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JAINA
EC and Directors Meet at Niagara Falls
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The
JAINA Executive Committee and Directors held a meeting on
October 2 at Niagara Falls in Canada. This was a triple treat
for all who attended, as they were able to take part in Ahimsa
Day Celebration along with members of Niagara Hindu Samaj
and JAINA meeting of October 2nd and attend a Pratistha Mahotsav
on October 3rd. Presence of Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji made
all the events even more spiritual.
Every
year, JAINA observes Ahimsa Day on the first Sunday of October
and pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi. President of JAINA Anop
Vora led the Ahimsa Day program with a prayer and spoke of
forgiveness as the lubricant to make the human life smooth
and harmonious. “This idea is even more relevant today
in these turbulent times. We are all imperfect human beings.
In spite of the best of our intentions, we hurt our fellow
human beings with our actions knowingly or unknowingly; intentionally
or unintentionally. JAINISM has recognized this fact and designated
a festival of forgiveness- once a year- for 8 or 10 days when
we formally seek forgiveness from those whom we may have hurt.
It is in this spirit, I would like to say in all humility-”I
forgive all souls, Let all souls forgive me, I have friendship
with every one, I have no enmity towards any one.”
The
Pratistha of Sri Parswanathjii and Shri Mahavir Swamy at the Shiv
Temple on October 3 were indeed a joyous and very pious event
for more than 400 attendees who had come from as far as Texas,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and new York Widhikarak
Shri Naresh Shah of New York performed the Pratistha ceremonies
under the guidance of Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanu.
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President's
Message
Leadership, Vision, Teamwork,
& Ahimsa |
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Jai Jinendra!
I
would like to bring to your attention a few important developments
that have transpired over the last few weeks:
First,
the Pratishtha at Niagara Falls went very well. Over 200 people
took part in this important event. We would like to thank the
Niagara Jain Community for inviting JAINA to participate in
the festivity. Special thanks to Dilip V. Shah and Lataben Champsee
for making the Mahotsav a grand success.
Second,
Jain Center of Greater Boston, under the leadership of my brother-Jitendra
Vora- has undertaken a very ambitious project of publishing/distributing
a Revised Jain Directory to all Jain families in North America
at no cost. He and other members of his committee will contact
you for your membership list and financial help. Please help
them to the best of your ability in making this great communications
tools available to us all.
Third,
we are very grateful to Dilip V. Shah and Dhrumil Purohit for
revamping the JAINA website. This was long overdue. Please use
it and give us your feedback. We would like to make the website
a potent tool to integrate all Jains residing in North America
Fourth,
JAINA EC has decided to form two new committees: (1) Exhibition
Committee will be responsible for arranging Jain exhibitions
and chaired by Sudhir Shah of Connecticut. (2) Jain Centers
Resource Committee will provide assistance in developing centers
and temples, in procuring Murties of all faiths from India,
in sharing temple fund raising ideas and techniques, and in
passing on the know how of the existing Jain temples to those
who are interested in building new ones. Dr.Nitin Shah of Los
Angles will chair this committee.
We
believe JAINA was founded to serve you. The formation of the
new committees is in line with this philosophy. Please come
forward and help us in any way you can.
Thank
you for your time.
Anop
R. Vora
JAINA President
November 2004
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From
the Editor
Technology & Dharma |
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Over past several months, myself and a group of designers
have been diligently working on the new jaina.org website.
Today, exclusively through JAINA Spectrum, we are announcing
the launch of the beta version of the site.
Our
intensions for jaina.org have been four fold:
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to take the previously existing material from the JAINA website
and bring it up to a standard that would exemplify the energy
of JAINA and unify its brand identity
- to make JAINA news, documents, text, pictures and books
universally accessible and searchable
- to use the website as a vehicle for uniting local centers
by providing event and news updates
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and lastly to educate and update our general membership on
the efforts and projects that make up JAINA.
We
will continue to add more material to the site as it is collected
from various centers and committee chairpersons. You too can
suggest ways to improve over website so that the community
is better served.
So
go to newly designed www.jaina.org Use it, Tell a friend and
Contribute to it.
If
you have comments, suggestions or article to contribute, write
to me at dilipvshah@aol.com
Sincerely,
Dilip V Shah
Editor, JAINA SPECTRUM
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Jain
Centers to Receive Teerthdarshan Encyclopedias
Shree Jain Prathna Mandir Trust of Chennai India has decided
to present each of the 67 Jain Centers in USA and Canada
a three volume 700+ pages encyclopedia of Theerthdhams of
India. This colorful work scholarly work took twelve years
to compile and has more than 400 photographs. The Encyclopedia
will most certainly be a valuable addition to the center’s
library. |
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September
11 Gathering for Peace, Healing and Unity
The Spiritual Unity Network of New Jersey held a September
11 Gathering at the Ethical Culture Society of Essex County,
Maplewood, NJ. The program included guided contemplative
meditation, a panel discussion, poetry reading, Sufi greetings
and Jain blessing. Naresh Jain representing JAINA Interfaith
Committee, International Jain Sangh and Educare Foundation
discussed reflections on the Parliament of World’s
Religions held in Barcelona during July, 2004. Regina St.
Claire from New York Theosophical Society arranged an acting
presentation on ‘On Oneness’ and Bishop Benjamin
Evans from Interfaith Clergy of New Jersey spoke from a
Franciscan perspective toward a life of peace and unity.
Members of Jain community in this memorial gathering included
Ari Jain, Sarla Jain and Swati Shah. Contact Naresh Jain
at njain52253@aol.com. |
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Jainism
in Orange County Register, California
An article on Jainism by Ann Pepper appeared in the Orange
County Register of September 22, 2004. The article explained
the basic beliefs of the Jain way of life, the Jain Center
of Southern California and their temple reconstruction project.
The article also offered answers to modern questions from
Jain perspective, among them: How should we respond to terrorism,
how are women regarded by Jainism, does God exist, and do
miracles occur? Subsequently, this article has appeared
in several news papers around the country. Contact sateen_sheth@yahoo.com.
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Presentation
on Jainism, Yoga and Meditation in High School
On
September 23 and 28, 2004, North West Area High School in
Chicago area included discussions on Jainism in their World
Religions classes. Jyotindrabhai Doshi of Chicago Jain Center
explained the codes of conduct and forgiveness in Jainism
along with brief demonstrations of yoga and meditation.
Contact Jyindrabhai Doshi at jyotinjain@yahoo.com. |
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Celebration
at the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministry Center
Drs.
Hema and Manda Pokharna recited Namokar Mantra and conducted
two workshops on ‘Introduction of Jainism’ on
September 30, 2004, in LaGrange at the Sisters of St. Joseph
Ministry Center. Contact Hema Pokharna at ahinsa@mdiaccess.net.
More Interfaith News
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