My Navjote makes me a Mazda-worshipping Zoroastrian

Confessions of the Faith

Born of Parsi parents, I was Parsi up to this day. The Navjot or the ceremony of the investiture of Sudrah and Kusti, the sacred shirt and girdle, performed this day admits me as a member in the religious fold of my community.

White is the colour, symbolic of purity. The white shirt I wear next to the skin will now onward remind me of my life-long duty to preserve the purity of my body and mind, heart and soul. Purity, for man, says my prophet Zarathushtra, is the best acquisition in life. Purity is life. The sacred shirt is the vestment of purity. The sacred girdle circumvents my waist three times. With it have I girded my loins, in the faithful service of my creator. The material form of my Sudrah and Kusti clothes spiritual significance. Sudrah and Kusti will make up my distinguishing and characteristic costume, indispensable to the day of my death, as a true follower of the Mazda-worshipping religion of Zarathushtra.

I confess myself a Mazdayasnian. From this day will I make thy religion, Ahura Mazda, not an accident in my life, not a mere pastime. It will be the dearest, best and most cherished religion to me. It will be everything to me. It will be my life. I will live it and I will live for it.

Thou art the source of all goodness. Thou art all goodness. My hope is ever in thee and in thy goodness. Help me to grow daily in goodness. Let me add unto each day something good done by me, O thou my most gracious God of goodness. Thou art the symbol of perfection. Let me daily move onward in the attainment of perfection. Thou art wise beyond all wisdom. Thy all-seeing eyes are ever fixed upon me. Thou dost ever keep me in thy sight. Thou art never weary watching me and guarding me by day and by night. My most secret thoughts are open to thee, my innermost desires are known to thee. Thou art the light of the world. Let the light of thy fire burning in my heart illumine my inner world. Shed thy light on my mind and in my heart, that enlightened by thee, I can know thee and understand thee. Thou knowest what is good for me. Innumerable are the gifts that thou dost shower upon me from the abundance of thy goodness. Thou dost give my soul superb grace. Thou art my hope, my final refuge, rest and repose. Thou art the beginning and end of my being. Thou hast created me as thine. Help me to remain as thine in life and in death.

I confess myself a Zoroastrian. Zarathushtra, thy divine messenger and my most beloved prophet, best mirrors thee, Ahura Mazda. I will follow in his wake and do as he did. Strengthen me to perform my duties as a devoted and faithful follower of Zarathushtra, as his sublime religion enjoins on me.

The beautiful edifice of my religion is raised on the foundation of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I will fill my mind with good thoughts. I will think good thoughts. I will speak good words and I will do good deeds. I will always walk on the Path of Righteousness, which my blessed prophet teaches me, is the only true path. Truth will be my armor in life.

Prayer is my soul's communion with thee, Ahura Mazda. I pray the best when I act thy religion the best. Steadfast in my devotion to thee and ever true to thee, I will walk in the paths of thy commandments and keep thy commandments as Zarathushtra has taught me. Ever will I live in conformity to thy will.

I abjure all evil thoughts, evil words and evil deeds. I will abstain from sinning in thought and word and deed. Strict will be the discipline that I will impose on myself and will always approach thee without any guilt on my soul. If perchance in my ignorance or weakness or recklessness, I offend thee and grieve thee and fall away from thee, on my knees will I repent all my sins committed knowingly or unknowingly. Merciful art thou. Deliver me from the bondage of sin. Forgive my sins and help me to cleanse my heart from every taint of sin. Help me to dispel the fogs of sin that hide thy face from me, that I may see thee and know thee. Though thy offender, my forgiving Father, take me back, for I am thine.

Life puts alluring temptation in my way. In the constant conflict of choice between good and evil, help me my Lord, to make the right choice and fight temptation. When thy revelation flooded the holy soul of Zarathushtra, and he entered upon his prophetic mission, in vain did the Evil Spirit strive and struggle to tempt him. Thy chosen one fought temptation and trampled upon it. Temptation fought and defeated, adds to the strength of my character. On no account will I parley with temptation. When temptation assails me, I will fight it and defeat it, with all my will and all my might.

Evil shadows human life. Evil begets evil. The best way to further the good in life is to fight evil. Zarathushtra preaches his militant ethical ideal to wage a relentless war against evil. A true Zoroastrian need no promise of a reward in heaven to arouse his ardour for doing good. He abjures not evil, because he fears future punishment. Man cannot be made to love Ahura Mazda by the threat of hell, but he can be made to hate hell for the love of Ahura Mazda. As a soldier takes the oath of fealty to the king, so is every Zoroastrian arrayed on the side of the King of Kings to fight a stubborn fight, a courageous fight, a heroic fight and die fighting like man against squalor, destitution, disease, falsehood, inequity, vice and wickedness.

Angra Mainyu, the Evil Spirit, is up to some mischief. He grinds his teeth and yells with rage at me. With evil thoughts and evil desires and evil passions, more numerous than the grains of sand, he swoops down to assail me. With passionate hatred and vehement denunciation will I fight his evil brood. I will fight Angra Mainyu hand to hand and foot to foot and hurl him headlong and ground him beneath my heels. I will keep him at bay, I who am the worshipper of Ahura Mazda and follower of Zarathushtra.

This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 01, 2000.