World
Zoroastrian Congress 2000, Houston
Reports by A Traditionalist & and A Fundamental
(Ervad Jal N. Birdy)
Friends of the Traditional List - Happy New Year
and a Happy New Millennium as well. May Ahura Mazda shower His Choicest
Blessings on you and yours.
The WZC2000 is over; and I returned home to find
my computer log jammed with nearly a thousand e-mail messages, many in
triplicate and quadruplet. I will try to give you my quick comments on only a
few relevant issues.
1. Traditionals Attendence:
The conference had a distinct traditional flavor, thanks to such stalwarts as Rustom Tirandaz, Filly Marawalla, Pervin Mistry, Khojeste Mistry, Dorab Mistry, Tahamtan and Godi Aresh, Ervad Murzban Hathiram, Ervad Aspandiar Dadachanji, Godrej and Farhad Sidhwa from Karachi, Charlotte Kharas, several conference organizers like Sarosh Manekshaw, Kaemerz Dotiwalla and of course, yours truly. The traditional message went out loud and clear and the liberals could not be heard as loud and arrogant as in other North American events.
Pervin Mistry?s son, Pervez, received a standing
ovation at his plenary session on the Gathic Tradition of Zarathushtra and Ervad
Murzban Hathiram also delivered a very captivating Keynote address.
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend either of these lectures but they
were both much talked about afterward. Khojeste Mistree supported the
traditional cause very ably. Pervin Mistry spoke very well herself at the
session on One Zarathushtra, many Zarathushtris. Ervad Peshotan Unwalla and his
son Ervad Burzin Unwalla gave an outstanding presentation on the Zoroastrian
Priesthood. Burzin gave the lecture while Peshotan delighted the audience with
his melodious chanting of the relevant prayers. I spoke about “Integration of
core Gathic beliefs into the rest of the Avesta”, with the help of overhead
slides.
2. A True World Body:
Rustom Tirandaz made a strong plea to put in place a true World Body composed of Federations and associations, a Body of Bodies, instead of, or in addition to the present WZO, which is biased strongly toward the liberal side. In view of the wrangling now going on to urge WZO to change its rules to suit the rest of the world, it was decided that a core body be formed comprising of interested individuals from the several global regions. This was agreed between key players from India, Pakistan, U.K. and the U.S.A.
FEZANA?s push to go ahead and join WZO was
postponed till later.
3. FEZANA Sponsored Event for Jafarey:
The organizers were most worried about our threat to hold a peaceful demonstration. When we insisted on holding it, FEZANA reluctantly agreed to allocate an area in the lobby outside the hall where we could hold our protest. I had gone earlier and had made forty placards on bright yellow boards with short captions exposing the misdeeds of Jafarey. I did this on my host?s computer with the help of Kinko printers.
As things went, however, the Indian delegation
was committed to boycott the event and did not want to come to the hall at all.
At short notice, an alternative session was arranged where Rustom Tirandaz was
to present a rebuttal to WZO and the formation of an alternative world
organization. At the traditionals meeting in Pervin Mistry?s room on the 29th,
where all the traditionals mentioned in (1) above were present, a decision was
made to not hold the protest by a majority vote. All were urged to attend the
Tirandaz session instead. My
placards were therefore relegated to the trash can.
I think everything worked out for the better,
however, since other traditional stalwarts (no names please) had prepared a one
page folded leaflet which was distributed to the audience by a group of
enthusiastic youngsters. This leaflet had a tremendous impact on everyone and
caught FEZANA completely unprepared. It was titled ”FEZANA Felicitates a
Fraud” and “Honoring the Dishonorable”. It had photo copies of the Karachi
University?s letter refuting Jafarey?s Ph.D., this time addressed to Mr. Byram
Avari of Karachi, and also a copy of Jafarey?s birth certificate from the
Municipal District of Karachi (Jafarey has maintained he was born in Kerman,
Iran). The leaflet ended “Do you want your children to listen to this liar and
be taught how to fake their academic degrees?”
A liberal session preceded the special event in
the same hall, which had a capacity of about 600, sitting around tables. So the
hall was already crowded with liberals who stayed on for the event. Some people
were allowed to go in, but when FEZANA realized that the leaflets were being
distributed, they asked the Houston police (who were employed by them in force)
to shut the doors and not allow any more to go in citing “fire risk”. Sam
and I managed to find our way in and get a table close to the stage. Pervin
Mistry and others were unable to get inside.
