under what circumstances the Parsis had to leave Iran and all their riches behind & came empty handed to India.

 

                                                            Yours truly,

                                    Mahernoz Percy Daruwala

                                    (mahernoz@gmail.com)

                                                                                               

Cloning of Zoroastrianism

 

In order to save our community from extinction there had been many noteworthy attempts done by Parsi trusts and other people. But as we all know that our community is like a leaky bucket, where the water drops off more than it gets filled. There are many holes in this bucket. Like…

 

1)      Death

2)      Intercaste marriage

3)      Willful acceptance of other religion

4)      Infertility among the couples or other medical problems.

5)      No wish to have a child.

6)      No wish to marry.

 

We all know that we cannot avoid death, nor can we change a person mind to not to accept other religion (we may only advice but can’t beg him) and there is also the problem of infertility for which medical help is available, but still some cases remain uncured.

 

But the main trend why Zoroastrian religion numbers are falling is due to the fact that there are many intercaste marriages committed. In order to stop intercaste marriages we have no scheme because our community is not against love. If a person of our caste loves another person of other caste then he has the right to marry that person and we are quite a modern community and don’t even entertain religious extremism. For us being an Indian is more important than being a Zoroastrian.

 

There is one way by which intercaste marriage can be avoided but that is not recommended at least for an educated community like ours. And that solution is to do child marriages. No, this is not a solution because it is immoral. So, we won’t consider this as a solution at all.

 

Our Parsi trust had also put forward a solution to remedy the lower population & birth rate problem.

 

“If a couple has a third child then his expenses will be borne by the Parsi Panchayat of that respective city”(I believe that days will come to change that to second)

 

This suggestion is a complete failure and our Parsi couples are not a fool to have a third child because of some discount scheme and we don’t want our child to live a life full of Panchayat scholarships. We want that our child be well educated and become some one of great importance like an MBA, Doctor, Engineer, etc. The Parsi Panchayat has its limits well defined. It cannot take care of our children in the same way we care for them.

 

I also propose a solution to increase population that “If a couple is not able to borne a child for 2 years after marriage then they should be given free medical help if they have medical problems or financial help if their condition is so poor that they can’t afford to have a child or Psychiatric help if they face a mental problem (which involves sex problems). All these expenses should be borne by the Panchayat” this solution will bring more people under its scope rather than couples with 3 children. However, care should be taken that the Panchayat Funds be helpful to genuine persons only who seek financial help from the Parsi Panchayat.

 

There are other ways by which Parsis can increase their population but they are immoral and don’t deserve any mention here.

 

No solution is actually working for us and according to the recent statistics by the Government of India, the rate at which our community is declining; our community will be extinct (yes, extinct) within the next 100 years. I am not against luck or Believe in God type persons that they may assure me that everything would be all right but you can’t ignore the ground reality.

 

Yes, there would be no Parsi walking on this earth after 100 years. Believe it or not. Every probability and statistics possible reflects only this fact. The Paper “Jame Jamshed” which you are reading right now will also be extinct as no Parsi reader will be there to read it. Government will take hold of our Fire Temples, Dharamshalas and Marriage Halls and Dokhma and would do anything with it, may be preserve it as a museum for travelers that once upon a time there were people known as Zoroastrians or Parsis who used to pray here in the Agyari or Atash Behram. I believe that the fire temple of Udvada and all the Atash Behrams will be a tourist spot.

 

Don’t get too much excited because this is going to happen after 100 years. There is still much time left, after 100 years not even our ashes would remain on this earth. As usual we will sleep, eat, work and die while watching our community decline for the reasons I mentioned above.

 

Isn’t there any hope of our survival? Well, let us see… some people on reading this might have some brave terminology of their own that “I am a pure Zoroastrian and my children would be also only Zoroastrian and I and my children and their children would only marry Zoroastrians and as long as my family and I are there Zoroastrianism won’t be perished.”

 

 Can we believe in such kind of a wishful thinking? What if that brave person’s grand children fell in love with some other caste person? Again I add that we are not against love.

