07.08.2024 - JSGD - Newsletter

Jain Society of Greater Detroit

28000 MIDDLEBELT PROPERTY

Dear Society Members,

Jai Jinendra and Pranam,

As announced earlier, the General Body Q&A meeting will be held this Saturday (8/10) after the Puja ceremony concludes. The meeting will begin at 2:00 PM, right after lunch, and will end by 3:00 PM. We will conduct the meeting in the Social Hall. Tea and light snacks will be provided at the end of the meeting.

The main agenda, as discussed in the last General Body meeting on 7/21, is to explore the opportunity to purchase the building located at 28,000 Middlebelt Road. Most of the information was provided in the last newsletter.

About 60 members attended the previous meeting out of our 650 members. If you were unable to attend the last meeting, we hope you can join us this time to learn more about the property so we can make a collective decision on whether to proceed with the purchase.

Please bring all your questions for an open and honest discussion about this opportunity to help us explore the next steps.

We are one family and want to make a joint decision in the best interest of our society as a team. We also encourage those who attended last time to join us again to share any new information you may have gathered for further discussion.

Please send your RSVP by 8/9 here: RSVP

Hope to see you all at the puja, meeting and lunch.

Sincerely,
JSGD BOT

NEMINATH PANCH KALYANAK PUJA

Dear Society Members,

Jai Jinendra and Pranam,

Respected JSGD members: please mark your calendar to attend Neminath Panch Kalyanak Puja followed by Swamivatsalya Lunch.

Date and Time: Saturday, August 10th, 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM,

We request all JSGD Members to do RSVP, using the JSGD link.

- EC

PROF. JITENDRABHAI B. SHAH

Dear Society Members,

Jai Jinendra & Pranam,

Jain Society of Greater Detroit
Presents Scholar Prof. Jitendrabhai B. Shah
(Former director of L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad)

Jitendrabhai is a founder of Shrut Ratnakar organization based in Ahmedabad and Delhi. He is an excellent orator and very well versed in Gujarati and Hindi. He currently hosts weekly Swadhyay of “Adhyatmakalpadrum”, a Swetamber Granth in Gujarati and “Samaysar”, a Degambar Granth in Hindi. He leads a Shibir twice a year once in Gujarati and once in Hindi on “Tattvartha Sutra” which is the only composition well accepted by all the Jains. He is invited to Shrimad Rajchandra Gyanmandir for Swadhyay of “Updeshmala”.
JSGD is fortunate to have Jitendrabhai for Swadhyay bringing to us a topic which is applicable to all of us.
જય વિયરાય સ્વાધ્યાય
અનાદિકાળના ભવ પ્રમાણમાં આ જીવે ઘણા ઘણા કર્મો બાંધ્યા છે અને હજુ પણ બાંધાંતો રહે છે. તેના કારણે સંસારમાં ભવભ્રમણ ચાલુ જ છે. પૂર્વે કરેલા પુણ્યના પ્રતાપે હવે તેને માનવ ભવ મળ્યો છે, તેમજ જૈન ધર્મ અને વીતરાગ પરમાત્મા મળ્યા છે, તેથી માનવ માનવ બની નરમાંથી નારાયણ બનવાની પ્રક્રિયાનો પ્રારંભ કરે તે જરૂરી છે. તે માટે મુખ્યત્વે ૧૩ વસ્તુઓની આવશ્યકતા છે. આ વસ્તુઓની પ્રાર્થના જયવીયરાય સૂત્રમાં કરવામાં આવી છે.
ભક્તજન પરમાત્મા પાસે પ્રાર્થના કરે છે કે હે પરમાત્મા આપના પ્રભાવથી મને આ ૧૩ વસ્તુઓ પ્રાપ્ત થાઓ. માનવ ભવ ને સફળ બનાવવા સૌથી પ્રથમ સંસારના નશ્વર અને આપાત્ રમણીય ભોગ સુખો પ્રત્યે વૈરાગ્ય ભાવ જન્મે અને તે દ્વારા જીવનમાં માનવતાના ગુણો પ્રગટે અને લોકિક પ્રગતિનો માર્ગ ખુલી જાય, ત્યારબાદ લોકોત્તર પ્રગતિ સાધવા માટે અન્ય આંતરિક ગુણોની આવશ્યકતા ની જરૂર પડે છે, તે માટેની પણ આ સૂત્રમાં પ્રાર્થના કરવામાં આવી છે. ટૂંકમાં આ સૂત્રમાં નરમાંથી નારાયણ બનવા માટેના ૧૩ ગુણોનું વર્ણન કરવામાં આવ્યુ છે. ટૂંકમાં માનવ ભવને સફળ બનાવવા માટે જીવનમાં સુખ પ્રાપ્ત કરવા, આત્મિક સુખ પ્રાપ્ત કરવા અને જીવમાંથી શિવ બનવાનો માર્ગ દર્શાવનાર સૂત્ર એટલે જયવીયરાય સૂત્ર. આ સૂત્ર ઉપર વિસ્તારથી પ્રવચનો થશે.
આ સૂત્રનો સ્વાધ્યાય દરેક આત્માર્થી જીવોને લાભદાયી બનશે. જ્ઞાનાર્જન કરવા આ સ્વાધ્યાયમાં આપ સૌ અવશ્ય લાભ લેશો તથા અન્યને પણ જોડાવા પ્રેરિત કરશો.
ધન્યવાદ
🌻🌻🌻
Jay Viyaraya Swadhyay
Our soul has gone through innumerable cycles of birth and death from the time it has come out of ‘Nigod’. During these cycles of birth and death, our soul has attracted innumerable auspicious (‘Shubh’) and inauspicious (‘Ashubh’) karmas. These karmas ensure that our journey in this world continues. Due to the merits of previous auspicious karma, the soul has now acquired a human form, as well as Jain religion and Shaashan of Vitaraga Paramatma, so it is necessary for a human being to begin the process of becoming a human and from a human to a Narayana. For this, mainly 13 virtues or qualities are required. We pray to acquire these 13 qualities or virtues through the Jay Viyaraya Sutra.
Devotees pray to God that by your influence - O God, I get these 13 virtues. In order to make this human life successful, first of all, detachment towards the mortal and temporary pleasures of the world is attained and through this the qualities of humanity are revealed in life as well as the way of worldly progress is initiated. Then other inner qualities are required to achieve human progress, for which we pray in this Sutra. In short, this sutra describes the 13 essential qualities for becoming Narayana from a human. The Jay Viyaraya Sutra is a sutra that shows the way to achieve happiness in life, to achieve spiritual happiness and to become Shiva from the soul to make our human life successful. There will be an extensive Swadhyay on this sutra which will be conducted by Shri Jitendrabhai B. Shah.
The knowledge of this sutra will be beneficial to all - irrespective of the religion they follow. We urge everyone to take advantage of this opportunity and gain knowledge as well as inspire others to join.

