r/Zoroastrianism

Has the Zoroastrian faith opened itself up to outside conversion to the faith yet?

Are there copies of the Gatha's and Avesta sold by a Temple in the US (Not Amazon)?

I’ve noticed that Avestan sounds strangely incomplete or broken whereas Vedic Sanskrit sounds much more phonetically rich and developed.

I’m aware that this is subjective and that describing one natural language as “incomplete” isn't linguistically accurate. I’m specifically interested in the phonological/phonetic reasons behind this perception.

Let me give an example of Yasna 28:5 to explain my perspective:

Avesta (original) -

Ašā kat θβā darəsānī, manascā vohū vaēdəmnō.

Gātūmcā ahurāi, sēvištāi sraošəm mazdāi.

Anā māθrā mazištəm, vāurōimaidī xrafstrā hizvā.

Vedic Sanskrit (its equivalent) -

Ṛta kat tvā darśāni, manaś ca vásu vedamānaḥ.

Gātúṃ ca ásurāya, śáviṣṭhāya śróṣam médhase.

Anéna mántrā máhiṣṭham, vāvṛmahi krapstrā́ jihváyā.

Some points I noted:

1. The word, xrafstrā or krapstrā́, is in Avestan. I do not know where it is used in the Vedas.

2. The ṛ developed differently in Avesta, while it is the same in Sanskrit from PIE’s r̥: ṛ-ta & a-ša.

3. Tvā (in accusative, "you") becomes θβā. Same but still so much different.

Or simply putting,

I've been listening to a lot of Yasnas these days from YT and dr. Ramiyar Karanjia’s website, but all of those recitations sound phonetically "irregular and ugly [can’t describe well enough 🥀]" to my ears.

Hello everyone, I created a Zoroastrian calendar that is in line with astronomical events based on your location. Please share any feedback you have.

https://pitadam.github.io/zorocal/

Actually, my grandmother followed Zoroastrianism, whereas my grandfather was a Hindu. She married him to avoid converting to a particular Abrahamic faith one she never liked (there is a long history behind this, but I won't go into it, as she didn't want us to know about these matters). Now our family is very secular; everyone in the household is free to choose their own path in life and their religion, and no one has any objection to this. Even my grandmother would spontaneously participate in Hindu festivals. Once, when I asked her about her religious beliefs, she simply said, "There is a deep connection between Hindu and Zoroastrian people ; our fates and histories are intertwined. I will tell you everything when you are a little older" .Unfortunately, I never got the chance to learn the details from him, but I am genuinely interested in learning about Zoroastrianism. How can I find out more about it?

I work in a zoroastrian bank india and our board of directors r so corrupt that they appointed a non parsi staff as M.D. OF the bank. He is just using all the funds as like his own personal piggy bank.This non parsi staff is so corrupt and harrissing parsi staff in the organization that 11 parsi staff left in just 1 year that to not new but old staff who has experience of more than 30 years. It's a shame on own community. Please people do something.

I am an Inquirer into Zoroastrianism from a Christian Background and one thing that has given me a headache for quite a while is the way Salvation works or rather doesn't seem to work in Zoroastrianism.

When I was still a Christian, I was troubling myself with analyzing the different schools of theology which the different denominations hold to and which are often in deep disagreement with each other, to the point where they condemn each other as not being true Christians. Historically, there was a lot of violence because of this.

One of the core issues that these bloody disagreements almost always focused on was the issue of Salvation. The central question that all of Christian thinking seems to revolve around is "How can Mankind actually become free of our sins and how can we go to heaven?"

Now from a Christian perspective, this question is harder to answer that it may seem....

You see, the fundamental Idea behind Christianity is that all humans are sinful. We have all committed at least one sin in our life, and in addition to that we have supposedly inherited the "sin of Adam", i.e. the first sin ever committed when Adam and Eve, the first humans, disobeyed God and thereby sinned.

