Why religious Zarathushtris are AGAINST the Gatha-alone cult's ali
TREATISE:
--- 5 Powerful Reasons ---
Why religious Zarathushtris are AGAINST the
Gatha-alone cult's ali
Fellow Traditional Mazdayasni Zarathushtris,
The liberal mailing list "zoroastrians@listbot.com" which is zoroastrian only in name, frequently carries trashy articles by outsiders and liberals attacking our ancient religion, eg, letters from Muslims/Christians talking about the "SEX" of Ahura Mazda, which is disgusting and insulting to us Zoroastrians. (Compare this to the Traditional Zarathushtris Mailing list (TZML) at TraditionalZarathushtris-subscribe@yahoogroups.com , a free mailing list where our religion is protected and upheld.)
We have been informed that in a recent letter in the liberal alias, a Muslim member made a really OUTRAGEOUS claim about ali, who is the Gatha alone cult leader in North America. The Muslim wrote about a liberal meeting in that place:
"Mr. Arman had the courage to suggest that it is a modern day miracle that (ali) was born a Moslem and thus qualified to be elected the POPE OF THE ZOROASTRIANS or our NEW SAOSHYANT!"
This is really incredible. Some misguided Muslims of Iran who have migrated to the West, are wrongly calling themselves "zoroastrians" after undergoing fake "navjots" which have no religious validity, and now want to "elect" a fellow Muslim as a Zoroastrian Pope or "Saoshyant"!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
This is the sure sign of a dangerous cult when a millionaire cult leader like ali seeks the status of prophethood and his followers "suggest" his name for that status at meetings.
ali is a renegade Muslim based in North America, who has remounced his own sacred religion of Islam (and broken a sacred vow, the Kalima, that every Muslim takes about following that religion throughout his life). He is involved in misleading a lot of Muslims, Christians and Hindus in North America and promising to make them "zoroastrians" via a fake "navjot" ceremony. Donations can be made to his cult for that, including the right to "navjot" others, all of this for a price. This is the worst case of open commercialization of our religion in North America (it is hardly surprising, since these places are masters at commercializing everything - including spirituality and religion).
Ali heads an organization which can be best described as the Gatha-alone cult. In this cult, all Zoroastrian scriptures such as the Yashts and Vendidad are demeaned as "OUT OF DATE" and "NO MORE GUIDING", all our ancient rituals are discarded, our agiaris and atash behrams are derided and instead match-stick lit gas pipe fires are used in made up modern "prayers" in a complete mockery of the intense beliefs of our religion about the sanctity of fire and our Avestan Mathravani.
The Gatha alone cult also encourages inter-marriage (which is a great sin in our religion) and also in general has no rules against immorality, adultery, homosexuality or prostitution, acts prohibited by all major religions. The cult also discards the ancient Zoroastrian practise of the Dakhma and encourages burial, as the Muslims and Christians do.
Ali has been publicly warned by the Majlis (parliament) of Iran to stop his anti-Islamic activities outside Iran. This Muslim however seems to delight in attacking his religion of Islam as well as our own Zarathushtri religion.
I quote from ali's writing, which he posted in the previous liberal alias of Mehrdad. These words show the true filthy side of this Muslim and his Gatha alone cult. The Muslim had the gall to suggest that our ancient Zoroastrian fire temples had temple PROSTITUTES!
"However, TEMPLE PROSTITUTION meant going to temples only during the period they could sexually serve men. Menstruation kept them away from going to temples and participating in the holy rite, an act which is the main SOURCE of the menstrual taboos still observed by many tradition-bound communities." - ali.
As all Traditional Zarathushtris know, one of the commandments in our religion is to preserve the sanctity of Fire and other household objects (we keep our houses clean) against the menstrual impurity which issues from a woman every 3 days in a month. As per our religion, menstrual blood (which is the decaying wall of the uterus) is NASU - dead putrefying matter, equivalent to the dead body which we do not touch a few hours after death. (If we do that, we have to take a spiritual purification via the NAHN, using Nirang.)
Decaying blood and matter ie. NASU is the work of the evil one (who has created death and destruction, as per our religion) and is used in witchcraft and black magic, and our pure religion and its pure rituals stays well away from the impurity of Nasu. This applies to men as well - even a priest or a man who has a bleeding sore is not supposed to come before the holy Fire or participate in any rituals. The Jews have similar strict rules in their religion - they could have taken these rules from us.
At this time, our women took rest from their household chores for 3 days while the other women in the house, or the men did all the work, including cooking and preparing food. For thousands of years, the Zoroastrian people gave a "take it easy" holiday to their women every month.
However, the Gatha alone cult leader ali in his words above declares that the reason we have this "menstrual seclusion" is because "temple prostitutes" used to have sex with priests in our fire temples, and when they menstruated they were not allowed to do so, and as a result we have menstrual seclusion!
