it is truely said, god couldnt be there at all places on this earth at the same time, so he created mother... i love you mummy you are my life and whatever i do for you will never match up to what you have done for us...i love you... 

THE IRANIANS BEFORE ZARATHUSHTRA WAS BORN

We parsis often wonder how our ancestors must have looked like, or who must our ancestors be and how did they live in those times...Ours being the oldest religion in the world it is very hard for us youngsters to imagine how our ancestors must be like. I have some information regarding our ancestors and I shall share it with my readers.

Almost 4,000 years ago there lived a tribe of herdsmen in ancient Iran. The Iranian people were nomadic, that is they did not live in a fixed place but moved from place to place in search of food as well as good pastures for their cattle.

Our forefathers were tall, fair, well-built with dark brown/black hair and hooked noses. They wore long robes to shield themselves from the hot sun during the day and from the bitter cold in the night.

The Iranian people were divided into 2 socially distinct classes, that were based upon their occupations. The first was the PRIESTLY class, who were supported by the rest of the population, mainly made up of HERDSMEN who became WARRIORS as and when the need arose.

The ancient Iranians did not have any recognizable religion before prophet ZARATHUSHTRA was born. There existed many cults in which were worshipped many gods and goddesses, who were sometimes peace, prosperity and happiness, and when they were wicked, famine, disease, destruction and death were brought upon the people. They worshipped a series of nature gods and goddesses who looked after the skies, water, earth, plants, animals, man and fire.

However they had 3 very important Gods:
1. MITHRA-- THE LORD OF CONTRACT: whom they believed supervised agreements made between men.

2. VARUNA-- THE LORD OF SOLEMN OATHS: whom the Indo-Iranians recognized as being the overseer of promises.

3. ASURA-- The lord whom they worshipped to be the basic force of Order, which later came to be identified as Wisdom.

The people were frightened that if the gods and goddesses were not worshipped and given appropriate sacrifices, then the wrath of the gods would bring misfortune and misery upon them.

The Indo-Iranians had no fixed places of worship, as they moved from area to area constantly. Therefore they had no temple or permanent statues of worship to which they could go to.

Life was hard and tough for the Indo-Iranians and thus the strongest amongst them survived. The strong exerted pressure on the weak by fighting, stealing and sometimes killing them. The poor and those who were not so strong, were trampled upon by the others who were rich and powerful.

There was much unhappiness, chaos and confusion in the land of our very remote ancestors. Hence some of the wise people prayed for a messenger from God, who would show them the Light in order to help them all to lead a happy, peaceful life.

Nearly three and half thousand years ago, the prayers of the people were answered. God having heard the prayers and having seen the despair of the people, sent upon the earth, a very special person. A child was born into the noble Spitaman family somewhere around the Aral sea. The parents named their child ZARATHUSHTRA, who when he grew up, taught his people how to live happily and in peace. His teachings formed the basis of a religion which we, to this day follow.

TO ALL MY READERS

THIS POST IS TO THANK ALL THE READERS WHO COME AND VISIT MY BLOG. I SHALL TRY AND BRING TO YOU ALL THE VALUABLE INFORMATION I CAN FIND ON ZORASTRIANISM...
IN ONE OF THE POST A READER HAD ASKED WHETHER THE PICTURES OF MUMBAI WERE CLICKED BY ME... AND I WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER HIM THAT NO, THOSE TWO PICTURES WERE NOT TAKEN BY ME BUT WERE SENT TO ME VIA EMAIL BY MY COUSIN, BUT VERY SOON I INTEND TO PUT UP SOME VERY NICE PICTURES OF MUMBAI THAT I HAD CLICKED ON MY RECENT VISIT TO MUMBAI.
ALSO A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THOSE READERS THAT HAVE TAKEN TIME TO COMMENT ON MY POSTS, PLEASE KEEP VISITING MY BLOG AND KEEP THE COMMENTS FLOWING...
THANK YOU.

SHORT LIFE SKETCH OF PROPHET ZARATHUSHTRA

Long ago in a beautiful lush green area, somewhere around the Aral sea, or perhaps further north-east, a special baby boy was born. His mother Dughdova (milk-maid) and father Pourushaspa (one who has many horses), named their child ZARATHUSHTRA (keeper of camels).

Before ZARATHUSHTRA was born, his parents knew his importance through dreams that they both had. The parents knew that very special care was to be taken of their boy. The wise LORD AHURA MAZDA, guarded the mother and child, for he knew that one day this holy child would grow up and teach his people a new and better way of living, a new religion.

It is said that 3 days before ZARATHUSHTRA was born, a bright light appeared around the house in which his mother lived. Many people recognized the importance of this wonderful happening, but this made the wicked people jealous and unhappy.

All newly born babies cry, but we are told that ZARATHUSHTRA smiled when he was born, for he knew at that early age that AHURA MAZDA wanted his people to be happy and content.

Soon after his birth, the wicked people tried to kill him as they did not like the coming of this special child. They knew that when this child would grow up, he would teach his people how to live honest, happy and peaceful lives and this the wicked people did not like.

First they tried to burn the baby, but the wood did not catch fire. Next, the wicked people placed baby Zarathushtra in the midst of a running herd of cattle, and later amongst wild horses. But each time he was protected by MAZDA who made a bull and then a stallion stand over the baby, so that neither the cattle nor the horses could trample over him. However, God knew of the tricks that the wicked people would try to play and so protected the baby.

