Kusti Padiyav

What is Kusti Padyab ? and various forms of Kusti prayers.



The Kusti prayers is one of the smallest prayers in our deen. This prayer is also called as "Padiyav Sazi" prayer. A Zarathosti Bastekustian is supposed to keep his Kusti Padyab intact. In short it means that he is supposed to do kusti prayers as many times in a day and keep this practice intact.

On further elaboration it means that a human body having three layers of bodies consisting of physical bodies, ultra physical bodies and divine bodies where Ruvan resides. The physical body consist of Tanu (muscles, flesh, bones), Gaetha (Organs) and Azda (invisible to naked eye or by any scientific gadgets) encompassing the physical body. Azda maintains our physical body. Healing of a wound, body fatigue or thirst/Hunger pangs are maintained and controlled by the invisible nature of Azda unknown to today's science.

The physical bodies and ultra physical bodies overlap with each other. On the other side are Divine bodies. Sandwiched between them lies therein an energy or gateway connecting physical/Ultra physical bodies with divine bodies. This energy is known as "Khoreh". Thus Khoreh surrounds the Physical body. Next to Khoreh is Keherp consisting of 16 Chakras which is subtly connected with Ruvan. The outer macrocosmic life sustaining nature nourishes the Keherp and energizes it. It is through Keherp that the outer life supporting nature or "Khudrat" meets Azda and supports our physical body via Khoreh. We all can see how nature is complex and intrigue us with its marvelous functions performed with perfection.

In short Khoreh is the energy of connecting link between outer macrocosmic life sustaining Khudrat and that part of divinely inspired almost perfect Keherp or "Khoda rasida Keherp" which is microcosmic, situated in our physical body but yet is aloof. The other part of Keherp is called as "Madar Keherp" which sustains physical body just as a Mother will sacrifice all her comforts get herself dirty and keep her child clean.The life supporting nature performs its selfless duty and nourishes the physical body of a sinful person also, so that even a sinner can finish off his Keshash and proceed spiritually on its path to perfection.

So we have to maintain our Khoreh in a particular manner by keeping it clean, that Khoreh which links outer macrocosmic world with our microcosmic inner world of our physical body. Our Khoreh carries in itself the dual imprints of physical body as well as of Keherp. The physical body during lifetime carries all sorts of thoughts, words and deeds good as well as bad, these thoughts materialize into actions which are good as well as bad. The result of actions the body has to carry the burden and fruits of his actions which lies as imprint in his Khoreh. Khoreh also carries within itself the combined effects of divinely inspired near perfect Keherp and its imprint which is always beneficial, and the imprint of our physical body with all its negative flaws. The physical body with its actions causes disturbance in Khoreh, but the near perfect Keherp continues sending its life supporting beneficial imprints on khoreh. The purpose behind following Tarikats is to obtain maximum benefits by keeping our khoreh clean and imbibe within the beneficial effects of near perfect Keherp also called as "Khoda Rasida Keherp".

A human even whilst following day to day normal exercise of eating, drinking, and going to toilet creates disorder in his khoreh and further makes it impure. Our Khoreh which lies sandwiched in between (near perfect) keherp and physical body can act as an gateway for the physical body to enter keherp. Our Physical body then becomes “Gavmand” like that part of our Keherp which is near perfect. Sudreh Kusti is “Bakhtar” or weapon given to us by Paegambar sahib which help us to open that door of Khoreh to step into Keherp. Our Khoreh as well as our Sudreh Kusti contains impurities which arises out of our day to day exercise like eating, drinking, and toilet as well as life sustaining benevolent effects of our near perfect Keherp in it. Khoreh is necessary for our physical existence and equally important is our Sudreh Kusti which is our weapon or “Bakhtar” to keep our khoreh clear. Without Khoreh we cannot exist and equally important is Sudreh Kusti for salvation by keeping our Khoreh clean.