This is the most FANTASTIC and HILARIOUS theory on menstrual seclusion that we have heard so far. To suggest that menstruating women cant enter fire temples because a woman cant function as a "sexually active" "temple prostitute" is totally OUTRAGEOUS.
"Passage of time has exaggerated once the natural absence from attending their temple duty of sensually entertaining priests and pilgrims, to the much abhorred uncleanliness of the menstrual period and segregation of later days when the real reason for not attending temple services were forgotten and fables were woven to justify the segregation. - ali."
What a fantastic fable ali is weaving here. This is indeed all in his imagination, and the imagination is DIRTY indeed. As is the practise of "modern" people, especially psychologists, everything is linked to sex in such people's minds.
If indeed "menstrual pollution" was linked to "temple prostitutes not performing their "holy" sexual acts", tell me this: WHY DOES CHRIST SAY IN THE BIBLE - "Who has touched me? For I feel the power has gone out from me" when a woman in her period touched him. WE CANNOT IGNORE THIS GREAT SPIRITUAL FACT, THAT UNCLEANLINESS OF ANY KIND IS NOT GOOD FOR SPIRITUALITY.
"nothing is mentioned about any punishment for those males, priests or not, who sleep with her. - ali."
Ali is wrong here. The Vendidad says one-third of the righteousness of righteous men vanishes. This is punishment enough, for those who sleep with a prostitute.
* FIVE POWERFUL REASONS *
Ali wrote:
"Threats, insults, attacks, and above all, rumors against me are now in their 14th year and those against the Assmbly in the 5th year (sic). Among our vehement and vociferous uproar raisers are a few Dasturjis, emerging Ervads, North American Mobeds Council members, contributors to Parsi periodicals in Bombay, and officials and members of certain Zoroastrian associations."
There you are! Practically, almost the whole legitimate Zoroastrian world is against you and your misdeeds, notwitstanding the so-called Zoroastrian "converts", who have no religious credence. Mr. Ali, the truth is that 99% of the Zarathushtris, Parsis and Iranis in India are against your propaganda, and 100% OF THE DASTURJEES IN INDIA ARE. That is enough for any real Zarathustri worth his salt. And one such staunch Parsi or Irani Zarathushtri is enough to counter a thousand such as you - you should know that by now.
Have you ever stopped to wonder, Mr. Ali, why so many Zarathushtris, priests and Behdins are against your propaganda? Have you ever wondered why old Parsi mothers call you "evil"? Here are the reasons, which I have outlined below, in the hope that your sleeping conscience may be re-awakened:
Reason 1.
In your propaganda, you constantly criticize and demean the Holy Scriptures - the Vendidad and the Yashts, which are the pillars of our religion. A true scholar is only meant to report on a religion - "this religion believes in this, that religion believes in that" - a true scholar does not sit in judgment, LIKE YOU HAVE DONE, and call statements in the Vendidad and Yashts as unbelievable. I refer to your past letters in the liberal mailing list, wherein you poked fun, at the Zarathustris for statements in the Vendidad that said that "The Mazdayasni Zarathushtri religion was revealed to Shah Jamshed".
If you cant believe this, it is okay for you, but you should not scorn the Holy Vendidad, which we pray continously in our sacred Agiaris and Atash Behrams, before the holy Fire. You also poked fun at the sacred Farvardin Yasht, wherein it is mentioned that "Gayomard was first taught the Mazdayasni religion". You scathingly said: how could Gayomard be taught by Mazda when the word "Mazda" was non-existant?
In your arrogance and play on syllables and words, you forgot the FEELINGS of many Zarathustris who PRAY these scriptures continously. You attacked their FAITH - telling them it was foolish to believe in what their ancestors have believed in, it was foolish to follow what their parents had taught them. In so doing, you acted out the part of evil in this evil age, wherein ancient beliefs of all religions are condemned at every step. You had done your part, to decrease faith in this world - and that was evil, because A GOOD MAN INCREASES FAITH, HE DOES NOT DECREASE IT. Please realise this, and wake up.
Reason 2.
In your propaganda, you attack the Holy Rituals and especially the sacred ceremony of Nirangdin. Articles of yours published in Parsiana exhort the Parsis not to use the Holy Nirang in their ceremonies, not to follow any rituals. I ask you this: as a member of a different religion, you would be naturally averse to rituals, we can understand that and appreciate it, because your faith is essentially non-ritualistic and heeds only the words of the Prophet.
But WHY DO YOU WANT TO FORCE YOUR PERSONAL BELIEFS ON THE ZARATHUSHTRIS? We were the original religion of mankind, we the Mazdayasni Aryans of Iran were the ones who FIRST used rituals to worship God, and these rituals have come down into many other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism and Catholic Christianity.
