Freddy Khambata

I met Freddy Khambata in Mumbai, India where he was the head priest of a Zoroastrian Fire Temple. I felt like I had met a long lost brother. We both were accounting students in college, and I resonated with Freddy’s life-long search to be in service to God and to help heal others. He was born into a priestly class and his father wanted him to become a priest. In their religion however, a person’s ultimate decision is left to the individual. Freddy went to boarding school and became a priest at age 12. He then went on for other schooling, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He followed his first passion, to work for an airline, but within two months he resigned because it did not feel like the right place. After a stint as a part-time priest at the Fire Temple he was offered the role as head priest.

I’ve taken away several lessons from Freddy. First, that God is in all of creation and that I need not limit my understanding of God to the clouds above or even just to other human beings. Second, that each of our paths is out there, and it is a journey to have that revealed. And, finally, that we can find a brother anywhere in the world!