Other way of saying is that our Khoreh compositely consists of 1) Good as well as bad imprints of our physical body which in turn is transmitted to our Sudreh Kusti. In addition to this, 2) the benevolent effects that is prevalent in higher Keherp and is life sustaining also do get lodged in our sudreh Kusti. Only if balance is finely tuned and well maintained between these two under currents of Khoreh then and only then can we get access to entrance door of Khoreh. And just how do you maintain this balance.???, is explained below:- Our physical body that we see, unfailingly emits perspiration/sweat which translated is called as “Tafun” or bad heat and which has to be kept under control. Also our inner thoughts or Batein Mithra that dictates our life style has to be controlled first. Meher Patet that is speaking truth and accepting what comes our way as our own self-made karma and resolving never to commit that same mistake again is known as Patet. This is a very powerful Zoroastrian Yoga which will help us towards salvation. Above this we have to abide by observing druj Parhej Tarikats and use of Gomez Nirang. With help of Sudreh Kusti one can, through Kusti Padiyab keep a check and control on bad vibes. This is sure way of keeping negative vibes in control.

Hence Sudreh Kusti and Khoreh both work together in tandem. Fine tuning the two under currents(bad as well as good) in our Khoreh through small but very efficient ritual process of Kusti prayers is known as “Padiyav-Sazashneh”. Every time we go to toilet or whenever we remove Sudreh Kusti from our body before going to bath the balance in our khoreh gets distorted, hence we have to bring back the balance by performing this brief ritual of Kusti prayers. This can be taken as rational behind doing our Kusti Padiyav as many times as possible.

All Bastekustian Zarathosti are not alike and their Khoreh varies between person to person as per the life style they choose to adopt. For example Khoreh of a manual labourer, or a wealthy person who gets his work done by others and khoreh of a Deen Dastur need not be identically similar and they all vary. Hence the balancing factor known as “Putman” in a Khoreh is different for different individuals. The balance in Khoreh is different for individuals. Our Khoreh carries bad as well as good vibes like two sides of a same coin. The balancing effort put forth by various individuals in subjugating the bad vibes and augmenting good vibes in our khoreh is different for different individuals. Our Kusti prayers is given to us Bastekustians as a gift by our Vakshureh Vakshuran Paigambar Saheb in maintaining this balance or “Putman” in our khoreh.

Various types of Kusti Prayers:-

1) Kemna Mazda Kusti Prayers.
2) Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda Kusti Prayers.
3) Sarosh ni Kshnuman Kusti Prayers.


Similar to all Yasht and Niyaesh having various kshnumans, kusti prayers can be done with each Yazat’s Kshnuman in all big “Amals”. Hence Kusti prayers is done for maintain equilibrium or balance in our Khoreh. The above explanation will now make sense to us as to why a kusti prayers is so very much essential to us after every time we go to toilet and after our daily bath when we remove our sudreh kusti.

1) Kemna Mazda Kusti Prayers.

There is a rule which has to be understood by us every time we do our kusti, and also called as “Kusti Padiyav”, and it is as below:-

Chu saji padiyavat ashem kha kuni barham dhantra pashe aan.

Translation:- Before you perform padiyav pray Kshnaothra ….. ashem 1 and seal your lips close.

Bashuee dasto ru paet se reha,
Je rumalat numay saaf ru raa.

Translation:- Wash your exposed hands, face and feet three times and wipe it with a dry hanker-chief or a towel.

Pasi Nerang kha kemna Mazda
Hameh ta yak Ashem vohe ejacha

Translation:- Then pray kemna mazda Nirang till Nemsecha ya Armaitish ejacha followed by one ashem.

Then you pray “Nirang e Kusti Bastan”, that is “Hormazd Khodai”, and 2 Yatha, 1 Ashem whilst tying Kusti knots ahead and at back of our waist, and then pray Jasmeh Avengeh Mazda Mazdayasno ahmi …….Ashem 1. Hence by doing above procedure “Padiyav Sajasneh” has been done.