If you condemn our sacred rituals, I can only tell you this - YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT OUR RITUALS MEAN TO US, how high they lift us spiritually.
You, who have never been destined by Ahura Mazda to wear the sudreh-kusti (because of your not being born in the Zoroastrian religion) can make only intellectual conjectures and speculations. To you sudreh, kusti and rituals are only words to be used to confuse the sincere Zoroastrians and mislead them. You, who have never undergone the sacred "padyaab-kusti" ceremony, will never understand how efficacious these rituals are in lifting up mankind spiritually. Writing against rituals is one thing (as is done so misleadingly by you); but performing and actually experiencing the benefits they bring into ones's daily life is another (as eloquent testimonies from Zarathushtris all over the world will reveal).
Even the Aborigine of Australia has his sacred rituals, his secret paintings, wherin he draws close to the Master Spirit of the Universe. Will you go up to the aborigine too and tell him to stop his rituals, and forget his ancient culture? Will the aborigine listen to you? Popbably you will be told to go on a "walkabout" - in short, to buzz off and mind your own business.
Reason 3.
You condemn the sacred practise of Dakhma-nashini (corpse destruction in the Dakhma, by the flesh-eating bird or the rays of the Sun, as commanded by Ahura Mazda) which we Zarathushtris have followed for thousands of years. You may dislike this religious practise of the Zarathushtris, because your own religion believes in burial, and we can understand that.
But that gives you NO RIGHT TO CONDEMN OUR BELIEFS. The practise of Dakhma-nashini is holy to us, because it is commanded by Ahura Mazda Himself in the Holy Vendidad. In my future postings, I will present to the members of this group, the evidence collected to show as to why exactly Dakhma-nashini is the BEST way to dispose of a dead body.
But, of course, you condemn the Vendidad itself. By what right? Simply because you have read a few books and have a little knowledge on "words" and how they are composed? Do you have FAITH, which is a thousand times superior to knowledge? As a saying by a saint of India goes,
"Pothi Padh Padh mar gaye, Pandit bana na koy
Adhai Akshar Prem se bole, Pandit ho to vohi",
meaning,
"After reading volumes and volumes, they have passed on,
None of them was a true learned man
He who takes the name of God with love and faith,
He is the true learned man." - Saint Kabir.
Reason 4.
You mock the SAOSHYANT Himself - the expected Saviour of the Zarathushtris, that we have prayed for for thousands of years. You scorn this "hope in a Saviour" of the Zarathushtris. In your arrogance, you forget that YOUR OWN RELIGION waits for the Mahdi (messenger) to come, the Jews wait for the Messiah, the Christians for the Second Coming, the Hindus for the last incarnation of Vishnu - Kalki, and the Buddhists for the last Buddha - Maitreya. You thus mock the belief of all the great religions of the world, you scorn the hopes in the breasts of millions of human beings, and in this you do evil - all in your false scholarly pride and arrogance.
O man, be not so arrogant, that you condemn so many millions for the hope beating in their breasts. If a man waits for the Saviour, it is a good and holy hope, and you do great wrong by condemning it. Know this to be true.
You mock the pride the Parsis have in their "blue-blooded Kayani
race", as in your last article in Parsiana. What right have you,
an outsider of a different religion, to mock the pride we feel
in our culture, our identity and our heritage? Every people on
the earth have a right to preserve their identity - be it a
racial/ethnic identity or be it a cultural identity. Do you deny
people this right? Will you go up to the Red Indian and tell him
that his pride in his heritage, in his people, in his culture,
is all wrong? Will you mock the Red indian too?
Because of your dislike of the pride we Paris have in the Kayani
race of our forefathers, you ask the Parsis to freely intermarry,
in the insiduous hope that their identity will be lost (God
forbid) and their pride shattered (God forbid). But dont you
see, Mr. Ali, righteous pride is not wrong, and what you
espouse in your propaganda - intermarriage - actually leads to a
dilution of the religious faith too, because the child of inter-
married parents too often decides not to follow any religion,
especially in the modern world. My learned peers have ably
explained again and again, that INTER-MARRIAGE IS MOST
DETRIMENTAL FOR THE ZARATHUSHTRI RELIGION.
You wrote:
"Although now and then there is an outburst of an uproar, many
of our opponents are showing signs of fatigue.. Many voices have
died.."
These stalwarts may become silent now and then because they are
working people, with families, and pressures of everyday living.
They are not idle people with lots of money and time on their
hands, they are not on the payroll of rich "liberals", who
sponsor outsiders to the tune of thousands of dollars per month.
