May 30th, 2004 is a historical day for the Tulsa Jain Sangh. That was the day a long-awaited dream - by a small Jain community in Tulsa - of having a Jain Temple came true, with inspiration of Pujyashri Chitrabhanuji.

Seven years of hard work and the last five months of planning and preparation made possible to have Pratishtha Mahotsav and Murti Sthapana of Mulnayak Shree Mahavir Swami, Shree Parswanath Swami, Shree Rushbhdev Swami and Gokhla for Navkar Shila, Padmavati Devi and Ghantakaran Mahavir.

More than 500 persons witnessed the glorious Pratishtha Mahotsav under guidance of Shree Gurudev Chitrabhanuji, Swami Devendrakirti Bhattraka and Shreemati Pramodaben.

The Ahimsa center held its inaugural conference on “Creating a Culture of Ahimsa: Visions and Strategies” at Cal Poly Pomona from May 14-15, 2004. Prof. Padmanabh Jaini noted that this is the first time that Jain community has come together to support an academic institution. The inaugural conference was named after Madhu & Jagdish Sheth of Atlanta who are the “Ahimsa Sponsors” of the center. The center was established by the efforts of Dr. Tara Sethia, Professor of History and the Director of the new Center housed in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at the university. This is the first such center where Ahimsa (nonviolence) will be looked at a deeper than merely in the context of “war & peace.”

The Ahimsa Center’s inaugural conference was highly successful with attendance of over 200 people. It brought together prominent practitioners and scholars of nonviolence from all over the world. The conference was filled with an air of nonviolence energy flowing from the world class speakers and practitioners of Ahimsa. The inaugural conference was opened with a welcoming message by the Cal Poly Pomona President, Dr. Michael Ortiz , who noted that “silent majority of the American population want a nonviolent and peaceful resolution of the conflicts” and this center will promote this wish of the silent majority. The key speakers included A. T. Ariyrante of Sri Lanka,. Padmanabh Jaini, Mary Elizabeth King, Chris Chapple, Dolores Huerta, Samani Sanmati Pragya and Unnat Pragya, Sulak Sivaraksa, Prof. Glenn Paige, D. R. Mehta, Krisna Ahuja Patel, Jagdish Sheth, Jack Duvall, to name a few. These are all heavily involved in promoting nonviolence in public life. The Provost Tomas Morales and Dean Barbara Way thanked all the sponsors for their support and presented Letter of Recognition. For more information on the Ahimsa Center, please visit, www.csupomona.edu/ahimsacenter.

Jai Jinendra!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Jain Center of Atlanta for hosting the JAINA Executive Committee meeting in March of this year. This was our humble attempt to find out what the community is thinking at the grass roots level. On the flip side, we were able to make the Jain Community in Atlanta aware of what JAINA is all about. We would like to repeat the process at other Jain centers as well. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting any of our future Executive Committee meetings.

We have formed a new committee called “Academic Liaison Committee” to spread the message of Lord Mahavir to the main stream America. At the recommendation of this committee, we have decided to support the Ahimsa Center initiated by Dr. Tara Sethia at the California State Polytechnic University, Pamona, California by becoming its charter member. This is the first time JAINA is establishing a relationship with academic community and could potentially have far reaching positive ramifications. We would like to thank Girish Shah, Dr. Mahendra Pandya, and Dilip V. Shah without whose donations we would not have been able to financially support the project. I am happy to note that some of the members of the Jain Centers of Northern as well as Southern California have also decided to support this Center.

We are also in the process of setting up a Volunteer Bank for JAINA under the leadership of Mrs.Hansaben Shah of Wilmington, Delaware. The objective of this committee is to create a data base of the people who are interested in helping JAINA. The committee will also advertise volunteer opportunities through JAINA Spectrum and JAIN Digest. We believe that this organized effort would bring in new blood into JAINA and make it stronger and more vibrant. Please stay tuned for more details.

YJA Convention planning is going very well. Please help the YJA leaders in their fund raising efforts. If they knock on your door, please support them. We need to nurture and strengthen our youth. Remember they are our future; they are hopes, and aspirations.

Thank you for your time.

Best Regards,
Anop Vora