Jain Digest 2004 07 Vol 23 No 3

SR No.: 527093
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA
Publication Year: 2004
Total Pages: 44
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Jain Digest, & USA
File Size: 13 MB

Page 7

na Experience ad Jainism
Parfume
the
History of the Parliament: The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) has a history of 111 years. It is an international gathering where people of spirit, faith and goodwill gather for inter religious encounter, dialogue and creative engagement with the critical issues facing our world. At the first Parliament held in Chicago in 1893, several hundred leaders, scholars, theologians, and other representatives of the world's religions came together to ponder the place of religion and spirituality in the modern worldIt 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 2004 Parliament was convened in Barcelona, Spain, to find inspiration and renewal and forge new pathways to peace. For more information, visit: www.cpwr.org.
Recital of Jain Prayers and Blessings by HH Amrender Muniji, Devendrakeertiji, Samanijis Pratibha Pragyaji and Punya Pragyaji in the Parliament Opening Ceremony
them with examples of engagements, rewrote ourselves on behalf of delegates, and resubmitted within a few days with an appeal for reconsideration with justification which we thought would hold merit. On May 12, 2004, we were surprised that the Parliament had accepted all of our new proposals but one. Our effort was also appreciated by Travis Rejman, Director of Programs in the Parliament in his 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 Parliament's official multicolor flyer, which described a typical day at the parliament, 'Jain teachings of Nonviolence' was included as the first example. In the parliament's program book of 260 pages, 53 pages contained references and descriptions about Jain programs and presenters
The Program Proposals: The Parliament had issued extensive guidelines for preparing program proposals JAINA program coordinators Naresh Jain and Hema Pokharna prepared proposals to share teachings of Jainism with the global community along with yoga, meditation and prayers., I forwarded 26 proposals After about a month, the program staff informed that they would accept only five proposals They also suggested if we could include more monks and nuns in our delegation.
We quickly formed a team of coordinators: Pravin Shah for Jain material, Sudhir Shah for technology, Anita Shah for exhibition, Dilip Bobra for printing; Vinod Kapashi for UK, and Raksha Shah for India. We did some brainstorming, reduced lectures to only 17, converted them in to panel formats, padded
Our team was vigorously working on preparing presentations. As no good work or presence is possible without funds, we approached JAINA Executive Committee (JEC) for help. The response was limited but encouraging. 'I learnt that Dilipbhai Shah of Philadelphia was preparing a flyer about JAINA organization for Barcelona. We also needed a comprehensive flyer on Jainism. We sought his help for this flyer and for funds which were now critical for our success. He prepared the flyer and shepherded our need for $15,000.00 through the JEC.
Active Nonviolence Panel: Linda Groff, John IshvardasAbdullah, Robert Stuckey and Naresh Jain in the interfaith panel discussion 'Active Nonviolence- the Pathway to peace'.
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