In this age, evil is indeed moneyed and powerful. In our Holy
Prophet Asho Zarathushtra's time, the evil magicians, the Kavis
and Karappans were likewise moneyed and powerful. But Asho
Zarathushtra opposed them, because he had the power of
Righteousness (Ashoi) on his side. He had the Yatha Ahu Vairyo
(Ahunavar) on his side, and all evil against him was to no avail.
The evil one ahreman itself attacked Zarathushtra, but
Zarathushtra's chanting of the Ahunavar forced it to flee,
weeping in terror.
So, rest assured, you will continue to be opposed, if you
continue to do evil in the name of God. It is our sacred duty to
oppose such evil.
The voice of truth will never tire or die out. It will be taken
up by one, then two, then many. The flag of the true Zoroastrian
religion will be passed from hand to hand, and these true
Zoroastrians will always oppose your destructive ideas. Faith can
move mountains, and our faith is strong - it will never be shot
down by you.
You wrote:
"postings which will continue to be ignored by us."
How long will you continue to ignore the truth? Truth has a
habit of sneaking up on you, where you least expect it. Even
if you close your ears and become deaf to the voices of the
righteous, ultimately, you will have to answer for what you do,
when you will be judged by God on the day of the resurrection,
which your religion believes in.
What will you answer the Almighty, when He askes you: "Ali, why
did you leave the Muslim religion I gave you birth in?" "Ali,
why did you decrease faith among the Zoroastrians? Why did you
attack their beliefs, why did you poke fun at their scriptures?
Why did you hurt their feelings?"
Will you ignore God then? Or, like a mischievous child who has
repented, hide your face in shame and ASK HIS FORGIVENESS?
You wrote:
"... is a newcomer, just barely five months old."
The person may be a baby, it is true, but if a baby has the divine force
of Righteousness (Ashoi) behind him, even a baby can stand up to
you. Asho Zarathushtra was just a boy, when he stood up to the
evil magician Durasarob, who also was powerful and moneyed.
Mahatma Gandhiji was just one man - but with TRUTH behind
him, he was able to stand up to the mighty British empire,
and free India.
Similarly, if you mislead and exploit the Zoroastrians, if you
oppose the teachings of the Zarathushtri religion, then I, and
Noshir Dadrawalla, the Holy Dasturjees, the staunch Ervads, and
many others, priests and Behdins will continue to oppose you.
Remember - ultimately, the righteous will win in this battle
between good and evil, that has gone on since the entry of the
evil one into this world. The evil one, and all evil, is
ultimately doomed - such is the great promise of our faith.
You wrote:
"All other parts of the Avesta and Pahlavi have their
ethical, historical, geographical, and anthropological
values and there is an accepted place for them outside the
doctrinal scripture: the Gathic texts."
The Vendidad and Holy Yashts are NOT "anthropological" or
mere remnants of dead cultures - they are living, breathing
sacred scriptures, filled with the power of Ahura Mazda. You
INSULT us Zarathushtris when you insult our sacred scriptures,
that thousands of us pray daily in our fire-temples.
WOULD YOU TELL A CHRISTIAN THAT "PARTS OF YOUR SACRED BIBLE ARE
OF "ANTHROPOLOGICAL" OR "GEOGRAPHICAL" VALUE ONLY? WOULD YOU DARE
SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE SACRED KORAN? WHY THEN DO YOU ATTACK
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES OF THE ZARATHUSHTRIS, AND INSULT THEIR
RELIGIOUS FEELINGS? WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU ANYWAY, TO INTERFERE IN A
RELIGION THAT IS NOT YOUR OWN?
You wrote:
"The Z Assmbly has its Internet Access Board
consisting of .... The six young persons named
here are Computer Wizards. Three of them are Zoroastrian Alias
members and Internet subscribers."
This is proof indeed, of the "liberal" proaganda machine. Maybe
the ordinary folk of the Zoroastrian religion are not as
organized as you are. But now and then they throw up a champion
like Noshir Dadrawala, or Adil Rangoonwalla, or Ervad Darius
Sethna, to defend the tenets of the Mazdayasni Zarathushtri Deen
against the sick propaganda of outsiders like you.
You wrote:
"he is confined to the subscribers of Zoroastrian
Alias and now alt.religion.zoroastrian."
For the first time on the Internet, a brave Ratheshtar (soldier)
of the Mazdayasni Zarathushtri faith has confronted your
powerful, moneyed cult, and it's hynotic, seductive
propaganda. One man against scores, but no matter. Even if you
succeed in silencing one, ten such as this man shall arise,
then a hundred, then a thousand, until the
Saoshyant comes like an avenging storm. And that time is near,
though you scorn this ancient sacred hope of the Zarathushtris.
Indeed, without rituals, the Zoroastrian religion cannot survive
(God forbid). Which is why religious Zarathushtris oppose the
outsiders, who are guiding our youth in the wrong way - they tell
our youth to give up the rituals of their ancestors. These outsiders
DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE SECRET MEANING OF OUR RITUALS,
AND MISGUIDE ZARATHUSHTRIS TO DISCARD THEM.
