Jain Center Los Angeles CA 1998 07 10th Anniversary of Jain Bhavan

Author(s): Jain Center So CA Los Angeles
Publisher: USA Jain Center Southern California

Page 91

Young Adult Swadhyay
by Biren Mehta
It's been a common trend at our temple for youth to attend Pathshala classes until the ripe age of sixteen or so. For many years the older high school and young college students have limited their visits to only major celebrations such as Mahavir Jayanti. There has been a gap in the spread of ages that attend the Derasar regularly. Many young adults do not see a reason to come because there is no regular meeting or a group of their peers.
In an effort to unify young Jain adults, mainly college students and high school seniors, the Jain Study Group was formed in late 1997. The group meets once a month at Jain Bhavan and the participation is restricted to students of age eighteen and above. The first meeting was a workshop explaining the importance of Jain religion in the lives of young adults. Binders with some introductory material were distributed at that meeting. It was attended by about 25 students.
Often, it is difficult for us to learn about spiritual theories because of the language barrier. The idea behind the Jain Study Group is to provide young adults with the opportunity to enhance their understanding of these concepts in English. One of the first steps in the process of developing a new class was to find out the interest level about certain topics. In order to make the two-hour sessions effective, it was necessary to emphasize practical concepts about each topic. For example, when discussing karma theory, we spend an hour discussing the mechanism of how it works, and then during the second hour we discuss how our daily action attract the karmic matter. The goal is to leave the class with ideas that will be thought about on a regular basis while performing routine activities. The Group's focus is on the concerns and issues facing young Jain adults living in Western society. It is meant to be interactive; a forum where we can share and explore the perspective of our peers.
In recent months the lecture topics have been: The purpose of life, the effect of addictions, and the karma theory. Following the lecture, we discuss various topics that have a practical impact on our lives. The discussions have ranged from personal issues such as practicing Jainism in our everyday lives to political issues like euthanasia and capital punishment.
Jainism is very clear and to the point in its teachings.
- Hemali Shah (15)
Jain Education Intemational