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A NEW JAIN BHAWAN IN MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA
Jain Center of Northern California(JCNC) organized a very until the temple is built. We far exceeded that goal with more successful and historical Pratishtha Mahotsav from August 4-7, than 3100 upvas already completed at the opening of Jain Bhawan. 2000 for inauguration and consecration of its newly built Jain This includes 7 to 10 people doing Varshi Tap In a true sense, Bhawan (Jain Temple and Community Center) at 722 South Main these Tapasvis are the spiritual and silent force behind the realizaStreet, Milpitas, California 95035.
tion of our Jain Bhawan. Jain Bhawan houses the first Jain Temple in the entire North W idespread Community Participation With No Ghee-Boli: America to have Pratimas with Pran Pratishthå (Anjan Shalakha), JCNC conducted Pratishtha of 44 Pratimas and Namokar Maha and unites all the Jain traditions under one roof - Shwetämbar, Mantra Shila with no gheeboli for any entity. Over 300 families Digambar, Sthänakwäsi, Teräpanthi, and the inspired ones by participated in the Prathishtha with pre-assigned religious activiShrimad Rajchandra. This shows that we are not only united but ties. All participants signed up for Prathishtha of their chosen we respect everybody equally.
Pratima with a designated amount in advance, and paid their A Modern Facility: Completed in less than 14 months, from pledges in installments in three years. This approach allowed mulground breaking to completion, the Jain Bhawan is perhaps the tiple families to participate with lower amounts than those in Gheefastest Jain temple ever built. The total cost of the project is ap- Boli, and it provided the needed funds ahead of time to cover the proximately $7.4 million, which includes the cost of organizing construction costs. More importantly, it provided a communitythe Pratishtha Mahotsav. Our building and construction commit- wide sense of participation, ownership and belonging by the famitee did a splendid job in coordinating the efforts in such a short lies who participated in Prathishtha. time.
A Unique Pratishtha Mahotsav: We started planning for the This is a two-story structure with 18,000 sq. feet community Pratishtha Mahotsav with the objective of doing the best we could, center on the first floor, and 6,000-sq. ft. religious area on the we ended up "Setting Up Another Set of New Standards” as said second floor. The community center consists of an auditorium, by many of our guests representing organizations from India, the classrooms, kitchen, dining hall, library and Pujari/caretaker room UK, Canada, other parts of the world and within the US includalong with classroom and child care center in a contemporary ing JAINA President, JCSC President, and many more. During modern facility. The religious area consists of a traditional the August 4-7, 2000 period approximately 10,000 people from Digambar/Shwetambar temple, a Bhakti-Sthanak and upasharya all over the world visited Jain Bhawan and attended the Prathishtha rooms. The all-white-marble temple is designed and built accord- Mahotsav events at one time or the other. This included Jain from ing to the Jain Vastushastra. The religious area consists of over all traditions, non-Jains and non-Indians. The peaks were over 100,000 pounds of marble items including 44 Pratimas and a 4,000 people at cultural program on August 5th, and over 3,000 Namokar Maha Mantra Shila, all carved in India in less than 5 "young people" at Raas-Garba program on August 6th. The months.
Pratishtha Ceremonies were attended and graced by religious dig Jain Bhawan is also a virtual temple fully wired for the Internet.
nitaries including Sadhus, Sadhvies, Samanijis, Pratishtha In one sense, our temple never closes and does not have any geo
Acharyas, Vidhikaars, scholars, and other experts from all tradigraphic boundaries.
tions. Anyone who would like to do Darshan can log on to the Internet and can do Darshan any time of the day from any place around the world.
Spiritual Inspiration: From the initiation of the project in April 1997, our community decided to hold at least one upvaas (Tapsaya) every day
8 /JAIN DIGEST FALL 2000 Jain Education International 2010_02
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