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| Jain
Blessings Rain In Spain The Jain community made a serious and significant impression among 8,000 religious leaders, activists and lay people in the Barcelona Parliament of World’s Religions about the existence of Jainism as a separate religion as well as its dominant teachings of nonviolence in these modern times of increasingly religiously motivated violent world. JAINA delegation was a part of the opening plenary session on July 7th evening addressed by 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi of Iran and attended by 3000 delegates and dignitaries from 75 countries. Jain prayers and blessings recited in Prakrit by Jain monks and nuns His Holiness Amrender Muniji, Swami Devendrakeertyji, Samani Pratibha Pragyaji and Punya Pragyaji echoed in the Forum auditorium that were followed by a comprehensive translation in English narrated by Naresh Jain of JAINA Interfaith Committee and also simultaneous translation into Spanish and Catalan by the Forum staff. The divine rain of recital supported by the distribution of a comprehensive flyer in this inaugural ceremony about the Jain Blessings and upcoming Presentations during that week of parliament sessions opened the doors for Jain presence at this international stage. It brought numerous activists, educators and enthusiasts from press, television, academia and interfaith groups in contact with monks, nuns and presenters; as well as visits to the JAINA booth. The council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions is an international gathering where people of spirit, faith and goodwill gather for interreligious encounter, dialogue and creative engagement with the critical issues facing our world. The inaugural event held in 1893 in Chicago is widely regarded as the beginning of the interreligious movement worldwide and is also well known for the speeches of Swami Vivekananda and Shri Virchand Raghavji Gandhi. It took 100 years to hold the second Parliament again in Chicago in 1993, followed by Cape Town in South Africa, in 1999. The three tenets of Jainism: Ahimsa, Anekaantvaad, Aparigraha directly relate to the theme of the fourth Parliament held in Barcelona. Spain from July 7 through July 13, 2004: Pathways to Peace: the Wisdom of Listening, the Power of Commitment. The JAINA program coordinators Naresh Jain and Hema Pokharna, planned the Jain presence and presentations. Naresh co-chairs the JAINA Interfaith Committee and served as an advisor to the Parliament’s Program Task Force. Dr. Hema Pokharna is a member of the Parliament’s Executive Committee as well as its Plenary Task Force.
Nirav Shah from USA and Karishma Shah from UK were accepted as Jain delegates in the Parliament’s Youth Leadership program which enabled them to experience a broad variety of traditions in an environment geared toward young people. Both of them were able to experience home stay in the local community and were rated as one of the most promising youngsters among their colleagues. Nirav with his violin was also included in the youth group performance of the closing plenary session of the Parliament The JAINA group was invited to participate in the Speaker’s Corner program arranged by the UNESCO Forum on Thursday July 8th. A one hour program of recitals, yoga and meditation by HH Amrender Muniji, Samani Pratibha Pragya and Punya Pragyaji, and Jyotindra Doshi moderated by Naresh Jain was presented at this open event which would become a part of their program archives The Plenary session for the community’s night was scheduled for Friday, July 9. Several members of other communities participated in the Jain Group evening that included Dr. Christopher Chappel, a professor and writer from Los Angeles. HH Amrender Muniji, Swami Devendrakeertyji, JAINA President Anop Vora, Hema and Manda Pokharna and Naresh Jain were invited to a special hospitality reception for honored speakers and religious and spiritual leaders on Saturday July 10 prior to the Sacred Music Concert at Sagrada Familia. A panel presentation on ‘Unity of Minds: a Congregation of Spiritual Leaders with the President of India was scheduled for Sunday morning of July 11. This program was based on the celebration of Dr. Abdul Kalam’s 73rd birth day in an event organized by Acharya Mahgapragyaji in the company of 15 religious leaders at Surat last year.. Two of these leaders Dr. Homi Dhalla and Dr. Jaswant Singh Neki joined this JAINA panel. A video-message from Acharya Mahapragyaji as well as a recording of Dr. Kalam at Surat was played for the benefit of the participants. JAINA Executive Committee decided to reach out to all Jains throughout the world to join this parliament event and participate actively with one unified Jain voice to raise the profile of Jainism, This JAINA approach