Jain Digest 1999 07

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

Page 37

most powerful cure, why are not we resorting to it on a regular basis? Perhaps due to a combination of tradition and conditioning. It appears that there is a big divergence between the way Lord Mahavir practiced the religion and the traditional forms of Jain religious practices that sprung up afterwards. Many of them place more emphasis on rituals than on meditation. When we go to a temple, usually too many distractions surround us. When we do Pratikraman, our tendency is to go through the whole exercise swiftly without taking the time to reflect on what is happening. KAUSAGGAS embedded into PRATIKRAMAN are supposed to prepare us for more serious meditation but that is not happening because we are too busy to finish up of our quotas of counting NAVKAR MANTRA!
Lord Mahavira spent most of his 12 years of monk hood in deep meditation before he achieved KEVALGNAN. Lord Buddha employed a similar technique for years before he achieved ENLIGHTENMENT. Many other religious leaders have followed the same practice and obtained strikingly similar results. If we want to liberate ourselves, we must follow their footsteps and devote our time and energy toward meditation. In practical terms, the VIPASANA Meditation offered by the followers of Buddhism and the Preksha Dhyan being taught by Saman Shrut Pragnaji, Ashwin Pragnaji and other followers of late Shri Acharya Tulsiji are both consistent with the Jain precepts and worth experiencing. The real benefit is in practicing them and not just reading about them. If we follow through on this suggestion, we would have taken the most important first step toward achieving liberation.
4th Jain Academic Bowl
The 4th Jain Academic Bowl (JAB) was held at the Tenth Biennial Convention of JAINA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This year's tournament was as exciting as ever, combining competitiveness, knowledge on Jainism, and friendly interaction from a number of young Jains. Six excellent teams participated; they represented Jain Centers from Boston, Chicago, Detroit, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington DC.
The final match featured the Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago (coached by Mrs. Darshana Shah) and the Jain Society of Pittsburgh (coached by Mr. Shantilal Mohnot). And the winner was? The Jain Society of Pittsburgh!! Team members of the Jain Society of Pittsburgh (Sheel Mohnot-Captain, Aditya Sanghvi, Kunal Rambhia, and Rishi Mohnot) each received individual "Ist Place" trophies as well as a larger team trophy to be placed in their Jain Center.
The Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago (team members: Alap Shah-Captain, Satya Mehta, Sheel Mehta, Shailee Mashruwala, and Sameer Shah-Alternate) also received a large "2nd Place" team trophy for their Jain Center. The trophies were conferred at the convention Awards Ceremony on Monday morning. Undoubtedly all the participants were winners since an in-depth study of many wide-ranging concepts in Jainism was required and many participants felt they learned so much from the experience.
The high caliber and preparedness of the teams were certainly impressive and the final match was viewed by a capacity crowd (standing room only) in the Grand Ballroom. Congratulations to all teams! (Special recognition goes to the outstanding team from the
Jain Center of Greater Boston, which faced some unusual circumstances.)
The tournament was structured in a modified round-robin format with six preliminary tournament rounds. There were two simultaneous matches per tournament round and each match consisted of two teams (four members on each team) playing each other. Each match featured competitive category questions, noncompetitive individual team questions, and competitive grab-bag questions. By going through all possible combinations, each team played four of the five other teams in the tournament. A random drawing at the beginning determined where each team played in the schedule. The two highest-ranking teams from the preliminary rounds met in the final match and that match solely determined the winner.
The JAB is an academic competition, modeled after the high school "It's Academic" and college-level "College Bowl activities of today's educational institutions. It is based on an appreciation of knowledge of Jainism, the ability for quick response, and a friendly yet competitive spirit.
Many thanks to the numerous people who assisted in planning and execution of the JAB - it could not be possible without a team effort! The principal organizers were Saurabh Dalal, Tejas Doshi, and Neha Vagadia with Kanu & Jyoti Doshi's keen assistance in corrections and review. Spread the word so we can see bigger and better "JABs" at future conventions!
To help organize future JAB contact Saurabh Dalal at 301/5775215 or s.dalal@ieee.
JAIN DIGEST FALL 1999/35
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