Jain Digest 2001 01 Vol 17 No 01

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

Page 49

ROIT
YOUNG JAINS OF AMERICA
By Suken Jain
From November 23rd to the 25th youth gathered at the Jain Center of Northern California for the first ever YJA West Regional Conference. It began Thursday evening, when the Jain youth gathered at the temple in Milpitas. Some came early and helped put together our Thanksgiving feast, and others trickled in throughout the night.
Our own youth put together a wonderful Jain vegan Thanksgiving meal, which was devoured by all. Before everybody started, they took turns saying what they were thankful for, Thursday night concluded with games and more socializing before every body retreated to their own homes or to a host house. Friday was started with yoga, which was led by one of the youth attendees, and after a good amount of stretching and breathing exercises, everybody was ready for some discussion. The first topic that was discussed was happiness. The discussion started with the whole
group listing what made them happy which varied from family to cars. From there the group discussed the Jain outlook on happiness and how one can live without so many materialistic things in
his life. Success was another topic talked about and people described what it meant to them. Soon after the opposite emotion came up, anger. People described what angered them and the group came up with ways to deal with it. The Jain ideal of equanimity was brought up here to show that we should not let our emotions
run wild.
The next topic to come up was how to deal with parents and the generation gap. Here, many of the older youth gave their experiences and helped the younger ones with certain problems they had been facing at home. That led into the discussion of careers and again the older youth acted as mentors to the younger ones. At that point the topic of dating and marriage came up. Due to the wide array of attendees, many views were put forth about casual dating, and actually looking for somebody to wed.
Next, a sensitive subject was discussed, sectionalism. The general consensus of the group was that it was not important, and that everybody follows Jainism in their own way with the main ideals the same. The discussion portion was wrapped up with a brief discussion on Jainism in politics.
In between a couple of the discussions, a lunch of Jain vegan Mexican food was served and once again enjoyed by all. After the discussions, the group had a great night out with dinner followed by some bowling. After a lot of fun on Friday night, everybody came Saturday morning ready to gain some knowledge on something most of us see and do but not fully understand, puja. A very kind uncle and auntie led us through a puja and explained the significance of each and every step. This was a very knowledgeable and enlightening experience for everybody involved. After the puja, uncle and auntie then showed us around the beautiful mandir that was recently built.
yoga, but this time it was followed by some meditation which was The group was again led by one of the youth attendees for a relaxing and calming experience. After some tasty Jain-vegan spaghetti, the group gathered for one last time. Each person took
a turn in saying what Jainism means to them and how they prac
tice it. Each person had a unique answer, but it was all from the same base. After that, everybody said closing statements which included the following: "I planned to only come for one day, but it was great, so I stayed." "It was a lot of fun." and "I think we
should have it more often."
The first ever YJA West Regional Conference was a definite success and the start of what YJA hopes to be a great deal of regional action. The representation of the attendees stretched from Los Angeles to Calgary, and will hopefully be even greater next time. A special thanks is due to Jain Center of Northern Califorgracious hosts. In light of the success of this conference and the nia and Girish Uncle for letting us use the facilities and being convention in L.A., we hope to build strong youth groups in the west and throughout North America with Young Jains of America.
JAIN DIGEST. SPRING 2001/47