LAUNCH OF PRAYERS PENDRIVE
WAPIZ sponsored and organized the launch of the video of the entire Yasna Ceremony and the audio of most of our prayers on a Pendrive, on 10th May, 2019.
On 10th May 2019, the Banaji Atash Behram Hall was filled with a few behdins and many Athornans, Ervads and Mobed sahebs. They were all there to attend the Launch of the first ever complete video of the Yasna ceremony on a pendrive.
The pendrive also contains the audio of not only the Khordeh Avesta but also the non-Pav-mahal and Pav-mahal ceremony prayers including all the Aafringaans, Aafrins, Aashirwad {pazand and sanskrut} the Yasna, Visparad and Vandidad.
This was a culmination of Ervad Sarosh Aibara’s dream. He along with a couple of friends realised that sadly in a few years time there would be very few scholarly priests who would be authorities on our intricate rituals and ceremonies and prayers. There would be a shortage of mobeds to teach the right pronunciations and pauses in our prayers and very few to impart the intricacies of how a pav mahal ceremony needs to be performed. The Yasna ceremony is the basis of a vendidad and a visparad. That was why Ervad Sarosh Aibara decided to take on this project.
Ervad Keki Ravji Saheb is paired with young Ervad Kaizad Sarosh Aibara, in making the video of the Yasna ceremony as his assistant mobed / rathvi. Young Ervad Kaizad Aibara though being a commercial pilot has successfully done a lot of Pav-mahal and non-Pav-mahal ceremonies.
The audio has the voice of Er. Keki Ravji. This was zeroed in after testing many voices and his was by far the best on technical grounds. The basic reason for the audio recording of all the prayers is that the present day generation is even making Gujarati a foreign language for themselves. They want to read in English and recite in Avestan. This indeed makes a big gap in what they want to recite and what they actually recite. On the lighter note its hearing a Malyalee singing a Marathi song. The Navjote prayers are recorded with pauses for the child to repeat after hearing a couple of lines.
The whole project is not made with the intention of using any prayers as a replacement of the actual prayers. The pendrive is offered free to our community members and anyone can call Ervad Sarosh Aibara for one. Moreover want to ensure it reaches people far and wide at no cost. It will be for sure not only used to tutor somebody; but will also be used for research, solace and as an Archive.
This project would not have been possible without the donors – WZO Trust Funds, Framji H. B. Settna, WAPIZ and Neville Sarkari and others.
The whole project may not be of consequence today but time will tell its importance and value.