was very well received by the laymen, monks and nuns, and the Jain organizations alike. Its coordinated Jain group comprised of 30 delegates: 13 from USA, 5 from UK, and 12 from India. Sixteen of these delegates were speakers or presenters: The numerous items displayed and distributed by this group to the worldwide attendees were printed in USA, UK, India and Spain. A unique and successful exercise in inclusiveness by JAINA. The efforts of JAINA were also appreciated by the Parliament management in their program approval letter, “You have done a great deal of outreach around the world, and have assembled a wonderful team of presenters. Thanks to your hard work and commitment, the wisdom and voice of Jainism will be well represented at the 2004 Parliament event”. On the front page of the official multicolor flyer which described a typical day at the parliament, ‘Jain teachings of Nonviolence’ was included as the first example. In the parliament program book of 260 pages, 53 pages contain references and descriptions about Jain programs and presenters. JAINA
supported the conference by contributing the registration fee of
some of the participants including the Monks and Samnijies, and
a $5,000 donation to the Parliament. The JAINA booth in the exhibition
included 15 coordinated poster panels about Jainism, four plates
of Jain postal stamps and first day covers, over 50 reference books
and attractive decorations. 2000 copies of the book ‘Essence
of World Religions’, 1000 copies of the ‘Jainism’
booklet, and flyers on Jainism and the JAINA organization were distributed
free of cost. The World Religions book was heavily sought for by
all including non-English speaking scholars and priests. Compliments
go to Pravin Shah of JAINA Education Committee. This noble step
of free distribution of desirable literature helped make Jains visible
as an open minded community. One hundred souvenir shirts with Jain
symbol on the front side and the Barcelona landmark Sagrada Familia
at the back were placed for sale in the booth and they were all
sold out before the end of the very first day. |
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| Pratistha
Mahotsav at Orlando August 20-22 |
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| Pujya
Shri Atmanandji’s Dharmayatra & Shibir at Siddhachalamn” Pujya Shri Atmanandji (formerly Dr. Soneji) led a 2-day (Jul 31- Aug 1) Adhyatmik Shibir at Siddhachalam. About 200 people attended. Pujya Atmanandji talked about Dharma-Artha-Kam-Moksha Purusharth and spiritual progress. He emphasized humbleness, religious discretion, non-laziness and conquering the senses and mind. On Sunday, Nitinbhai Talsania arranged the concurrent sessions with Young Jains from NY-NJ-CT-Phila. About 60 youth participated. Pujya Atmanandji talked to youth about Mentor in the Moksha Marg, and the need & characteristics of a Sadguru. Mahendra Khandhar (LA), Pravin Mehta (LA) and Nitin Talasania (NJ) participated in the panel discussions with the youth along with Shri Atmanandji. Dr. Paresha Snehal Shah entertained the youth with Jain Games. In
addition to Pujya Atmanandji, Anupambhai Shah (Mumbai), Kasturbhai
(NJ), Pravinbhai Shah (Redding-PA), Brahamrshi Patriji (India),
Sadhvi Shubhamji (Veeraytan) also gave spiritual lectures, meditation
talk and blessings. There were also Puja, Bhakti, Quiz, Question-Answer
and informal discussion. Overall, the shibir was excellent and very
useful. Pujya Shri Atmanandji (Dr. Soneji) is on a 6-week Dharma
Yatra to UK and USA (contact Praful Lakhani 631-423-9647). He visited
UK for 10 days, and NY-NJ for one week. He will be in LA-SF for
11 days (Aug 5-16, contact Mahendra Khandhar 714-894-2930), in Houston
for 5 days (Aug 20-24, contact Suketu Kapadia 281-561-7157), and
the final week in NY (Aug 25-31,Prafulbhai Lakhani). |
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| Jainworld
Mission *24L* Marches On If you have not visited Jainworld.com website, prepare to be amazed by efforts of Vinodbhai and Prembhai. They have made an amazing progress in just one year in making it a global site and in many languages too. The site is visited from 117 countries and more than 30,000 hits per day. Their intention is to project Jainism worldwide in 24 languages (English, French, German. Spanish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Romanian, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Oriya and so on). Work on many more languages like Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Kannada is planned during 2004 along with enhancement of exciting language editions. More languages will follow in 2005 and beyond. For more info, Contact vinod@jainworld.com (678 362 2662). |
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| Message