One of these outsiders, Ali has betrayed his nervousness
by attacking the "Traditional Zoroastrians" in one of his messages.
In his letter, Ali says:
"Ever since the establishment of the Z Assmbly in
1990, certain persons, calling themselves Traditional Mazdayasnis,
have indulged in a campaign, generally in blasphemous name-calling
language, against what they love to call the Gathas Alone Cult and
GAC as an abbreviation for it."
Mr. Ali, by CALLING THE TRADITIONAL MAZDAYASNIS "BLASPHEMOUS"
when they are simply defending their religion, you are also
indulging in a "personal attack". You also said:
"..infantile and see themselves helpless. Like little children,
they do need someone to act as their parents. This is supplied to
them by their scriptures which tell them, in the name of the
reported dialogues between Ahura Mazda and Zarathushtra, what to do
and what not to do. Whether they fully can put up with what are
commanded or skip many of them, is another matter. But again like
children, they shout at others to do this and not to do that,
just because their parents have told them so. One can easily
understand this obsession of their."
There are two brothers, Mr. Ali. Both of them are small children.
Now, their father tells them not to steal fruits from their
neighbour's orchard. The elder brother obeys, but the small one,
a mischievous one rebels against the commandment of his father.
He goes, climbs the tree, slips into his neigbour's orchard,
and starts stealing the fruits. The elder brother watches,
aghast. He shouts at his younger brother to stop what he is doing,
else he would be caught in the trap the neighbour has laid, and their
father would be very angry. But the younger brother does not listen.
Now tell us, Mr. Ali, who is wrong here, and who is right? Should
the elder brother just walk away uncaringly, and let his small brother
be punished for having broken his father's law? No, he should try
to save him, BY SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS IF NEED BE, the error of
his ways, and hope that the young brother stops disobeying his father,
for his own sake.
Similarly, the rules in the Zarathushtri Scriptures are handed
down to us by our Father, Ahura Mazda. Generations and generations
of Zarathushtris have been following these rules eg. Sudreh-kusti,
the rituals, dakhma-nashini, marriage within the community etc,
as best as we can. Now, when our young, innocent Zarathushtri
youths are being misguided by outsiders like you to FORGET the
rules that God has given us, naturally we try to guide them to
the right path, for their own sake, and for the sake of the
religion.
Mr. Ali wrote:
"These do's and don't are endless. One should have quite a spare
time to go through their commandment books to see the "tell-yous"
and taboos that are so binding that one, like any child bombarded
with do's and don'ts, is lost and gets quite puzzled."
A child is not puzzled with rules, Mr. Ali, a child is puzzled
by the LACK OF RULES. Eg.: every religion on this earth says
adultery is wrong. Now, people like you say "dont believe in
religious rules, just follow your own mind".
Therefore, a youth whom you have misguided would say "there
is nothing wrong in adultery". Maybe a more moral disciple
of yours would say "no, adultery is wrong". If the two youths
were to meet, there would be total confusion as to who is right
or wrong, because there is a LACK OF RULES in your philosophy.
To me, you seem to be a mischievous child, Mr. Ali, who has
rebelled against the commandments of his own religion - the
religion of the Holy Prophet Mohammed - and now you are telling
Zarathushtris to rebel against the rules of their own religion.
Mr. Ali wrote:
"they keep on urging others to follow the rules, rules that
have their deep roots in pre-Aryan natives of the Iranian
Plateau"
This is a highly misleading statement. All the rules in our
religion are ARYAN in origin - the Vendiad itself is written
in Avestan, and Avestan is an Aryan language, Mr. Ali - do
you deny that? I would also ask you to lift your eyes further,
to the great religious epics of India such as the Mahabharata,
which are also Aryan epics and have many similar rules to ours,
eg, Draupadi says she is in an "unclean" state of menstruation
and cannot meet anyone.
If the rules had their "deep roots in pre-Aryan natives of the
Iranian Plateau", then the Aryan damsel Draupadi of India would
not be following a rule similar to what is mentioned on the Vendidad.
The rules in our religion, as explained in the Vendidad and Yashts
are all Aryan, Mr. Ali - please dont mislead us any further.
Ali said:
"Why these persons have never come up with a translation
and commentary of the entire Avesta so that the laity knows
what to do and does not turn to "liberals," "western misleaders,"
and "outsider mischief-makers"?
There are several translations of the Yashts and Vendidad, Mr. Ali,
by proud Zarathushtris. I refer you to Tehmuras Rustomjee Sethna's
translations of the scriptures in English, published in Karachi. I
am proud to own this translation of the scriptures by a common
God-fearing Zarathushtri.
