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JAIN DIGEST
From the President.....
Summer 2005 Vol.24 No. 3 Circulation: 11000
In This Issue
Executive Committee ................
From The Editor in Chief ........ 3
Farewell Message from Past
President Anop Vora ................ 4
Achievements of2003-2005 ...... 5
JAINA Committees ............... 6
Headquaters News .............
2006 JAINA Yatra
Samayiks .......
Extending Jain Heritage ........
Regional News ......................
Fellow JAINA members, Jai Jinendra;
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your President. I am humbled by the trust you have placed in me, and I assure you I will carry out my responsibility with integrity and honor. Let me at the outset commend our immediate Past-President Anopbhai Vora and his executive committee for having done an excellent job in serving JAINA. I know it would be a hard act to follow, but with the continuing support of our past leadership and with the infusion of some of the newer talent on our team, I am ready to lead.
Today I sense a growing need for the role of Jainism in the world faced with war and terrorism. With each generation of Jains, here, in India, and abroad, we face new challenges in maintaining our faith and our community. Yet through the joint efforts of JAINA, and its constituent chapters and individuals, we can take our community to unprecedented levels and pass on a remarkable legacy to future generations. My vision revolves around empowering Jains at every level. Our greatest achievement is that JAINA has brought our global Jain community together. We need to look beyond our individual sects and realize that we will always be more alike than we are different.
Regardless of sectarian or ritualistic differences we are Jains at heart, and will remain so. We are very fortunate that in our adopted country we have the opportunity to worship with Jains from different sects and regions of India. This allows us to develop mutual respect for each other through better understanding and personal experience of broader views and customs. With this enhanced appreciation and knowledge base, JAINA has committed itself to advocating a nonsectarian approach that allows Jains of all backgrounds to work together for common good of Jainism. Mere words wouldn't suffice. We must act now. I will start with JAINA itself and appoint a committee to review and suggest whatever changes are necessary to ensure that our constitution is compatible with this mission of unification.
Eventually, I am eager to build JAINA with the most willing and qualified people from our many centers who are dedicated to this underlying theme that I am so vigorously advocating. The local Sanghs are our greatest resource. In order to perpetuate a message of unification throughout our network of Jains, we need to find a mechanism to involve their leaders in the inter-workings of JAINA, Only by giving a greater and more direct voice to these individuals can JAINA claim to be representative of all Jains. Pending the appointment and work of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, it is my personal appeal to all Sanghs to please nominate your most willing and dedicated people to work with JAINA, whether as a director or a committee member. JAINA's best work is done by its committees; therefore let us strengthen these committees by dedicated and broadminded, able and willing, people. And, let me be sure our youths have the opportunity to develop and become our future leaders. I plan to integrate them on many of our committees.
Additionally, I plan to appoint a special task force to explore with me the creation of our first Jain Senior Citizen Community Center. My vision is to establish a permanent JAINA headquarter adjunct with this center. Hopefully, based on our model, many other Jain Senior Citizen Centers would crop up all across North America adjoining existing or new Jain centers. In discussing with many of you, I have become fully cognizant of the need for such an initiative. I plan to begin serious work on this project
I also need your support in strengthening JAINA as a financially strong and well endowed entity. As you are well aware, many religious organizations in the western hemisphere thrive on some sort of centrally endowed entity that enables their growth and perpetuation. I suggest it is high time we begin to think along those lines in order to provide a framework for our future generations to feel proud of. Therefore, I will invite you to join me in creating an endowment that, with seed money, would allow us to address our coordinated needs for creating centers of Jain Studies at various regional universities, as well as promoting
(continued on page 4) 1 JAIN DIGEST SUMMER 2005 For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
Book Review ...................
Regional News .....................
Affiliate News ........................
MIS Registration Form ..........
Matrimonials
Appeal for Bombay flood .......
Convention 2005 report ..........32
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