Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World's topics - tribe.net

Cyrus

Lord of the Zodiac — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:02:28 GMT

What is known of King Cyrus, besides what is written in the Bible? Which sources to consult? What was his religious practice, in possible detail? Thanks, Klaudio Zic http://lulu.com/astrology

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Zoroastrian Sabbath

PeaceKeeper — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:00:03 GMT

Is there a day of rest in our faith?

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Born or Converted

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 20:48:22 GMT

Some Zoroastrians tend to sound a little snobby when it comes to being born in the the religion. They'll mention, I was born into this religion before they speak or when talking about their groups.

A few things... The first Zoroastrians converted from their own religion. Are new members of the religion different or less Zoroastrian than the original who switched?

Second, no one is truely any religion until they start practicing the aspects of the religion and believing it's ideals.

Third, even if one was going to go by the birthright theory, how can you account for the Arab/Muslim invasions? What about Alexander's invasion? From what I've read people were not allowed to practice their own faith. What about the people who converted from Zoroastrianism? There'd be no way to track those. How do we know who's from Zoroastrian blood?

Religion is a choice, whether you're born into it or decide to believe it later on in life. The only measure of how much one is Zoroastrian should be in their knowledge of philosophy.

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[Article] "Faithful Few Embrace Zoroastrian Ideals"

Naz — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:05:11 GMT

A very concise and thoughtful article on Zoroastrians was published in the Chicago Tribune last month. Thought I'd pass the writing and link along to you all ... bless.

Faithful few embrace Zoroastrian ideals
Albany family among those still practicing religion guided by good words, good deeds
By Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune
First published: Saturday, October 20, 2007
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.aspstoryID=631760&category=REGION&newsdate=10/20/2007

CHICAGO -- When a group of young Zoroastrian people gathered around a bonfire in a Chicago suburb to pray for their religion's survival, they sang a modern hymn of their adopted homeland with a sentiment at the heart of their ancient faith.

"Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above," their voices rang out.

Thousands of years before Irving Berlin composed "God Bless America," Zoroastrians were praying for divine guidance and symbolizing their hope for heavenly enlightenment with fire.

Once, the Zoroastrian community numbered in the millions, from Greece through the Middle East to India. Now there are fewer than 200,000 Zoroastrians -- known in India and Pakistan as Parsis -- and about 10,000 in the United States.

Jamshed Irani of Albany recalled that around 1961 a member of his family came from their home in Bombay, India, to work at St. Peter's Hospital as a physician. Over the years, relatives emigrated, including Irani himself in 1987. He said the local Zoroastrian community consists of about 20 family members, including 10 children born in this country, living in Albany County. They belong to the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York, whose temple in Pomona, Rockland County, has about 1,000 members from across the New York metropolitan area.

Zoroastrianism is a faith with a straightforward ethic: "Think good thoughts, say good words, do good deeds."

Such was the teaching of the prophet Zarathustra. Exactly when and where Zarathustra lived is uncertain, and modern scholarly opinion varies, dating him to between 1500 and 600 B.C. His birthplace is thought to be on the borderlands of Persia. The faith he founded was already old when rabbinical Judaism was young.

The hymns Zarathustra composed and subsequent elaborations on his teaching answer a theological question perplexing to many faiths: If God is good, why does evil exist?

The Zoroastrians' answer is that there is an evil divinity as well as a good one at work in the universe. Scholars of religion characterize Zoroastrianism as a dualism, contrasting it with the monotheism of some other faiths.

When King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylonia in the 6th century B.C., he found the Jews living there in exile. Not only did he allow them to return to the Holy Land, he provided funds to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.

The Jews also brought back to their ancient homeland concepts of Persian Zoroastrianism. The idea of a judgment day, heaven as the reward for those who live a life of righteousness, an underworld for those who don't, angels and evil spirits -- all were incorporated into Judaic thinking and passed on to Judaism's daughter religions, Christianity and Islam.

Mithraism, a variant form of Zoroastrianism, was popular among the Romans until the Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity in the 4th century.

With the rise of Islam in the 7th century, the Zoroastrians' fortunes turned. After the Arab conquest of Persia, a group fled to India, hoping to escape persecution and forced conversion to Islam.

Given refuge by a Hindu ruler, the Zoroastrians adopted a policy of not proselytizing or recognizing mixed marriages.

Now, that rule against conversion poses an unresolved problem for Zoroastrianism. Conservative Zoroastrians want to keep ancient practices in force; liberals think that, to survive, the faith has to change with the times.

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Aidetoon Mobarak!

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:59:21 GMT

Happy new year folks. Does anyone know of all the Zoroastrian traditions for the new year?

