Jain Digest 1993 04 Vol 20 No 02

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

Page 4

Jain Digest
their pathshala. (See review this issue.)
News and Announcements
Metro Washington children's program to be held April 17
Invitation to celebrate 10th anniversary of Jain Center of New Jersey
A children's program, featuring a musical drama, Ras, Garba, etc. will be held during the Mahavir Jayanti celebration on Saturday, April 17, 1993. Kantilal and Meeta Gangar have kindly agreed to direct the program. Interested children are are requested to call Kantilal or Meeta Gangar at (301) 598-3093 for more details.
and three jewels of the Jain religion will be discussed.
Level two students are full of intellectual curiosity and raise appropriate questions during discussions. The group started with memorizing and understanding important stutis and selected gathas from important sutras with regard to Jain philosophy. Five great vows of Jain monks, 21 virtues of shravaks/ shravikas, and 18 papa sthanaks have been covered. Presently the group is discussing bahayantar and abhyantar tapas (internal and external activities). The children have also been taught how to do morning paccakkhanas (Namukkarsahim Mutthisahiam). Parents, please help your children in observing the simplest tapas at least two times a month. In the next session, the children will be taught simple sutras and will continue with other topics in Jain philosophy.
Level three students have been preparing for the summer JAINA Convention in Pittsburgh, PA. Discussion began with various categories in Jainism: Nine Tatvas, five Anuvratas, five senses, ten virtues of a Jain monk, twelve vows of a Layman, five Vows, and six Universal Substances. It has been the group's plan to create a large display of posters and other things explaining these categories at the JAINA Convention. Many thanks to teacher Yogen Jain for his direction and hard work.
The Jain Center of New Jersey will be celebrating its tenth anniversary on April 10, with ceremonies to begin April 9 and continuing until April 11, 1993.
The celebration will be held at the Jain Center in Essex Fells and at the Caldwell College in Caldwell, N.J. highlights of the celebration include discourse on Jain religion by scholars from the U.S. as well as India and dance dramas depicting Jain history and principles. The members of the Jain Center of New Jersey will be honored to welcome all Jains to participate in the celebration.
For additional information please contact the following executive committee members: Sanatbhai Jhaveri (201-228-4355), Jayesh F. Sanghvi (201-384-7487) or Vinodbhai C. Shah (914-693-8379).
Prayer book completed
The Jain Society of Rochester (NY) has just finalized a unique prayer book that contains quite a few popular stavans (religious songs) originally composed in Gujarati or Hindi. They have been translated into English and written in phonetic English as well to aid the children who have been brought up in North America. The Center is planning to send a complimentary copy to each Jain Center in the United States and Canada. Please see the current president of your center to review this excellent book. If you wish to have a personal copy, it can be ordered through each center at a nominal cost. For further details, please call Anop Vora, Rochester, NY, (716) 473-9290.
Greater Boston humming with learning
Houston celebrates Mahvir Jayanti
Greater .St. Louis Pathshala to begin
This center's Pathshala is humming with learning and other activities. They have also added ten new students. It was thought a good idea to let everybody know what is being taught now and about plans for the future.
Level one students are the most energetic children; they get totally submerged into everything presented to them. The emphasis is on memorization of stutis, simple sutras, and the names of 24 tirthankars. In the next few classes, the story of Bagwan Mahavir will be told, and other topics such as the five great vows of jain monks, five senses,
Mahavir Jayanti was celebrated on Sunday, March 28, 1993. Families from Dallas, Lubbock, and Austin areas joined for this celebration.
The Pathshala of the Center has recently acquired a few copies of an excellent book titled, "INTRODUCTION TO JAINISM," written by Dr. Bharat S. Shah. Pathshala teachers are going to use this book as a text book for teaching Jainism in
With the intention to foster basic understanding of Jain religion/ philosophy and to provide a forum to learn values of Jainism in today's environments, the Jain Center of Greater St. Louis is starting the Pathshala. The details of this program will be announced soon.
Jain Education Interational 2010_02