25.03.2017 ►JAINA ►Newsletter

Jai Jinendra!

Hope you found the series on “Know Your Tirthankar” over last 24 weeks informative. We covered a brief introduction of our Tirthanks of Avasarpani Kaal. Please to read all 24 articles.

JAINA Convention Registration is now approaching 3,000 attendees. You will find valuable information about myriad of Day and Evening Programs, Hotel, Registration, Youth activities etc. at . Please consider giving a gift of pleasant memories and new friendships to yourself and your family by registering for JAINA Convention from June 30 to July 4, 2017 in New Jersey now by . If you have already registered, you may wish to book your flights this weekend to lock in lower air fares.

Sincerely,

Ashok Domadia
JAINA President & Chairman

Truthfulness indeed is tapa (penance).In truthfulness do reside self-restraint and all other virtues.Just as the fish can live only in the sea,so can all other virtues reside in Truthfulness alone.

- Mahavira (Bhagavati Aradhana, 842)

Austerity (Tap) means restraint, which is done willingly by giving away some of the bodily comforts to discipline our minds from patience and pleasures. Taps are performed at various occasions and in various different ways. All 12 types of Taps have their own uniqueness and they are performed at two levels, first Bahiya Tap (physical tap) and second type is Abhyantar (Psychic) and both are of 6 types. In physical manner the person performs the tap but doesn’t have the inner desire to change his/her life therefore it is just a physical act. While in psychic manner, the person controls his or her inner desires along with performing physical act. Unless the taps are performed in psychic manner they do not produce the much needed results, after all the whole purpose of Tap is not just to simply make the body suffer, but to change our desires. Once that happens the person will be on path to spiritual upliftment. Thus tap is part of right conduct.

We will be explaining each type of Tap from next week over next 12 Newsletters.

TEJO LESYA: red colour-people in this state of mind, are very careful about their actions and discriminate between good and evil. They know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. They are kind, benevolent and religious and lead a harmonious life. A man who is humble, steadfast, free from deceit and inquisitiveness, well disciplined, restrained, attentive, such a man develops red lesya-Tejo lesya. If anyone dies in this state of mind, they will reborn as human being.

PADMA LESYA: yellow colour-people in this state of mind, are kind and benevolent and forgive everyone, even their enemies. They observe some austerities and are vigilant in keeping their vows till their last breath.They remain unaffected by joys and sorrows. A man who has but little anger, pride, deceit and greed, whose mind is at ease, who is attentive, who speaks but little and who is calm, developes padma lesya. A person who die in this state of mind, will be reborn in heaven as a celestial being.

SHUKLA LESYA: white colour-people in this state of mind strictly observe the principles of non-violence,truth,non-stealing,celibacy and non-attachment. They are trustworthy, treat every soul as if it was their own soul and do not have ill feelings even for their enemies. They remain calm even if someone abuses them. A person who abstains from constant thinking about his misery, but engages in meditation, whose mind is at ease, who practices the samities and gupties, who is free from passion develops shukla lesya. A person who die in this state of mind, they will be liberated from the cycle of birth and death. Their state of mind is the purest. The black, blue and grey lesyas are the lowet lesyas, through them the soul is brought into miserable existences of life. The first three lesyas are worst(most harmful), worse(more harmful),and bad(harmful) respectively. They lead the soul on the wrong path or the path of ruin.

Neexistence. The last three lesyas are good(auspicious),better(more auspicious) and best (most auspicious) respectively.

A wise man should therefore know the nature of these lesya and he should avoid the bad ones and obtain the good ones.

Aimutta's mother was surprised by his words. She was happy in her mind for his fear of sins and desire to take diksha because she was also a religious woman. But she wanted to be sure that Aimutta understood what "taking diksha" meant. So she said, "My son, to take diksha is not a game. It is a very hard and disciplined life. There is no mother or father to take care of you. How will you be able to handle such suffering?" Aimutta said, "Mother, this social life also has a lot of suffering. At least we know that as a monk the sufferings will help destroy the karmas and lead to salvation."

On Sunday, March 5th, 2017, JSMW hosted its first kickoff meeting of “Today’s Women” (local women’s group). This meeting started at the Jain Center with over 45 women in attendance to support this group. Dr. Gita Shah, guest speaker and long time member of JSMW was very excited about the new group and spoke for about 45 minutes regarding women empowerment. She mentioned how women gives everyone priority in their lives and never takes care of themselves. She showed easy ways to take care of ourselves.