The above Farsi lines has been transliterated from Gujarati book by Kawasji Dadabhoy which was in vogue then and was supposed to be first Avesta book written in Gujarati script, from Saddar bahereh Tavil Baab 39, 54,84.

When it is mentioned here as “Kemna Mazda Nirang”, it can mean plain Kemna Mazda Kusti prayers, and also Kemna Mazda Kusti Prayers plus Sarosh Baaj. During our day to day affairs when we come in contact with various individuals, and have to go often to toilet then our above mentioned balance or Putman in our Khoreh gets distorted or disheveled often. In such a situation we can pray only Kemna Mazda Kusti prayers. Those individuals doing physical manual work can opt to perform Kemna Mazda Kusti prayers, and later on if we want to pray further can pray Sarosh Baaj later and then proceed further with respective Geh prayers, and continue other prayers. This is short synopsis of “Kemna Mazda Nirang”.

2) Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda Kusti Prayers:-

But if we want to go a little further and wish to maintain stronger balance or “Putman” of our Khoreh, then we can pray “Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda” Kusti Prayers. That is pray Kemna Mazda Kusti followed by Sarosh Baaj. Regarding Kusti Padiyav in “Saddar e Bundaheshne” Baab 85 it is mentioned :- Pray one Ashem and then wash your face, hands, feet, and wipe it dry with a hankerchief or towel.

To sum up “Nirang e Kemna Mazda” consists of plain Kemna Mazda Kusti and for further maintaining strong balance Putman of our Khoreh can pray Sarosh Baaj kemna Mazda, that is pray Kemna Mazda kusti prayers and then recite Sarosh Baaj.

During course of our day to day affairs that we have to handle on daily basis when we come in contact with Juddin non Parsee friends, we can pray Kemna Mazda kusti, no harm in that, but if we want to pray further then we have to pray definitely Sarosh baaj after Kemna Mazda Kusti prayers that is “Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda” Kusti Prayers and then continue with other prayers. Kadmi’s kusti prayers is slightly different from our’s, and their Kusti has Sarosh Baaj kusti in their kusti. Some of the Kadmis wrongly believed that if they do their Sarosh Baaj Kemna Kusti prayers then there is no need to do Sarosh Baaj again but that is incorrect and they have to do Sarosh baaj again after their Kadmi Kusti. Presently Mulla Phiroze Kadmis does it that way, whereas Kadmis of Surat whatever Kusti they do they unfailingly pray Sarosh Baaj after Kusti.

Over here Kusti Padiyav consists of 2 Nirangs that 1) Kemna Mazda Nirang as well as 2) Nirang e Kusti Bastan which is nothing else but our Hormazda Khodai prayers. Here in India Shahenshahi tola pray only Kemna Mazda kusti but when they pray further they do pray Sarosh Baaj after it, but in Iran Kadmis does their Kadmi “Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda” Kusti Prayers but when they pray further they do not take trouble of praying Sarosh Baaj after it. (For those who want to know real significance of doing Sarosh Baaj should refer explanation by Dr Saheb Faramroze Chiniwala in his Khordeh Avesta Ba Khshnoom Book Page No 97.)

Very briefly the explanation is given below:-

As Shakespeare says all the world’s a stage and we are its’ actors. We perform our part or role in a play and get on with life. Besides physical death is not be all and end of everything it is merely a transitionary stage from physical world to many Spiritual worlds where we learn our individual lessons well. As said in Bible “In my Father’s house there are many Mansions”. In our life experience is a good teacher, and different situations that we come across in our life is not by accident but it has its own purpose of a lesson to be learnt by us.
Quoting Shakespeare again "There is some soul of goodness in things evil; Would man diligently try it to distill?" In our journey to perfection we have to endure many reincarnations and we learn a lesson step by step. Whatever lessons we have learnt, we have earned it well and will never forget. Thus we proceed step by step to perfection. In one’s life time we reincarnate we do not go empty handed and we benefit even a little bit from lessons learnt in one’s life time. These are our earnings or our treasure we have to keep it secured and is called as Saroshem ni Gati. In Khshnoomic parlance 5 senses holding Saroshem ni Gati is called as “Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein” also called as 5 divine senses that we have earned in our total reincarnations till now.