The session chair was FEZANA V.P., Firdosh Mehta
(who was by now thoroughly sick due to the continual hammering both Pervin and I
had given him earlier for caving in to the liberal demands for holding this
event). He introduced Jafarey as just Ali Jafarey; not “Dr.”
Ervad K. N. Dastoor, came in his dagli and pagri
and spoke first. The topic selected
for each speaker was the interpretation of Gatha Y30.2, which deals with
Zarathushtra advocating a choice between good and evil as opposed to the
liberals twisting it to mean freedom to do just as one pleases. I think KND did
a good job of convincing the audience that the meaning of this verse and the
connected verses was far removed from what the liberals have been brainwashing
the unsuspecting public. KND dwelled a fair amount on the spiritual and mystical
content of the verse, which was something the audience had not heard before.
Jafarey came in a suit and had a crochet scull
cap (looking more like a Muslim than a Z). He opened his talk with a loud
chanting of the verse in a completely unnatural tone. Later Ervad Godrej Sidhwa
of Karachi chided him for mispronouncing almost every word. He gave the usual
comparisons of various philological translations, mainly reading Kanga?s
Gujarati translations and translating them into English for the audience to show
off his skill in Gujarati. There was nothing new in his talk; just freedom to do
anything you please.
KND had requested some of us in advance to ask
certain questions, which he could expound further. Sam, Behroze Karanjia and
myself asked some of these pertinent questions, which helped KND to add to his
lecture. Firdosh had warned us previously that he would only allow questions,
which related to the topic. We had accordingly prepared these questions. On the
whole, I think the affair was rather tame, with KND coming off slightly better.
There was no excitement from the audience or harassment of the speakers. There
were no personal attacks by either speaker. Applause was moderate for both
speakers and there were no repeated standing ovations.
4. Circulation Project:
I had 1000 copies of Khurshed?s 19-page TZML
presentation “Welcome to Traditionalism” made at Kinkos in Houston. It
finally worked out as 42c per side of page, including stapling and tax. We
distributed these on the last two days of the conference. Again a band of young
volunteers distributed these in the various halls and in the lobbies.
It was quite a job distributing 1000 copies. Any more would have been
very difficult. We have not got any feedback yet about what people thought of
the publication.
5. Jashan:
18 mobeds participated in the Jashan on the last
day. These affairs are usually attended by non-Zoroastrians, mainly spouses. To
make people aware of the error of their ways, several of us make it a point not
to participate in such Jashans and also telling people why we do not
participate. Among those who purposely stayed away this time were Ervads
Aspandiar Dadachanji, Godrej Sidhwa, Murzban Hathiram, Peshotan and Burzin
Unwalla, Darab Unwalla of Florida and yours truly. Also, it was heartening to
see another very charismatic young mobed Ervad Mehernosh Bhadha from Karachi,
who is only 12 years old declaring he would not participate in a Jashan where
non-Zoroastrians were present. I
hope the other mobeds got some sort of message from him.
I hope the above will satisfy your immediate
curiosity. If I think of anything else I will post it later. If I have forgotten
to mention anyone please forgive me. It is nice to escape freezing Houston and
get back into sunny California. God Bless you all.
* * * * * *
2. Dawn of the new Millennium
A
Partisan view of the 7th World Zoroastrian Congress in Houston
By Shahriar Shahriari
At
the outset, let me state that in my view, Zarathushtra's spiritual teachings
have the ultimate goal of enlightening the heart and mind, and freeing the soul
and spirit, in a way that every member of the human race can ultimately approach
and become one with Ahura Mazda, without any need for segregation, tribal
division, or creation of intermediaries between individuals and their Creator.
The 7th
Zoroastrian World Congress in Houston (WZC2000) was the fruit of the labor of
love of hundreds of individuals, who dedicated thousands of hours of work, over
a four year period of their lives. They created an event that surpassed any and
all praise. Any attempt to describe the event can only be reductionist in nature
and will diminish from the holistic experience of the Congress.
I will not attempt to
describe the Congress. I will neither praise it, as I will not be able to do it
justice, nor will I criticize it, because any criticism can only be a reflection
of our community and not the Congress. I will only use the various events of the
Congress to reflect upon the state of the Zarathushti community, as we enter the
third millennium of the Common Era.
Our community has
obviously reached a fork in the road. The advent of the second diaspora and the
migration of the Zarathushtis to the West have created both problems and
opportunities for us as individuals and as a community. And the Congress was
perhaps the turning point of this phenomenon.
