After his prayers at the Foroud Shahlori Dar be Mehr in Auckland, New Zealand, the senior devotee reportedly failed to replace the afarganiu cover before leaving the premises on April 15. Apparently some flying embers from the dadgah fire reached the sandalwood shavings kept nearby and burst into flames around 5 p.m. The fire brigade managed to douse the flames within five to seven minutes but by then one wall and the roof beams had been impacted.
"Not much damage… A miracle took place. Many items next to our Paigumbar sahib (prophet) photo frame got charred except the Zoroaster frame. Even the fire chief was shocked,” noted a report on the Facebook page of Worldwide Zoroastrians. "Miracles do happen... The Zarthosht wooden frame with foam roses in it was untouched and not damaged… There was no crack even on the glass,” confirmed Aspandiar (Aspy) Shahlori who built the Dar be Mehr in 2004 in memory of his father Foroud and has been contributing to its upkeep even though he is currently based in Sydney.
Foroud Shahlori Dar be Mehr in Auckland resumed prayers shortly after a fire broke out (above r)
Grateful to "all the unnamed heroes who worked overnight and in the rain” to ensure that the sanctity of the premises was soon restored, in a telephone chat and email response to Parsiana, Aspy stated that on the fourth day following the fire incident, on roz Dae-pa-Adar, mah Adar, after a jashan on the premises, the dadgah was open to the devotees once again. "We can proudly say that this Dar be Mehr is open 365 days to all as it has no door and no electricity around the kebla,” stressed Aspy. Only the light from the sacred fire and two divas permeates the room.
The premises are small but the venue has hosted jashans for navjotes, weddings, obsequies, muktad prayers as also provided a place for prospective priests to undergo training before they embark on their journey to India to be ordained as navars. Prior to the pandemic, the dadgah would be most frequented on weekends, on Mondays when they would have humbandagi prayers and on Fridays when devotees would join in for the Mushkil Aasan and Paria mai prayers, mentioned Aspy. When kids have examinations or are awaiting their results, he has seen them line up before the sacred fire, seeking blessings. "Ghana ni murado puri thaich [the prayers of many seeking boons (like marriage partners or offspring) have been known to be fulfilled]” by this fire, stated Aspy,
In the initial years three boi ceremonies would be performed daily at the dadgah by priests from the local community. Now it has reduced to two boi ceremonies. The current strength of the community in New Zealand must be over 2,000 guesstimates Aspy who with his wife Daulat (Dolly) used to run the Parsiana Lodge (no connection to this magazine) in Auckland until they had to surrender their premises on account of road widening. To ensure that the mystical properties of the sacred fire are not disturbed, "during the strenuous times of negotiation with the council, we opted to hand over the house instead of relocating the Dar be Mehr,” mentioned Aspy. "Every setback gives us more strength,” he believes.
A "semi-retired” scientist, Aspy said he plans to return to India post retirement. Just as his mother Shirin would tell her children, Aspy has told his twins Darian and Zeba that whenever they remember their parents they can always come over to visit them. From his father he has imbibed the philosophy, "Aapré bhala tau jag bhala (if we are good-hearted, so will we find our world).”