Momentos na Trajetória de Shapoor

(*) I was born in Shiraz, on October 3rd, 1933 in a Bahá’í family. My mother was the daughter of Hand of the Cause of God Ibn-i-Aṣdaq and granddaughter of the Hand of the Cause of God Ismu’lláh-ul-Aṣdaq. My father was the grandson of Monajjem Bashi, who was a believer of the Babí Cause, serving and teaching the Faith in the court of the Shah.

During my early childhood, our family moved to Tehran and during the “45 Month Plan” we pioneered to the nearby town of Gholhak/Darrous. I was privileged to be educated in a home where the Faith was the main purpose behind everything, under the care and attention of a wonderful Local Spiritual Assembly whose dedication to the service and Principles of the Faith was exemplary. The youth received loving attention and enthusiastic support. Their activities for collecting contributions for the construction of the Mausoleum of the Báb and the organization of very special summer classes with many known teachers among its professors, as well as their steadfastness and wisdom in dealing with opposition and covenant breaking, are still remembered. 

(*) Written to he UHJ after the request that he sends his resumé to the BWC in 1983.

At the age of 17, I moved to the city of Abadan for my university schooling and to work in the oil refinery located there. Once again, the spiritual life of the community, dedicated to service, study and the upholding of Bahá’í teachings and principles was the atmosphere the youth lived in that community. With the beloved Guardian’s announcement of the Ten Year Crusade and with the vast opposition to the Faith and the closing of administrative activities and the Bahá’í center, the community came to its high point. The teaching work was multiplied and the anxious desire to abide by the Guardian’s wishes and plans gave new life an energy to all of us. Three of the Local Assembly members, who were prominent in the Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í community left for pioneering goals to Ethiopia, Indonesia and Brazil. But the youth were having more difficulty. Their resources were scarce, obtaining travel visas was extremely difficult and their objectives were the most difficult goals of the Plan. 

Four of us were praying, consulting and studying every day and night. We decided to support each other. Whichever one of us who could go first, even without any resources, would be supported by the other. In February of 1957, the possibility opened for Brazil, and with the assistance of my colleagues, the two of us pioneered to Brazil, with myself carrying the most precious gift received from the Hand of the Cause of God, Mr. Furutan: the last message of the Guardian to the oriental friends and communities. 

Shapoor era engenheiro, mas na combinação mais rara e improvável: pragmático e realista, era bastante carteziano e planejador, mas ao mesmo tempo um ser extremanente espiritual e otimista com o futuro. Acreditava na natureza humana como essencialmente pura e iluminada. Como ele mesmo gostava de relembrar (com a pronuncia misturada com o inglês que foi a origem de como aprendeu o português), falava com o sotaque pronunciando que era um “Engeneero”. Ele adorava entender como máquinas e carros funcionavam e sobretudo ao entender um sistema, valorizava muito que esse sistema estivesse bem regulado e na sua melhor performance. Aí de nós quando ele achava um barulhinho vindo da suspensão de um carro: não desistia até achar a fonte, não importa quanto tempo demorasse. Isso era bem do caráter dele: sempre tentava chegar no melhor “mizun” (regulagem em Farsi) seja de um carburador, de uma televisão (nos tempos de antena) e tudo mais que precisasse de controle e ajuste. Aparentemente a busca por entender sistemas mecânicos o fazia também tentar calibrar organizações complexas. Um desafio que ele sabia ser maior pois ele as via como entes orgânicos que precisavam ter equilíbrio holístico e não peças mecânicas funcionais, que entendia ser de sistemas não complexos. Certa vez mencionou uma história da refinaria em Abadan e eu vi que provavelmente essa obstinação por equilíbrio e eficiência era da origem de ter trabalhado em estágio no setor de controles da refinaria de petróleo da British Petroleum em Abadan (Sherkhate Naft, após a nacionalização do período de governo do Mosadegh). 

In October 1957, the shocking news of the passing of the beloved Guardian reached me in the isolated center of Goiânia. All the past years were worth the drops of tears in his memory in the center of this country. A new vision of the Cause of God opened up before our eyes the power of Bahá’u’lláh’s covenant worked through its own channels, but we only received its life-giving loving assurance and protection. Apart from the messages from the World Centre, there were those wonderful friendly personal letters from the South American Regional Assembly in Lima. National Teaching Committee in São Paulo, National Youth Committee in Bahia, and others, all keeping the fire.

In 1959 I married Bahereh Kahrobaí and we moved to the new city of Mogi-Mirim. Until 1961, the feeling of pioneering dominated our lives. There were many sympathizers but not many new believers, local assemblies or feasts. It was a period of stillness but how could we know if it was submission to the good-pleasure of God or our inability to bend to the breeze?

From 1963, new possibilities of service in the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil opened up, and the feeling of inadequacy of being part of one of the main channels of His wonderful administrative systems enveloped me. In the period of 20 years that followed as a member of the National Assembly, I had the privilege of being a part of the transformations in the Brazilian Baha’í community and its embryonic bodies. In the beginning, it was the care, guidance and protection of the Hands of the Cause. The National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil, having had the privilege of being so close to one of them, dear Mr. Jalál Khazé, felt like a child with his hand in his father’s hand. Sometimes daring to run a little but never too far to lose him from sight. Then came the independence under the guidance of the Universal House of Justice the dearest supreme infallible Body. Sometimes felt ourselves, the National Assembly, almost infallible!! We had those wonderful letters of approval and encouragement!! And they read our minutes and did not object to any of our decisions. Aren’t they doing justice to us and our acts?! We learned later that they were patiently educating us, that in the presence of God, Justice and love melt away and become the same, that their forgiveness is equivalent to our shortcomings. 