Ali said:
"All of them show, in their attacking articles, that they are
well-versed in the "Mazdayasni" religion right from the days
of the supposed first "prophet" Kayumars through the second
supposed one Jamshid to the third supposed one Zarathushtra to
the present wait-and-see days for the Savior Shah Bahram Varjavand.
(Supposed because they say this without producing any concrete piece
of the texts of messages received by the earlier two so that
Zarathushtra becomes the third and not THE DIVINE FOUNDER of the Good
Religion as we recognize him. Look at the Bible and you will see a
row of prophets with their "revealed" texts.) "
Mr. Ali, The Bible is fairly recent compared to OUR history.
The Bible must have been written 2-3 thousand years BC, whereas
Zarathushtra probably lived 8,000 BC (as per the Greeks) and
Shah Jamshed lived thousands of years before Zarathushtra, at the
time of the onset of the ice age glaciations. How long ago was
that? 40,000 years BC?
Our "concrete" evidence, as you term it, is in the Farvardin Yasht,
which states clearly that THE MAZDAYASNI RELIGION WAS FIRST REVEALED BY
AHURA MAZDA TO GAYA-MARETAN, THE FIRST ARYAN. The Vendidad says clearly
that the Mazdayasni religion was then revealed to Yima Kshaeta, the Aryan
King (Yiam = Jam, ksaeta = king = shed, so Jamshed) who ruled over the
Aryans in the ancient homeland "Airyanam Vaejo", the Seedland of the
Aryans, before they migrated to Iran.
After thousands of years, the Aryan religion had deteriorated, evil
magicians and misleading teachers had sprung up, leading the Mazdayasnis
astray, telling them to worship evil and RENOUNCE THEIR ANCIENT RITUALS
OF WORSHIPPING THE DIVINE ELEMENTS OF GOD.
At that time, the earth cried out for a Saviour, and Zarathushtra-Saheb
was born, he RE-REVEALED THE ANCIENT MAZDAYASNI FAITH IN IT'S ANCIENT
GLORY, and also revealed the Agusto Vachao - Words of Ahura never heard
before, such as the Holy AHUNAVAR - the most powerful prayer (Yatha Ahu
Vairyo) with whose help God created the Universe. Zarathushtra asked the
Aryan Mazdayasnis of Iran to stop worshipping evil. He REVIVED the ancient
rituals of the YASHTS, putting his stamp of approval on each one of them -
"Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda, Ahura Mazda replied", and so on.
Ali wrote:
"Not a single one of them has any book to his or her credit."
God has INSTANTLY proved you wrong there, Mr. Ali. By the Grace
of God, the book "The Saga of the Aryans" has recently been released
in Bombay, and it is proving to be very popular among the
Zarathushtris. IT IS BASED ON THE VERY ZARATHUSHTRI SCRIPTURES
THAT YOU DERIDE, THE HOLY YASHTS AND VENDIDAD.
Ali wrote:
"From what one observes, they are not interested in the
constructive side of the matter. They are too busy with their
uproar and have no time to settle down to work."
Our religion enjoins on us to OPPOSE EVIL, in whatever
form we find it on this earth. Our holy Yashts attack
evil constantly, eg. "ahriman hich nadan" - the evil one is
nothing - so it says in the Ardibehest Yasht Nirang.
The person who prays the Vanant Yasht says "I tie the mouths of
snakes, rats, cats, wolves".
So, opposing evil is also a VERY IMPORTANT PART of our religion,
therefore righteous Zarathushtris "create an uproar" when they are
faced with such insidious evil as yours, Mr. Ali, the evil of false
propaganda that you constantly do.
Ali said:
"Another question which has perplexed me: Why all these persons
speak of homosexuality, prostitution and other "vices" in their
attacks on the "GAC" or "liberals" and reformists? Why of all
other ethical "deviations" mentioned in their voluminous
scriptures and Persian PATETS, they think only of "perverted sex"? "
Because, the liberals have shown time and again that by the
very nature of the loose "freedom from rules" that you preach,
they CANNOT OPPOSE homosexuality or prostitution, they champion the
free evil choice of these individuals. Because there are no rules
in your Gatha-only cult, Mr. Ali, thay cannot take a moral stand and
oppose "perverted sex", which has reached an all time high in the
modern world today. Then, they find they cannot speak against
adultery, and "de-facto" living together. Soon, their family
values deteriorate, the family deteriorates, and the religion is
forgotten.
All because of your Gatha-only cult, Mr Ali, which doesnt believe
in rules or rituals. Why do you want to destroy these people,
Mr. Ali?
Lastly, by comparing the Traditional Mazdayasnis to "barking dogs"
in your letter, you have shown them the utmost disrespect. We know
that a man of your faith (the faith of Muhammed) shows the greatest
scorn to dogs, (quite unlike our Vendidad which shows the highest
respect to dogs) and by comparing the righteous Zarathushtris,
men with faith in their religion to "roadside barking dogs",
you have done them a great injustice.
