JVB London - Paryushan 2006 [04] Evening Pratikraman

The evening sessions at JVB London Sayer Centre were held from Monday, 21st August to Monday, 28th August from 8:00 to 9:30 pm. As there are three big assembly halls in JVB London Sayer Centre, two in the first floor and one in the groundfloor, everone was free to chose Prakrit or English Pratikraman. Pratikraman was from 8:00 to 9:00 pm, followed by Bhavana.

The reciting of Paryushan Pratikraman in Prakrit was given under the guidance of Samani Punya Pragyaji. Two ladies did the recitation together with her, which sounded like a wonderful invitation to the world of holy words, no matter if understood by their language or not. The recitation was enlightening in a spirit uplifting sense, and it was a special spiritual exercice for us to meditate on it. Nina Choraria, daughter-in-law of Sayer Choraria, after whom the centre is named, gave another brilliant proof of her memory and reciting qualities. Every evening she did the Prakrit Pratikraman for one hour, without any interruption or any second of delay

Meanwhile downstairs, Samani Pratibha Pragyaji guided the 'English' Pratikraman, which means she explained the prescribed postures (standing or sitting in a special way) and the meaning of the verses recited in original Prakrit. She did it admirably fast, guiding all of us for one hour with explanations without neglecting the timetable. To our great astonishment, some kids joined her in reciting for some time, but one boy even joined her for the whole hour. Afterwards we were told that he is a very arduous student of the JVB London Sunday classes for kids, and this Paryushan he was happy not only to follow the 'English' Pratikraman completely, but also to join by reciting it.

From 9:00 to 9:30 pm all gathered in the first floor for Bhavana, conducted by Samanijis. At the end of the sessions, people took the opportunity to talk to each other before quietly going home. One evening, there was a lecture instead of Bhavana, one evening a young lady, Mrs. Nahata, presented spiritual songs vocally and on her heyboard, another evening two young musicians, Saggar Malde and Punit haria presented their modern version of Bhavana, which was recited by Preya Shah.

Samani Pratibha Pragyaji doing 'English' Pratikraman

Children following 'English' Pratikraman, the boy left in white clothes joined recitation for an hour

Editor Karuna Jain at 'English' Pratikraman

People talking to each other after evening session

Audience after Pratikraman

Editor Karuna Jain (m) talking to friends after Bhavana

Samanijis Pratibha & Punya Pragyaji after Bhavana

Samani Punya Pragyaji (r) doing Pratikraman with Nina Choraria (m) and Kira Jain (l)

To catch the atmosphere:
small video clip

The theme of the evening was Jain music in the old style i.e. shlokas, mantras and stotras.

1. Shri Namaskar Mahamantra
2. A series of 8 shlokas (religious verses) for the 8 days of Paryshan with messages of faith and forgiveness
3. A small song on the blessing Om Arham
4. A stotra called Shri Chintamani Parshwanath Stotra said to remove all obstacles and miseries
5. A song with a shloka as the chorus and different messages as the verses unusual as the song was in two different languages
6. Another song again in two different languages. The chorus was “Jin shasan sharanam mama” (I take refuge in Jainism) and the verse was from the scriptures in praise of Bhagwan Mahavir.

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