Little children from Cusrow Baug wearing traditional Parsi dress recited the humbandagi along with Ervad Yazdi Aibara, panthaky of the Seth Nusserwanji Hirji Karani Agiary at the fire temple’s 169th salgirah celebrated on February 3, 2016. Bomi Hansotia, managing trustee requested two minutes’ silence in memory of the Wadia and Karani families, and also the late Chief Justice of India Sarosh Kapadia who had once delivered an inspiring lecture in the Agiary, mentions a write-up on the occasion received by Parsiana.
Top row, l-r): Karani Agiary; audience; booklet; (middle row): jashan, commemorative coins;
(bottom row, l-r): Yazdi Desai, Dastur (Dr) Peshotan Mirza, Bomi Hansotia, Noshir Dadrawala,
Mani Vazifdar, Ervad Yazdi Aibara and Homi Ranina
Homi Ranina, trustee of the Seth Nusserwanji Hirji Karani Agiary Trust and Dasturji Jamshedji Sorabji Kookadaru Memorial Trust introduced the evening’s keynote speaker, Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee and charity management expert Noshir Dadrawala. Ranina mentioned that our ancestors left Iran to preserve the Zoroastrian faith and not submit to conversion. (Ironically, Kookadaru had performed the navjotes of children of interfaith marriages in Mazgaon decades ago.) Our religion requires us to marry within our community to preserve our strength and religion, he stressed, as per the write-up.
Dadrawala dwelt on the significance of the seven Amesha Spentas and how each one influences mankind in leading a better life and coming closer to God. In his talk on "Zoroastrianism – A Way of Life,” he said Zoroastrians should walk on the path of Asha (righteousness), be kind to animals, make prayers an integral part of our lives and do charity.
Chief guest and BPP chairman Yazdi Desai stated that the residents of Cusrow Baug were fortunate to have an agiary in their midst which serves not merely as a fire temple but also as a community center where various other activities are conducted by the trustees.
A booklet titled Pearls of Wisdom was brought out by the Trust. These nuggets, gleaned from various sources such as newspapers, magazines and boards outside Catholic churches, are "universally applicable to all of us without any distinction between caste, creed and religion,” writes Hansotia in his Foreword. "Our religion not only wants us to be happy but also expects us to spread happiness,” he notes. The booklet is meant for free distribution.
The day began with a Havan gah maachi on behalf of the Karani Agiary Trust followed by a jashan on behalf of the trustees of the Agiary which was performed by Ervad Homyar Aibara and other priests of the Agiary. The evening’s jashan was led by Dastur Peshotan Mirza. The Agiary and surrounding garden were illuminated for the auspicious occasion.