As one of my Zarathustri friends rightly said, "When the
druj is attacked, he goes into a frenzy." How true.
The Muslim Ali launched a personal attack yesterday on 3 Parsi
Zarathushtris, including myself, just because we have stood
up to defend our precious Prophet Zarathustra and our religion
against his constant attacks. He wrote about myself, in the
most vicious personal terms possible:
"After all, he is a bachelor of 37 years obsessed with homosexuality
and prostitution, and somehow he has to vent his frustrations!
...his uproar and blatant lies."
First of all, get your facts right, Mr. Ali. I am not 37 years old.
And if I have spoken out against homosexuality and prostitution, it
is because all religions say that these things are wrong, including
my religion Zoroastrianism, and your religion Islam, Mr. Ali.
However, in the Gatha-only-cult that you are propagating in
North America, you say that there are "no rules" in our religion.
You therefore imply to your disciples that anything and everything
is okay in our religion. There are simply no books, no rules of
right and wrong in your cult, and this is what is *wrong* - it
weakens the morality in the world. Thus, you easily attract
the white youth who are disillusioned with Christianity, and
who are experimenting with drugs, homosexuality, bisexuality,
free sex and the like - all in the name of our great and ancient
religion. SHAME on you, for perverting the name of our ancient
religion thus.
The books of our religion, such as the Yashts and the Vendidad,
clearly teach what is right and wrong, but you heap contempt
on these books and say they are of "anthropological value
only, not sacred". What right have you to say these things
about our Holy books, when you are yourself a Muslim? What
right have you to mislead our Zarathushtri young? Have you
no shame, when you turn away our young from what their
forefathers taught them to do? Have you no regard for the
many sacrifices our forefathers made to PRESERVE their
ancient religion, giving their very lives for this?
You have clearly no moral right and authority to do these things.
Morally and spiritually, you are in the wrong, Mr. Ali, and
any man of God will tell you that. You should practise the great
religion of Islam you are born in, Mr. Ali, and not try to
subvert our religion.
You wrote:
"within a period of six years, the movement of the Gathic
pristine purity has progressed to such an extent that, in
addition to attracting knowledgeable persons from all over
the world, it has made the "Defenders of the Traditional
Faith" to hurry and scurry and to mobilize themselves, and
that too with the help of international non-Zoroastrian
scholars, to ward off the danger that threatens their
"interests." Too late! Too late!"
For the forces of Good and Righteousness, it is NEVER TOO
LATE. The final Victory of Good over evil is assured in
my Zoroastrian religion, Mr. Ali. If we are seeking to
preserve a great tradition, we are doing GOOD, and if
you are seeking to destroy our tradition, you are
doing BAD, and can never achieve victory. It is as
simple as that.
About following the COMMANDMENTS of the Zarathushtri religion, Zarathushtra himself proclaimed:
'That which Mazda Ahura, the Knowing One, told me, (saying) "For those among you who will not practice these
'manthra' (holy words) in the way I think and pronounce it, for them 'woe' will be the last word of (their) existence."
Yasna 45.3 (Ushtavaiti Gatha)
(Humbach-Ichaporia, The Heritage of Zarathushtra, 1994)
Dr. Ichaporia rightly wrote on this:
"This is the clear and lucid direction to practice and strictly follow the "holy words/sayings" (manthra) as Zarathushtra conceived
them as revelations from Ahura Mazda, Zarathushtra gives the strict warning of WOE that will befall those who will
DISREGARD them. The question of so called, often heard "reflection" is nowhere in sight, here as well as in the whole corpus
of the Gathas. The word 'reflection' does not even occur once."
Well said. Indeed, as other religious scholars from India have pointed out, even the Holy Gathas themselves, precious
scriptures of the Zarathushtris have been twisted and perverted in meaning by the liberals and outsiders in North America. The
Gathas were written at a time when there was only one religion, Zoroastrianism, and these great poems speak of the eternal
choice between good and evil that lies before every man. Even this choice between good and evil has been perverted into a
"choose your own religion as if it were an ice-cream cone" by the liberals of North America, and their outsider (mis)leaders.
In so doing, THEY NOW ATTACK ALL RELIGIONS AS "EVIL"! I have been privately informed of VICIOUS attacks on
ALL religions in the European mailing list that calls itself "Zoroastrian", headed by a Christian disciple of Ali.
The fact remains that Ali HAS IMPLICITLY SUPPORTED SUCH ATTACKS BY HIS CONSTANT
ENCOURAGEMENT OF THIS CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE, as we saw in a letter in which Ali calls himself "Baba" and tells the
disciple to do this and that. Never once has Ali admonished this disciple, and asked him to stop equating sordid homosexuality
with Zoroastrianism. Never once has Ali explained what is morally right and what is morally wrong.
