Dear Sadharmik brothers and sisters,
Jai Jinendra!

JAINA Wishes you a year rich with Love, Happiness, Prosperity and Wisdom. Happy Diwali to you and your family.
"May the gleam of Diyas enlighten your spirit and vanquish darkness from your life and hope the lamp of joy remains illuminated in your life now and forever."

Let's learn about Shrimad Rajchandraji's birth event and how he was attracted towards the Jain Philosophy, Ahimsa, from the childhood.

Join Jain Connect for one more virtual Singles Mixer on Sunday, November 22, 2020. The session will be of 2 hours. If you are single, ages between 24 to 42, please join the Jain Connect for this interesting event. Registration and other information are given below.

A 4-year-old boy from UK Jain Community needs a matching stem cell to treat his rare genetic disorder. See details below on how this child can be helped.

JAINA extends the deepest condolence on the demise of Father Vallés at the age of 95. Let’s observe 2-minute silence. JAINA is grateful for his huge contribution to Gujarati literature and Mathematics along with English and Spanish. Read more about his work below.

Jain Center of Greater Phoenix has shared how they perform Mahavir Nirvan Kalyanak Pujan and Nirvan Kalyanak Ladoo Pujan so other Jain centers can perform it easily as well. Please find the Pujan method below.

Watch the beautiful video of Mahavir Swami Nirvan and Gautam Swami Keval Gyan Kalyanak, where Gautam Swami attains Keval Gyan after feeling a painful virah from Nirvan of Mahavir Swami.

The Jain Digest Editorial team recently published a special addition of Jain Digest on Jain Education in North America. The volume contains 55 articles written by 44 authors, containing information about Jain education in academic institutions and in Pathshalas.

JAINA congratulates Sudhanshu Jain, member of Eco Vegan Committee on being elected to the city council

Last month, the Jain Center of Northern California organized a virtual event to distribute the United States President Volunteer Services Award. Read more about it below.

Have you read the pandemic experience of Rishab Jain - a 13-year-old in the October 2020 Jain Digest issue? You may read it below.

Muni Shri Praman Sagar Ji Maharaj will again address the unique problems faced by NRIs in ‘Special Shanka Samadhan’ live Webinar #09 on November 19, 2020. Please click the link here to see the details on webinar registration and for sending your questions.

YJA invites you to take the pledge to focus on your ‘inner spark’ instead of setting fireworks this Diwali. Read more about it below.

We need your help in a very unique opportunity to spread Jain Principles to mainstream Americans. Details given below.

Listen to Rahul Kapoor Jain talking on how we should change our approach from Knowing What We Do to Doing What We Know to achieve greatness in life.

Sincerely,

Mahesh Wadher
JAINA President

Jain Connect knows that meeting new people in 2020 is difficult. Join them for one more virtual Singles Mixer on November 22, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. PT / 4:00 p.m. ET. The session will be of 2 hours. They are confident that you will leave the session feeling even more connected. You may even make a new friend!

What’s in it for me? Great question. A fun space where you can meet someone new. Our engaging hosts will tap into their Zoom technology skills to make this mixer interesting and meaningful. They will promote engagement between breakout sessions where you will meet other singles in groups of 4 – 8.

Who’s eligible to join? If you are single, between the ages of 24 – 42, and living in the United States or Canada, you are able to create a Jain Connect profile and register for the event.

How do I register? Simply create a profile and RSVP for the event below. If you already have a profile, then log in and navigate to this page to register. Your confirmation email will include access to the Zoom meeting.

Register early as they only have 100 spots for this event.

For more information, please visit www.jainaconnect.net.

For queries, reach out to Sheenika Shah Gandhi or Piyush Gandhi at jcchair@jaina.org.

Veer, a 4-year-old son of Nirav Gudhka who is a part of the UK Jain community, needs a matching stem cell donor to treat his rare genetic disorder called Fanconi Anaemia. Please read the flyer or visit www.helpveernow.org to know how you can help him finding a matching stem cell.Please learn more of Veer's life here.

Father Carlos Gonzalvez Vallés SJ, also known as Father Vallés, passed away on November 9, 2020, at the age of 95. Father Vallés, a Spanish-Indian Jesuit priest and author, had lived in India for five decades and wrote extensively in Gujarati, English, Spanish, and on mathematics. He had written over 78 books containing his essays dealing with life and how to live it. Out of that, 14 are in the Gujarati language. He was awarded Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, the highest award in Gujarati literature, in 1978. JAINA is grateful for his valuable contribution.

JAINA prays Father Vallés’s soul rest in peace and extends the deepest condolence to his family and the lives he touched through his work.

Below is how Mahavir Kalyanak and Nirvan Kalyanak Ladoo Pujan are performed at the Jain Center of Greater Phoenix. Kirit Gosalia hopes, your Jain center finds it helpful.