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 1 reply

nov-ruz mubarak

zain khan — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:51:37 GMT

nov-ruz mubarak, happy new year

http://bahai.tribe.net/photos/c507d1b9-4ec5-47b0-8fea-c48854e9031f

http://bahai.tribe.net/photos/4bf3e593-7fc6-46ba-9993-c95b236fec99

same time we indian celebrate spring

http://bahai.tribe.net/photos/c507d1b9-4ec5-47b0-8fea-c48854e9031f

http://bahai.tribe.net/photos/4bf3e593-7fc6-46ba-9993-c95b236fec99

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Persian vs. Parsi

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:55:36 GMT

Does anyone know the differences between Persian Zoroastrians and Indian Zoroastrians (Parsis)? It seems the Parsis version has much to do with Hinduism. Can anyone elaborate? Thanks.

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Interactions with Judiasm and Christianity

zenaida — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:04:43 GMT

Thought I'd share this-
Zoroastrian ideas have played an important role in the development of western religious thought. Some theological concepts shared by Zoroastrianism with Judaism and Christianity are:

1. Belief in one supreme and loving God.
2. Heaven and Hell, and individual judgement.
3. Ultimate triumph of good over evil.
4. Strict moral and ethical code.
5. The Messiah to come for the final restoration.
6. The concepts of resurrection, final judgement and life everlasting.
7. The words "satan", "paradise" and "amen" are of Zoroastrian origin.

It is also interesting to note that the three Wise Men that heralded the infant Christ, were Zoroastrians.

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 16 replies

good thoughts, good words, good deeds

Tuna — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:29:36 GMT

good thoughts, good words, good deeds.......i first encountered this principle a few years back and it made quite an impression on me. over the years it's become very personal to me and i still fall back on them from time to time. can anyone share these words in original avestan script with me? i just want to have a written copy of it for myself. thanks to everyone in advance.

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 6 replies

Original Faravahar

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:01:54 GMT

Does anyone have an image, or know where one is, of the original Faravahar without the human figure which was added afterwards?

Thanks.

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 9 replies

Lectures/Meetings

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:53:07 GMT

There's this meeting next month. If you go, save me a seat.

Last one (at Stanford) was very interesting. The speaker mentioned that the original Zoroastrians were converts and that they accepted converts until the Muslim invasions where they closed off their communities, so to speak.

"Revelations of Zarathustra: Poetry of Mysteries and Mysteries of Poetry"

Prof. Martin Schwartz
UC/Berkeley

Thursday, May 11th
7-8 p.m.
Location TBA

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 1 reply

Happy New Year

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:25:44 GMT

Persian or not, Happy New Year (Eidetoon mobarak). This is very Zoroastrian in symbolism. Today (Monday, 20th) at 10:25 am and 35 seconds PST, the exact time of the Spring (Vernal) Equinox it will become Spring and hence, the Persian New Year.

This is what the President had to say:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050316-8.html

Here are some links explaining the ceremony:
http://tehran.stanford.edu/Culture/nowruz.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_New_Year
http://www.farsinet.com/norooz

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Lecture in San Jose 12/11

Martinote — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 02:59:39 GMT

Dina McIntyre, PZO guest speaker on Sunday December 11, 2005
The Persian Zoroastrian Organization is delighted to invite you to a memorable, stimulating and inspiring discussion about Zarathushtra presented by the well-educated and respected Zoroastrian scholar Mrs. Dina McIntyre. She has been studying the teachings of Zarathushtra since the early 1980s, and was the Editor of a 12 lesson course on the Gathas called "An Introduction to the Gathas of Zarathushtra". For more information about her please click http://www.vohuman.org/Author/McIntyre,DinaG.htm.

http://www.zanc.org/index.html

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ancient persian-indian connections

amar_mulay — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 21:22:44 GMT

it seems as though ancient persia and india were one culturally in ancient times....... in the ramayana, we read of rama's step-mother "kaikai" who was from "parshu desha". (country of the parshus), the geographical description of which (in the epic) clearly reveals it to be iran.

similarly, in the mahabharata, the nakul and sahadeva, the youngest of the 5 heroes (the pandavas) were born of a persian queen who wedded the Vedic king Pandu. There r a number of statements by these brothers (nakul and sahadeva) which r descriptive of the customs and practices of their maternal land. One of the most striking of these, is the practice of leaving the human corpse exposed to the elements instead of burying it or cremating it!

in the gathas and the zend avesta itself, the language is so similar to vedic sanskrit that it leaves little doubt in one's mind that the two people were in some way closely connected in the dim mists of time.

perhaps, it was the dim memory of this ancient connection that caused the Parsis to look at india as their land of refuge rather than any other country, when they were over-run by the arabs ?

posted in Zoroastrianism/Zoroastrians of the World - 7 replies

Temple

Martinote — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 02:52:52 GMT

There is a temple in San Jose. Have any of you ever been to events there?

I would love to go but not sure how best to do it in a way that's not invasive.

My Farsi isn't really functional & my sufi teachers have never been able to come at the right time.

http://www.zanc.org/daremehr.html

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