From The JAINA President I was indeed fortunate to be a member of the JAINA delegation to the Parliament of World’s Religions. The Conference was a grand success. The Parliament management had scheduled about 25 talks for us; most of which were well attended and generated a lot of interest in our religion. Our exhibition booth-coordinated by Sudhir and Anita Shah was well equipped with books/posters/flyers and manned by the members of our delegation; providing full time coverage. Many people stopped by at the booth, asked detailed questions and showed deep appreciation for the free literature and information. We were very fortunate to have Amrendramunji, Davendra Keerti Swamiji, Saminiji Pratibha Pragyaji, and Samaniji Punya Pragyaji with us. They all added important dimension to our presence. They became a center of attraction and curiosity as many people at the conference had probably never seen a Jain monk or a nun before. The session on meditation, yoga, mantra and chanting became a big hit. In many cases there was no room to stand in the class rooms! Each and every member of the JAINA delegation worked very hard to make this event a big success. Every one felt that we have taken an important step this time; the impact of which will reverberate for years to come. The people who attended previous parliaments commented that the show put on by the JAINA delegation this time was well coordinated, much better than the previous ones, and made a deeper impact than before. I am very grateful to the groups from UK and India. Both of these groups mixed very well with their US counterparts. It was very gratifying to see every one working together as a cohesive team and speaking with one voice for a common goal under the banner of JAINA. This display of unity and cooperation was well noticed by the management of the Parliament. I believe this recognition will aid us greatly in getting more visibility in their future programs. This is quite an achievement considering the size of our community in relation to the other communities. The world is changing is very fast. People are clamoring for the solution to the problems of increased violence, conflicts, stress and tension in their personal lives. It appears that that people are opening up and willing to listen to the ideas offered by cultures and religions other than their own. For us, this new paradigm shift offers an opportunity to make people aware of our philosophy and non-violent way of life. We need to seize upon this opportunity by expanding our role through interfaith groups all over. We need to open the doors wide for the benefit of all to the Jain way of life. You will be surprised to know that the Sikh community offered free vegetarian lunch every day to about 8000 participants. They also set up a large exhibit booth that included teachings of Sikhhism on large posters and beautiful replica of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. Other communities also supported this event generously. We need to emulate the examples of other communities and spend more for interfaith events. If we are serious about spreading the teachings of our religion, we must come up with financial resources to match our intent. I would like to thank Naresh Jain, co-chair of JAINA’S interfaith committee, for his initiative, leadership, and commitment without which we would not have been this successful. He even took time off from his job so he can devote hundreds of hours needed to co-ordinate JAINA’S presentation and participation, looking after accommodation for our monks and Samnijies, and raising the Jain flag in Barcelona. I would also like to thank all delegates –most of whom spent a lot of time, energy, and their own money to support this undertaking. They have indeed left an imprint on Jain history. This was a mission well accomplished! We will redouble our efforts for the next conference! Anop
R. Vora |
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| From
the desk of the Editor The YJA Conference with 800 attendees over the July 4th weekend was truly a smashing success. The discipline and enthusiasm of attendees, the dedication of the organizers, the generosity of the speakers and presenters were all a reassuring evidences that Jain Dharma has taken roots in our younger generation and the future of our beloved religion is in safe hands. Dean Deepak Jain of Kellogg school of Business delivered a keynote address that was so inspiring that he got standing ovation by cheering crowd for more than 5 minutes. Simultaneously JAINA held their Director’s and Executive Committee meeting at the same venue. Preparation for the 2005 JAINA Convention was the main topic of discussion. Jain Center of Northern California should be congratulated for hosting YJA convention in 2004 and JAINA Convention in 2005. Dilip
V. Shah |
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