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happens to be the title of his weekly column in popular Gujarati daily the “Gujarat Samachar”.
The most interesting aspect of his profile is that while Gujarat has been his "Karma Bhumi", he has made the world as his stage. He is global in outlook, is widely traveled and has, above all, been propagating with fervour and eloquence the compassionate philosophy of Jainism all over the world. I count him among the very few scholars who have significantly contributed to globalising the impact of Jainism. And this he has done not within the confines of a religious exercise, but in the wider backdrop of its relevance to the tackling of contemporary problems of increasing violence and terrorism unbridgled consumerism and environmental degradation, erosion of ethical values and mounting intolerance. His voice has rung with conviction and acceptability in USA, Canada, Africa, Europe and Asia.
We met for the first time in 1993 at the historic Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. The cohesive group of 25 Jains participated with vigour and visionary approach setting before the world's spiritual community the universal perspective of Jain philosophy. Kumarpal's presentation of "Role of Women in Jain Religion" vividly brought out the democratic thrust of the spiritual socialism advocated by the great Tirthankaras (pathfinders) of Jain religion. At the next Parliament of World's Religions at Cape Town in South Africa in 1999, Kumarpalbhai held forth on "Compassion towards Animals" and "Human Rights and Jainism". He drew sustained applause from over 8,000 listeners at the Biennial conventions of JAINA at Pittsburgh in 1993and Cincinnati, USA in 2003. We shared the pondium together at the inter faith celebration of the 2600th Janm Kalyanak of Bhagwan Mahavir at the United Nations Chapel in New York (USA) as well as at the International Conference on Ahimsa organized by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at New Jersey (USA) in 2002.
The Chronicle of his international activities has been unending. He was a key member of the Jain delegation which met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in
391 N. P. Jain
