Jain Digest 1997 06 Vol 13 No 02

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

Page 23

Federation of JAINA
Presidential Acceptance Speech Delivered by Dr. Dhiraj Shah at the 9th Biennial JAINA Convention in Toronto, Canada, on July 6, 1997
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Respected Gurujis, dignitaries, ladies, and gentlemen, Jai Jinendra.
It is indeed a distinct honor and privilege for me to have been elected as your President for the next two years. I accept this honor with a deep sense of responsibility, gratitude, and humility. I would like to congratulate the previous administrations which were led by Dr. Manibhai Mehta, Dr. Jagat Jain, Dr. Sulekh Jain, Dr. Tansukh Salgia, and Dr. Manoj Dharamsi for their accomplishments. I want to thank the Jain Society of Toronto and the volunteers for such a marvelous convention.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, a great prophet by the name of Mahavir taught the world the principles of Jainism; principles such as ahimsa, anekantavad, aparigrah, and anukampa. But 2,500 years after, we must face the tragic fact that the world has become more violent, more intolerant, more materialistic, and less compassionate. When we look at the world around us, many countries like Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Zaire, and Albania are being disintegrated and millions of people are being killed in the name of religion, race, language, and ethnic cleansing. How fortunate we are to be living in our adopted land, North America, and coming from our mother land, India, where all religions, races, languages and ethnicities are embraced and tolerated. While the world is engulfed in the art of destruction and dissection, we have created “JAINA' which represents all the Jains of North America in spite of our diversity of religious rituals, traditions, customs, languages and regional origins. Our diversity is our strength! It brings out the best in each of us. Let us not make our diversity a reason for discord. Let us embrace each other's traditions, languages and ethnic backgrounds. Let us be inclusive, not exclusive. JAINA is an example of our unity in diversity.
Since its founding in 1981, JAINA has grown from merely four Jain societies to an incredible fifty four today, thanks to Gurudev Chitrabanu and Acharya Sushilmuni.
Friends, it is not just enough to have a society if we want to follow Lord Mahavir's teachings. We need a physical structure, we need a building, we need a temple and pathshala, we need a pulpit. We need this pulpit to preserve and promote the principles of Jainism as caught by Lord Mahavir. In fact, we need this pulpit in each and every metropolitan area in North America. This pulpit will not only satisfy the needs of our generation, but the needs of generations to come. At the same time, we also need a library in every center to complement our temple and pathshala.
We also need senior citizen's housing in various locations next to our temples, where our senior citizens can spend their golden years in a religious atmosphere. This is not something new. The Christian community has done it. So have the Jewish, Moslem, and Hindu communities. Why have we, the richest ethnic group, forgotten to take care of our senior citizens. I believe it is time to implement a housing program just for senior citizens. Our children are our future, but our senior citizens are our foundation. We don't want to follow other communities blindly; however this idea is a sound one and it helps us to maintain our identity in this mosaic of multicultural society we call North America. We want to assimilate, not isolate; but at the same time we want to preserve our identity by having a temple, pathshala, library, and senior citizen housing complex in every region of North America.
This is my vision. I hope that this is your vision as well. This is what I intend to begin to accomplish in the next two years; however, I need your help to make our vision a reality. We need a strong JAINA which can stand by every Jain society and Jain family as they build their temple and pathshala. Whether it is the Jain Center of New York, Detroit, Miami, San Francisco, New Jersey or Tulsa-JAINA wants to make our vision a reality. JAINA is on your side! We will spend our time, talent, and treasure to make sure that you succeed. However, your honest effort is needed to help JAINA succeed. Remember, JAINA's success is your success.
To achieve these goals, I would like to propose that we raise a million dollars before the next millennium for the JAINA Charitable Trust, a second million for the JAIN DIGEST Endowment Fund, and a third million for the JAINA General Fund.
1. The JAINA Charitable Trust will help societies to build temples, pathshalas, libraries, and senior citizen's
housing. 2. The JAIN DIGESTEndowment Fund will generate enough interest so that we can publish more than two issues
of the JAIN DIGEST every year and other useful literature that can be sent to 10,000 Jain families. 3. The JAINA General Fund will be used to carry out humanitarian, educational, and environmental activities,
Jeev Daya, inviting scholars, a scholar's training program, helping Jain families in need, publishing books for children of all ages and sending them to each one of our homes.
Presidential Acceptance Speech
JAIN DIGEST FALL 1997/21
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