 

The fact that I am telling is that we are relying on wishful thinking, on magic or on a deteriorating hope that our community would survive even the baddest days and somehow would get through. Because we people are hopeful people and certainly not hopeless. I am not against hope of that sort but there should be (there must be) much more consolidation filled within our hearts than just a deteriorating hope.

 

Also another danger, which is lurking is that if the population will decline below a certain level, the rate of intercaste marriage is going to increase even more than now and that can bring the downfall of our community much faster than 100 years limit.

 

There is another problem of location as in these days our people are not at one location as it used to be in Iran, some Parsis have also shifted to some other countries where no Zoroastrian population exist for e.g. some parts of Africa, China, Russia, etc. and they marry the girl of that country who is outside of our caste because of many reasons and one of the reasons is they are not willing to accept a girl/boy outside of their own new environment because as it is said that “We are True to our own Environments”.

 

If some boy was born and brought up in China he would have only Chinese women to watch in his surroundings so he will begin to like Chinese women more, and would insist on marrying an Chinese woman rather than an unknown Parsi woman and one day he will fall in love with such a woman of his dreams. The same rule applies to girls also. This might look rubbish to some but this is reality of our present generation. So it is really hard to maintain your Zoroastrianism when we live in some places where Zoroastrian people are very scarce or are hard to find. The parents also won’t interfere in their child’s way because they know the situation.

 

 The problem of location do happen within India also as we know that Mumbai based Parsi Boys/Girls are not willing to marry outside Mumbai because they can’t leave Mumbai. So, our religion is basically concentrated more on Mumbai where 55,000 of the possible 65,000 Parsis live, and with the fashionable culture these days people will prefer an inter caste marriage with a smart person rather than an arranged marriage with a dull person.

 

Now where does the solution lie?

 

Let us rethink the whole situation again. We cannot stop people falling in love; we cannot accept the person of outside caste because it will spoil our environment and our blood (that’s funny but many still believe this).

 

Our youth is mature enough to choose their life partners. It’s not necessarily only attraction when it comes to intercaste marriages, but some other factors as well like relationship, friendship, true love, etc., so our lecturers (those old people who use to bore us) should not use the word “attraction” when it comes to intercaste marriages as it reflects their own hidden mental status!

 

I respect the fact that Parsis will not include outside caste members in the Zoroastrian religion. I also believe that the Persian blood must be preserved and as much as possible a Parsi should marry a Parsi only.

 

But the heart has its own reasons. All the logic in this world won’t prevent you from falling in love with a person you never intent to. We also can’t tell our love that, “Don’t come near me! I am a Zoroastrian! I need to save my religion!” Actually, it just happens. Love defies all logic.

 

So, at the same time we have the responsibility to preserve our Blood and also our Love. When a choice does come to choose Religion or Love we naturally choose Love (being the kind of emotional fools we all are!). We also want that our spouse should be respected and accepted in the same way as we get accepted in our community. But here all the problems start.

 

Intercaste marriages (though the bravest!) are looked upon as inferior marriages (this is in every community). The couples that do intercaste marriage do not get accepted fully by either side, not our side nor theirs. You tell me, what was their fault? Their fault was that they loved each other and also married overlooking the fact that they were both of different castes. I don’t say that, but this is what they go through every day. Even in gatherings like marriages, parties, etc. But these couples don’t care for the world or society they just care for each other. They are modern people, but sometimes they do feel it from their inside that, neglect…

 

I think that we must make the lives of such couples easier.

 

My thinking is based upon the line written in the Book of the HA written by Prophet Asho Zarathrustra “Zoroastrianism is for the whole mankind” I don’t read any Persian scripts but Dr. Chatterjee a renowned scholar on Zoroastrianism has stated this years ago and also criticized the Parsi community for keeping the religion to Iranians only.

 

Our present religion’s Architecture has many flaws. The major flaw of this Architecture is simple, it doesn’t work.