ZARATHUSHTRA grew up to be a very intelligent boy. It is said that he had some priestly training. As ZARATHUSHTRA grew older, he wanted to know more about Ahura Mazda the lord of wisdom.

He did not understand why some people were in pain, whilst others remained well and happy or why some people were wicked? As a young boy, he pondered over these questions for a long time but no answer came to him. At the age of twenty, in a confused state, he left his home in search of truth.

He wandered around the hills and valleys of his country searching for answers to his questions. Though he was confused he knew that one day lord would talk to him and give him all the right answers. He felt the presence of God around him and this made him feel very happy.

10 years later, at the age of 30, something very unusual and special happened to him. One morning, ZARATHUSHTRA went down to the river DAITYA to fetch water. When he waded into the waters, he saw a shining being standing on the other side of the river. Nervously ZARATHUSHTRA waded towards this figure and asked who he was. The bright shining being said that it was VOHU MANAH- THE GOOD MIND. God had sent vohu manah to bring ZARATHUSHTRA into his presence because ZARATHUSHTRA had been chosen by God to spread his message.

ZARATHUSHTRA wonderstruck saw God's own court and all the beings who help him in running our beautiful world. He understood that AHURA MAZDA made the world perfect and good, but it was AHRIMAN - the evil force, who had brought about disease, destruction and death in this world. He also understood that AHURA MAZDA'S creations would win victory over the forces of evil in the end. God told ZARATHUSHTRA to be his messenger. Zarathushtra learnt from God that good thoughts, good words and good deeds are the strongest weapons to fight evil.

Upon learning this, ZARATHUSHTRA waded out of the waters, extremely happy that God had spoken to him. He received many such messages from God.

Upto his 40th year, ZARATHUSHTRA had only one follower, his cousin MAIDHYOIMANHA. Although ZARATHUSHTRA wanted to share God's message with the others other people did not believe him as they thought that they were not strong enough to fight evil.

In his 42nd year, ZARATHUSHTRA'S message was heard by the good king VISHTASPA and queen HUTAOSA, who were wise and brave. We are told that one day king VISHTASPA'S favourite horse fell ill. The king became sad and tried all sorts of medicines to cure his horse, but to no avail. Then ZARATHUSHTRA who had been put in prison due to the jealousy of the courtiers, came to the king and offered to cure his horse. ZARATHUSHTRA succeeded in miraculously curing the king's favourite horse, but only after certain conditions were agreed upon. The main condition was that the king and his people should accept ZARATHUSHTRA'S message upon curing of the horse. King VISHTASPA thus became the first royal patron of Zarathushtra's new religion.

We are told that Zarathushtra had 6 children and when he was 77 years old, he was killed by an evil Turanian warrior whilst he was praying.

The message of God, through Zarathushtra, spread far and wide. This message became a religion which came to be known as ZORASTRIANISM. Zarathushtra taught for many years, spreading his teachings of truth and happiness for all.

THE TRADITIONAL PARSI SARI....GARA

Every parsi girl that gets married surely takes two things from her mother to her new home...those two things are the 2 types of traditional parsi saris....one is the kore ni sari which is a sari having a richly embroidered border that is the kore... and the second must have sari for every parsi woman is the garo...

The garo is the traditional parsi sari which is heavily embroidered with intricate designs. The embroidery may be done on silk, satin or georgette materials. The price of garo depends on the intricacy of the embroidery and also on how old it is... the more old the gara sari is more value it has...because in olden days the ladies took great pain to hand stitch these garas which are usually machine-embroidered these days. Usually there are a lot of Chinese characters embroidered in the garas like Chinese birds, fishermen and Chinese houses. We see this influence because gara embroidery originates from china with whom our ancestors used to trade in ancient times. Gara saris look best in rich colours like red, wine, purple or black on which the white coloured thread used for embroidery just shines through.

If you see the pictures of gara saris that I have posted you will see how richly embroidered they are and you can imagine how much hard work goes into the making of a gara especially if it is hand made. http://www.thehorizons.com/craft/gara/main.htm This is a lovely site which gives us some very useful information on the gara sari.

DID WE ZORASTRIANS EVER CONVERT?

A few days ago my friend Manju asked me that though Parsis never convert but you people must have converted at one point of time right? And to tell my readers frankly I never knew the answer to this question. So I researched a bit on net and I found a very useful writeup which answered Manju's question of whether parsis ever converted...

The answer to this question is that no... Prophet Zarathushtra never converted anyone because in the time era that he lived none of the great religions of the world had been established yet, so there was no religion from which Zarathushtra could have converted anybody.

For deeper understanding I recommend my reader friends to go to this site written by MR. RONI. K. KHAN in which he has given a detailed understanding of whether zorastrians ever converted people.

A SHORT LIFE SKETCH OF DASTURJI JAMSHEDJI SORABJI KUKADARU

In this post I present a short life sketch of KUKADARU SAHEB written by ERVAD BURJOR H. ANTIA. in the book of ZARTHOSHTI ANJUMAN ATASH BAHRAM A BOOK CELEBRATING THE 100 YEARS OF ITS ENSHRINEMENT.

