Nadir Godrej, the eminent businessman and philanthropist was the first keynote speaker at the XVII North American Zoroastrian Congress in Los Angeles. Below is the text of his address, delivered on Monday Dec 29th 2014 in his trademark style of poetry.

Some fear Zoroastrians may not last

And yet they had a glorious past.

The Achaemenians come to mind.

More noble rulers are hard to find.

We often find that might is right

But they believed that right is might.

All faiths found their rule was fine

By and large they were benign.

They were fair to one and all.

They made all the barriers fall.

Was it strategic or tactical?

High principled or practical?

Did Asha inspire their belief?

No doubt they found much relief

Since tolerance, led of course,

To the use of much less force.

It should be noted that this tribal

Accommodation’s in the Bible-

The reconstruction account

Of the Temple on the Mount

And the return from deportation

Of the entire Jewish nation.

And influenced by our thought

Zoroastrian ideas were then brought

Into the Judaeo-Christian tradition

And more than just a little smidgen

Both then and later through Essenes.

We often worry about our Genes

And fear that they may all be lost

And try and save at any cost,

Though all don’t think that is fair.

Some costs, most wouldn’t want to bear!

But why not think in terms of memes?

To me it most certainly seems

That some solace one can surely find

In good thoughts in a non-Zoroastrian mind!

But if, as now, so many fear,

Indeed someday we’ll disappear

The world will then be bereft

Of all Zoroastrians but will be left

With good thoughts providing might

To all engaged in the good fight.

For centuries the Achaemenians thrived

But we can’t say that they survived.

As for the Zoroastrian story

Once more we reached Imperial glory.

The Sasanians however were beset

By challenges with which they met.

And Christians from the West

Quite often put them to the test.

And Buddhists too were on the rise

And often they were faced with cries

Of heretics of every hue,

Constantly something new.

And I suppose it’s only fair

The priests became quite doctrinaire.

Though historically it is a stretch

I will still try and sketch,

With imperial metaphors

As our intellectual spurs,

Two pictures of religious thought.

In one picture truth is sought

Through spiritual lessons taught

And deeper meaning that is sought.

The literal word is carefully vetted

And metaphors are interpreted.

Whereas in the other picture

One literally follows scripture.

Our prophet enjoined us to think

Thoughtless faith leads to the brink.

Should religion guide our way

Or deal with ritual minutiae?

In India we are in a mess.

You’ve done better, I must confess.

Your Mobed Council guides you well

And as far as I can tell

Issues are resolved without dissent

And this has most surely meant

That faith which may well cause a rift

Has not done so and that’s a gift

Your Mobed Council gave to you

Much credit is therefore due

To Ervad Dastur and Ervad Bagli

For things could get very ugly

If theological disputes caused splits.

We would be at the end of our wits.

Theology is often disputed

And cannot by logic be refuted.

And faith which is ideally a link

Can often cause unity to sink.

Our beliefs indeed should be strong

But we shouldn’t assume others are wrong.

Some benefit we should give

And learn to live and let live.

Respecting the other’s right to think

Makes religion a stronger link.

And scholars who have been tracking

Religions often see unity lacking.

Thus multiple splits are the order of the day

And schismatic violence often the way.

The balm of tolerance gives immunity

Allows enjoyment of faith and unity.

For years Zoroastrians were obscure

And though, of course, we can’t be sure

We probably would have stayed that way

If the British hadn’t come to stay

In India. Now the Parsi skill

At making ocean worthy ships

That could go on trading trips

Endeared them to the powers that be

In the giant East India Company.

They acted as go betweens

And soon became men of means.

By the travel bug, some were smitten

And duly ended up in Britain.

Dadabhai Naoroji was one such

And in his life achieved so much.

But here what I would like to cite

Is his concern for the plight

Of Zoroastrians under Persian rule

Imperialists of a different school.

As an MP he sought out the Queen.

And Victoria duly deigned to lean

On the Shah, then visiting

And he agreed that they could bring

Our Dadabhai to visit him.

The situation was very grim

But the Jazyia tax was lifted soon

And Naoroji got a special boon-

A Parsi representative

Who could visit and then give

A report on their condition.

Hataria undertook this mission.

The communities were then in touch

The Iranis benefitted much

And always showed their gratitude.

Though perhaps the Parsi attitude

Was early on at its best.

And here of course we will test

If we can have true unity

Through both parts of our community.

The Zartoshty brothers and Arbab Guiv

I most sincerely do believe

Had their philanthropic attitude

Partly from a feeling of gratitude.

And I would also like to share

The immense contribution of Fahrang Mehr.

The Rivetnas, Rohinton and Roshan

Once had the excellent notion

Of aggregating each association

Into the FEZANA federation.

The journal was also their creation

And we hold them high in our estimation.

And FEZANA’s gone from strength to strength

I can’t comment at much length.

But all your leaders are very dear

And all of them deserve a cheer.

FEZANA’s recognised by UNO

As an official NGO.

And when human rights are violated

We ensure perpetrators are berated.

With the Yazidis we have a tenuous link

And yet we raised quite a stink

When they were brutally attacked.

Other good causes will be backed.

In India there is a great fear

That Parsi’s will soon disappear.

Now many things are being tried

In an attempt to slow the slide.

And Jiyo Parsi’s the latest in the list

More breeding’s basically the gist.

Many propound the supposition

That we could widen the definition.

We’ve always had an aversion

To any kind of conversion.

With both in the fold there’s no doubt

But often many marry out.

Historically we would rather

Have the lone parent be the father.

But some would rather take a bet

On greatly widening the net.

In Bombay we haven’t gone that way

And so we can’t really say.

In Delhi it hasn’t worked so well

But in North America as far as I can tell

There is a modicum of success

And wide acceptance is I guess

The reason why it could succeed.

The rest of us should take heed.

Some trends we can clearly see.

“But the future ain’t what it used to be,”

As Yogi Berra famously said.

Will the trends mean we will be dead

Or will we show that we are wise

And find a way again to rise?

The next few days will be great

As all of us deliberate.

Let us overcome our fears

And live at least a thousand years!