The WZC2000 was a
clearing for the acting out of the various ideologies and spiritualities. The
politicizing of this event was also another indication of the existence of the
various spiritual views of Zoroastrian philosophy. A few of the self-appointed
guardians of the faith, very early on in the history of the Congress decided to
take control and push their agenda.
Contrary to much of the
pre-congress publicity, the agenda was not inclusion versus exclusion. That was
only the mechanism, the modus operandi of those who controlled the congress
agenda, versus those who wanted to have a different experience.
The real struggle was
one between a Sassanian Zoroastrianism, wherein tradition and ritualism was the
predominant factor, and man's relation to Ahura Mazda was one of distance that
could only be bridged through rites of purity, performed by intermediaries; and
a Zarathushtrian Zoroastrianism, wherein Zarathushtra clearly describes to us
how our world operates, what is our purpose in life, and how each and every one
of us as individuals, and as the human community, can become one with Ahura
Mazda.
The opening ceremony
began with a technically superior audio/visual presentation borrowing scenes
from the Walt Disney cartoon, "Fantasia", showing the story of
creation (the mythical version, where Ahura Mazda created all good things, but
then Ahriman came into being and rose in battle against Ahura Mazda by spreading
darkness and noxious creatures over the earth). The cartoon presentation also
had Kaemerz P. Dotiwala (Social and Historical Track Chair) as the narrator.
The audio/visual
presentation continued with the mythical history of Zoroastrians, based on the
stories of the Shahnameh, and then moved into the history of Zoroastrians.
Although the presentation was beautifully done, it contained gross inaccuracies.
Claims such as "Cyrus the Great built the Palaces of Persepolis" left
one wondering the level of research gone into creating such production, and the
intent behind the whole presentation.
The first Keynote
speech of the Congress was given by Ambassador Jamsheed Marker. In his usual
humanitarian ways, he presented a compassionate and inclusive worldview, whose
primary focus was to make this world progress towards perfection, by being
constructive, and doing the right things, wherever we are, and whatever
situation we are in.
The Congress, with over
2000 attendees and 150 speakers was too big an event for any one person to
follow. At any given time (with the exception of keynote speeches and subsequent
plenary sessions), there were a minimum of 5 events taking place simultaneously.
At times it was difficult to choose where to be, and made one wish to be able to
bi-locate and be in two or more places at the same time.
"In the Footsteps
of our Forefathers", which was a documentary video tape created by Tenaz
Dubash, was aired twice, and then returned for a third time due to popular
demand. This video recorded the journey of 34 Zarathushti youth from North
America back to their original homeland, Iran. It shows the many historical and
spiritual Zoroastrian sites, ranging from the ruins of Persepolis to Arg-e Bam
in Kerman, from the various Pirs in the vicinity of Yazd, to Mount Damavand.
Perhaps the frank
discussion among the pilgrims, which took place near the end of their journey,
was a telling tale as to where the Zarathushtis of North America are taking our
faith.
While the adult
sessions were highly structured, tightly controlled and filled with speeches and
presentations, many of which were aimed at pushing the various agendas, the
youth track took a different approach. They structured their sessions in a way
that they would be participative. Most sessions were either workshops or small
group discussions, with the aim of getting everyone involved and contributing.
They valued every contribution, and attempted to draw upon what was coming
through the grassroots. Fear of what might have emerged, it seems, never
occurred to the young organizers of this track.
Then there was the much
politicized and publicized FEZANA Special Event. The outcome of 6 months of high
profile politicizing, and 4 years of silent and eventually vocal soul struggle
of the Zarathushti community in North America. To include or not to include...
that was the question.
No matter which side of
the argument one stood, very early in the afternoon, it became apparent that in
spite of the various efforts of a handful of people (even attempting to create
last minute technical difficulties for the event, so that it would not take
place), the people were inquiring where it was being held. The hall began to
fill as early as two sessions prior to the event. By the time the historical
Special Event was about to begin, the 700 people room was holding over 1000
people (1200 according to one account), and about 300-500 people, I was told,
were kept outside due to fire limit violations.
The chairman of the
session even announced that due to the large number of people left outside the
door, they were trying to see if they could have a closed circuit simulcast of
the presentation in a different hall. And later on, we were told that this was
not possible due to hotel staff shortage and other technical difficulties....
Before the speeches of
Dr. Ervad Kaikhoshrow N. Dastoor and Dr. Ali A. Jafarey even began, it was
evident that Zarathushtrians present at the Congress were interested in hearing
everyone. Even some of the figureheads who had initially planned to boycott the
event, were also present in the session, and went on the stage to ask a question
or two.
