Federation Of Jain Associations in North America
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| Just as you do not like misery, in the same way others also do not like it. Knowing this, you should do unto them what you want them to do unto you. | ||||||||||||
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 The important aspect of Anekantvaad and Syadvaad is the subtlety with which it introduces the practice of Ahimsa even in the Realm of thought. The moment one begins to consider the angle from which a contrary view point is put forward, one begins to develop tolerance which is the basic requirement of the practice of Ahimsa. The origin of all wars fought on the surface of the earth can be traced to the worse of ideas, beliefs, and disagreements. Anekantvaad and Syadvaad puts a healing touch at the route of the human Psych and tries to stop the war of beliefs, which leads to the war of nerves and then to the war of bloodshed. It makes all absolute in the field of thought quite irrelevant and imparts maturity to the thought process and supplies flexibility and originality to the human mind. If mankind will properly understand and adopt this doctrine of Anekantvaad it will realize that real revolution was not the one which taught man to develop his or her power of understanding from all possible aspects. Anekantvaad can provide solution to many problems facing the world, even the mounting ecological crisis is liked to adversarialism because it arises from a false division between humanity and the rest of nature. Modern judicial system, democracy, freedom of speech and secularism all implicitly reflect an attitude of Anekantvaad. Jain tradition with its emphasis on Ahimsa and Anekantvaad is capable of solving religious intolerance, terrorism, wars, depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and many other problems. Violence in society mainly exist due to faulty epistemology and metaphysics as well as faulty ethics. A failure to respect the life and view of others, routed in dogmatic and mistaken knowledge and refusal to acknowledge the legitimate claim of different perspective leads to violent and destructive behavior. Anekantvaad has a larger role to play in world peace because Anekantvaad is designed to avoid one sided errors, reconcile contradictory view points and accepts the multiplicity and relativity of truth. Thus Jain philosophy is in a unique position to support dialogue and negotiation amongst various nations and people. | ||||||||||||
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| VIMALNATH BHAGWAN | ||||||||||||
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He attained nirvana at Samet Shikhar and had 56 Gandhars. His topic of the first sermon was the Bodhi Durlabh Bhawna. One should think that it is very difficult for the transmigrating soul to acquire right faith, right knowledge and right conduct in this world. Therefore one has the opportunity to be a religious person, take advantage of it to develop right religious talent. One must contemplate on how difficult it is for the souls that are wandering aimlessly in the sansar so they should not be the slightest negligence in observing the religion propagated by the Jina. This thought will strengthen once effort to attain right faith and knowledge. | ||||||||||||
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| Author: Dilip V. Shah, Past JAINA President, Philadelphia Dear Parents of Young Kids: Can you answer the following questions? What are the differences between the MahaVrats and AnuVrats? Which stotra is sung by Lord Indra in praise of the Tirthankars? The single lamp in Mangal Divo represents which Gyan/knowledge? What was the century when Sthanakvasi sect was formed? According to Digambar tradition, name any four Tirthankars who never got married. Name the five causes of Ashrav. What day ShrimadRajchandra born? Name the eight attributes of a Siddha. These questions are part of the 925 “Questions and Answers Book” pathshala kids all over North America study when they wish to take part in the JAINA Academic Bowl (JAB) competition. JAB is a team competition for young Jains held biennially at the JAINA conventions. This competition tests the overall knowledge of Jain philosophy, Jain history, Jain Conduct, Jain Literature, Ritual sutras, Tirthankars, Revered Jain personalities, the Jain Way of Life, and more, as well as the ability of participants to answer quickly. | ||||||||||||
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| Every two years, JAINA brings together thousands of Jains from across the world to learn facets of Jainsim and cherish long-lasting bonds. There will be learned scholars and high profile speakers from both within and outside of our community who will guide us on understanding inner selves, creating a better community. This year theme being Jainsim and Science is more interesting as it relates to our daily practices with Jainsim. The delegates will also get learning experience through variety of events and engaging activities for each age group. So keep your excitement high for this Jain yet scientific Convention at NJ Convention & Exposition Center in Edison, NJ.Do not miss the bus before its full, please register for 5 days Convention today which itself is first time in history of JAINA. Register here: | ||||||||||||
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| Young Jains of America is hosting socials throughout the month of December including bowling, ice skating and even cupcake decorating events! Here, YJA members from Chestnut Hill, MA enjoyed getting together for Dharma and Desserts this past weekend. We hope to see you at next summer's . As a reminder, to participate in any youth programs, you must register for the convention and also register for the appropriate activity category: (Ages 14-23) (Ages 24+) (Ages 21-42) For more information, visit the individual program pages or email . We're excited to see you there! | ||||||||||||
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 This is a story from the time of BhagwanMahavir. At that time, King Chetak was the ruler of Vaishali and he had a beautiful daughter named Chelna. Once an artist called Bharata painted a picture of Chelna and showed it to king Shrenik of Magadh. Charmed by Chelna's beauty, Shrenik fell in love wit her. One day Chelna came to the city of Magadh where she saw | ||||||||||||
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| The doctrine of Anekantvad is often criticized on the grounds that it engended a degree of hesitancy and uncertainty, and may compound problems rather than solve them. It is also pointed out that Jain epistemology asserts its own doctrines, but at the cost of being unable to deny contradictory doctrines. Furthermore, it is also argued that this doctrine could be self-defeating. It is argued that if reality is so complex that no single doctrine can describe it adequately, then Anekantvad itself, being a single doctrine, must be inadequate.This criticism seems to have been anticipated by Acharya Samantabhadra who said: "From the point of view of pramana (means of knowledge) it is Anekant (multi-sided), but from a point of view of naya (partial view) it isekanta (one-sided). share your views & comments on this blog | ||||||||||||
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| It is time to consider charitable contribution to JAINA as we nearly come to the end of this year. JAINA is the largest Jain organization outside India and is consistently working towards mission of spreading Jain Principles to next generation and to larger Community in North America. JAINA is a well recognized organization globally. It obviously takes strong financial resources to carry out myriad activities of JAINA. We appeal to you to consider JAINA for your year-end tax deductible donation. Each donor over $ 200 will be recognized in our weekly newsletter and Website. Please click on link below. Alternatively, please write check in name of “JAINA” and mail to: Mr. Haresh Shah Chairman - JAINA Membership Committee 2302 Clearview Ave. Wilmington, DE 19810-2525, USA | ||||||||||||
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