Dr. Shah also mentioned about routine doctors visit and requested that all attendees meets their doctor annually at least for their routine health checkups. After the speech was over, all attendees decided to introduce themselves and the reason everyone why everyone attended the meeting, what they would like this group to talk about, their professions, talents that they would like to share for future meetings. A common goal for everyone was financial planning, tax help, learning stock markets, Yoga, Jainism in today’s world, charity-donation in India. Some younger group of women also showed interest about the generation differences at home and in school. At the end of the meeting, tea/ coffee & snacks were served.

Note: Today’s Women is a local chapter of “Women’s Committee” established at a national level by JAINA under the leadership of Dr. Mamta Shaha as its first Chairwoman and Pramodaben Chitrabhanu as its Co-Chair. As such, Today’s Women provides a platform where our JSMW women can gather, discuss everyday issues, problems, be involved in creative activities, network and socialize in an intellectual way.

JAINA would like to recognize and acknowledge all the Tapasvis who are completing Varsitap. Please send your Name, Address and Center Name along with a photograph.

The names of Tapasvis will be published in forthcoming newsletters.

Please mail at

Youth Activities (age 14 - 23) Youth Activities aim to educate young Jains on various aspects of Jain philosophy and its applications in the modern world. These sessions will be designed to help youth think about living Jain values in their personal and professional lives, and to develop concrete skills and strategies to do so. Youth Activities will also incorporate evening activities to engage students in cultural entertainment opportunities.

The evening activities will be in parallel to the adult cultural programs. Evening activities are open to young Jains who are interested in educational, social, charitable and cultural networking with other like-minded young Jains, meeting new and old friends, and learning more about Jainism. We are working on varied events including a Jain Iron Chef, an Ahimsa Concert, a DJ Dance and much more. You must register for Convention and also register for YA (Youth Activities) to be eligible to participate.

Jain youth in YJA's South Region met up in Seguin, TX for their retreat from March 10-12! Attendees participated in sessions about Jainism in the Workplace, Jain Holidays and Rituals, and more - all in between games, great food, and time to meet with other youth from the South Region.

YJA would like to encourage all members across the country to sign up for our Remind101 update system - to sign up for updates from your YJA region and local area about upcoming events, meetups, and temple functions!

The March 2017 content for YJA Pathshala focuses on Temple & Rituals. We discuss the reasons for going to temple, the meaning of rituals like puja and sathiyo, and the significance of Samayik and Pratikraman through the handouts, video, podcast, and more. Visit to access the materials.

We're celebrating one year since the launch of YJA Forums - and recently hitting 1100 posts and over 200 users! In honor of this anniversary, has a freshly redesigned look and is now mobile friendly. Encourage any Jain youth you know to join in on discussions ranging from religion to current events and everything in between!

Stay connected to YJA on Twitter at ! Look out for #FridayFacts, #JainTithis and more.

On March 10th and 11th, the YJP Executive Board hosted our very first event - National Dinner! The events were organized and hosted by our Regional Coordinators and dedicated Local Representatives. It was resounding success as we saw record attendance in every city approximately 25 to 30 people. The dinner was held in the following cities:

1) New York City
2) Houston
3) Dallas
4) California
5) Chicago
6) Toronto
7) Calgary

The topics that regional coordinators had covered were explaining YJP mission, activities and why they should join YJP and inform their friends to join!

The Jain Center of Northern California was established in 1973 and currently has a membership of 1025 families in the San Francisco Bay Area. JCNC was the first Jain temple to have Pratimajis with Pran Pratishtha, thus uniting all Jain groups under one roof.

Please view the Google 360o Virtual Tour by clicking the below images

GHABHARO	OUTSIDE VIEW

Read the story of Thief Meets Thief and answer the below questions.(Mark you answers in the puzzle)

A thief stole a horse and went to the market to sell it. One customer asked the price of the horse. The thief asked him," How much will you give?" The customer said, "I can give four hundred rupees for it". The thief didn't know that the customer was also a thief. The customer thought that this horse was stolen. So he asked him that he would like to try the horse before he could buy it. He agreed to let him try. The customer took the horse and ran away without paying. When people asked him for how much he sold the horse, he would say," At the same price what I got it for. "He had stolen the horse therefore it went without any price".

Question:

1. What did thief stole?
2. Where did a thief go to sell a horse?
3. Who was the customer?
4. The customer agreed to pay _______ Rupees.
5. The customer took the horse and ________.

To get the answer please visit website