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Celebration Of Mahaveer Janma Kalyanak Under The Banner ‘JAINS UK’
On 10th and 11th April 2009, Mahavir Jayanti was celebrated by over 1,500 people of the Jain community in the United Kingdom at the Harrow Leisure Centre under the banner of ‘Jains UK’. During this two-day event people benefited from blessings and speeches by respected Jinchandraji, Chitrabhanuji, & Samanijis. During these two days people also benefited by lectures from eminent scholars Kumarpalbhai Desai, Heera Ratan Manek, Prof. Will Tuttle, Vinodbhai Kapasi, Harshadbhai Sanghrajka, Atulbhai Shah, & Jayeshbhai Shah etc.
On 10th April the event started at around 11:00am with speeches from Jinchandraji and Chitrabhanuji. After lunch, during the afternoon session, Kumarpalbhai Desai spoke on the topic of ‘Rainbow of Jainism’. During his talk while explaining the modern economic situation, he spoke about the vow ‘Iccha Pariman’ (Control over desires) and emphasized on the book named the ‘Economics of Lord Mahaveer’ written by Acharya Mahapragya. After these scholarly speeches, to present Lord Mahaveer’s message in a modern way, the Samanijis incolaboration with other artists presented an interesting skit called ‘The divine court of Lord Mahaveer’. The audience showed their appreciation of the subtle message portrayed in the programme by clapping as well as laughing!
Various lectures and workshops in different languages were set up in different locations for all age groups (children, youth and adults). Samani Prasanna Pragya conducted a workshop on ‘Handle Your Anger’ with explaining the causes, types and effects of anger and also taught exercises to control anger. In her speech on the topic of ‘Think and Grow Rich’, Samani Rohit Pragya spoke about the importance of positive thinking and gave tips on how to build and maintain positive attitude. On Saturday 11th April, Samani Prasanna Pragya spoke on the significant topic ‘Relative Economic of Lord Mahaveer’.
Youth teachers namely, Pooja Jain and Natasha Shah held a work shop aimed for children under 12 for two hours entitled, “Come and play, Jainism says...”. They led students through various yoga poses and breathing exercises, explaining the benefit of each one of them. Students were taught the Jain alphabets and Namaskar Mantra in a game-fashion. To teach Jain way of life they also played some more active games including many rounds of a Jain version of “Simon says”. Children then enjoyed completing dot-to-dot Jain pictures too. The session was very interactive. In total, over twenty children of varying ages attended the workshop and learnt Jainism with fun.
Saturday afternoon was devoted to a cultural programme, in which JVB London Gyanshala students presented a wonderful skit ‘Secrets of the dreams’. Besides this, various other acts including songs and dances were performed to celebrate the occasion. On both days Jain vegetarian lunch and dinner was served to all people who attended the event.
With the blessings of spiritual leaders, support of distinguished Jain scholars, hard work of the committee members and dedication of volunteers, this historic event was completed successfully.
On Sunday 12th April, a meeting with all the speakers and committee members of all Jain organizations was held at the Jain Vishva Bharati London Centre which commenced with the recitation of Namokar Mantra by Samanijis. Jinchandraji, Kumarpalbhai Desai, Dilip Shah and all other speakers shared their experience of the two-day celebration of Mahaveer Janma Kalyanak. Manik Chorariya, secretary of JVB London introduced Acharya Mahapragyaji’s objective to establish the centre JVB London. Samani Prasanna Pragya appreciated all the members who put efforts to make the event fruitful and encouraged people to increase their enthusiasm to celebrate this pious event. The programme ended with the Mangal Path by Samanijis, followed by the breakfast.
