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REGIONAL NEWS....
NORTH EAST Dinesh Chheda,, Regional Editor
ESSEX FELLS, NJ
Thirty hours of continuous Navkar Mantra JAP were held at our Derasar from the Kali Chaudas to the morning of New Year to celebrate the 72-hour Akhand Deshana (message) given by Bhagwan Mahavir before his Nirvana. New Year was celebrated at Siddhachalam starting with Manglik followed by Snatra Pooja.
Gyan Pancham, Chaumasi Chaudas/
Kartaki Poonam, and Maun Ekadashi were
also celebrated at Derasar. Pathshala students talked about the importance of Gyan Poojan in their lives and how its aaradhana eliminates Gyanavarniya Karma on Gyan Pancham day. Monthly Poojas, Samuh Samayiks, and Shibirs are getting good response from the members. Pathshala classes are held at three different locations with very good response from members. More than 240 children participate in Pathshala classes. Regular Swadhayay classes are held on Friday evenings and they are given by our local Jain Scholars.
Special Thanksgiving Pooja tradition continued in year 2003 with Antaraykarma Nivaran Pooja at Derasar. Many people participated.
Dedicated members keep the Derasar
open on every Sunday afternoon. If you are visiting New Jersey area and would like to visit or attend a program, please call Shri Viren Shah at 732-329-3236.
NEW YORK, NY
Being the very first Jain Center established in USA in 1976, Jain Center of America New York has been actively involved in a lot of religious activities year
28/JAIN DIGEST⚫ Spring 20004
Jain Education International 2010_03
round. At present 700 families are Life members. Altogether there are 1250 families on their mailing list.
Year 2003 started with Mahavir Jayanti celebration in March. About 150 children participated in the cultural program. This was followed by swamivastalya. In August Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji inaugurated the new youth program and spoke on youth development and practice of Jain principles in daily life. Also in August many distinguished Jain monks and Scholars (Acharya Roopchandji Maharaj, Samanji Shrutaprajnaji and Sthitpragyaji, SarvaShri Subhash Sheth, Nautam Vakil, Rajani Shah, Chandrakant Mehta and Smt. Taralaben Doshi) gave discourses on various principles of Jainism.
The Jain center celebrated
Paryushana Parva and Das laxana Parva under the spiritual guidance of Pujya Acharya Jinchandra Suriji Maharaj. His religious discourses in Hindi were enjoyed by young and old alike. There were a lot of tapasya this year with 50 atthais and countless number of upwas ekasana biasana by young and old. The members of center were also blessed with the spiritual guidance of Vijaya Didi from Indore for Das Laxana. During these celebrations the members had the pleasure of listening to the Bhakti Sangeet by Mr. Bhanu Vora and Party from
India.
On Sep. 14th about 500 people in 9 buses went for religious journey (chaitya paripati) to the Siddhachalam Tirth in NJ. In Nov. Mahavir Nirvan was celebrated on Diwali by all night Navakar mantra jap at the temple. New year was celebrated as Guru Gautam Swami's kevalgyan din by ceremonial opening of the temple door and Snatra Pooja. Besides these activities there are ongoing regular activities taking place at the temple. These are: Daily Darshan Pooja and Aarti by individual devotees, weekly Bhavna every Friday, weekly Pathshala, monthly Navsmaran prayers and
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twice a year Ayambil oli where at least 5060 people participate.
The year 2004 is very important and auspicious for the center. This year the center hope to have the completion of new four story temple at the Ithaca Street location in Queens. The Pratishtha Mahotsav is scheduled for August 28th 2004 (Celebration starts from 8/21/04 to 8/29/04).
This Temple is unique with its Ashtapad Tirth housed on the fourth floor. It contains statues, carved in precious gems, of Jain tirthankars. There are Shwetamber and Digamber tradition temples on 2nd and 3rd floor. The temple also has meditation hall, lecture hall, seminar hall and a mini theater with technologically advanced audio visual facilities. You may visit our website
at nyjaincenter.org for further information. There is a temple link which will take you to the temple site and you will be able to visualize the temple.
WASHINGTON DC
The new executive committee for the
year 2004 is in place and has begun planning for various activities.
Sunday School: Jain Sunday School classes for adults and children are held on alternate Sundays. Over 55 students are attending classes in 5 separate levels. In addition, we have recently added beginners' adult classes. Members of the society have welcomed this new effort. The attendance in this class has grown significantly. With multiple concurrent classes, we are running out of space and are looking at expansion plans of the Jain center!
YJA Regional Conference : At a very short notice, Washington Jain Society hosted YJA (Young Jain Association), a Southeast Regional Conference on January 16-19, 2004. The members of the society provided logistical, financial and program
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