• Kukadaru saheb was born at Surat on 26th May, 1831 A.D. on Jamyad roj of Avan month as per the Parsi Calendar. He died at Bombay at the age of 70 years on 4th January, 1900 on Behram roj of Fraverdin month.
• Dasturji Kukadaru led a life of an ascetic. He used to wash his own clothes. He used to take only one meal per day that too also rice and ghee. He abstained from eating non-vegetarian food. His main food was milk and fruits. Many a time he used to cook rice by keeping a vessel of rice in the sun and recite holy manthras or nirangs.
• He led a simple,pure and frugal life. Necessities of his life were very few and he used to spend his whole day in chanting Avesta prayers from which he derived a spiritual force, which was evidenced by several miracles performed by him as hereinafter stated.
• DASTURJI KUKADARU had made many predictions which came to be true during his own life time. He could predict what was going to happen in the future e.g. he had predicted the day, date and time of passing away of DASTURJI PESHOTAN SANJANA OF WADIAJI ATASHBAHRAM. Similarly Dasturji Saheb had predicted the exact dates of death of England's Queen Victoria, Sir Dinshaw Petit and that of several other personalities of the then Bombay. However DASTURJI KUKARDARU is even today remembered particularly for his following miracle.
• The late DASTURJI JAMASPJI, erst-while High Priest of Anjuman Atash Bahram, requested Dasturji Kukadaru to provide some financial help for the Anjuman Atashbahram building at Dhobitalao, where he lived and practised priesthood. As there were not enough funds even for laying the foundation stone of this Atashbehram building, a list of Donors was circulated. Kukadaru Sahed had neither money nor property nor any kind of material wealth from which he could contribute any sum for the construction of the Atashbehram building. The late DASTURJI JAMASPJI repeatedly requested DASTURJI KUKADARU to contribute something. Thereupon Dasturji Kukadaru told Dasturji Jamaspji to write against his name whatever figure he deemed fit as his contribution. Thereupon the High Priest, the late Dasturji Jamaspji wrote the figure of Rs. 10,000/- against Dasturji Kukadaru's name. Dasturji Kukadaru was a bit puzzled as to how he could donate such a huge amount. However, Dasturji Kukadaru requested the High Priest to come next day to collect his donation. Dasturji Kukadaru began to meditate and with concentration he prayed to AHURA MAZDA for a solution to save his prestige. When Dasturji Jamaspji came to collect the contribution of Rs. 10,000/-, Dasturji Kukadaru directed him to go to the next room and said that whatever he could find there, sell it and take its sale proceeds as his contribution. When dasturji Jamaspji went to the next room, he was pleasantly surprised to find a bright bar of gold. Dasturji Jamaspji sold the same and its sale proceeds came to exact amount of Rs. 10,000/-. This incident is a solid proof of power of prayers achieved by Dasturji Kukadaru.
• The power of prediction of achieved by DASTURJI KUKADARU by prayers. He was recognized as a well-known astrologer in the Parsi community of those days and was the Chief Panthaki of late Seth Shapurji Kappawalla Daremeher of Tardeo since inception.
• On 17th October, 1987, at the function for consecrating the Anjuman Atashbehram, he was also presented with a shawl.
• KUKADARU SAHEB was a scholar and he prepared a tanslation of our great religious Volume Dinkard. He also translated 8 books of Pahelvi Dinkard with their pure Gujarati translation within a period of four years.
• Man's happiness, peace and prosperity can be obtained to a great extent, by his own devotion, power and thought force. This principle has been able re-established by this holy man. Man's own will-power plays a very important part in shaping his destiny. If this will-power is matched by devotion with a pure heart and reverence, the worst of illnesses and obstacles can, to a great extent, be reduced. DASTURJI KUKADARU based his whole life on this principle.

In the end the writer tells us that Dasturji Kukadaru Saheb was a very pure and holy soul. He lived like a saint and served our religion in a true sense and left behind him a legacy of powers of prayers. His photograph after about 97 years of his death is seen at several places in our homes and in our fire temples and he is remembered every day by our co-religionists with reverence.

THE LATE DASTURJI JAMSHED ERWAD SOHRAB KUKADARU 

CONSECRATION OF AN ATASH BAHRAM

The fire-temples are divided into three grades. The Fire belonging to the first grade is that enshrined in an ATASH BAHRAM, the second is the Fire of an ADARYAN and the third is the DADGAH Fire. There are 8 Atash Bahrams in India, the most sacred being the Iranshah at Udwada. Among others, one is in Navsari, two are in Surat and four are in Bombay. The 8 Atash Bahrams are:

IRANSHAH ATASH BAHRAM IN UDWADA.

ANJUMAN ATASH BAHRAM IN NAVSARI.

DADISETT ATASH BAHRAM IN BOMBAY.

MODI ATASH BAHRAM IN SURAT.

VAKIL ATASH BAHRAM IN SURAT.

WADIAJI ATASH BAHRAM IN BOMBAY.

BANAJI ATASH BAHRAM IN BOMBAY.

ANJUMAN ATASH BAHRAM IN BOMBAY.

An Atash Bahram fire is consecrated through an elaborate series of rituals during which the highest laws of purity are maintained by the priests involved in the process, the bringing together of the sixteen fires representing the natural order as well as the different trades and classes of ancient Iranian society, reflects the universality of the Atash Bahram Fire. The fire of lightning, for example, is collected when lightning strikes the earth and is witnessed by two Zorastrians; whilst the sixteenth fire, the household fire of a Zorastrian is made by the priest by first creating a fire through friction using flint stones or twigs and then mixing it with fire from the hearth of a Behdin.