Our individual Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein or many reincarnation earnings is stored somewhere near our pineal gland right at top of our head or crowning glory. The need to cover our head all the time is to nourish Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein and to protect it from atmospheric friction with our hair and thus minimize bad heat known as “Tafoon”. But in our physical life it is our physical 5 senses also known in Khshnoomic parlance as “Panj e Zarvikesh e Zaher” that provides us with worldly senses and temptations which repel us in another direction taking us away from our natural affinity towards divine Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein. Numerically no 5 is divine number signifying complete obedience and in service to Ahu. That is work done by Sarosh Yazad. And it is these 5 divine senses also known as Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein that comes under jurisdiction of Sarosh Yazad, and also called as sarosh ni Gati. Depending upon Saroshem Gati earned by the soul the consciousness of individual much depends upon it. Likewise it establishes contact with God head known as “Dharam no Baap”. We have to bind our passions and seas of 5 earthly senses “Panj e Zarvikesh e Zaher” to seas of 5 divine senses of “Panj e Zarvikesh e Batein” which will establish higher contact with souls who have already achieved their salvation and are known as “Dharam no Baap” who will gives us timely guidance by prick of conscience every time our 5 earthly senses tempt us with temptations, thereby building Kherad. The small prayer of Sarosh Baaj helps us in achieving this objective.


Kadmi Kusti

The Kadmis does their Sarosh Baaj Kemna Mazda” Kusti Prayers in a particular way and can be referred from any Kadmi Khordeh avesta book and is as under:- As they proceed Sarosh Baaj they do not pray big Sarosh Khshnooman and pray right till end of sarosh Baaj and then they do Nirang e Kusti Bastan that is Hormazda Khodai and then end up their Kusti with a Jasmeh Avengeh Mazda Mazdiiyasno ahmi…….


3) Sarosh ni Kshnuman Kusti Prayers.

Ustad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff has done our community a great service and has passed to us a gift of Sarosh ni Kusti through (Toofel) watchful guidance from his Ustads of Demavand Koh hidden from us.
By praying Sarosh ni kusti or as it is called Sarosh ni Khshnooman Kusti Prayers the above mention balance or “Putman” can be easily maintained by us. This type of Kusti is specially meant to be performed especially when we have in our midst “Vahizki Fasal Pavmahal”. But in today’s times we have in our midst “Shahenshahi Hushmurdi Amal” Pavmahal, a sincere Bastekustian who wants to adhere to all given tarikaats can follow and practice Sarosh ni khsnooman kusti. The compilation of Sarosh ni Kusti have same principle on which Niyaesh and Yasht prayers are based upon. Before we pray Niyaesh and Yasht prayers there is Khsnuman of that Particular Yazad. Similarly in Sarosh ni Kusti we have big as well as small Sarosh ni Khsnuman. Now we see how exactly Sarosh ni kusti is done.

First pray Kshnaothra ahura Mazda ashem 3.

Sarosh ni Baaj Kemna Mazda sathe akhee levi

That is pray from Sarosh Baaj the para that begins with:-

Fravaraneh Mazda yasno Zaratthustris veedaevo ahura takesho then recite whatever Geh is required then big as well small Sarosh ni Khsnuman … uptil …… ahunem vairim Tanum paiti and Yatha 1.

Then full kemna Mazda ….. ejacha ashem 1.Then untie kusti after this and pray full Hormuzda Khodai ……., then tie kusti knots on our waist whilst reciting 2 yatha and 1 ashem, first in front (2 yatha) and then behind (1 ashem)

Then full Jasmeh avengeh Mazda Mazdayasna Ahmi Mazdayasna Zarathustrish ……………………………… Mazdayasnoish Astuetish ashem 1.