 

And my Software Engineering discipline states, “If the old design is inflexible then it is better to make a new design which is flexible enough to accept changes, which will lead to a long lasting system”

 

Remember, we must leave the old design as it is and protect the honor of good blood. We can’t change the old system made by our great ancestors. Each religion has it’s own rules and traditions, and we must respect the traditions of the religion in which we are and like the ARZ we must not think to include outside members in our present religion. I wrote to ARZ about my idea, but ARZ is only interested in conversion and I am talking about a new World Religion, which would be even better than the present one, because we are capable of making one.

 

As our community people has always been great initiators we can do one thing which no other religion has ever done for its kids, we can make a new design, yes what I am talking about is we must make a mirror image of Zoroastrianism which is based upon Indian laws and not the Persian laws formulated some 1500 years ago. This new religion will be known as the “Protestant Zoroastrianism” and this religion will accept all the members from any community and also intercaste couples from any community. So this religion would be the “First Lover’s Religion” on earth. Religion has always been a hurdle against love and love has always been a hurdle against religion, but no longer.

 

This religion won’t behave in any special way as the Orthodox Zoroastrians (which we are presently) but in the same way as other religions in India behaves. No special treatment.

 

The Protestant Zoroastrian religion will not be a sub caste of the Orthodox Zoroastrian religion but a completely different religion with a different set of values.

 

            Anybody can go into the Protestant Zoroastrian Agyari or Atash Behram or Dokhma, and can offer their prayers. Anybody can be included in Protestant Zoroastrian only if he/she wishes and not by force or greed. The Protestant Agyaris will have their own Dastoors. If Orthodox Zoroastrian dastoors do wish to help to train Protestant Zoroastrian dastoors they are most welcome to do so, but keeping the Protestant rules in mind.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrians will be known as True Zoroastrians in the eyes of Prophet Asho Zarathrustra and God Ahura Mazda they don’t need any certification from Orthodox Zoroastrian authorities. But I know that the Orthodox Zoroastrian won’t be comfortable with the Protestant Zoroastrian because they suffer from their egos of pure blood but what really counts in the eyes of God is not the language, body, blood, environment, etc. but the soul and only the soul. But the Protestant Zoroastrians don’t want any stamp on them or help from the Orthodox Zoroastrian people in the matters of their personal opinions. I am confident that if the new person is given an environment similar to Orthodox Zoroastrian then he may begin to like Zoroastrianism, as it is a religion free from any orthodox values and a “Modern Religion”, which will have all the good points of Orthodox Zoroastrianism.

 

            Intercaste marriage would also be allowed in this new religion. There is no need for the Orthodox Zoroastrians to join in this religion. They can keep their spouse in the Protestant Zoroastrian and remain themselves as Orthodox Zoroastrians also if they wish to.

 

            On the other hand, the Orthodox Zoroastrians should not view the Protestant Zoroastrians as lower people because this is the religion, which will survive the test of time after they have perished within some years so they must try to help this new religion as much as they can. Although the language of Protestant Zoroastrians would not be similar to Parsis, the environment also won’t be similar to the Parsis, not even the body would be similar to a Parsi, in fact it would be a mixture of many cultures, but as I told you all these things are trivial in front of the soul. Consider the case of the Muslim religion, an Afghan, Arab, Indian Muslim, Turkish Muslim, African Muslims, etc. they all are different having different language, body, blood & environment but they are still Muslims because Muslim religion is for the whole mankind and not for any one group of people. In the same way Protestant Zoroastrian will be for the whole mankind and not for the group of people and would be free of any orthodox values and a Modern Religion, which encourages love and scientific thinking.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrian will have their own Avesta books translated in many different languages as needed. The Avesta books would also show the meanings of the Prayer text in that respective language. So people who have complaints that they can’t understand their own prayers would have a better insight on the meanings of prayers they utter. For this Protestant Zoroastrian should have their own printing press to publish various books relating to Zoroastrianism. If the Orthodox Zoroastrians are willing to provide books to the Protestant Zoroastrian then they are most welcome to do so.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrian Navjote ceremony and marriage ceremony would be similar to the Orthodox Zoroastrian ways.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrian will have its own calendar; the member’s council (which will be held every year) of the Protestant Zoroastrianism would decide this calendar. So, the Protestant Zoroastrian New Year might be different than the Orthodox Zoroastrians New Year.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrians will have their own offices, which will administrate the affairs of the Protestant community and would do all the welfare work in a similar way done by the Parsi Panchayat of Orthodox Zoroastrian. The headquarters of such offices will be decided by the council and can be anywhere in this world. An annual meeting will be held at these headquarters to discuss changes to be included in the Protestant faith.