The sixteen fires required for the consecration of an Atash Bahram(FIRE OF VICTORY) are as under: FIRE OF:

1. A BURNING CORPSE.
2. DYER.
3. KING OR RULING AUTHORITY.
4. POTTER.
5. BRICK-MAKER.
6. ASCETIC.
7. GOLDSMITH(OR ALCHEMIST)
8. MINT.
9. IRONSMITH
10. ARMOURER.
11. BAKER.
12. BREWER, DISTILLER OR IDOL-WORSHIPPER.
13. SOLDIER OR TRAVELER.
14. SHEPHERD.
15. ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY.
16. ZORASTRIAN, THAT IS A DASTUR (HEAD-PRIEST), A MOBED (PRIEST) OR A LAYMAN AND OF FRICTION BY FLINT AND PIECES OF WOOD.
    

This extract has been taken from the book A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANJUMAN ATASH-BAHRAM-MUMBAI (1897-1997).

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY FIRE IN THE RELIGION OF ZORASTRIANISM

FIRE When this word is put before us the images that come to our mind are energy, brightness, sparks, life... but for us zarthushtis some more words also come to our mind that our related to fire...purity, respect, way to GOD.

So then why do we parsis put so much importance to fire? There is this beautiful book called "A BRIEF HISTORY OF ANJUMAN ATASH BAHRAM- MUMBAI (1897-1997)". The Anjuman Atash Bahram entered the 100th year of its enthronement on Roz Ardibehesht Mah Aradibehesht Yz. 1366, monday 23rd September, 1996 and this book was published in this respect.

The preface of this book tells us the importance of fire in our religion.
In pre-zorastrian times fire was considered the holy emblem of God. To Zoraster himself, the fire was the sustaining and purifying Divine Power of Almighty God, thus making it worthy of man's devotion, veneration and homage. According to Yasna 19.2,4, it suggests that Ahura Mazda, the Almighty God, created fire before he did human beings. And while there are other interesting theories on the source, it is firmly established that the fire is indeed of divine origin, as preserved in the ancient writings of zorastrians and the Hindus.

Why do we preside over the fire? Because it is said that AHURA MAZDA has created Spiritual Beings(Amesha Spentas and Yazatas) for the management of the universe. And they are at work in nature. So each of the worldly creations is in the care of one of the Spiritual Beings. In the Avesta, Adar is the Yazata (Spiritual Being) in charge of the worldly, visible fire. So when a Zoroastrian offers his prayers to Adar, he offers them in actuality to the Spiritual Being pervading and presiding over the physical fire. And through the Spiritual Being, a Zoroastrian offers his prayers to the creator, Ahura Mazda.

Ahura Mazda himself is described as "full of lustre", full of glory(raevat khvarnvat) and hence his luminous creations-sun, the stars and the fire are especially regarded as His appropriate emblems. In the Avesta, the sun is called the most beautiful visible form of Ahura Mazda. And Adar, who presides over the fire, is venerated as the son of Ahura Mazda.

The holy hymns recited by ZARATHUSHTRA written in the GATHAS in avestan literature also show veneration of fire.

Avesta tells us that there is fire in the human body. The soul is the spark, a glow of light. The fuel required for this fire is good thought, good word and good deed. This shows that mental and physical purity is the first principle of a Zoroastrian.

There are five kinds of fires as described in pahlavi books:

ADAR BEREZISAVAH: "THE FIRE OF UTILITY". THE FIRE OF THE ATASH BAHRAM.

ADAR VOHUFRYANA: "THE FIRE OF GOOD FRIEND". THE FIRE IN THE BODY OF MAN AND ANIMAL.

ADAR URVAZISHTA: "THE MOST JOY-GIVING FIRE".

ADAR VAZISHTA: "THE FIRE SWIFTEST". THE FIRE IN THE CLOUD, THAT IS LIGHTNING.

ADAR SPENISHTA: "THE FIRE MOST HOLY", THIS IS THE FIRE BURNING IN THE PRESENCE OF AHURA MAZDA IN GAROTHMAN, THE HIGHEST HEAVEN.

And as regards the consecration of the holy fires, there are three grades. ATASH BAHRAM: THE FIRE DEDICATED TO VICTORY. ATASH ADARAN: THE FIRES--COLLECTED AND CONSECRATED. ATASH DADGAH: THE FIRES INSTALLED IN THE PROPER PLACE(HOUSEHOLD FIRE).

Religious ceremonies of high order are performed to consecrate and to install the holy fire. Ordinary fires of daily use are taken and then their pure essence is derived from their blaze and the ceremonies are performed over the pure essence of the fire to further purify it and make it worthy of veneration.

When we speak of Final Judgement, again fire plays an important role.
The principle of DIVINE JUSTICE in this case being: evil unto the doer of evil and bliss unto the holy. This DIVINE JUDGMENT shall be delivered by the heavenly tribunal, and at the time of FRASHOKEREITI(RENOVATION), the souls will be tested by red blazing fire,by shining metal and molten metal.

