Jain Spirit 2005 06 No22

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 11

NEWS
ANGELIC MAHIMA CHAUDHARY URGES FANS TO KICK THE
how they are treated in factory farms. What better way to celebrate this festival season than by being an angel for animals and putting compassion on your plate." The captivating ad was shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar. Credit for Mahima's stunning wings - made without feathers - and her outfit goes to the acclaimed designer Hemant Trevedi, who is also a conscientious vegetarian.
Bollywood Star Says: Be an Angel to Animals - and Yourselves
UMBAI: Shown walking in the clouds and holding a basket of flowers and fruit next to the tagline "Be an Angel ... Go Vegetarian", beautiful Bollywood star Mahima Chaudhary
appears as a celestial being in a brand-new ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
GO VEGETARIAN
Mahima, who gained national recognition with her debut film Pardes with Subhash Ghai, has since appeared in Dil Kya Kare and starred alongside fellow vegetarian Amitabh Bachchan in Baaghban. She wants her legions of fans to know that they too can be 'angels' by adopting a healthy and humane vegetarian diet.
Mortality rates from heart disease amongst South Asians are around 40 per cent higher
PUTA than of the white population in the UK. Around 25 per cent of Indian adults in the UK suffer from Type 2 diabetes. According to Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutritional researcher at Cornell University and director of the largest epidemiological study in history, "The vast majority of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases and other forms of degenerative illnesses can be prevented simply by adopting a plant-based diet."
"Being vegetarian I feel better physically but, even more importantly, I feel better spiritually, knowing that I haven't needlessly taken a life," says Mahima. "Billions of animals are slaughtered for food worldwide and I shudder to think
music, language) of South Asian studies. These courses are offered on undergraduate and graduate levels and are taught by highly trained professors, with chairs in prestigious centres of learning. By contrast, in the estimate of Jain scholar, Professor John Cort, there are only some 17 academicians, in as many colleges that are engaged in specifically Jain studies.
programme, open to students and professors in American universities. Its purpose is to impart a basic grounding in the Jain religion within a cultural context where it is experienced as a lived reality. Through seminars, lectures and library resources, students and professors will be provided with the basic intellectual tools for an understanding of the many facets of Jainism, including its history, politics, philosophy and ethics.
This program will be conducted each summer, beginning in summer 2005.
For more information, or to be a part of this program, please contact Dr. Sulekh C. Jain e-mail: scjain@earthlink.net
A Fast-Track Approach
THE PLAN A group of university professors and students will be going to India in summer 2005 for an eight-week intensive crash course in Jainism. Prof. Cromwell Crawford of University of Hawaii and a group of concerned Jains in North America, who are also funding this entire programme, are organising this effort. This programme is fully integrated within the American university system, in which students earn credits (up to nine credits) towards degrees, and it will be integrated with the academic institutions in India, aimed at helping students understand Jainism within its indigenous environments.
DR. SULEKH JAIN Photo: Chandu Shah: cknshah@aol.com
outh Asian studies are making rapid advances in American universities. Although Jainism is
the oldest of Indian traditions and presents a rich field of scholarship, it has a comparatively miniscule status in the academia in North America. Approximately 1000 colleges offer courses in all disciplines
(religion, philosophy, art, history, in Education international
This is a fast-track, two-tiered
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