 

            The Protestant Zoroastrian would be the first religion to get updated every year. There would be no stagnant beliefs & no religious extremism, but dynamic logical behavior, which will guide the members of the community. Even the Bible or the Koran does not get updated so frequently and what had been written a thousand years ago (with good intentions in those times) is not necessarily true today. But Protestant Zoroastrian will update every belief with the change of times.

 

            There always had been a war between Religion and Science also as religion relied on hope and science relied on principles and logic. After the advent of Protestant Zoroastrian this problem will be eliminated, as the Protestant Zoroastrian religious books will be compliant with the latest available scientific literature. This will be the first religion, which will keep both Love and Science as its base rather than culture or environment (on the basis of which other religions were founded). As I told you that this is going to be the first Modern Religion.

There also has been a war between Religion and Philosophy as religion relied on extremism and idea of groupism & philosophers believed in world peace & togetherness, so Philosophers are most welcome in the Protestant Zoroastrian faith to discuss their ideas, how ever radical it might be.

 

            Also the intercaste couples will have an environment in which all accepts them and the problem of neglect by the society would also end as a new society already awaits them & the Orthodox Zoroastrian children who had married outside their caste would still remain Zoroastrian, in this way. They can even go to Protestant Zoroastrian Agyari with their spouse and children.

 

            Also those people who have the claim that they are Zoroastrians but are not admitted in the Zoroastrian religion would find a place in the Protestant Zoroastrian; also the Protestant Zoroastrian will be based on better ideologies than the current Zoroastrian ideologies. These kind of people have been scattered all over the world after the loss of Iran War by the Parsis, it is said that large numbers are in Russia, but now in frustration they are accepting Islam as they are not accepted in Zoroastrianism. Such people can enter the Protestant Zoroastrian faith.

 

The Orthodox Zoroastrians are divided into 3 sub castes Shahenshahi, Irani, and Kadmi but the Protestant Zoroastrian will only be 1 whole body and there won’t be any further sub castes. So the problem of sub castes would also be eliminated.

 

I hope you find my solution of cloning the Zoroastrianism quite useful, and the advent of the newer religion named Protestant Zoroastrianism is the only way by which our Parsi community will survive the test of time.

 

There is another way but I don’t recommend it, which is we start to include all members of outside community in our religion. But as I stated earlier we must try to preserve Zoroastrian blood & culture as much as possible as we are a very small community trying to preserve our culture and environment and our lecturers (those old people who never like to depart with their mikes) won’t also agree to include outside members in our religion. The Zoroastrian Scholars should come out of their libraries and watch the real world. We need to keep another bucket under that leaky bucket so that the water remains preserved in some way.

 

I do hope that you like my suggestion to save the Parsi community from extinction. I just don’t want to write papers on this thing because doing is more important than saying (this also implies to thinking, dreaming, wishing, and writing) and I alone cannot do anything but much support will be needed from other people also who have the same ideologies as mine. Remember, I don’t want to change the existing Zoroastrianism nor do I want any partition on the existing religion.

 

The start of something new brings the hope of something great. We people are much capable of defining a new religion than those who lived 1500 years ago. To save our religion we cannot wait for any Behram Varezavand (the savior) to come to earth (is he on vacation right now?). This would be just another wishful thinking that we are in right now. We must not be dependable on any wishful thinking. We can’t wait for the gods to help us; we have to do this thing ourselves.

 

Together we can start this new religion and save mankind from present religions, which are now problematic & full of Religious extremism and we must give the whole mankind a Modern Religion to live with which will be based upon Love and Science rather than on Culture and Environment. The Youth should step forward to fight against the orthodox society, which cripples their own freedom and make this idea a success.

 

 

 

                                                                                Yours truly,

                                                                                MAHERNOZ PERCY DARUWALA

                   26^th January 2005