The sacred fire is metaphorically spoken of as a king, having a spiritual jurisdiction over the district round about. The marble stand on which the censer stands, is spoken of as its throne. Its sanctum sanctorum is in the shape of a dome, reminding us of the dome of the heavens. The censer on the slab stands just under the centre of the dome. A metallic tray hangs high above over the fire, spoken of as the crown which is the symbolic emblem of a ruler. The swords and maces hanging about on the inner wall of the gumbad, serve as symbols of the temple militant, to signify, that the devotees should fight against moral evils and vices. The sacred fire burning in an ATASHKADEH(HOUSE OF FIRE), serves as a perpetual reminder to the faithful standing before it, to preserve piety, purity, humility and brotherhood. The fire on the censer reminds one that though pure in itself, though the noblest of creations of the Wise Lord and the best symbol of the diety, it had to undergo certain processes of purifying itself. It had to extract the quintessence of purity, to enable itself to be worthy of occupying the exalted position. So it is important for us to go through the process of righteousness and purity, virtue and mortality, through his good thoughts, words and deeds in order to acquire an exalted position in the life after.
The fire of the Atash Bahram is made up of a collection of fires gathered from people of different grades of society. This reminds us that just as all these fires from the houses of men of different grades have, through the processes of purification and consecration, equally acquired the exalted position in the censer. So too men, in the eyes of AHURA MAZDA, no matter to what strata of society they belong, are equal, provided they preserve the trinity of pure thoughts, words and deeds.

The pinch of the sacred ash applied to the forehead reminds us about the transitoriness of life. The dazzling, resplendent Fire, spreads the fragrance of sandalwood and frankincense around it before it reduces to ashes. Mortal beings have to depart also from this transient life. So it reminds us to spread, as it were, the fragrance of virtue and charity and live a life of righteousness, dedicated to the betterment of humanity, before we turn to dust.

So friends, you see how important fire is in our lives...i hope this knowledge that i shared with you from this lovely book will help our youth to be a little more respectful towards god's gift.. fire...

OUR HOLY AATASHPATSHA SAHEB (THE HOLY FIRE OF PARSIS) 

NEW, EXCITING FEATURES ADDED TO MY SITE

HELLO TO ALL MY VISITORS...THIS POST IS TO INFORM YOU THAT EXCITING NEW FEATURES HAVE BEEN ADDED TO MY BLOG WHICH WILL MAKE YOUR VISITS MORE INTERACTIVE AND FUN. THE NEW FEATURES ARE LISTED BELOW.

1. A BRAND NEW GUESTBOOK IN WHICH YOU CAN VIEW ALL MY GUEST COMMENTS AND ALSO ADD IN YOUR VALUABLE COMMENTS ON HOW YOU LIKE MY SITE.
2. AN INTERACTIVE NEW VOTING BOOTH IN WHICH YOU CAN CASTE YOUR VOTE BASED ON THE TOPIC...BELIEVE ME ...EVERY VOTE COUNTS...SO MAKE YOURSELF HEARD.
3. THIS FEATURE IS MY FAVOURITE BECAUSE IT IS THE NEW FUN JOKE OF THE DAY BLOCK WHERE YOU CAN CLICK AND READ A HILARIOUS JOKE..A NEW ONE FOR EACH DAY.
4. THERE IS ALSO A SITE METER LOCATED AT THE END OF THE PAGE WHERE YOU CAN SEE AS TO HOW MANY VISITORS HAVE COME TO THIS SITE.

SO GUYS... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR...GET INVOLVED,HAVE FUN AND KEEP VISITING THE SITE TO SEE WHAT'S NEW. ALSO YOUR COMMENTS AND OPINIONS REALLY MATTER GUYS SO DON'T FORGET TO SIGN THE GUESTBOOK AND ADD YOUR VALUABLE VOTES IN THE VOTE BOOTH.

RAKSHABANDHAN FESTIVAL

Today is the festival of RAKSHABANDHAN...So I wish everyone all over the world a very happy rakhshabandhan. For my friends who are not aware of this festival, let me tell you something about it.

The festival of rakshabandhan started in ancient times when the Indian rulers were fighting with the Britishers who had invaded India. A queen had tied this thread on the wrist of another Indian ruler symbolic of asking him to protect her and her region... since then this tradition is carried on.

On the day of rakhshabandhan the sister wakes up early in the morning, gets dressed up in fine clothes and then offers her prayers to GOD. Then the steel plate is made ready with kumkum(red powder put on forehead on auspicious occasions),rice,earthen oil lamp and the rakhi which is this thread about the length of a wrist watch which the sister would tie on her brother's hand.

When the brother is ready, the sister puts bit of kumkum on his forehead, some rice, and then she ties the rakhi on her brother's right wrist. By getting the rakhi tied the brother pledges that he will protect his sister for the rest of his life. Then as a token of thanks, the brother gives her sister any gift or some money.

These days rakhis come in lots of shapes and sizes. They are made of many materials ranging from simple cotton threads,wool to silk, silver and even gold ones. Some come with beads in them. For the kid brothers rakhis are even available in the form of many cartoon characters. As you can see in the post below, that's a rakhi thread and that's the rakhi that my sister sent for me... Yes you would ask me that we are sisters, but the thing is that we do not have any real brother so we tie rakhis to each other.

It doesn't matter whether the rakhi is simple or fancy expensive one, it doesn't matter whether your brother gives you expensive gifts or blessings as a gift, it doesn't even matter whom you tie your rakhi too, I even tie it to my dog BOSCO... What matters is the sentiment that lies behind this ceremony...The sentiment that your loved one pledges to keep you happy and to protect you is what is really the beauty of this festival...