The schizophrenic
psyche of our community, and the communal soul struggle that we have been going
through was most evident in the overall perspective of the Congress program.
Starting with a Sassanian view of Zoroastrian spirituality during the opening
ceremony, and moving on towards displaying the plurality of viewpoints and
spiritual beliefs within the community, culminating in devoting most of the last
day of speeches to the topic of "One Zarathushtra, Many Zarathushtis".
I cannot help but ask
the motives and the intent of the people behind this way of programming. How
much can we separate man from man, and man from God? Do we really need
intermediaries to tell us how to relate to others? Do we really need brokers to
make us favorable in the eyes of Ahura Mazda? And if the community is moving
towards freeing the spirit, should we split the community so that not everyone
will be free... that some will still give credence to self-appointed
intermediaries and brokers of God?
There were many
presumptions and unspoken assumptions in the Congress programming. Many things
that have simply been taken for granted, just because they are the way things
are... By keeping them that way, they remain unthinkable. And as long as they
are unthinkable, they cannot and will not be questioned.
Dr. Farrokh Mistree and
his brother, Khojeste Mistree had a dialogue in one session (which I did not
have the opportunity to attend). Dr. Mistree approached me the previous day,
saying that he was collecting questions relating to bridging the past and the
future. His objective was to come up with very difficult questions to pose to
his brother, Khojeste. The intent being the brother from the West would be
presenting our dilemmas and soul searching to the brother from the East, seeking
answers to very difficult questions that we face.
Well, I suppose that
was the honorable and natural course of events, because it is unthinkable for
the brother from the East, representing the continuity of tradition and
spiritual knowledge, to be anything other than all knowing. What's more, it is
even more unthinkable that one day, the brother from the East may have the need
to ask questions from the brother from the West.
Let me ask the
unthinkable question: why is it that the brother from the West needs to be the
one asking the questions. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for the brother
from the East, who has not had the challenges, experiences or the opportunities
of the brother from the West, to be the one asking the questions and opening his
horizons.
The soul searching of
our community is not limited to Sassanian versus Zarathushtrian Zoroastrianism.
It goes deeper than that. It is the struggle of the new seedling to find its way
out of the earth, and reach towards the sun, and become a tree. The seedling may
have originated in the old tree, but it is distinct, with its own right to
struggle through its own life and challenges.
The self-appointed
guardians of the community have lost their power to determine the course of
events, particularly with regards to the affairs of our youth. So as a survival
measure and in order to maintain their rule, knowingly or otherwise, they are
fragmenting the community. Because for them, it is better to have full control
over a smaller but predictable portion of the community, rather than have
self-determination with communication and dialogue among all individuals.
They cite religious
pluralism as the reason for this so-called "problem", and "live
and let live" as their altruistic solution to this "problem". But
in reality they promote a split, without dialogue.
However, the reality of
pluralism is that there are as many spiritual beliefs as there are individuals
on this planet. And ultimately, just as Zarathushtra taught us, every single one
of us have the ability and the responsibility to approach and become one with
Ahura Mazda.
The distinction we need
to make is that we can only make this a reality with the help of our
Zarathushtrian and our human brethren. But not through controlling them, nor
through alienating them. In short, "live and let live" is not the same
as "Leave and let live".
Let me conclude by
sharing a humorous event at the Congress. In this age of space travel and
cyberspace, during the "One Zarathushtra, Many Zarathushtis" open
public forum, in an attempt to justify the Sassanian Zoroastrian world view of
Patriarchal heritage of religion, a panelist from India, cited the scientific
analogy of stud bulls and other animals as proof for the superiority of the male
of every species. What's more, he was proclaiming the Zoroastrian gene as the
reason why the Zoroastrian race is superior and must remain exclusive.
Some of the discussions
were so preposterous and absurd that they did not even draw a reaction of
outrage. The absurdity was to such a level that the audience only responded with
laughter.
Perhaps Professor
Farhang Mehr responded best when he mentioned that after hearing talk of the
Zoroastrian gene the previous day, he had contacted a biologist friend of his
earlier that morning, and was assured that while they had found the Zoroastrian
gene, they were unable to find the Jewish, Christian and Moslem genes.
Perhaps it is safe to
assume that our Zarathushtrian community in the West has grown up.
-------------------
Sincerely
Shahriar Shahriari
TABLE OF CONTENTS and Their Links
Introduction & the Gist of "The Plain Reality Behind The Intricate Falsity"