Sarosh ni Baaj bae(2) yatha yasnemcha thee Mukvi

Then pray 2 Yatha. And Yasnemcha Vahmemecha Ojascha Zavarehcha afrinami, saroshe asyahe, takhmeh tanu mathrahe………….ahuryahe. ashem 1. Ahmai Rashcha - Hajangaram - Jasmeh avengeh Mazda - Kerfeh Mozda and end with 1 Ashem.

For detailed Sarosh ni Kusti with Mithra by Late Banoobai Kekushru Mody refer to the pdf file in the link provided :- http://kiwi6.com/file/68mxp6843v

The above mentioned Sarosh ni Kusti is naturally so very much beneficial to us that we tend to have affinity to it once we have done it and continue doing it again and again. By performing this Sarosh ni Kusti our Khoreh is preserved very efficiently. If one of family members is doing this Sarosh ni Kusti regularly then the beneficial effects of this Kusti is passed on to other family members also, even though they may not be performing sarosh ni kusti themselves. The other family members in the house not performing Sarosh ni Kusti get benefitted in such a way that even the balance or “Putman” of their Khoreh is well maintained or attuned with others. That is true meaning of “Hamkalam”. “Hamkalam” means the Khoreh of all other family members gets adjusted as per their individual capacity and gets equally balanced as per their individual Putman. Obviously the family member who is performing this Sarosh ni Kusti himself gets benefitted, besides those members not performing this type of Kusti benefits as per their individual capacity and Putman or balance as applicable to him/ her. If one person is doing one type of kusti and other doing other type in a family, these three types of Kusti can be performed by being a “Marefat” or a medium to one another, in a sense that one becomes a “Jyoti” while other becomes a “Rathvi”. “Jyoti” and “Rathvi” are terms used for two individuals performing same Kriya or Yasna ceremony in partnership to one another. Sarosh ni Kusti is a gift to our community from “Magumards” or hidden Masters of Demavand and given to us through “Marefat” of Ustad saheb Behramshah N.Shroff. Besides the Kemna Mazda Kusti or Nirang e Kemna Mazda Kusti that others are following is not technically wrong and can be followed by those who are comfortable with it. They are all technically correct and only differs in degree of potency applicable to one another.

From the above article we can conclude the true significance and real meaning of 1) Nirang e Kemna Mazda or 2) Nirang e Kusti Bastan or 3) Padiyav Sajeshneh. Writing, saying or printing without knowing the deep import of these three words is equivalent to spreading confusion amongst faithful followers of our Deen. Our Deen has 1001 channels and entrances to it, entering into any one of those doors much depends up to individual’s capacity and the effort put forth by the individual only.

With Best wishes,

Firdosh K. Sukhia


Source:- Parsee Avaz dated 12.07.1970 Page 8 Excerpts taken from main article on major topic of “Navjote ni Kriya no Undo Bhed” serialized into many parts By Late Dr. Saheb Faramroze S. Chiniwala


2 Yatha Ahu Vairyo, 1 Ashem Vohu

"Let no harm come upon the Traditional Zoroastrian flag and its values which are so dear to us. Let the reformists agenda never suceed and their nefarious plans be upturned. Let no harm befall upon Pavmahal of India that is - our Iranshah of Udwada and all Atash Behram, Atash Adran and Dadgah of India. The things that we value most like Holy consecrated Fire(Pavmahal), Dokhmas, Sudreh Kusti which acts as a weapon to thwart evil, and let us protect our racial traits of Parsi panu through Boonak Pasbani by not marrying outside. That is how we will be able to maintain our true Zarathosti Khandani. Let the advent of Shah Behram Varjawand and his fore runners come soon and protect us from this mess. Let my Kusti Padiav and my Tarikats be helpful to nature to fight for the cause of Righteousness against the evil negative forces of Drujis, and may it protect us all Zarathustis and entire humanity who live by religion and its tenets"

........1 Yatha Ahu Vairyo, 2 Ashem Vohu