CYRUS AND ZOROASTRIAN LEGACY TO WORLD DEMOCRACY, THE U.S. FOUNDING FATHERS, U.S INDEPENDENCE AND CONSTITUTION

• How “The Education of Cyrus,” Cyropaedia, and
• Zoroastrian (Avesta) ethics and morals influenced
• 1) The Byzantine and Islamic rulers of Middle Ages
• 2) The Enlightenment ERA
• 3) French Democracy
• 4) AMERICAN Founding Fathers
• 5) American Constitution
• 6) The American Declaration of independence
• .7) Thomas Jefferson considered Cyrus as his Hero.
• 8) In the opinion of. highly respected U. S.  attorneys:
• The U.S. Constitution influenced the Indian constitution
• 9) How Wadia built ships helped Britain defeat Napoleon in Sea battles.
• 10). How the U.S. National Anthem was inspired on Wadia built ship MINDEN

There is a direct and deep Zoroastrian influence on World Democracy, American Independence   and the U.S. constitution. The U.S. constitution (per legal opinion) later influenced the Indian constitution.

• George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe
• Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin are broadly considered the 7 core founding fathers of The American Revolution, amongst many others.

America’s Founding Fathers were avid readers of Cyrus the Great’s biography, the Cyropaedia, written by a student of Socrates, Xenophon, being the masterpiece among his works. The American Founding Fathers drew from Cyrus, amidst all the ancient and modern sources they were exposed to, because they found his ideas and aspirations resonating with their own, with their inmost beliefs, values and convictions. The Cyropaedia describes Cyrus’s character, that made him into an ideal ruler. It is an exposition of timeless qualities of leadership, based on Timeless Zoroastrian values.

John Adams persuaded his son, John Quincy Adams, later to be President, to read the Cyropaedia at a young age. The morals of Jefferson, fellow Founding Fathers and posterity bear a close resemblance to those of Cyrus, what he practiced and preached with Zoroastrian ethics and values.  Madison had made himself most knowledgeable in the subject of governance, by reading Cyropaedia avidly, which led to the formation and adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Madison managed to persuade George Washington, initially reluctant and not knowing what was in the plans, to attend, which assured the attendance of all others. When in Paris, Jefferson, at the invitation of America’s friend Lafayette, came to exercise Cyropaedia’s influence on the French Revolution in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, along with the Declaration of Independence of the Man and of the Citizen. 

The Founding Fathers, not knowing initially whether their experiment would be successful, sought a model that validated their ideas by virtue of its success in the past, a model they felt close to their own. This, they found in Cyrus and ancient Persia. Thus Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, who with his team, and colleagues at the Sackler Museum and elsewhere, has vied more than any other scholar to bring the message of the Cyrus Cylinder to the world, aptly remarked to the BBC: “The story of Persia – Iran – is part of the story of modern United States.”

SAM BILLIMORIA

In 1993, I was able to get an audience with then U.S. congressman Ed Royce to provide him the evidence of copious mention of Cyrus the Great and The Achaemenian Dynasty in the Old Bible as the “anointed one of God,” pioneering the first Human rights in History. Based on that evidence the Hon. Congressman, after due process, was very pleased to issue a Proclamation which stated “The immense and timeless contribution of the Zoroastrian community to Human Rights, Democracy, History and Civilization.” He was also pleased to forward “The Dawn of consciousness,” a video made by Silloo Mehta, on basic understanding of the Zoroastrian religion, to the Library of Congress. It was readily accepted and placed in the Congress Library by the Chief Librarian. I was also appointed to the Hon. Congressman’s advisory sub-committee on Human rights and South-East Asia following the 9/11 tragedy in 2001.

We are extremely honored that Ervad Ramiyar Karanjia, Principal Dadar Athornan Institute. and renowned Avestan scholar will start the meeting with a Ham-bandagi and give a short talk on “Timeless Zorosastrain Legacy”