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Dear Sadharmiks,
Jai Jinendra! Pranam!
JAINA fondly remembers Shri Vinodbhai Doshi of Pittsburgh, who passed away last week at age 86. He was a JAINA Director for a long time, served in JAINA EC as treasurer from 1994 -1995, and was the co-convener of the 1993 JAINA Convention in Pittsburgh.
I led a delegation to South Florida last week to investigate the feasibility of creating a three hundred homes Jain senior citizen community in Orlando. I also met a few leaders of the Jain Society of South Florida at the home of Bindesh Shah, the first V. P. of JAINA. Read more about it below.
JAINA Education Committee is back with the Jain Books & Literature Recycle project, where you can donate your excess Jain books, magazines, and literature in good condition. The committee will share these books and literature with interested organizations and individuals in the USA and India. More details are given below.
Please encourage your kids to participate in the Essay and Art competitions to contribute to the JAINA Convention 2023 Souvenir Book. The last day for submission is February 13, 2023.
The JAINA India Foundation (JIF) is inviting you to participate in writing articles for their newly launched project of publishing a booklet on "Scientific Aspects of Jain Practices" Please find the guidelines below to participate in.
Inside the Jain Digest October 2022, read an article by Vijayji, a scientist based in Canberra, Australia, who explains various health benefits of fasting and the current trend of intermittent fasting, saying it can be a potent tool for the welfare of modern civilization. What Lord Mahavira taught humanity 2620 years ago remains a profound and fundamental basis for fasting and intermittent fasting.
The Jain Society of North Carolina Crop Walk team successfully completed the in-person walk at Pullen Park, Raleigh, on October 30th and won the golden shoe award with 55 walkers walking under the JSCNC banner.
The Times of India newspaper recently published a short article on how Jainism survived in India. Read the article below.
Sincerely,
Haresh Shah,
JAINA President
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JAINA Delegation Working On Senior Citizen Homes
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JAINA President Haresh Shah led a delegation to South Florida last week to investigate the feasibility of creating a three hundred homes Jain senior citizen community in Orlando. The delegation consisted of two Past Presidents of JAINA and local Jain leaders. Stay tuned for further details on this exciting JAINA initiative. They also met with a few leaders of the Jain Society of South Florida at the home of Bindesh Shah, the first V. P. of JAINA.
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Jain Books & Literature Recycle Project
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In 2021, the JAINA Education Committee started Jain Books & Literature Recycle Project based on the constantly received queries from our patrons about the disposal of their excess Jain Books, Magazines, and other printed Jain Literature, which they no longer need and want to properly dispose-off without any Ashatana or disrespect. To provide a proper disposal avenue for surplus Jain Books, we announced a new pilot project named “Jain Books Recycle”.
Under this project, they collect any such surplus Jain Books, Literature, magazines, and other Printed articles at one location. Then we plan to share it with interested organizations and individuals in the USA first and then rest ship it to India.
The committee received a massive response to the 1st and 2nd parts of the project. Now, started again to receive the new set of your Excess books. Please take advantage of this project to send them your surplus Jain Literature to distribute to those who need it and recycle it appropriately. This project is limited only to the printed Jain Books, magazines, and literature in Good Condition, Readable, Full/entire books, and not torn apart. Please do NOT send any types of Jain Upakarans or religious artifacts.
Please ship your surplus books to the following address.
JAINA Education – Jain Books Recycle Project
c/o JC Flag - Attn: Virendra Shah
821 E. Artesia Blvd,
Carson, CA 90746
Please read the important points for sending the books and know more about the process here.
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JAINA Convention 2023 Souvenir Committee
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JAINA Convention 2023 Souvenir Committee invites your Pathshala Children to contribute to the Souvenir Book! They have two competitions based on age: An Essay Competition (11 years and above) and a Drawing/coloring Competition (10 years or younger).
1. Essay Competition: Children and adolescents 11 years or above should enter a competition to include their essay/Poem in the 2023 Souvenir Book. The essay/poem should be related to the Convention theme of how Jainism inspires us to: "Maximize Human Potential. The tracks under this theme are:
- Human Values
- Wellness
- Relationships
- Personal Growth/Enrichment
- Outreach and Partnerships
Please use one of these tracks. Include images or pictures, but it should be one page long.
2. Art Competition: Children 10 years or younger should submit one or all 14 (or 16 for Digambar tradition) dreams of Trishala Mata at the birth of Mahavir Bhagwan. These can be hand-drawn or can use printed outlines and using colored pencils or crayons (but not paint). We request each center to send its three entries.
We recommend holding a local competition and having up to 3 best essays or colored Dreams sent to us, with names, ages of students, and terms of Sangh. We will display them all digitally and additionally include some of the best essays/poems, as well as art, with the name of the student(s) and Sangh's name in the printed version of the Souvenir Book! The committee will respect age and any allowances you make to select the best three.
