Do we take birth to suffer? As per Ervad Hathiram we do. According to Scriptures we dont. Ironically among the 101 names of Ahura Mazda is Besh-Tarnaa- the remover of Suffering. Our community itself is to be blamed for publishing utterances of self styled Scholars like Er. Hathiram or for that matter, Khojeste Mistree, who issue crazy fatwas in the Media because most of us are geared from the beginning to somehow believe that there is someone more knowledgeable who can tell us what we ought do and what route to take, sparing us from making responsible decisions on our own. All Babas and Gurus operate on the basis of key element of fear factor, a la Rasputin. Call it herd mentality. Even today we feed the multi million-dollar psychic network industry in the search of hidden answers and finance multi billion-dollar religious industry in the hope of salvation. We look for magic in all we undertake; we believe in fairies, angels, ghosts, black magic spells, etc. We follow gurus and self proclaimed prophets because we are not willing to take the responsibility of our lives in our own hands, think with our own brains and live conscientiously. Until there are people who want to be followers, there will come those who will claim to be leaders. Until people think like sheep, there will be those who will pose as shepherds . Until we are willing to take free ride, there will be some who will take us for a ride. One argument that Er. Hathiram puts forth is an idea that deformities and diseases are retributions that we ought to endure in life are punishments from God for deeds of past lives and thus organ donation obstructs the Laws of Karma. Does Zoroastrianism supports the idea that Ahura Mazda punishes us with sufferings? Among the 101 names of Ahura Mazda is Besh-Tarnaa- the remover of Suffering, A-Satoh- One Who Does Not Get Angry, Ham-Aiyaafah One Who Can Reach All Equally. No scripture of Zoroastrianism incl the Gathas support the idea of REBIRTH or Being born again to suffer the consequences of past life exist. Even rationally, consciousness can only exist with the aid of a body. No body... no consciousness. No consciousness ... no memory. No memory... no mind. No Mind ....no brain. No Brain ....no energy and where their is no energy there can not be life. To elaborate, mind begins to exist when the brain is formed. It runs on energy. A personality is formed by our experiences and continues to grow throughout life, running on energy. We die. The brain rots, the energy dissipates and goes back into free energy of this planet and Universe. It cant then gather itself together again to create another us. Logically, every one of us help determine who we are, what our thinking is. In order for the mind to be reborn the baby would have a fully developed brain,( which doesnt occur until early twenties)... Even if the idea of rebirth and suffering as punishment from God was true as Er. Hathiram puts it, tell me how effective can a punishment/correction be when we dont even know what act of sin was committed in the past lives? Its just so illogical to even assume something so frivolous. The idea of rebirth can be a cruel belief and Ive seen many folks brush off a persons hard life, or impairments as bad karma and feel no need to intercede on their behalf, so there goes compassion out the window. Not too different, Er. Hathiram wants us to display indifference and apathy towards those suffering by not helping them which by itself runs diagonally contrary to what Zoroastrianism stands for. Happiness to those who give Happiness to others... If everything is Pre determined by destiny based on Karma of past births as Hathiram wants us to believe, then why do they discriminate those who marry out of the fold? Its pre-destined by God...and by discriminating mix marriages, orthodox are questioning his wisdom. While I detest getting personal, on a closing note, I was told about a year ago, that Er. Hathiram was admitted in a hospital to treat fracture of his limb. Did he practice the theory of retribution on his own body? Does undergoing surgery and taking medicines esp pain killers not tantamount to obstruction to the laws of karma ? Or are his fatwas meant for ordinary mortals and not for himself?
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 09:23:31 +0000