This is the typical rakhi thread that a sister ties on her brother's hand on the festival of RAKSHABANDHAN.  

ARE WE PARSIS FIRE WORSHIPPERS OR GOD WORSHIPPERS?

Im sure a lot of people have this question in mind whether we parsis are fire worshippers or god worshippers. Let me try and answer this question. Before answering I wud like to say that I have been reading this book called "1251st ANNIVERSARY OF INSTALLATION OF SACRED IRANSHAH ATASHBAHRAM " PUBLISHED BY R.M.D. CHAMARBAUGVALA,PRINTED BY RUSI KHAMBATA AND EDITED BY ERVAD N.E. TUREL, M.A.

This piece of information that im going to write has been given to us by DASTURJI KAIKHUSRU MAHYAR KUTAR DASTUR DARAB PAHLAN, M.A.

PAUL BRUNTON, a great scientist says that all material existences are changed into atoms, electrons, protons and deutrons, and ultimately it exists as energy which is light. Further he rightly says, "all matter is ultimately the condensation of radical energy, that is light, in other words this marvellous structure of the material universe which we see around us, has dissolved away, does not exist when you inquire into it and try to find out its true nature. It dissolves away and becomes that most intangible of all things, light."

It has also been said:-
" From light all creation takes its birth
And it is in light that it disappears
At the moment of its dissolution,
And once again from light
It once again takes its rise."

SAINT KABIR says:
"The holy light was the first born of heaven,
From that primeval light did the lord then create
All forms of life,
When the origin of all is the same
Who is superior to whom?"

So we can say that the whole universe has come from the light of God. Light is no other than God, the Being of God; Light is God. Science also rightly acknowledges that God created Light out of his own Being.
If science then acknowledges the fact that God is light, then is not fire the visible symbol of God? Then we can safely say that fire worship is really God worship
An American writer has rightly said..."Those Orientals who worship God with fire are wise and full of vision."
The great German scholar Prof. MILLS after studying the ZORASTRIAN RELIGION says that..."I am almost a fire-worshipper myself."

A zorastrian rightly says in his prayer ..." O AHURA MAZDA! through fire we reach Thee and Thee alone."

Hence this excerpt clears all our doubts of whether we parsis are fire worshippers or God worshippers
I truly thank this book and its writers for sharing this wonderful knowledge with me and my readers..yazdan panah bad... may god be with you.

CASSIA THE MYSTERIOUS SPICE

CASSIA IS THE MYSTERIOUS SPICE FROM WHICH MY NAME KEZIAH IS DERIVED... TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS SWEET SMELLING COUSIN OF CINNAMON CLICK ME NOW...

PROPHET ZARATHUSHTRA THE STORY OF WHICH I SHALL WRITE IN MY NEXT POST 

i know this picture is really hazy, sorry just taken from my webcam, but this is my pet bosco when he was just a month old, aint he adorable..hes my darlin 

HAPPY NAVROZE!

I wish all zorastrians all over the world a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. God bless you all and hope all your wishes come true this year. My special new year wishes to all my family members...mummy,daddy,vaseeta,bosco,khushi,granny,keki uncle,freny aunty,zubin,tukshad,phiroz uncle and family,kashmira and her family,jeroo aunty and family.
Also my new year wishes to all my parsi friends...delzad,khushnum,naazneen and family,kaizad,burzin unwalla,zubin daruwalla,xerxes dorabjee,porus mandviwala,delna bodhanwala... and all others..sorry if ive missed out any name...my best wishes to all of u..god bless u all.

here we see a child wearing the sudreh and with a kusti in his hand as the priest is performing the navjote ceremony with him the details of which are in my post below. 

ZARATHUSHTRA'S FAMILY TREE

LET ME TELL U ABOUT PROPHET'S FAMILY TREE A PICTURE OF WHICH I HAVE TRIED TO SHOW BELOW:

1. MOTHER: DUGHDOVA.
2. FATHER: POURUSHASPA.
3. MATERNAL GRANDFATHER: FRAHIMRVANAZOISH.
4. WIFE: HVOVI.
5. ELDER BROTHER: RATHUSHTAR.
6. ELDER BROTHER: RANGUSHTAR.
7. FIRST FOLLOWER/COUSIN: MAIDHYOIMANHA.
8. YOUNGER BROTHER: NODARIGA.
9. YOUNGEST DAUGHTER: POURUCHISTA.
10. YOUNGER BROTHER: NIVEDIS.

HERE IS PROPHET ZARATHUSHTRA'S FAMILY TREE... 

