JAINA Convention 2009 07 Los Angeles

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

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15th Biennial JAINA Convention 2009
Ecology - The Jain Way
VEGETARIAN SENIORS: A
long. Are science and technology a boon or curse?
Only time will tell. THOUGHT FOR REFLECTION Fakirchand J. Dalal
To enhance the quality of life, we need to live sfdalal@comcast.net
healthy, happy, active and independent lives. We can serve and enrich the community through our
accumulated experience and wisdom. We can Fakirchand ). Dalal, age 82, is a Jain improve our physical, mental, emotional, social, retiree, living in metro Washington,
financial, and spiritual well being. Successful D.C. area. He is a long time aging depends on what you eat, drink and diaest. community activist.
One can be one's own doctor for most of the routine ailments, fatigue, and self-imposed irregularities through restraint and discipline.
Education, training and reading are highly Migration to the United States from India essential for keeping our minds functional. accelerated after the 1965 change in immigration law. The first generation of NRIs (including Jains) We should never forget that we live in an - who established basic organizations-ethnic, interdependent universe, or in other words, religious, linguistic, professional, business, etc - is 'parasparopagraho jivanam.' Our life style has to aging. Our organizations which we have not been be congenial with our neighbors, the entire world able to institutionalize are also aging. The of other living beings, including one sense (human) machine of seniors needs tune up and (sthavar) lives - plants, earth/soil, water, fire, parts need greasing or replacement. The second and air/climate. 'Live and let live should be our generation has grown up, married and left. They motto. We should be concerned about the have started their own Grihasthashram. The joint adverse effects of global warming created by the family system has collapsed everywhere and self-centered arrogance of the human species. unitary family is order of the day. Oriental wisdom 'Simple living and high thinking' should guide our of Varn-ashram dharma vanished with the advent behavior. This is all part of Ahimsak living. If this of the industrial revolution. Now we are left is not Jainism, then what else is it? without any well thought out plan of alternative social or community organization. It is our We seniors can and must meet regularly as a part responsibility to plan and recast the structure for of a vegetarian senior organization in every our human needs, as man is a social animal.
metropolitan area. We can eat vegetarian or
vegan meals together. Seniors have adult day We migrants brought with us education, family
care centers. We know that old age is the second values and ethics of hard work as our only assets. childhood, but with a difference. Every one of us It helped us to succeed in an alien western has something to offer, as every immigrant has a society. Our children continued the professional
story to tell. Our cumulative wisdom can be an tradition that brought us name and fame. Indians invaluable precious community storehouse, which are considered the most educated and cannot be allowed to be frittered away. economically successful as a group.
Meeting together is good, eating together is Some of us are seniors, yet not retired. We are better, but living together in a township of a afraid and do not know how to pass time during retirement community is the best. It is a retirement. Many of us have not developed comprehensive solution for most of the needs of hobbies. Money is important, but not everything. feeble aging seniors. This is the modern concept Most of us are living in golden cages of empty of adopted vaanprasth ashram and sanyas nests. Aging, in its turn, brings along problems of ashram combined. Many other religious and health. Health is wealth. Both are needed, as one commercial groups have already jumped into this without the other, makes life burdensome. venture to meet the needs of a growing senior Loneliness, boredom, anxieties, aches and pains population in the United States. Living as an add to the miseries. Quality of life gets lost. With extended family of compatible seniors will provide all the financial resources tended during the entire human warmth, for which there is no substitute. working life, we are not at ease. Dreams of life When one spouse passes away, this will be of during crimson colored evenings are evaporating. immense help. Again, we are a resourceful people and can chart our own future, as our life spans are going to be
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