Please send all submissions to Devendra Mehta at mehtade@yahoo.com and cc Viral Doshi at virdoshi@gmail.com, Darshana Desai at dfamilyflorida@gmail.com, and Shilpa Mehta shilpamx@comcast.net.
Our deadline is to have these sent to us by Monday, February 13th.
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Write An Article On The Scientific Aspects of Jain Practices
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JAINA India Foundation is inviting you to participate in their newly undertaken project of publishing a short booklet on "Scientific Aspects of Jain Practices". Dr. Bipin Doshi is leading this initiative. The proposed book is to be published by Sumandeep Vidyapeeth, Vadodara. The purpose of this book is to invoke a layman's interest in exploring Jain practices through logic & rationality rather than rituals and tradition. We have prepared the structure of the proposed book and are now inviting articles from scholars to contribute to this project based on their own domain expertise and interest.
Please find the guidelines on the required topic & article submission, and we request you forward them to people who might be interested.
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Inside October 2022 Jain Digest
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Benefits of Fasting - Endorsed by Science by Vijay Koul
Vijay Koul is a scientist based in Canberra, Australia. He grew up among Jains in Jammu, which gave him insights into Jainism. After his retirement a few years back, he wanted to pursue a career in nutrition for the well-being of himself, his family, and his community. His efforts in learning about nutrition brought him back to the practice of fasting among Jain households.
In this article, Vijayji explains the various health benefits of fasting and the current trend of intermittent fasting. He says, “This write-up was an attempt to present these studies with intermittent fasting have shown that it can be a potent tool for the welfare of modern civilization. What Lord Mahavira taught humanity 2620 years ago remains a profound and fundamental basis for fasting and intermittent fasting.”
To read the full article at:
Click Here to Read this Article
To read the full October 2022 Jain Digest, go to:
Jain Digest October 2022 Edition
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Jain Center News
The Jain Society of North Carolina Crop Walk team successfully completed the in-person walk at Pullen Park, Raleigh, on October 30th. They won the golden shoe award with 55 walkers walking under the JSCNC banner. Thanks to the generosity of the donors, they collected $3700 and about $450 in pledges for a total of $4200, putting them in the 2nd or 3rd position based on donations. The center is grateful to all the volunteers.
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How Did Jainism Survive in India?
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Read an interesting article on how Jainism survived in India as published in a recent Times of India newspaper:
https://bit.ly/3BCDLci.
Until its revival in the 20th century by Babasaheb Ambedkar, as part of the Navayana movement for Dalit upliftment, Buddhism had all but been forgotten in the land of its birth. By contrast, Jainism maintained a tenacious hold in India. This despite attempts in some Puranas to show that Tirthankara was a form of Vishnu, just like the Buddha, thereby seeking to assimilate Jainism within the Hindu fold. So, how did Jainism resist this appropriation? Mythologically, Jainism is an eternal religion based on rebirth, and Sanatan dharma, just like Buddhism and Hinduism. Historically, Jainism arose about 2,500 years ago in the Magadhan region, home to many monastic ideas, including Upanishads and Buddhism.
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Shree Uttaradhyayana Sutra Aagaam Vaachana
Nami Pravajya Adhyayana
Named after King Nami of Mithila Nagri (town), this chapter talks about the young King’s suffering from a severe skin disease that he could not sleep. The King’s medical aid suggested an oral dose of sandalwood syrup and applying the paste on the body to cool off the itching skin. The King started getting some sleep. The hard work of scrubbing the wood stock on stone to make paste was undertaken by his eight wives. As they scrubbed the wood against the stone, the bangles on their hands clanged and jingled, making lots of noise and waking up the King. The solution was that queens would wear only one bangle; the noise stopped, and King slept well.
Although King slept, it stirred up his thinking into deep contemplation, coming to a spiritual awakening that if you are “only one,” there is no noise, disturbance, conflicts, or distraction and that being alone can give you peace. Convinced, he indicated his desire to take vairagya (sadhu life). The entire kingdom was shocked. The news reached the Devalokas and baffled Indra, the King of Gods, who could not believe this. In order to see for himself and test the King’s resolve, he takes the form of a Brahmin and descends on earth to visit Nami.
The King of Gods now tests the mettle of the King of Mithila. Will Nami pass the test? Will he change his decision? What were the questions Indra posed, and what did Nami answer? Listen to the dialog of the two Kings as narrated by Panyas Dr. Arunvijayji Maharajsaheb archived on the JAINA.org Youtube channel under the label Uttaradhyayna Sutra. Join us live every Saturday & Sunday at 10.15 EST USA virtually on Zoom, and interact with Maharajsaheb.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN SESSION
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