THE NAVJOTE CEREMONY

Today i shall share my knowledge about the zorastrian ceremony of NAVJOTE to u.
Long ago in ancient Iran, the voice of God SRAOSHA whispered into the ear of king JAMSHED..."Great kind, let every man, woman and child in your kingdom wear the sacred shirt SUDREH, and tie the sacred girdle KUSTI, over the sudreh and the kusti be the national badge of all Iranians"
So king Jamshed called his people and told them what Sraosha had whispered in his ear, and they gladly obeyed.
Several hundred years later, Zarathushtra, the messenger of God, was born in Iran. He taught the people about one God, AHURA MAZDA lord of life and wisdom.
Then ZARATHUSHTRA said:
"LET THE SUDREH AND THE KUSTI BE THE BADGE OF SERVICE TO AHURA MAZDA. LET THE PEOPLE CHOOSE TO SERVE AHURA MAZDA AND PUT ON THE SUDREH AND KUSTI FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE NAVJOTE. LET THIS CEREMONY BE HELD BETWEEN THE AGES OF SEVEN AND FIFTEEN YEARS,AFTER THE PERSON HAS LEARN THE MEANING OF THE KUSTI PRAYERS AND CAN RECITE THEM BY HEART. LET THE NAVJOTE BE THE NEW BIRTH, AN ENTRY INTO A NEW LIFE LIVED FOR THE LOVE OF AHURA MAZDA. LET THE SUDREH AND THE KUSTI BE WORN NEXT TO THE SKIN ALL THROUGH LIFE, TO REMIND EVERYONE OF HIS PROMISE TO AHURA MAZDA TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND MAKE OTHERS HAPPY."
The navjote ceremony is as under:

The child is taken to the fire temple by his parents,relatives and all. There the priest MOBED,makes the child recite special prayers. Then the child is given a pomegranate leaf to chew and spit out. In ancient Iran the pomegranate was considered the fruit of wisdom. He is also made to sip the yellow-green juice of the HAOMA plant mixed wid a little water. Formerly in Iran, people believed this juice kept the person young and beautiful forever. Today we know the haoma plant as EPHEDRA, from which the medicine EPHEDRINE is made.
The mobed now gives the child a sacred bath called the NAHN. A day before the water is drawn from the well near the firetemple and blest. Just as clean water washes away all dirt from the body, the child must keep his heart pure and his mind full of good thoughts.

After the bath, the child is taken to the hall wher in the centre is the the AFARGHAN or the fire-censer about a foot high resting on a metal tray.
Then the mobedji recites prayers along wid the child while makin him wear the sudreh and makin him tie the kusti round his waist.

The sudreh is a kind of a vest sort of clothing made out of white muslin cloth. The word SUDREH means the pure and straight path to AHURA MAZDA. The ancient Iranians called it VOHUMANIK VASTRA, the clothing of AHURA MAZDA'S good and loving mind.
All parsis have to wear the sudreh and kusti all the time except during bath. It makes us feel as if the lords love is wrapped round our heart. The white cloth of sudreh stands for purity. Our sudreh is made of 9 seams which have their own significance:
1. THE GAREBAN IN FRONT IS A SQUARE INCH POCKET WHERE ONES GOOD DEEDS ARE STORED DURING ONES LIFETIME.
2. THE GIRDO IS A SEMICIRCULAR SEAM AT THE NAPE OF THE NECK WHICH SIGNIFIES THE LAW OF ASHA.
3&4. THE 2 SLEEVES SIGNIFY THE TWO PRIMAL FORCES OF SPENTA AND ANGHRE. THE RIGHT SIDE SIGNIFIES GOOD WHILE THE LEFT SIDE SIGNIFIES EVIL.
5&6. THE 2 SIDE SEAMS SIGNIFY THE 2 WORLDS THE MATERIAL(GETI) AND SPIRITUAL(MINOI).
7&8. THE TRIANGULAR TIRI ON THE LEFT FOR LADIES AND ON THE RIGHT FOR GENTS SIGNIFIES THE TRINITY OF HUMATA, HUKHTA AND HUVARASHTA...GOOD THOUGHTS, GOOD WORDS, GOOD DEEDS.
9. THE SINGLE VERTICAL TIRI ON THE RIGHT FOR LADIES AND ON LEFT FOR MEN SIGNIFIES THAT THERE IS ONE GOD-AHURA MAZDA.
THE FRONT OF THE SUDREH REPRESENTS OUR PAST
THE BACK OF THE SUDREH REPRESENTS OUR FUTURE.
THE DEVOTEE WEARING SUDREH REPRESENTS THE PRESENT.

The kusti means a waist-band. It is woven of seventy-two threads of the finest sheep's wool which represents humility and gentleness. 3 rounds represent MANASHNI, GAVASHNI, KUNASHNI.
THE 4 KNOTS REPRESENT:
1. THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD, AHURA MAZDA.
2. I AM A FOLLOWER OF HIS PROPHET, ASHO ZARATHUSTRA.
3. VIDAEVO, I AM FIGHTER AGAINST DEVAS, EVIL.
4. AHURA TAKAESHO I WILL DO WHAT IS PLEASING TO GOD.

The prayers that we recite during the kusti ceremony that we do everyday after having bath, has such great strength that if done with a true heart it protects us from all the evils. The kusti is like a protection wall built around us. The purpose of me explaining the sudreh kusti significance is that very few people these days wear it..if through this post i can inspire even one to wear it and follow gods true path of good thoughts, good words and good deeds then i shall consider myself blessed.

I am a true ZARTHOSTI, a follower of ZARATHUSHTRA, choosing the good and turning away from the bad. I know that AHURA MAZDA wants me to love and serve the DRIGHU, who are the poor and homeless, the sick and the sad.
By looking after them i build the KSHATHREM-CHA AHURAI the kingdom of AHURA in this world.

