Jain Study Center NC Raleigh 1999 08 Twenty Years

SR No.: 528542
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Study Center NC Raleigh
Publisher: USA Jain Study Center NC Raleigh
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 122
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Souvenir Jain Center NC Raleigh, & USA
File Size: 15 MB

Page 90

As Long As I Can Remember
by Shweta Shah
Having spent almost my entire life in North Carolina, I literally do not remember a time when the Jain Study Center of North Carolina did not exist. Over these twenty years, the Jain group here has provided me with an abundance of teachings and memories. I believe if I was to sit down and recollect all of them, they would fill an entire souvenir book on their own. Since it's conception in 1979, the Jain group has not only served to provide a practical education of Jainism but has also touched everyone that has come into contact with the society to form an extended family. My personal experience with the Jain group has been an extremely positive one. I have learned many Jain teachings and practices but also have had the opportunity to build friendships that started twenty years ago and that will surely last a lifetime.
The leaders of the Jain center have made a concerted effort to educate not only the adults but the youth as well with a practical application of Jainism. The youth were self-taught since the beginning by learning Jain sutras, mantras, stavans, stories, and philosophy on their own and then reciting or explaining them during the monthly meetings. I remember Sunday morning rides to Jain Meetings frantically preparing anything for a presentation. We were also encouraged to submit entries to the Jain Center of Boston essay competitions in which at least a few our participants won every year. As the years went by, our lessons focused more on Jain philosophy and we had discussions at the monthly meetings. Not only have I learned Jain philosophy, rituals, and history from the teachers in our center here, but also at the same time I have learned not to blindly accept them as being true. One unique thing about this group is its ability to transcend orthodox Jainism and to allow the religion to change with time that we are living in.
The Jain center here is a relatively small and close knit group and, as a result, it has served to provide not only an education of Jainism but also an extended "family" for all of us here. Since most of us either do not have close relatives in the Raleigh area, or perhaps even in the United States for that matter, the children here have grown up together and have treated each other as not only closest friends but also as our own siblings. I do not remember a time in my life when I did not know some people of the Jain group who have turned out to be some of my closest friends still today. This center has provided an avenue to cultivate friendships and bonds that will last a lifetime.
When I think of the Jain group, many memories stand out in my mind. A few of these include the blue folders, sticker books, camps at Umstead Park, picnics at Optimist Farm Club, Mahavir Jayanti and Parusyan celebrations, Jain Academic Bowl Competition, numerous JAINA and YJA conventions, and creative games to keep ourselves amused at Jain meetings. These are just a few of the things that I will carry with me and remember for a lifetime. I am happy to have been here since the beginning of the society and am looking forward to seeing it continue to grow provide teachings and memories for all of it's family for many years to come.
Shweta Shah is a graduate student of engineering at North Carolina State University.
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Jain Education Interational