It is a rare book launch where the author, who has written a book on Zoroastrian religion, is a Supreme Court Judge, was hailed as one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country while he was a lawyer and more interestingly, the Judge is also a learned Parsi priest!
Believe it or not – we are talking about Justice Rohinton Nariman, son of Mr Fali S Nariman, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court.
Addressing the gathering, Justice BN Srikrishna traced the similarities and the minor differences between the Parsi prayers and Rig Vedic prayers.
The eternal debate on “What is Truth?” formed the crux of the discussion among the two Judges, interestingly, from a scholarly point of view.
For instance, Justice BN Srikrishna explained that “Asura” is a term in Hinduism to denote “demons” but for the Parsis, the word has a very sacred meaning. He stated, “Asu, in Parsi, means Prana. It means The One Who Gives Prana to You. The term ‘Azura Mazda’ in Parsi means ”The one who gives you the ability to think in a consolidated fashion.”
“The emphasis in Zoroastrian religion is on Truth and fire worship, which is not different from Hinduism – the Upanishads prescribe Sathya or Truth as one of the values of human life,” Justice BN Sri Krishna stated, then chanted a Rig Vedic prayer on Agni (Fire) which means as follows, “Hey Agney, please lead us on the good path – the path of right conduct – please destroy the evil in our hearts.”
Propounding the importance of Truth in Zoroastrian religion and Rig Vedic prayers, Justice BN Srikrishna quoted a famous verse from the Rig Veda, which means, “That which is Truth will not change under different circumstances.”
Following this, Justice BN Srikrishna enthralled the audience by chanting a Parsi prayer in Rig Vedic style, and he concluded, saying, “With this book, Justice Rohinton Nariman has made an attempt at integration of different faiths – this is a very important contribution to humanity to demonstrate that there is only One Truth, One God.”
Justice Rohinton Nariman’s book launch was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur amidst a gathering of Supreme Court judges and lawyers. Eminent personalities such as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and others marked their presence at the book launch.