THANKS JENNA

In this post of mine id like to thank Jenna for visiting my blog posting her comment. Thanks jenna, your comment is very valuable and i shall try to put ur suggestions into practice. I have just started to contribute to my blog and hopefully with practice i shall be able to make it a blog worth visiting.. take care..

this is a pic of prophet ZARATHUSHTRA the holy prophet of the zarathushthis who keeps his loving hand on his children always 

HOW TO MAKE THE BEST TEA IN THE WORLD

this is my secret recipe for makin the best cup of tea in the world..atleast thats wat i think..
for one cup of tea u take half cup water and half cup of milk in a vessel and put it on fire... then add to it two teaspoons of tea leaves, sugar as much as u want, two cardomoms crushed, one nice long lemon grass leaf and some mint leaves.. let the mixture boil...
once it has boiled, put the fire on slow, and add to it half teaspoon of cinnamon powder and mix it nicely in the tea and let the tea simmer for 5 to 7 mins...
then just giv it one boil and shut off the gas..
thats it.. try it once and tell me how u like it... i personally find it very yum especially the cinnamon flavour in it is just amazing... for me the aroma of the tea is very important
related to this, u know wat my name keziah means??? its a hebrew name originally taken from word casia meaning a sweet smelling spice like cinnamon! how cool is that!

MOMS BIRTHDAY

Tomorrow, that is 15th of august is my mothers birthday.. so this post is dedicated to her. Her name is HUFRIZ. 53 year old beautiful virgo lady who has a craze for plants and fishes. First of all i must give due credit to her for raising two children as i think being a mother is one of the toughest jobs in the whole world.
My earliest memories of my mom are this slim tall lady with long hair who used to take me to school. She wud hand me the tiffin box and my hankerchief and water bottle. In the afternoon she wud fetch me from school and take me wid her to where she used to give tutions. I remember her taking me to the doc holding me in her arms wen i was ill. She has been workin and workin all her life...life has been very tough wid her...but she has gone thru all and survived the same.
Some of the sweetest things she has done for me are that once i was refused to go my friends house by my tution teacher just cos i hadnt done my home work, so wen i returned home, i was sad and mom gave me this new video casette of tom and jerry cartoons...that was so thoughtful of her.
Its not that i never fight wid her or anything, infact we keep arguin over somthing or the other but in the end the thing is i cannot do widout her. U dont realise the worth of a person until he or she isnt near u... and soon wen im gone far away from her every small thing will make me miss her.
MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY MOM. I love you and neither this post nor a thousand more posts will do justice to describe wat a beautiful person u r, hope some day ill be able to do all that u have done for me mom, i wont forget all that uve done and ill try my best to give all that love back to u...

ZORASTRIANISM

for those of u who hav never heard of the people called parsi or the religion called zorastrianism this post will shed light on these terms..
im a parsi girl..we follow the teachings propagated by the prophet zarathushtra thats y were also called zorastrians and our religion zorastrianism..
ours is one of the oldest religions in the world.. our roots lie in ancient persia.. believe me at one time we had a flourishing kingdom there..u can check out our ruins at iran,tehran. the muslims invaded and to save our religion few of us fled to india where we got shelter and our religion was saved.. theres this story which is very famous regarding parsis..actually this is what happened..
wen we came to india one of our priest requested to the king to give us shelter in his country... but the king sent back a bowl full of milk indicating that his kingdom was full of people and ther was no place for any more.. seeing the bowl full of milk the priest thought and he added sugar into the milk and sent it back to the king..the king tasted it and was so pleased wid this answer of parsis that he welcomed us into his kingdom.. the sugar in milk meant that we..the parsis just like sugar will mix wid the people of the kingdom and adjust and live peacefully wid them and add to the sweetness of the kingdom.. and to this date we have been true on our promise... ul never see a parsi person involved in any crime or behind bars..we r never involved in any violence anywher in the world...
the king had laid certain conditions..one was that we will not convert any people into parsis and so to this date intercaste marriage in our community is not allowed..other condition was that we will do the rangoli design outside our home and so today even though native indians do rangoli only on festivals we do it everysingle day outside our home, we also learnt the native language of that state that is gujarati, all parsis all over the world speak gujarati language..
ther r a lot of aspects bout my sweet community which ill post regularly cos ive realised that very few people know about my religion and its very sad... im goin to try and c to it that maximum people can know bout my religion and acknowlege its existence..... till next time... this is keziah signing off..

first one

this is my first post in my first ever blog... and boy am i really confused as to wat to include in my first post..so many things bombarding my brain right now..
here im gona share my thoughts,feelings,fears,passions and my beliefs about world and things in it..lets c how many people feel the same and believe in the same as me..

ive been studyin psychology for a few years now and intend making counselling as my career...atleast for now thats my plan, im sayin this cos wenever i plan somthing it always twists up..duno y..
like a crab i have this tendency to retract into a shell wenever faced wid a conflicting situation..thats y i just tend to go back on my decisions many a times.. i know its annoying for others but its very annoying for me too.. many a times i feel i shud just stay home but then the world doesnt work like that does it.. mayb for this reason for most of us the childhood has been the most memorable phase of ones life where one wants to run away into in case of probs..even for me the time wen i was a kid was the happiest time of my life.. no luxuries involved, me mom and dad lived in just one room..but that was my paradize..which got taken away from me after a time.. wont go into that..its 1 my time right now..and im missing a certain somone a lot..gudnite world,kisses till tomorrow