Jain Center Los Angeles CA 2008 09 Pratishta Souvenior

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

Page 9

Message from Padmashri Dr. Kumarpal Desai
How happy one feels when a dream becomes a reality. On August 31, 1986, I was invited by the Jain Center of Southern California to deliver lectures during the Paryushan Festival. The venue for the lectures at that time was a small hall and I felt how nice it would be for the local Jain community to have their own Jain Bhavan. Such a facility, I thought, would go a long way in providing amenities to the Shravaks and Shravikas and offer an environment conducive to their devotional fervor.
As luck would have it, that very year during Paryushan, donations started pouring in for the proposed new center. After 1986, I had the opportunity to visit six times for a Paryushan lecture series in 1990, 1996, 2000, 2003 and 2007, and I was a witness to the progressing evolution of the center's growth and construction. I was also instrumental in organizing some functions in India to disseminate information about the center and was able to receive support from the Shankheshwar Tirth organization. Now that the center has grown into a vibrant entity, my joy knows no bounds.
What is noteworthy is the fact that unity has been forged among the different Jain sects and that there is no sectarian bias. Consequently, everyone participates enthusiastically and whole-heartedly in all the activities of the center and the bond of love and brotherhood gets strengthened. It is heartening to know that membership is growing steadily and the volunteers are willing to serve the center in an unselfish manner. All religious activities are carried out in a spirit of accommodation and camaraderie and the Jain Center of Southern California in this respect holds a beacon of light to the Jain Centers in India.
I express my happiness to the fact that you have planned the Pratishtha Mahotsav in a big way and have been working ceaselessly to make it a grand affair. The center, I have no doubt, will inculcate religiosity in future generations through numerous programs and activities to be organized under its aegis. I commend your exemplary efforts and you all deserve to be complimented. I convey my best wishes to you all.