Através de anos servindo em instituições consultivas, Shapoor desenvolveu a habilidade de sincronizar, programar os próximos passos de um processo, integrar opiniões diversas, buscar o consenso, construir o coletivo e empreender individualmente. Alguém que adorava construir e fortalecer instituições. Mesmo quando viajava, a parte que mais se deliciava era planejar suas viagens em pequenos detalhes e sobretudo era alguém que adorava guiar, dirigir horas e horas pelo Brasilzão que tanto amava e do qual se orgulhava em cada paisagem, Essas horas eram lazer, dirigindo e pensando. Escutando música clássica no carro e apreciando a paisagem do campo. A cada pastagem, cada vista “maravilhosa” e cada plantação ele se alegrava. Ele realmente amava o Brasil. Destes anos e centenas de longas viajens ficaram nomes que nunca esqueci e estão costurados em minha alma junto dele, devido às longas viragens que fizemos juntos e que hoje  já saíram dos mapas e das placas de estrada e hoje estão ainda em minha mente e na da de minha irmã, Neda: Graal, Posto Paloma, Avaré, Ourinhos, Raposo Tavares, Castelo Branco, pedagio, Posto Rodoserv, Star, Londrina, Apucarana, Cambé, Coronel Procopio, Miracatu, Polícia Rodoviaria, Usina Nova Esperança, Jardim da Glória, Cotia, Vargem Grande, “Khampinas” (Campinas que aprendeu a pronunciar com sotaque americano do saudoso Sr Edmund Miessler) e São Roque…e principalmente o KM 50 do alto da serra! Em fim, o nosso pai adorava “Karo” e adorava dirigir e fez isso sozinho e com a gente por tantos e tantos kilometros que ele marcou nossa memória e coração com as rotas dele sempre longas, sempre previsíveis e sempre seguras…(com umas poucas excessões)…e lá ia ele singrando o asfalto brasileiro, curtindo cada milímetro, conduzindo seu “Karo” um pouco acima do limite de velocidade e comendo amendoim. Foi assim que por décadas, ele desenvolveu sua carreira profissional na área de geração elétrica e ao mesmo tempo que todo final de semana, horas livres , férias e noites eram dedicadas essencialmente ao serviço a sua Fé. Como professor de aulas de criança, membro de Assembléias Locais, Comitês nacionais e por muitos anos como membro e Tesoureiro da AEN do Brasil.

From the Ridvan Message 1994: 11 This Ridván seven inaugural National Conventions will be held. Our representatives at these historic events will be the Hand of the Cause Amatu'l-Bahá Ruhíyyíh Khánum for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, and for that of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Mongolia in Ulaan Baatar; the Hand of the Cause `Alí-Muhammad Varqá for the election of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Slovenia and Croatia in Ljubljana; Counsellor Lauretta King for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kazakhstan in Alma-Ata, and for that of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek; and Counsellor Shapoor Monadjem for the election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Tajikistan in Dushanbe, and for that of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. The present Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia, with its seat in Ashkhabad, will then become the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Turkmenistan.

After serving in Haifa, Shapoor and Bahereh returned to Brazil. Shapoor founded Unionpower S,A, a consultancy and investment company active in Power Plant projects. After a short while he was already serving in local activities in the Maringá community, his last pioneering post. He spent over 10 years researching, studying and writing a study entitled: “Challenges and Mysteries of Serving in the Formative Age”. A program  exploring the law of consultation in depth and exercising it’s potential application as a practical tool in community and institutional development. Meanwhile his services included the promotion of the Bahá'i Law 'Right of God' as a Deputy Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh in Brazil and serving the National community as a member of the National Translation Revision Board as well as specific task forces to help Bahá'i inspired organizations overcome governance challenges. Finally, he rendered a dedicated effort for over 19 years in the field of application of Bahá’í consultation and vision building as co-founder and director of a grass root Bahá’í inspired project called “Escrever o Futuro”, founded in 1999 and inspired in the document “Who is Writing the Future” which he served until the month of his passing. 

Em 21 de Agosto de 2016: diagnosticado com cancer, Shapoor envia um email aos filhos falando da necessidade de preparo para sua partida. 

Tenho a certeza e consciência que as informações que compartilhei com meus filhos ...e agora, com este e-mail e os seus anexos são completos (Exames ambulatoriais), são, inevitavelmente, muito mais perturbadores para vocês do que para mim. Estou causando transtornos que vocês não merecem, tanto nas coisas pequenas como nos mais importantes.

Apenas desejaria que vocês encarassem as coisas com a mesma naturalidade e otimismo que eu. Algo me diz que eu precisava disto para sentir mais a minha grande dívida para minha vida e para a vida de outros que tanto amo. Não é apenas valorizar, é muito mais, sentir-se que há uma dívida ainda não resgatada.

Ninguém sabe por quanto tempo vai viver, mas, os privilegiados recebem alerta e abençoados são os que gostam de planejar e fazer o futuro. Eu me considero um destes.