––––––––––––––––

––––––––––––––––

Please follow the link to see Prof. Jitendrabhai B. Shah's profile.

JSGD & JAIN ALERT GROUP TIFFIN SERVICE

Dear Society Members,

Jai Jinendra & Pranam,

Once again this year, JSGD & Jain Alert Group of Michigan is planning to provide tiffin service during 6 days of Paryushan! Due to logistical limitations, we will only be able to provide tiffins to students studying at UFM Ann Arbor. If you would like tiffin on any of the 6 days, please sign up on the form below.
A few guidelines to keep in mind:

1. We will be dropping tiffins off to a central location near you, not necessarily directly to you. This means that you might have to pick up your tiffin from somewhere other than your apartment.

2. If you fail to pick up your tiffin on any given day, we will cancel your tiffin for all remaining days. Leaving food overnight makes it vaasi and we cannot allow that especially during Paryushan.

3. If you feel you won't be able to pick up on a specific day even though you signed up, let us know latest by the night before.

4. If you have any other restrictions, please let us know and we will try to accommodate them.

5. By filling out this form, you are committing to being responsive to messages and questions. If you sign up but do not reply to our messages of confirmation, we will cancel your order.

Registration: https://forms.gle/eaAwENCZVskLaUtPA

Please spread this message to any Jain students you know who live in Ann Arbor!

For any questions, please reach out to:

Ankit Gupta - 989-909-3329
Neeyati Shah - 810 252 3375

VOLUNTEERS FOR TIFFIN SERVICE

Dear Society Members,

Jai Jinendra & Pranam,

Once again, this year during Paryushan JSGD & Jain Alert group of Michigan will be delivering food to students studying at UFM Ann Arbor. We are looking for volunteers who can help to pack the food at temple and deliver the food to students at UFM.
Packaging of food may take about 1 hour depending on number of volunteers and total tiffins going out that day. Food packaging volunteers will need to be at temple by 11:00 am (approx.).
Delivery of food may take up to 2-3 hours depending on the number of stops and traffic. We will try to minimize the number of stops at the Ann Arbor campus. Food delivery volunteers need to be at temple by noon (approx.).
Please sign-up if you are able to provide your service to students during these auspicious days of Paryushan.

Volunteers Registration: https://forms.gle/FKz3nqTuHkqbMVieA

For any questions, please reach out to:

Ankit Gupta - 989-909-3329
Neeyati Shah - 810 252 3375