HereNow4U - Living Jainism Tour 2006 - 01.3 New Delhi - Anuvrat Bhawan

14.11.2006

Sadhvis

Anuvrat Bhawan in New Delhi is a multi-storey, multi-functional building, close to the political centre and the diplomatic quarter of the city. The Jain Swetamber Terapanth community keeps one storey of the building, where monks or nuns who are in contact with political officials as ambassadors of H.H. Acharya Mahaprajnaji are staying. From here, publication of books and videos is prepared and, when ready, sent to the recipients. Last, not least, the secretariat of Jain Swetamber Terapanthinfo.com has been established here in spring 2006.

As mentioned before, we had only one afternoon for the meetings in New Delhi. Therefore, Dharmanandji had done his best to arrange all meetings in Anuvrat Bhawan, as it is a well known address in the capital and relatively good attainable. On our way to Anuvrat Bhawan, we were very astonished how much the city had changed again since our last visit, nearly two years ago. Many new roads had been constructed, where some years ago cows and goats were part of daily life. We saw a lot of rather new, nearly unbuckled small cars, some even driven by middle-aged women, looking a little bit nervous and busy. Even metro is partly ready now and will be vastly inceased before Delhi will be hosting the Common Wealth Games in 2010.

When we told our impressions to Dharmanandji, he looked a little bit sad and replied that many old jobs have been abolished now, as for example, the barber who came to the houses and did not only haircut and shave, but also repair small things and knew all family relations. ‘Now we have saloons, but the barber was a close family friend we’ve lost now.’

Sadhvi Kanchan Prabhaji is Acharyashree’s ambassador in the capital. We already were eager to meet her, as we had received reports and photos on her work when she was in Kolkata. It is always a special moment in life, when we meet people personally we have heard about or whom we only know by their photos. When Dharmanandji presented us to her, she expressed her feelings of joy on the work we are doing. She said, “You are like Saman and Samani, your devotion is visible in the work you are doing.” We felt very, very happy hearing this.

The atmosphere in the room was full of happiness and lightness. As usual, many lay followers, even whole families came for darshan and went away with nearly traceless movements, even when their bodily constitution could not be called slender. The energy radiating from the Sadhvishrees seemed to be tangible in the room; everyone wanted to be integrated into it. The Sadhvishrees occupied amazingly little space in a material as well as immaterial sense. Once again, we wondered how they manage to be so modest, even in their bodily movements.

When they are together in a room, the whole group acts all the time in perfect harmony. When one of them moved, the movement was aggravated the other four without any perceptible sign of communication. It was the realisation of the saying to be one in spirit, which comes from deep inside and connects us like a subtle silver cord, without tying or binding. Then a lady came in and made a gesture all mothers do when the meal is ready. For the Sadhvishrees, it was time for the last meal of the day before sunset. For us, it was time for the appointment with the people from Terapanthinfo.com and other lay dignitaries.

Secretariat of Terapanthinfo.com

When we arrived, Mr. Anil Baid and Mr. Harish Anchalya of Terapanthinfo.com gave a very warm welcome to us with garlands, sweets and tea. We had vivid discussions and promised to cooperate as much as possible in the future. Mr. Baid and Mr. Anchalya are the two persons who are working for Terapanthinfo.com in their free time. They do not want Terapanthinfo.com to be personalised, and therefore their names are not on the cards they are distributing. They want to stay in the background as persons, as they feel the focus should be on the aim, not on persons. Mr. Baid had been in South Germany for some time, and we had very nice talks on Germany as well. He had liked his stay there very much. All enjoyed the good understanding during the meeting. Mr. Sanjay Khater, president of Delhi Terapanth Yuvak Parishad (youth organisation) joined the session after some time for a while.

Mr. Vinod Rana

Then we met with Mr. Vinod Rana, who welcomed us with a beautiful arrangement of man-made flowers. Mr. Rana works on editing CD material and videos, taken during all programmes or conferences held by H.H. Acharya Mahaprajnaji.

Dharmanandji urged us to leave, as the hour of dinner and evening meditation was approaching. After bidding farewell to the Sadhvishrees, we started into the evening traffic jam back to the Kendra.