Ilm-e-Khshnoom - Traditional Zoroastrianism: Tenets of the Religion

WHAT IS ILM-E-KHSHNOOM AND WHY?
ANOTHER MOBED ERVAD SAHEB MANEKJI
BHATHENA TESTIFIES ABOUT ILM-E-KHSHNOOM
AND BAHERAMSHAH SHROFF.
"THE ONLY REMEDY TO ARREST THE PARSI DECAY IS TO GO
BACK TO DIN THROUGH ILM-E-KHSHNOOM."
We are collecting and examining the evidence for the miracle of IIm-e-Khshnoom, which occurred
between 1858 to 1927 A. D., the birth and death years of Ustad Saheb Baheramshah Navroji Shroff. He came
into direct contact with a group of Zarathoshti saints and was in their secret abode for about three and half
years. The spiritual and mystical Knowledge, which is the foundation of all our holy scriptures, way of life,
tenets and traditions, was imparted to him - actually infused in him by means of certain spiritual exercises and
exertions. For a quarter of a century, he did not reveal the miracles of his life to anybody. When he revealed
it, he was subjected to very close scrutiny by eminent Parsis belonging to various categories. The objective
observers declared without any hesitation that Baheramshah Shroff had a fountain of tremendous mystical
Knowledge in him. There was no doubt that the Knowledge was purely Zarathushtrian springing from a
Zarathushtrian source. The scholars were amazed. Mobeds were astonished.
One of such mobeds was Ervad Baheramji Unwalla of Udwada. We have seen his glowing tributes to
Baheramshah. The vocational mobed that Ervad Unwalla was, he was electrified by Baheramshahji's
teachings and guidance on our Kriya-kaam. He asked a hundred questions and got bewildering answers from
Ustad Saheb. We have seen in this series some of them - about Varasiaji (the white bull), Nirangdin,
Chehaaroom date, in Ervad Unwalla's own words in Baheramshah Shroff Memorial Volume (1930). The
lesson for the community from what Ervad Unwalla has written is glaringly instructive and frightfully
cautionary. No financial scheme, howsoever huge, is going to solve the perplexing problem of heavy
reduction in the number of professional full time Mobeds. What is required is a fountain of faith and
devotion in the heart of the would-be mobeds – "Yakindaari" as Ustad Saheb and Ervad Unwalla call it. It
means an intense conviction in a Mobed that his vocation is spiritual; that he is a link between the physical
world and ultra physical existences; and that he has a tremendous spiritual responsibility on his head and
soul. Such conviction can emerge ONLY from the teachings of IIm-e-Khshnoom. The more does the
community ignore it, remoter and remoter will recede the solution of this vexed problem. The way things are,
the circle of Mobeds is contacting with accelerating speed. The extinction of the species of Mobeds will be the
last fatal symptom for the extinction of the Parsi species. Does the species care? Does any of the so called
high priests have any courage to put an end to the frauds being brazen-facedly committed on the Behdins?
Does anybody think of organising the Behdins to raise a voice against this ceremonial deception practised on
them every day?
. . .
The next personality on our intellectual witness stand to testify about Baheramshah Shroff is another
Mobed - Ervad Saheb Manekji Burjorji Bhathena. He was a simple middle class Mobed, nurtured in the
genuine tradition and life-style of our then priestly class. He was the Panthaki of Mithaiwalla Agiary at Sleator
Road (Noshir Bharucha Marg) Grant Road, Mumbai. He was bristling with unshakable faith in the efficacy of
Kriyakaam. He had his own personal experiences in that behalf. His Agiary was the place of some amazing
miraculous events.
Ervad Saheb Manekji Bhathena's article adorns pages 156-160 of the Memorial Volume. Oh-ho-ho! What
an article! Every word of it zooms with intense sincerity and agony for the deteriorating plight of the Parsi
Community. With immense feelings, he sets out the miracle that Baheramshah Shroff was, and the failure of
the Parsis to save themselves from extinction through the tremendous light Ustad Saheb threw on the
teachings and tenets of the Din. The article is in Gujerati. I'll translate here a part of it. But I am not sure
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