Jain Digest 2003 09 Vol 22 No 3

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

Page 30

REGIONAL NEWS....
We were honored to have Sunandaben Vohra for her Jin Vani on SadGati.
Our Paryushan Parva & Mahavir Janma celebration was exceptionally good. Everyone participated in all our activities. The Tulsa Jain Sangh is an associate member of JAINA. We have only 32 families and we are proud to say that 39 individuals, adults and youths did some type of Tapasya during Paryushan. We have 2 Atthais, One 27 Ektana plus 1 Atham, Six 6-upvas and many 15 to 1 Ektana. There were a total of 72 Upvas, 123 Ektana and 30 Beyasana. Michchhami Dukkadam from The Tulsa Jain Sangh. Please contact Kanti Shah (President, TJS) for any additional information at (918) 369-3163 or email kanaru@aol.com.
CANADA
Dr. Mahendra Mehta, Regional Editor
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Dr. Rakheshbhai Jhaveri: Toronto Jains were very fortunate to have Dr. Rakeshbhai Jhaveri's visit for full two weeks. There were nearly 100 Jains from the USA, 20 Jains from UK and 30 from India. With Toronto and surrounding suburban Jains, daily attendance was over 300.
Gurudev gave a total of 22 talks and covered topics such as: Road to Eternal Happiness; Release from Sufferings; Detachment from worldly affairs; The Importance of Guru in attaining Moksha; Method of Realizing One's Inner Self and The Inner State of Mind of a Realized Soul.
The evening sessions were more of scientific enquiry into Jain Darsan and the topics included Dharma: A science in itself.
28/ JAIN DIGEST-Fall 2003 Jain Education Intemational
Dharma: A soul elevating experience. MONTREAL, QUEBEC: Dharma: Awakening of the soul. Dharma: Eternal Peace. Dharma: A rejoining with Paramatma. Dharma: A scientific experiment. Gurudev's ability to tackle a difficult subject and put it into simple everyday Gujarati for a mixed audience of Jains, non Jains and predominantly English speaking young North American Jains, is a divine gift. He illustrated his talks with anecdotes, many a time taken from his day to day experiences in Toronto, drove the point home so dramatically that people understood the message without any further question or explanation. One can witness the whole experience of 22 Satsangs, Debate, Stavans and all the excitement by watching DVD, Video or Audio made during the two weeks.
Diptiben Shah visited Montreal July 1113. A two day sibir covered wide range of subjects including Importance of Pachkaan, Tirth, Jain rituals and a slide show of Mahavir Jivan Charitra.
Pujya Rakeshbhai Jhaveri: Gurudev visited Montreal on August 4th and was welcome by a congregation of about 100 people at Quebec Hindu Mandir. The evening meal was followed by Bhakti and then a satsang for members of Jain Samaj.
Paryusan Parva: The small Jain community in Montreal did not stop having daily Pratikraman and there were Tapascharya one of 9 Upvas, one Athai and many with 2,3 and 6 Upvas. Many children fasted for Samvatsari day.
Paryusan Parva: The 2003 Paryusan Parva in Toronto Jain Sangh was EDMONTON,AB: celebrated with vigor and excitement. We had Shrenikbhai Shah from Mumbai giving morning, afternoon and evening discourse based on reading of Kalpasutra. The Samvatsari Pratikraman was attended by so many people that arrangements had to be made to take the overflow to Shree Jain Mandir on Park Lawn. This year tapascharya was a record for Toronto. There were 18 Athais of which three were children ranging from 12 to 15 years age. Atham Tap was done by at least 30 and one and two Upvasis were numerous. The Jain Sangh organized a communal Parna on Monday 1st Sept. and it turned out to be a joyous occasion. The Tapasvis were also publicly honored and gifts distributed from the Sangh and from pious individuals.
Picnic: The Annual Picnic was organized on Saturday 26th July at Boyd Conservation Area and was well attended. This is the day in the year when Jain Sangh members are relaxed and prefer to enjoy worldly things such as food, games and socializing instead of spiritual pursuits.
Samvatsari Pratikraman was hosted by Babulal & Nainaben on 31st August in Edmonton.
In Calgary, Dipak and Pankajben hosted the Smvatsari Pratikraman on August 24 followed by Samvatsari Program on Sept. 7th.
SOUTHEAST
Surendra Shah, Regional Editor
ATLANTA,GA
A Youth Shibir conducted by sadhviji Shilpaji was held in Atlanta from July 30,2003 to August 3,2003. Concurrently lectures were given by sadhviji subhamji to adults. Paryusana Parva will be celebrated in presence of Sunandaben Vohra. Plans are being made to construct a Derasar. This would be an addition to existing lecture
hall.