On Religious Adultery

Every religion, no matter what its philosophy may be, is founded first and foremost on the percept that we reduce our selfishness and serve others. Though different prophets have laid emphasis on different philosophies, all religions are manifestations and expressions of the same eternal truths. When we migrated from Iran, we were in a state of panic and doubt. To safeguard our religion, we practiced our rituals and prayers in secrecy, not allowing outsiders to be present during our ceremonies. Now there is no such threat, but we have started believing we are superior and exclusive, and the presence of outsiders will be detrimental to our spiritual progress.

During our religious ceremonies, fire is kept burning, creating a lot of smoke and carbon dioxide causing suffocation and burning in the eyes. Common sense is to open the doors and windows, allowing the fresh air to enter and concentrate on prayers. But a shadow of a passerby even 20 feet away haunts us and we prolong the agony. Instead of appreciating the gesture of other communities inviting us to share in their religious festivities, and offering us the ‘Prasad’, we are told that we are committing ‘religious adultery’ accepting their holy Prasad! Many devout members of the community visit temples, churches and other religious places to get divine blessings. Every child looks forward to getting gifts from Santa Claus! Even lighting lamps outside our front door, to celebrate Diwali, are all considered ‘religious adultery’!  To term such well-intended acts of humanity and sisterly love as religious adultery is shameful and in bad taste.

For our religious ceremonies, we offer many delicacies besides fruits and other wares. The purpose is to offer them to the needy and get their blessings. But we prefer to let it rot or go waste, rather than ‘sinning’ by feeding a hungry child who is not born in the community! Like all institutions of knowledge, religion also thrives on good leadership. Today, our community lacks dynamic leadership to give us spiritual guidance. Rules are made to safeguard the position of those in power and rituals supersede spirituality. We should be more concerned about our community’s decline in values, as also the loss of respect and dignity earned by our ancestors’ wisdom, hard work and piety.

Why are most of us single-mindedly obsessed with the matter of disposal of dead bodies instead of planning for the future and progress of our next generations? A section of the religiously misguided group consider reformists as the enemies of religion, forgetting that the very founder of our religion, Lord Zoroaster, was a greater reformist than a prophet! He abolished the orthodox Persian form of worship, which included animal sacrifices and offerings to daevas. He proclaimed that religion has its truth in moral significance and not in external practice of imaginary values! Because of His vision the religion stood the test of time, and thanks to the Western scholars, who brought the fundamentals of religion to light, it has remained ever fresh, relevant, logical and modern, even after a lapse of many centuries.

Zarathushtra wanted his faith to be universally practiced by all who chose to! If Lord Zoroaster were to be present today, would He approve the way we practice His great religion?

Piroja
(piroja.jokhi@yahoo.com)