Pateti
Happy Pateti!!
A greeting we keep hearing so much we have forgotten what Pateti actually means... Pateti is the last day of the year... and is actually the Day of Repentance! Its on this day that you are supposed to feel sorry for any mistakes or any harm that you may have caused knowingly or unknowingly to anything or anybody... Remember Humakta, Hukta, Havarashtha? I call them the 3 Hs, and they stand for Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds. The 3 Hs are the corner stone of the Parsi (Zoroastrian) Faith...
And so on the day of Patet, or Pateti, we are supposed to sincerely repent and surrender all those things that we have done which were against the 3 Hs... and cleanse ourselves through prayer so that we can begin totally fresh, again on the new day of the new year, Navroz...
The very endearing greeting Navroz Mubarak (or Saal Mubarak) then really makes complete sense! So a Happy Pateti happens only when the entire (previous) year has been spent in doing the 3 Hs... Otherwise its really a day of cleansing, of silence, of repentance, of introspection...
Art of Living manages to make Parsis and others follow the 3 Hs through the 3 Ss: Sadhana (meditation), Satsang (Company of the truth) and Seva (Selfless Service, being available and doing whats most needed to be done)... Little wonder that our family as fairly orthodox and devout Parsis took to Art of Living and Guruji and the Knowledge as eager fish to water!! :)
There is a lot more there is to say about my noble religion and many more stories racing around in my head, but we will save those for some other time... I had a truly memorable week going over and sharing these stories with all of you, which my grandparents used to tell me...
Once again Navroz Mubarak!!... Have a fantastic New Year, and hopefully next year, we will all have a really Happy Pateti! :)
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
ps No write up about the Parsis is complete without at least one recipe... Click Dhandar Patio for my version of this wonderful meal which is made on all celebratory occasions... Make it this weekend for the family and if you are living alone invite a few friends over ... The other very famous Parsi preparation is Dhan Shakh... You will just have to wait until I write it out... :)
pps Vikram, Dinesh and me are in Calcutta with 1200+ participants on the first Calcutta Utsav! Photos and some news from here over the weekend...
13 comments:
Beautiful bonus post along with the one on the elements. Our AOL family is proud too to have such a Power-packed Parsi teacher! :)
JGD! & love
Loved the connection you made between the 3Hs and the 3Ss.Very uplifting!
Saw you in action at the Netaji Indoor.. for the first time.... The high level of energy was amazing...Felt as if Guruji Himself was answering as you answered the questions put across by the group.
Loved Vikram Bhaiya's Satsang...Looking forward to more ...today!
Take care. Jgd!
hey i was about to ask for dhan shakh. eagerly waiting for the recipe..
I have a question here. Which language these 3 words are in? They are from your holy book Zend Avesta,right? So in which language is this holy book written?
wooo :) such beautiful roses :)
happy Pateti :)
Ahare !! Kolkata :)
kaimon accho tumi Bawa :)
joi Gurudebo ;)
Roses are lovely. thank you for the bonus post.
you rock bawa. you are God's own special creation
Jai Gurudev Bau, aapko bhi Navroz Mubarak...
Loved the flowers... Thanks a lot..felt like they were specially for me :)
I used to study in a parsi school in surat... An never knew... why i got a week off near pateti!
I have had so many parsi friends, teachers in school... and and still remember them all for their typical gujarati and very gentle nature....
Jai Gurudev
Bawa nice post. Its amazing to see the same thread in all religions. i am a Jain and on last day of Paryushan (8 day festival) we greet people by “ Michami Dukadam”, the essence of which is, on this day, let’s forgive and ask for forgiveness and start the next breath of life with a clean slate, free from guilt, free from anxiety, free from hate, malice, anger and all those enslaving emotions.
Jai Gurudev!
Happy Navroz to u too bau :).its alwyz interesting to know about Parsi community.
waiting for you at Hyderabad too :)
3 Things:
1. In India only parsis are allowed into Fire Temples... though i have heard that in Iran anyone can goto a Fire Temple... The photo of the Fire Temple in the post is from Yazd in Iran
2. I hunt for the photos myself all over the net and find royalty free photos i can use for the posts... sometimes it takes longer to find the right photo than write out the post :) A few times rupal who is a fantastic designer does some photoshop effects to a photo if i just can't find the one that i want!
3. Humakta Hukta Havarashtha are words in the ancient Persian language of Avestha... just a handful of people on the planet understand it now... however the prayers that are chanted in this ancient tongue are very powerful and set up beautiful profound vibration for the chanter and the environment around him!
Jai Gurudeva!
love
bawa
Had no idea of Pateti, so your post was a very interesting learning for me ..
its interesting to know the meaning of festivals, what they stand for .. most of us from all communities (so my christian, hindu etc friends tell me) have forgotten (except sketchily) what their festivals were meant to represent .. its just a time to celebrate .. though i guess, being happy and celebrating is not such a bad thing .. :)
here's echoing your wish for a wonderful Navroz Mubarak, so we can all have a really happy Pateti the coming year !
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