“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

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