The Pujan is performed in the four parts

1. Beginning of puja
2. Mahavir Nirvan Kalyanak Pujan
3. Arghavali
4. Nirvan Kand Bhasha

Let’s understand it in detail.

1. At Jain Center of Greater Phoenix, we perform this puja every year.
2. If Deepawali occurs on weekdays then we perform puja early morning at 6 am as Mahavir Swami went to Moksh early morning on Deepawali day.
3. We thereafter celebrate Mahavir Nirvan Kalyanak Puja on a grand scale for the whole community.
4. We uniquely perform Ashta Prakari Puja including all eight auspicious substances from the Digambar side and also from the Swetambar side. You will see this combination of Astprakari Pujan in the link below.
5. First we perform the Beginning of Puja
6. After Nirvan Kalyanak Pujan, we perform Nirvan Kand Bhasha, which allows us to recite all the Nirvan places. You can also listen the audio of Nirvan Kand Bhasha Pujan.
7. Thereafter we offer Arghavali Pujan.
8. At the end of the Pujan, we recite Mahavir Nirvan Kalyanak Argh, and with that the whole community can offer Nirvan Ladoo-we use whole walnuts symbolizing ladoo.
9. Hope this Pujan helps your center so that the whole community can take part in the Mahavir Nirvan Kalyanak Pujan.
10. If any questions, feel free to call us at 602 316 5077

The Jain Digest Editorial team is pleased to announce a Special Edition of Jain Digest on Jain Education in North America. This 140-page volume contains 55 articles written by 44 authors, containing information about Jain education in academic institutions and in Pathshalas.

To view and download, go to:

Jain Digest Special Edition on Jain Education in North America

Here are some highlights from the issue

• Forewords by Prof. Padmanabh S. Jaini and Dr. Jeffrey Kuan
• Heartfelt motivating articles by Dr. Jasvant Modi and Mahesh Wadher
• Visionary and Historic articles by Dr. Chris Chapple, Dr. Shugan Jain, Dr. Dipak Jain, Dr. Atul Shah, Dr. Sulekh Jain and Dr. Nitin Shah
• Articles by 20 University Professors showing their passion about learning, researching, and teaching Jain Philosophy
• Comments by several college students about leaning Jainism
• Information about New Initiatives such as upcoming Jain academic centers, Online Jain Studies Channel, Jaina Online University, etc
• History of Pathshala Education
• Articles by Dr. Pradip Shah and Sailes Jain - Chicago and LA Pathshala
• Other initiatives by JAINA Education Committee such as Jainism Blog, Jain Education
• Workshops and Jain Academic Bowl

Sudhanshu Jain has just won his election to serve on City Council in Santa Clara, Calif. Sudhanshu has been very active in community service for a long time. He currently serves on the Planning Commission and he was on the construction committee for the Jain Center of Northern California (JCNC) temple in Milpitas, Calif. Sudhanshu is co-author of the "Jain Declaration on the Climate Crisis" which was ratified by JAINA in 2019 https://www.jaina.org/page/ClimateDeclaration. His goals as City Councilmember are to increase the amount of affordable housing, reduce traffic congestion and to make Santa Clara a model of sustainability.

On Oct 25, the Jain Center of Northern California (JCNC) organized a virtual event to distribute the United States President Volunteer Services Award (PVSA). Event was hosted by Sunil Mehta, PVSA Lead and Ravi Shah, VP Cultural.

Founded in 2003, by the US President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, PVSA Awards recognize the important role of volunteers in America’s strength and national identity. This award honors individuals whose service positively impacts communities in every corner of the nation and inspires those around them to act, too.

31 youth volunteers from the JCNC received the US President’s Services Award for exceptional volunteering during 2019-2020. The US President awarded Gold medal to 27 youths and Silver and bronze medal to 2 youths each along with a letter signed by President Donald J Trump and a certificate.

Shobhaben Vora, BOD Chair handed over the award and gave books “Being Jain in College” by JAINA Education Committee and “An Introduction to Jain Philosophy” by Parveen Jain, PhD. Biren Shah, JCNC President appreciated volunteering and congratulated award recipients. Saurabh Jain recognized the leadership of Sunil Mehta with a wall of comments by the award recipients and their family members.

More on PVSA program here: https://tinyurl.com/JCNC-PVSA201919-20.

Positive Lessons Emerging from COVID-19 Relating to Jainism by Rishab Jain - a 13-year-old from Clarksville, Maryland. In his article in the October 2020 Jain Digest, Rishab writes: “This pandemic, though it has brought much suffering to many people around the world, has brought moral benefit in ways you may have overlooked. In times of peril like these, good is still around the corner waiting to be found. The only way we will win this battle is with strength and courage.”

To read the full article, go to:

Positive Lessons Emerging from COVID-19 Relating to Jainism

To read the full October 2020 Jain Digest, go to:

Jain Digest October 2020