On the other hand, when this Christian disciple of Ali wrote to me a year ago that the Bible was "bullshit", I immediately told
him he was very wrong and also that homosexuality was outlawed in his religion, and mine. But his "baba" told him there were
no rules, he could do anything. The Christian listened to the misleading voice of the "baba", not to his own religion, not to our
religion, and not to my voice which told him clearly that attacking other religions was wrong, saying the Bible was bullshit was
wrong, and that sordid sexual acts such as homosexuality were NOT allowed in any religion.
As a result, Ali's disciple is indulging in vicious religious attacks, all in the name of Zoroastrianism. He teaches newcomers to his
list that our sacred religion allows any kind of perversion, even homosexuality.
This is very shameful, for Zarathushtris do not allow homosexuality in our religion, nor do we call other religions as "evil". But
this is the direct result of the teachings of Ali to outsiders like this Christian, and spiritually starved people are often led astray -
even educated people, by sweet talk and high sounding words.
Cults are very, very dangerous for young people. Witness the recent mass suicide of 39 Americans in North America, led
astray by a radical CULT leader who went against mainstream Christianity. Such things happen in cults, which are very
dangerous because they misquote and pervert the teachings of the Prophet of the religion, and often attack the priests, holy
places, and traditional aspects of an established religion.
A Parsi Zarathushtri wrote:
"Undoubtedly, today we have a better understanding of the Gathas than most of our ancestors did a hundred years ago. But I
am certain that our understanding of the Gathas, the younger Avesta and later texts and rituals is still evolving and is FAR
FROM PERFECT. We owe it to ourselves to continue to study ALL the texts, observe ALL the rituals, and follow ALL the
Zarthusti practices we can WITHOUT PREJUDICE OR SMUGNESS. "
Well said. A Parsi is always a traditional at heart, he will never destroy his motherly religion, when the Parsi realizes what the
liberals and outsiders around him are upto. After all our blood has not turned into water yet. We cannot destroy our own
mother, the religion.
Ali's TWO-FACED answer to this plea from a fellow Zarathushtri, amazes me. He says:
"You may, by all means, study ALL the texts, observe ALL the rituals, and follow ALL the Zarthusti practices. No one is telling
you otherwise. "
And in the same breath, he says:
"As far as other Avestan, Pahlavi and Persian SCRIPTURES of daily life "prescriptions" are concerned, they constitute a
literature that suited well their times. Although a rich heritage, they are MOSTLY OUTDATED now. As an Iranian and of
Iranian ancestry, these scriptures are very much my heritage too and I am benignly proud of them. But they are, with the
exception of selected pieces, OUT-OF-DATE AND NO MORE GUIDING."
MY PARSI ZARATHUSHTRI BLOOD BOILS AT SUCH WORDS. HOW DARE YOU, MR. ALI, MAKE SUCH
STATEMENTS ABOUT OUR SACRED SCRIPTURES? TO US THEY *ARE* GUIDING, TO YOU THEY ARE NOT,
BECAUSE YOU ARE FROM ANOTHER RELIGION - IN ANY CASE, YOU HAVE BETRAYED YOUR OWN
HOLY RELIGION, AND BROKEN YOUR VOWS BEFORE GOD. HOW DARE YOU CALL OUR SCRIPTURES AS
OUTDATED? BY WHAT MORAL OR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY, BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT EVEN A
ZOROASTRIAN BUT REMAIN A PARJAT, AN OUTSIDER PERSON?
SHAME ON YOU, FOR ATTACKING OUR RELIGION IN THIS MANNER. ONE DAY, YOU WILL HAVE TO
ANSWER TO GOD FOR YOUR ACTIONS, AND ALL YOUR KNOWLEDGE, YOUR LEARNING, YOUR
LANGUAGES WILL BE AS DUST BEFORE HIS ANGER AT YOUR BLASPHEMIES AGAINST THE
ZARATHUSHTRI RELIGION. AT THE JUDGEMENT DAY, YOU WILL BE CONDEMNED BY THE FARVASHIS
OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE FOLLOWED THE ZARATHUSHTRI RELIGION FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
WITH GREAT FAITH AND PRIDE.
DO NOT FILL UP YOUR BURDEN WITH SIN, MR. ALI. STOP YOUR ACTIONS, AND ASK FORGIVENESS OF
GOD, AND FIND HIM IN YOUR RELIGION OF ISLAM ONCE AGAIN. THERE IS STILL TIME TO REPENT.
SINCERE REPENTANCE IS ALWAYS FORGIVEN BY GOD.
- A Religious Zarathushri youth.