Jain Digest 1998 07 Vol 14 No 03

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

Page 23

JAINA thanks Dr. Balbhadra Costain, Chandrakant Parekh, Dr. Dilip Shah for their unselfish and dedicated service as judges to make the essay contest a very succesful event. Special thanks to Chhaya Kapadia, who is heading the JAINA Essay Committee, and is responsible for developing and implementing the 1998 JAINA Essay Competition concept. Many thanks to Harendra Shah who undertook the enormous task of coordinating every aspect of the competition.
In a true sense, all participating youths are the winners.
JAIN DIGEST will publish the first place essays in all four categories, starting with the first one in this issue. The remaing three will appear in forthcoming issues. All the prizes will be awarded at the 10th Biennial JAINA Convention in Philadelphia next July.
First Place Essay: Up to 10 years
Maintaining and Representing Our Religious and Cultural Identity as Jains in North America By Riddhi Mehta, Age 8
I am proud to be a young Jain girl. The thing that fascinates me is the purity of Jainism. I feel it is the best religion that I have ever come across. When I talk about my religion to my American friends in school they become overwhelmed about it. It fascinates me because I am proud to be a vegetarian. When I tell my friends that I am a vegetarian they would always ask me that how can I live without eating non-vegetarian food. Then I would explain my friends that I get all my necessary vitamins, carbohydrates and proteins from the vegetarian food that I eat. In order to practice and represent Jainism today, I tell my friends the various diseases caused by eating meat. Most of the meat contains high levels of cholesterol and fat in them. This leads to heartattacks, blockage of arteries and veins.
Therefore in order to expand, practice and promote Jainism in future I would make more people aware of the disadvantages caused by eating non-vegetarian foods. I would print out flyers and pamphlets, which state the disadvantages of eating nonvegetarian foods and advantages of eating vegetarian foods. I would distribute these pamphlets to people in churches, to students in schools, in various institutions and in neighborhood communities.
During my freetime I would arrange conferences and meetings and preach about Jainism in future. At present many people in USA are unaware of the advantages of eating vegetarian foods.
I hate when I hear that animals are being slaughtered in the slaughterhouses. Animals have souls too and they get hurt too when they are killed. They are just like human beings only that
they cannot speak. The principles and teachings of Jainism are to speak the truth and only the truth. We must always respect our elders and also we must never hurt the feelings of other human beings. We must always say Navkar Mantra at least twice a day. It is best to understand the true meaning of Navkar Mantra and explain it to our friends. In times of troubles we must always say Navkar Mantra. I always say Navkar Mantra before I go to bed because my Jain religion teacher has told to do so.
We all visit circus, zoo and sea world for fun. We think that it is also educational for our children. But have we ever considered what the animals behind the bars feel like? Would anyone like to go to prison even without ever committing a crime? Would anyone like to be whipped by the trainers at the zoos?
We also buy pets for our houses. Aren't they cute and beautiful? But again, is it their natural life? Is there any person who can save these animals from being tortured? Yes, we all the Jains, the followers of Mahavir Bhagwan, are here to protect the animals. We should not use animals for our entertainment. We should not buy cage pets, such as birds, fish and hamsters, either.
We must get together and find out how the animals are trained. We should learn how the confined animals have stress, and filthy unhealthy environment. These animals die early because of us.
I am proud to be a young Jain girl. In future I would do my best to promote and practice Jainism.
JAIN DIGEST FALL 1998/21 www.jainelibrary.org