8
Vision of Jain Center of Southern California and JAINA
(Sudhir Kothari)
Chitrabhanuji visited LosAngeles in 1971 and sincethat time, there
was a natural desire among Jain families to get together and build our own
Derasar. Samvatsari Pratikraman was hosted by Lalit & Madhu Shah in
1970s where many families and singleyoung people came. Attimesseveral
families would get together at the home of one of the families to do
Swadhyay. Lalit & Mahendra Khandhar were the pioneers in getting Jain
families together with a vision for the larger cause of Jain unity and
propagating Jain values. Lalit conceivedthe idea oforganizing Jain Center
at local andnational level. Mahendra andothers pickedupon thatvisionand
it soonbecamethe dream ofthe whole community. The formulation oflocal
JainCenterbegantotakeplace in 1978.
Thereweremanyobstacles: nomoney,nocontacts,nofacility, noone
to go to, a new project in foreign country etc. Only thing we had was a
dream and the desire to achieve it. Working hard, several informal
communitymeetings ensued to discuss the establishment ofJain Centerin
LA area, over a period ofnext twelve months. Particular attention was paid
togoals,principles,constitution,organization,activitiesandfinance.
Finally, the Jain Center ofSouthern California (JCSC) was born
on September 15, 1979 with a grand vision. There was an elected
ExecutiveCommitteetoachievevisionandconductdailyroutines.
Someofthehighlightsofthisvisionare:
1. Jain Center will conductits activities without any consideration of
Jain sects.
2. Developand implementtheideaoforganizingthenational federation
ofallJainSocieties/Centers in US &Canada.
3. HelpestablishotherJainCentersthroughoutUS &Canada.
4, Save our children from Western culture by imparting Jain values in
therm.
5. PromotetheidealsofJainismamongfellowIndiansandAmericans.
Thefoundingprinciplesarebrieflydiscussedbelow :
1, Promote Jainism: We were finding ourselves beinglost in the
Westernculture prevailing aroundus atwork, in the neighborhood,at school
etc.Wefeltakeenneedtopreserveourrichheritage,promoteitamonglike-
