________________
JAIN Buffalo youths meet to
form Jain chapter leven Jain youths of the Buffalo metropolitan area have
DIGEST
Library/Education
JAINA goal realized in formation of library
Exchange program receives much interest
formed an informal group to meet periodically for the following purposes:
1. To unite youths interested in the Jain religion, Hindu culture, and indian heritage, through membership of the group;
pening a Jainist library long has been a goal of JAINA, 2. To stimulate worldwide acquaintance and fellow
but it was Dr. Fremchand Gada of Lubbock, TX, who ship among Jain youths.
was determined to make the dream a reality. 3. To provide opportunities for youths to increase
Cutting back his medical practice to pursue religious their knowledge of the Jain religion.
interests, Gada setup the first Jainist Library in North America. It is an attempt to form a Buffalo Chapter of the
The library has 4,000 books in the three major languages of YoungJains of America when they formalizes their organiza
India: Gujarati, Hindi, and English. tional structure. Names and addresses of the youths are
The library also has about 500 audiocassettes and 25 being mailed to Dr. Urmila Talsania, Dr. Sulekh Jain, and
videocassettes. Word has gotten around since he began the Amar Salgia. The group has already started preparing a list
library in April of 1990, Gada said, noting that he had a of Buffalo's Jain youths in colleges/universities to send them
request for information from a Harvard professor. a copy of the Jain Digest. This assignment was undertaken by
Dr. N.L. Jain, a retired chemistry professor, recently the Special Projects Committee of the Jaina.
stayed with Dr. Gada and his family on his visit from India For information about this youth's group, please call
to the United States. He was invited by a Christian organizaSumeet Jain, (716) 773-1314.
tion in San Francisco, CA, to give a presentation at the Assembly of World Religion.
"It is surprising to learn that this is the first library of its kind in the western hemispere," Dr. Jain said. "It is hoped that it will render best services for spreading the practice of nonviolence, vegetarianism, non-alcoholism, and polyview
ism through its manifold library services. s mentioned before, the first Jain Youth Exchange (This article was taken from a longer article by Beth Pratt in Program has made incredible progress and everything the October 15, 1990 issue of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal).
is going along according to schedule. Dr. Atul Shah, president of the Young Jains of the U.K. and coordinator of this program just informed S.A.B. Kumar and Urmila Talsania (coordinators in North America) that there is a lot of interest among the youths and a large number of applications have been received. In fact, the response is so tremendous, that the group size has been extended to 25 members. T he Jain library has plans to make the library available
The Young Jains of the U.K. will make their final to all centers by either sending some books to all the selection by January 31, 1991. After the selection, this group centers on a rotation basis or by helping to establish a will start preparing skits such as Jain plays, music, short permanent library at their centers. Contact Prem Gada for speeches and stories, etc.
further details. The youth group will be in North America for three
Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji through Jain Internaweeks in July 1991 and will attend the JAINA convention in tional Meditation Center of New York has donated complete San Francisco. The purpose of this exchange program is to sets of his books, audios and videos to the library. Prakash share Jain ideals, customs, traditions, plans, and practices and Jitu Vadilal Vasa of Rajkot have donated more than 600 and develop mutual contacts and friendships across the seas. books and Shri Karshan Ladhu Nishar of Dadar, Bombay After the convention, the group will visit several other Jain and Shri Dinesh Mody of Bombay have also donated matecenters, in California, Washington D.C., New York, and New rials. The Jaina library would like to thank those mentioned Jersey.
and also encourage others to donate as well. Let us welcome these youths to our Jain Centers and
Currently the JAINA library is working on the folprovide them with opportunities to meet youths in North lowing projects: 1) Production or procurement of a video on America. If successful, JAINA will organize more of such silk production; 2) Preparation of a more comprehensive exchanges in coming years to and from North America, Pratikraman in English; 3) A study on Jainism and its guide Europe, India, and other countries.
lines on social environment and issues affecting all Jains in For details, please contact:
North America. Examples include abortion, family planS.A.B. Kumar (416) 890-3367
ning, divorce, dowry, eating habits, and the use of pesticides. Urmila Talsania (708) 969-8845
By Prem J. Gada
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www.jainelibrary.org
Jain library to start
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