Now the concept of "inherited sin" seems to me to be implausible so this is not what gives me a headache, but what I can't stop thinking about really is how the christian line of thinking continues nonetheless:

According to christian theology, because we have all sinned - even if just a little - God has to take revenge for the sins we committed because otherwise, he would not be a just God. God cannot be just if he does not punish us for our sins and since we all sinned, we all would need to be punished.

But it gets worse: Even if our particular sins are sometimes greater, sometimes smaller (for example lying in an insignificant situation is a smaller sin than murdering someone), it is still the case that every sin, regardless how small it may have been, merits eternal damnation in hell. Why? Well for a few reasons: 1. God himself is perfection and everything and everyone who is not absolutely perfect and pure of sin cannot exist in his presence. But to be in heaven means to be in his presence. Thus, if someone has committed even the smallest sin, he is no longer pure enough to be in heaven.

2. Even small sins are an offense against an infinitely holy God. And because God's holiness is without measure, they gravity of our sins is without measure, even if we are talking about seemingly "insignificant" sins. And because the gravity of our sins is without measure, we have to receive a punishment without measure, thus we have to remain in hell for all eternity.

Now Christians believe that God obviously does not want us to all perish in hell forever. However, God cannot forgive us our sins "just so" because then he would violate his own justice. It would be unjust to forgive us without making us pay some form of retribution of our sins.

So according to Christians, God had to find a way to offer us a way into heaven (a salvation) without having to allow us to go there without satisfying the need for justice. So he sent Jesus, his perfect sinless son, to suffer the penalty for our sins in our stead so that we would no longer have to pay for our sins ourselves. Through Jesus' Sacrifice, we can once again be counted as perfect, sinless and righteous in the eyes of God while at the same times, justice has been served, retribution for all the sins has been made when Jesus died and suffered for us.

So far, so messy.

Now, one of the points that Christians like to really drill into everyone's head is how people who believe that they can go to heaven just by being good people have fallen for a deception. They say that if you think that you can "earn" heaven/salvation by just being a good and ethical person, living an ethical life and doing good deeds, you have forgotten something crucial: All the good things you do cannot "pay off" the punishment that awaits you for the sins you did actually commit. And everyone committed at least one sin in life. So hell is awaiting everyone who is not believing is Jesus and his substitutional sacrifice.

Now why did I explain all this: I explained it because I honestly have trouble refuting it from a zoroastrian perspective. Many Zoroastrians do seem to think that they can go to heaven by just doing good deeds. But how can we answer and refute the christian line of reasoning from a zoroastrian point of view? How would you guys answer?

I have my own ideas but I want to hear from you because you are arguably more well versed in Zoroastrianism than I am.

I have a question about the link between the iranic ethnos and the Mazdayasnan identity. When debating or discussing AhuraMazda do you refer to it's agency as "Our God", as the god of Iranic people, or "The God" as something universal? specifically when debating Jews and Christians

You guys do sky burials, right? What happens if Parsis die far away from vultures? Like what if one of you go to Antarctica and freeze to death, what happens to your soul?

Hello, I'm a French guy who's very curious 'bout the religious path of yours, I'm Hellenist (Greek gods and Goddesses) and I just wanna know, why you choose this path, I' m not here to say you're wrong or by any mean insult your religion, I'm just curious. Thanks for your answering.

i wanna learn more about zoroastrianism and i think it's essential to get the holy book especially the gathas, if you have a link please send me

Hi I want to talk to people who are gathas only and also people who practice it has monotheism.To understand there perspective.Because the only zs I talk to are more traditional for a lack of a better word.So I have never talked to someone who is apart of different groups/sects 🤷‍♂️ same with more esoteric Parsi groups.So please someone let me know how I can talk to one of these people or if you are one please message me 🙏

I'm from Bangladesh. Islamic by born religion. I saw some dreams many time like someone telling my daughter to name Zoroasha. then after searching I found about Zoroastrianism. I'm really interested in it. can someone help me