JAINA Convention 2007
Federation of Jain Associations In North America
FAITH HEALING Over 5,000 Attend Jain Meet in NY
New York: Over 5,000 people attended the three-day 14th biennial convention of JAINA - Federation of Jain Associations in North America - held in New Jersey. The theme of this year's convention that began on Friday was 'Peace through Dialogue'.
The meet was addressed by Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, popular yoga guru Swami Ramdev, Gurudev Chitrabhanu (considered the first Jain religious leader to come to the West and who inspired the formation of JAINA in the early 1980s), LM Singhvi, eminent jurist and former Indian high commissioner to UK, and Frank Pallone, Congressman from New Jersey.
In his address, Chitrabhanu narrated the history of JAINA and its success in uniting various Jain sects in the US. Elaborating on the convention theme, he said peace through dialogue was possible only when one has inner peace. He added that Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence was inspired by Lord Mahavir, the last Jain Tirthankara.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, delivering the keynote address, referred to his recent visit to strife-torn Iraq. He said: "I told them, 'You have seen that violence has not worked for four years, now give peace a chance'." Swami Ramdev said Lord Mahavir established the highest human values such as ahimsa, love and compassion, and thus belonged to all humanity.
The 76-year-old Singhvi exhorted scholars to establish the historicity of Jainism by establishing the historicity of the 24 Tirthankaras.
Asked why she had come, Sampurna Jain, a Long Island resident, said, "To renew connection with our religion, to preserve and promote it, to get together with other Jains, and to provide an opportunity for our children to mingle with an eye on matrimonial alliances."
JAINA represents 67 Jain organisations and an estimated 150,000 Jains living in the US and Canada.