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OLYMPIC TORCH
n Saturday 26th June. Olympic Torch
the
was in London. Young Jains member, Kalpana Sheth was chosen to represent T-Moblile at the Olympic Games as one of two Escort Runners to the Samsung Torch Bearer, Chris Holmes a Paralympic Swimmer. He
has no eyesight, has 9 gold medals and broken several world records in his swimming career.■
YJ Team Award
JAIN II JAIN
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he Young Jains Team Award was launched at the AGM in 2002, to recognise the achievement and contribution volunteer teams make to the members of Young Jains yes that is to YOU! It is awarded to one exceptional team annually. The 2003 Award was presented to the Sweet Harmony team - Shila Tushar, Kala Paresh, Tushar Amratlalbhai, Punit Jayendra (Volunteer Dev. Officer) & Jatin Amratlalbhai. Sweet Harmony is also regularly supported by Palvi Satish, Alpa Satish, Parul Tushar, Bella Tushar, Daxa Satish, and Prakash.
YOUNG JAINS
Jain Education International
Sweet Harmony began in 2000 and has continued to grow, consistently providing a forum for participants to sing stavans and take part in bhakti. The current team has shown tremendous commitment to ensuring the regularity of the sessions, developing clear and simple to understand content, providing translations to explain the meanings of the songs and putting together a fantastic folder of stavans and prayers both in Gujarati and English. In addition the team create with the audience a warm, welcoming and safe atmosphere encouraging everyone to sing openly and feel the bhakti from within.
For more information about celebrating an event through Sweet Harmony or being a guest vocalist/ instrumentalist, please contact Shila or Tushar on 020 8907 7235 (day/eve).
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Past winners of this Award are:
2001 Internet Team Shital Mansukhlal, Suraj Dinesh (now Vice President), Manoj Amratlal and Khilna Nishad (now eMedia Lead)
2002: Paryushan Team - Seema Navin (now Membership Officer), Adarsh Dilip, Prakash, Kalpa Dinesh, and Pujna Kishore.■
JAIN ART COMPETITION NAIROBI 23/11/2003
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he Jain tradition has given us a series of timeless values, which provide a guide to peaceful & healthy living. One of those timeless values that Young Jains practices and promotes is that every living thing has a right to exist. It preaches a way of life that is peaceful and in complete harmony with its surroundings. AND what is more harmonious than art? LIFE IS ART!
Dhara Ashok Mehta
Art inspires people. It reminds us of who we are, what is our history and where we are going. It is a visual language that tells stories. The majority of the people in the past did not read books, they read pictures, thus deriving knowledge and information from them.
Art gives joy and peace. It is a form of meditation as you truly lose yourself in your creation. Most people report that they feel immense pleasure, joy and inner peace. Beautiful things make us feel good spiritually and physically. What art can express, words cannot. It heals.. People go to art galleries and museums because looking at beautiful & colourful pictures relaxes them.
For Personal Private Use Only
Jains have been some of the greatest artists, as is evident from our breath-taking derasars and Bhagwan Mahavira emphasized the creative potential of each & every soul. Art has played a vital role in keeping Jainism alive and is the innate quality of every soul! Thus, to tap this potential, Young Jains Nairobi decided to hold an art competition. On 22nd November 2003, some 245 Jain artists of all ages gathered at the Visa Oshwal Secondary School, Nairobi. This unique event had nine categories, with a variety of themes based on our beautiful Jain religion. The themes such as 'Lanchhans of Tirthankar Bhagwan', 'Ashthamangal Symbols', 'Mata Trishla's Dreams', to name a few, encouraged the participants to research and enhance their knowledge. Our youngest participant was 3 years old and the eldest, 71! The pieces created were of a very high standard and people were clearly stumped that we have such an enormous amount of talent amongst us. It was a brilliant event and we look forward to uncovering even more hidden talents.
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