Jain Spirit 2005 12 No24

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

Page 3

WELCOME
Jai Jinendra.
We wish all of you a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.
During 2005, I travelled to India, North America and East Africa to attend various Jain events and ceremonies. In Nairobi, I attended an international conference, in New York I witnessed the opening of their major new temple and in California, I attended the JAINA convention and visited Los Angeles. In August, I participated in the opening of the beautiful new Jain temple at Oshwal Centre in London. It was clear from all these visits, that the community is entering a very dynamic and progressive phase.
Mr. Narendra Nandu, him and his team are putting the 'x factor into the 2005 temple openings left, right and centre-globally!
own way, giving time, ideas, money or even participation and encouragement, a whole community moves forward. Festivals ignite the spirit and raise it to new heights.
In three of the major global events, met Mr. Narendra Nandu and his team, who were conducting the large temple opening Pratishtha festivals. Here was a soul with talent, charisma, wisdom and a good sense of humour, who helped raise millions of dollars for each temple. He involved everyone in the ceremonies and made them really feel that it was their own temple, and many became hungry to learn more. In London, I saw two thousand people totally immersed in his meditations, observing pin drop silence. I was later surprised to discover, that he was doing all this whilst fasting, doing his ninth annual varshitap (eating only in alternate days). When I interviewed him, Mr. Nandu said that the conviction of the fund-raiser is as important as the fund-raising. Before I landed in London, I took a vow and decided on a target, he explained. And £2.5m was raised in ten days. This has never happened before in the history of London. Donors were queuing up to support this new project.
In all this change and transformation, media plays a critical role. Paradoxically, although we are living in an information rich society, we are starved of wisdom. We need media to filter good quality information and help us connect with one another and learn about one another and from one another. Jain Spirit has been trying very hard to become one of these critical media resources, and it is now over six years since we launched the first issue in Philadelphia at the JAINA convention.
calls or appeals to do so. If you are an entrepreneur, consider sponsoring a section or an advertisement, and show that you care for your culture and its future. For professionals, we have lotus or saffron sponsorship schemes, for which you get ten or twenty gift subscriptions to give to friends and family, and at the same time support a worthy cause. Details of all these are on our website - www.jainspirit.com which we request you to visit on a regular basis as we update it frequently Subscribe to our email newsletter and get monthly updates of major events and celebrations. If we approach you to support us, please understand that we do so with the best of intentions. Help us to help you.
We thank all our subscribers, life members, donors and advertisers for believing in us and helping us to come this far. We welcome your comments, feedback and criticism, to help us serve you better and grow. We also request you to continue to support us in the future, and not wait for our
Resources are critical to the progress of any organisation. As we are poor of time in the West, we need money to build new community centres, temples and manage our institutions. When everyone contributes in their
Atul Shan
WWW.JAINSPIRIT.COM
Atul K. Shah Executive Editor editor@jainspirit.com
www.jainel prary.org