Jain Digest 2005 07

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

Page 36

JAINA CONVENTION 2005 HIGHLIGHTS
2005 JAINA CONVENTION
BEHIND-THE-SCENE PERSPECTIVE
(HOSTED BY JAIN CENTER OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA)
&
very two years, since 1981 Jains of North America gather at a JAINA convention to help them celebrate and learn more about their heritage. They meet old friends and make new acquaintances. In pursuit of their Jain identity, they listen to scholars of Jainism, participate in panel discussions, view exhibits, buy books, enjoy cultural programs and hear live performances of renowned artists from India. This past July 4th weekend more than 3,500 Jains from all corners of North America and abroad participated in the 13th biennial JAINA convention, hosted by Jain Center of Northern California (JCNC) which was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California, in the heart of the Silicon Valley. The seat of technology, sunny disposition of California and sweat equity of JCNC produced a grand convention - a glorious environment that was conducive to smooth and precise execution of an ambitious but carefully designed
program.
Contributions:Dilip V Shah, Girish Shab and Kirit Dafiary
Convention Theme The theme, "Extending Jain Heritage in Western Environment", was chosen to address everyday life as a Jain, balancing life between home and work, and how to preserve and extend the heritage. In addition to the challenges of inter-religious and inter-racial marriages, the community has been under pressure to maintain unity. The theme allowed speaker after speaker to echo the need for unity and present ideas on Jain Way of Life (JWOL).
The convention line-up included 70+ speakers and 250+ sessions, special youth programs and competitions, Jain networking, art exhibition, mela, Jain cooking demonstrations, youth cooking competition, evening entertainment and cultural programs, to name a few. For those who came before the convention, there were pre-convention tours of the Northern California tourist attractions. "This convention stressed religious lectures," said Kirit Daftary. "by offering multiple levels of courses, for beginners to advanced in Gujarati, English and Hindi," he added.
For this convention, JCNC proposed three major ideas as focal points for all program planning. 1) Celebrate the start of the 25th year of JAINA by recognizing and honoring two of its founding spiritual leaders, 2) a session on "unity in diversity" with messages of unity from five Acharyas/spiritual leaders from India one each from five Jain traditions, 3) a theme that addresses the challenges faced by the Jain community in North America.
The convention board had established one major goal for the host committee, "all of our attendees should receive an excellent value for the time and money". This was to be achieved by: a) Providing superb hospitality, b) Creating excellent event filled activities, c) Lasting learning experience, d) Exceeding their expectations. All through the 18 months of planning, these guidelines were used to make tradeoffs in decisions, which made the decision process simple,
Convention Opening Blessings - The first session of the convention was blessings from our spiritual leaders. Over 500 people assembled in the theatre hall for the session. In addition to their blessings, their message was "we all can be known as Jains without the prefixes of Digamaber - Shwetamber" and "how we all can strengthen harmony and unity". Gurudev Shri Chitrabhanuji, Acharya Shri Chandnaji, Amrendra Muniji Maharaj, Bhuvnesh Muniji Maharaj, Jinchandraji Maharaj, Roop Chandji Maharaj. Manak Muniji Maharaj. Sadhviji Shubhamji, Samaniji Madhur Pragyaji, Sadhviji Vibhaji, and Samanijis - Charitra Pragyaji, Jayant Pragyaji, Parimal Pragyaji, Sanmati Pragyaji, and Shukla Pragyaji - all spoke for about five minutes on unity. The program was conducted by Ashok Sethi, Harendra Shah, and Praveen Jain of JCNC. All these Sadhus, Sadhvis and Scholars speaking in unison on "Jain Unity" set the
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