Dear Sadharmik brothers and sisters,
Jai Jinendra!

Save the date for First Ever Virtual Global Online Jain event - 21st Biennnial JAINA Convention

To fulfill our duty towards Sadhu Bhagwants, JAINA EC has created a new Vaiyavach Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Jasvant Modi from California. The committee aims to raise $500,000 this year to build new Vihardhams and provide Vihardham Sewa, and Medical help in India. We have been blessed to have received pledges totalling $ 360,000 in just one week. Our humble request to the entire Jain community to come together and support this noble cause by making generous donations, taking this year's tax advantages. A separate flyer with updates on various projects under consideration is emailed separately herewith.

Vaiyavach Sewa in Jain religion is considered a solemn duty of Shravaks. Do not miss this opportunity.

To attain Moksh, it is essential to accept monkhood and if one is not able to renounce the material world, he/she must at least accept monkhood in his/her heart and develop the highest regard for mendicants and be of service to Monks.

Watch the inspirational video from Jain Acharya Shrimad Vijay RatnaSunder Surishwarji Maharaj Saheb on Vaiyavach of our Sadhu Bhagwants.

Watch a majestic virtual play, Rajkumar Anang, on Satuday, December 19, 2020. The play is organized on the Commemoration of 50 years of Gurudev Shree Chandrashekhar Vijayji Maharaj’s first disciple Yuvacharya Chandrajit Suriji and Panyas Indrajeet Vijayji’s completion of 50 years of Sanyam Yatra .

Watch the beautiful video of the Naming and Inauguration Ceremony of 'Shrimad Rajchandra Marg' in Surat that took place on November 30, 2020.

Read a Jain Story of the monk Kurgadu, a boy who renounced worldly life and became a monk at a very young age after listening to the sermon of Acharya Dharmaghoshsuriji.

Muni Shri Praman Sagar Ji Maharaj will address the unique problems faced by our sadharmis, residing in a foreign land ‘Special Shanka Samadhan Webinar’ #13 on December 24, 2020. Please click the link here to see the details on webinar registration and send your questions.

YJA invites youth to join the speaker event, Dismantling Disability: A Conversation with Paras Shah on December 22, 2020.

Society - Work - Family - You. Put these in an order of priority as they are for you at this point in time of your life and watch the video. Hope it helps you to rethink and redo that which needs to be done!

Please see below for details or links if any on all the above items.

Sincerely,

Mahesh Wadher
JAINA President

Time : 10:00 AM EST | 9:00 AM CST | 7:00 AM PST | 8:30 PM IST

Facebook:
. https://www.facebook.com/TheRajkumarAnang/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn09IIWaZz4HyPCuBFCt8FA

In ancient times, there lived a businessman named Dhandatta who was highly religious and also raised his son to be like him. Once, Dharmaghoshsuri, the highly enlightened Acharya of that time, came to the town where Dhandatta lived. Dhandatta took his son to listen to the sermon. The boy was so impressed by the Acharya’s sermon that he decided to become his disciple. Accordingly, he renounced worldly life and became a monk at a very young age. The Acharya realized that the boy had tremendous potential to be a great Jain monk. He, therefore, renamed him Kulaguru. In the native language of that area, he came to be known as Kurgadu.

Kurgadu studied the holy books and was able to correctly comprehend their essence. He realized the role of karma in the life of every being and thereby learned to maintain a high level of equanimity. In almost all aspects, he rigorously observed the code of conduct for monks. However, he could not overcome one problem. It was difficult for him to stay hungry and so he could not fast. He needed to eat at least once a day. Even during Paryushan Parva, Kurgadu could not fast for a single day. As he ate his food on the days of Paryushan, he felt miserable and regretted that he was not able to fast. He attributed his inability to fast to his previous karmas. When the other monks observed their fasts, he praised them and rendered every type of service to them. He wished in his heart that he could someday observe fasts.

It was during one monsoon season that an event occurred that changed his situation. During the monsoon season, Jain monks forgo traveling and remain in one place for the duration of the monsoons. Paryushan Parva falls during this time. During that year’s Paryushan Parva, Acharya Dharmaghoshsuri, along with many of his disciples including Muni Kurgadu, remained in the town. Many of the monks undertook long fasts, some extending more than a month. Kurgadu felt disappointed that he could not observe such austerities. Especially on the day of Samvatsari he wished that he could observe a day-long fast.

He began the day in an earnest effort to avoid eating. However, before noon, he felt very hungry and could not do without food. He was surprised at the kind of karma he had acquired where he could not fast even for a day, but he reluctantly approached the guru and begged for his permission to go for alms. The guru lovingly tried to persuade him to go without food for just one day, feeling that he should be inspired to observe a fast at least for that day, especially when all the other monks were on long fasts. Kurgadu humbly replied that he did wish to observe a fast and very much regretted his inability to fast. Due to his humility, the guru took pity on his fate, and compassionately allowed him to go for alms.

To be continued...

Legally blind since birth and a member of the Jain community, lawyer and disability rights advocate Paras Shah will share his story and shape a collective conversation around disability. He will speak about how we can be more inclusive of individuals with disabilities, raise awareness around disability rights, and actively make a difference on a personal level. After his talk, you’ll have the chance to participate in meaningful virtual community service activities to positively impact those living with disabilities, too!

Youth ages 14-29 are invited to join the speaker event, Dismantling Disability: A Conversation with Paras Shah on December 22nd, 9:00-10:30 PM ET. Find the event’s Zoom link here: https://bit.ly/yja-2020-service-event

Muni Shri PramanSagar Ji Maharaj is a Revered Jain saint, Powerful orator and a progressive thinker. He gives solutions to any problem, be it spiritual or worldly in a spur of a minute and one gets practical Jain philosophy based solutions. Muni shri has highly obliged us by giving his consent for a dedicated program for NRIs. Please plan to join Live Webinar and take the (labh of Saakshaat Darshan and Dharam).

Date: December 24, 2020
TIme: 8:15 PM EST | 6:15 PM CST | 5:15 PM PST

Please click the link here to see the details on webinar registration and send your questions.