Our country, our community and for that matter, the whole world seems to be in a state of turmoil! There is disharmony and chaos all over. How can we bring about healing? Different religions have distinct prayers and philosophies. Let’s look at some of these, including what our own Zoroastrian religion has to offer…

St. Francis of Assisi used to pray:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

 

Nobel Laureate Mother Teresa believed, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

 

In the Hindu tradition there is a simple peace mantra (chant) – ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’:

Oṃ sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ, Sarve santu nirāmayāḥ,

Sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścidduḥ khabhāgbhaveta।

Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ॥

 

(Translation: May all sentient beings be at peace, May no one suffer from illness, May all see what is auspicious, May no one suffer. Om peace, peace, peace!)

 

Harmony From A Zoroastrian Perspective:

The Zoroastrian scriptures suggest various ways in which a Zoroastrian may live in harmony with fellow beings. Yasna 12:9 states the very first principle of righteous conduct is to put an end to all discord.

The Shayest ne-shayest (20:6) recommends all good Zoroastrians to fulfil three important duties:

1. To make an enemy, a friend;
2. To make a wicked person, righteous;
3. To make an ignorant person, knowledgeable and wise.

A devout Zoroastrian is not only expected to end all disagreement and discord but also to live in harmony with others.

In the Afrin-e-Gahambar, fellow Zoroastrians are exhorted to be in Hamazor (unity) with righteous persons of all the seven regions. By helping each other and living in harmony, virtue is accumulated in Ahura Mazda’s treasury and blessings showered and redistributed amongst the righteous.

Rightly has it been stated in Yasna 43:1, “Happiness comes to those who seek happiness for others.”

…Divided We Fall (Lessons of history):

The popular saying: ‘United we stand, divided we fall’, was written by the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop, in his fable, ‘The Four Oxen And The Lion.’ This wisdom has been corroborated down world history, as also Zoroastrian history.

The Achaemenian kings built the first ‘World Empire’, which under Darius the Great, extended from the river Indus to the river Danube. Later, Alexander the Macedonian vanquished this empire. This is only partly true. The fact was, the empire had weakened from within with disunity and discord.

Alexander did defeat Darius III in several major battles, but it was Bessus, the Achaemenid Satrap (Governor) of Bactria and Sogdiana and a relative of King Darius III, who murdered Darius and assumed the kingship as Artaxerxes IV. On the other hand, when Alexander saw the corpse of Darius III, he ordered his soldiers to take the deceased king’s mortal remains to Persepolis with all State honours. Clearly, the real enemy was within the empire, and not outside. The weakness was within. The defeat was from within.

Moral: The greatest weakness was disunity.

In like manner, one of the main causes for the downfall of the mighty Sasanian Empire in Iran was internal discord. Khusro I, also known as Anosheravan or Noshirwan-e-Adil, (531-579 AD). married a Roman Christian princess for political reasons (i.e., peace through marriage between Rome and Iran). Writes Dastur Dr. H. K. Mirza in ‘Outlines of Parsi History’: “Khusro’s son Anoshzad was born of his Christian wife and had adopted Christianity. Instigated by his mother, Anoshzad rose in rebellion against his own father. He marched to the capital and banking on help from the Christians and the Romans, he proclaimed himself king.”

In another instance, Khusro II, also known as Khusro Parvez, was proclaimed Emperor in 590. Behram Chobin, who rebelled against Hormazd IV, marched also against the new Emperor. Khusro tried to appease him, but in vain. The army sent by Khusro was defeated; he escaped with a few soldiers and invoked the Romans for help. The Roman Emperor, Maurice, did not miss this opportunity and immediately sent military and financial help and gave his daughter, Maria, in marriage to Khusro.

Concludes Dastur Dr. Mirza, “There was tragic chaos in the Royal family, particularly after the death of Khusro II. Intrigue, deception, and lust for power and other dangerous vices were rampant. The princes instigated and actively supported by their mothers of foreign extraction and foreign faith, played havoc in the royal family, in aristocracy and in state affairs.”

Moral: Beware of the enemy within. Winston Churchill famously said: “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”

What We Need Today…

As a community, what is it that we need the most today? Some say, “More houses for young couples,” while others say, “reservations of seats in medical and engineering colleges”. The moot question is, why is our prosperity on the downslide? Is it lack of enterprise? Has that ‘fire in our belly’ been snuffed out? Have our charities made us lazy? Sociologists may give us a hundred more reasons. However, in our opinion, prosperity can only come where there is progress, and progress is possible only if there is understanding and unity. Therefore, what we need most is ‘Understanding and Unity’.

Peace is an outcome of harmony, characterized by the lack of violence (be it in thought, word, or deed). Peace comes from ‘freedom from fear’ and the absence of hostility and vengeance. But, above all else, peace requires sincere and repeated attempts at reconciliation.

Unfortunately, we continue to divide ourselves within the community over virtually everything – be it efforts to revive or sustain our community institutions or even cultural events. As a community, we seem to prefer meeting each other in the courts of law rather than sitting across a community table and finding solutions.

Embrace Challenges With Unity

Challenges are often an opportunity, so let us not shy away from them. Our ancestors faced innumerable challenges after the fall of successive Zoroastrian empires, as also after their exodus to India. But challenges kept them nimble and tenacious. In the words of historian Will Durant, “Rome remained great as long as she had enemies who forced her to unity, vision, and heroism. When she had overcome them all she flourished for a moment and then began to die.”

Thus, challenges of time are not the enemy. Meeting the challenges of time as a divided community is where the danger lies. Remember, harmony makes small things grow while the lack of it makes great things decay!

The choice is clear – choose harmony or face decay!