Editor Aparigraha Jain
Editor Carla Geerdes
17.11.2006
On our way to Terapanthi Vidyalaya, our attention was caught by the street life of the city. At the corner of a junction, the car came to a halt. One car blocked the lane we wanted to go, the driver obviously waited for somebody and therefore did not move. Cars and rickshaws floated from the opposite lane into the main road, crowds of pedestrians moved around, there was no way to trespass for us.
Sushil and the driver had a vivid discussion on what to do. To approach Terapanthi Vidyalaya from behind would have taken too much time. Then Sushil got off the car and addressed the other car’s driver. No response at all. Sushil tried again and came back. Again, discussion between Sushil and our driver, again Sushil got out of the car and approached the other driver.
This man had an expression on his face that made us understand why nobody else had talked to him so far. Sushil very quietly pointed in our direction and in direction of our destination. After some minutes, he turned his back to his interlocutor with a gesture of ‘We have to adjust with the situation’. Some others started to loose temper and made use of their horns, life around us was exploding.
Then – the lane-blocking car moved! Until today, we do not know what convinced the driver to grant free passage for all, but happily went ahead. At the entrance of Terapanth Vidyalaya, white-clad young men received us with big smiles and made it easy to concentrate on the present. This little incident was like some lesson in Jain philosophy, always to be alert and not to react, but to act according the own requirements.
In the staircase of the building, 3 paintings of Terapanth Acharyas are receiving the visitors, showing Acharya Bikshu (founder of Terapanth), Acharya Tulsi (9th Acharya) and Acharya Mahaprajna (present 10th Acharya). On the way to 1st floor, we met Shri Ganguli, staff member of Maha Sabha.
On one side of the first floor construction works were in progress, on the other side we admired the beautiful wooden furniture of the conference room behind the big office where we watched people at work and joked with them, as they were busy and we were free.
The largest number of Terapanth followers lives in Kolkata. All the administration work for Maha Sabha is done there, as well as all kind of graphic and editing work, such as developing posters and texts for educational purposes. Kolkata Terapanth Vidyalaya is the busy headquarter of Terapanth Maha Sabha that is in contact with all Terapanth Sabhas over India. This huge network of education for students of all age groups and walks of life is coordinated in Kolkata Terapanth Vidyalaya..