Jaina Education ►Activity Report Oct 2014

Federation of Jain Associations in North America
JAINA Education Committee

Jaina Education Committee - Activity Report Oct 2014

We wish you and family a Beautiful Diwäli Holiday Season and a New Year full of Peace, Prosperity, Happiness, and higher Spirituality!

Before we start to eat our Holiday Meal, please reflect on the following contemplation compiled by Zen Master - Thich Nhat Hanh to express our gratitude or with whatever traditional grace or prayer you prefer.

Honor the Food

The Five Contemplations

1.  This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard, loving work.

2.  May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.

3.  May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.

4.  May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.

5.  We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our community, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.

By  Zen Master - Thich Nhat Hanh

The Jain eLibrary website (www.jainelibrary.org) now contains more than 14000 books, Articles, and few audio ritual files.  In 5 years, more than 31,000 people have registered to use Jain elibrary and downloaded about  350,000 Books and Articles.  The total number of visitors exceeded 1,000,000.

Education committee distributed the following six reference books at the conventions free of charge to all youth attendees.  We are very thankful to the sponsors of this project.

You can download these books (pdf file) from Jain eLibrary website.

JAB program is fully operational for both JAINA and YJA conventions.  In the last YJA convention, 50 youth participated and in the last JAINA conention,16 teams (80 youth) participated in the JAB program.  Every year we enhance JAB manual by adding more topics in the manual. 

JAB manual for the next JAINA convention is finalized and is frozen for the JAINA convention 2015.  You can download the final version in docx (Word file) and pdf file from the following link.

www.jainelibrary.org/jab_manual

Revised Guidelines for JAB Competition at the JAINA Convention - 2015

1.       At maximum, 2 junior teams and 1 senior team from one center can be registered. (Those younger than 15 are allowed to compete in the senior competition, but those above that age may not compete with the juniors—see below). If there are any questions about registration, contact us at the email given below.

2.       Junior team members must be no more than 15 years old as of July 1st 2015 (born on July 2nd 1999 or later). Senior team members must be no more than 21 years old as of July 1st 2015 (born on July 2nd 1993 or later).

3.       A team may have a maximum of 6 players. However, note that during the games, only 5 members can play at a time; there will be opportunities to substitute players in and out.

4.       Team registration forms are due ON OR BEFORE February 1, 2015. Please read the tournament guidelines before submitting the form.

5.       Registration Form (one per team) are due to: JSGA, 669 South Peachtree St., Norcross, GA 30071 and

6.       Each team participating will also need to fill out their questions packet and submit them electronically no later than April 1, 2015. More information will be posted soon.

7.       Once registered, please fill out the questions packet and submit them electronically to (e-mail address of Pravin K Shah).

For the next JAINA convention -2015, we will make the printed version of the JAB manual via JAINA Pathashala books by January 31, 2015.

Meet the JAB Youth Coordinators (Email - ) for the Next JAINA convention of 2015:

We will provide the complete JAB administrative details by November 30, 2014.

JAB Registration Form (one per team) is due ON OR BEFORE February 1, 2015 to: JSGA, 669 South Peachtree St., Norcross, GA 30071 and

Jaina Education Pathashala Books

We have 8 Pathshala text boos and 6 reference books published.  These books are used by about 3500 Pathshala students across North America. You can purchase these books using the following link

http://www.jainlibrary.org/shopping/select_destination.php

List of the Books and DVDs available from JAINA Education Committee:

Jaina Education Committee’s Request for your Financial Support

The primary activities of Jaina Education Committee are as follows:  

• To prepare, publish, and distribute Jain Päthashälä Education Material to support all Jain Centers of North America.  We have about 3500 students attending Päthashälä at various Jain centers in North America.
• To support YJA and YJP activities by providing Educational Material free of charge during their conventions.
• To support Jain Academic Bowl activities during JAINA and YJA convention.
• To support Jain eLibrary website in order to provide reference literature to the Päthashälä teachers, students, adult Swädhyäy groups, and Jain academicians around the world.
• To support Jain summer school (ISSJS) program and Jain scholars and academicians by providing them Jain educational material free of charge.

In addition to the above activities, the committee has supported, Jaina Exhibition committee, Jaina Interfaith committee and published Ashtäpad literature to support Ashtäpad project for Jain Center of New York.

The success of Jaina Education Päthashälä Books, eLibrary, and JAB activities are well known to all of you.

All Jaina Education Committee, eLibrary project members, and JAB members are volunteers.  However our eLibrary scanning activity, Pathshala book design, layout activity, Website expenses, book deficit etc.. add up to about $25,000 per year.

Please make your contribution check (US dollars) to JAINA - Education and mail it at following address.  (Do not mail your contribution directly to the JAINA Headquarters.  The committee needs to keep proper record before it is deposited).

Jaina Education Committee
509 Carriage Woods Circle
Raleigh, NC 27607 USA
+1-919-859-4994

If you would like to contribute using credit card or in Indian rupees, please use the following link located in Jain eLibrary website:

http://www.jainelibrary.org/donation1.php

With Warm Regards

__________________________________
Pravin K Shah