Jain Protest March in Allahabad

ALLAHABAD: Protesting against the recent attack on a Jain saint in Junagadh district of Gujarat, members of Jain community took out a silent procession here on Wednesday to condemn the incident.

Holding placards and banners demanding punishment for the guilty persons, the protesters, including men, women and children, said the attack on saints amounts to insult of Indian culture and doctrine of Ahimsa.

The procession started from Zero Road Jain temple and after passing through Johnstangunj, Chowk, Leader Road and other parts of old city culminated at Subhash crossing in Civil Lines where a meeting was also held.

General secretary, Jain Samaj Prayag, Anoop Chandra Jain said Jainism preaches the doctrine of ahimsa in life and its followers are simple, austere and peace loving. They are guided by the principle of 'Live and let live'. The character and lifestyle of Jain saints who are involved relentlessly in hard penance is entirely different from others in society. In such a case, any attack on such person/persons is condemnable and government should punish the guilty severely.

Another speaker Rajesh Kumar Jain said the attack on Jain saints is an attack on Indian culture and Indian culture is identified by the presence of saints in such large numbers.

Hazaribagh Jains Protest against Attacks on Jain Monks

The people of Hazaribagh came on streets on Tuesday to protest against the series of attacks on Jain Munis in different parts of the country. After Maharastra and Rajasthan on 1st of January some unidentified criminals attacked on Muni Prabaal Sagar at Girinath Sthan, Gujarat. The criminals wounded him badly by using knife. Similar incidents had already taken place in Maharastra last month. 

 To protest these incidents people of all religion assembled at Bara Bazar Jain Mandir premises under the banner of ‘Sarva Dharma Qaumi Ekta Samiti’. From here they started their march and traveled almost entire town without telling or shouting anything. This was a silent rally of the denizens of Hazaribagh through which they registered their protest.

 At the end of the rally a memorandum to President of India was handed over to the SDO. In this memorandum demand of strong action against the culprits has been made. A large number of women from every religion of society took part in this silent protest march. It was led by leaders of every religions and political parties.

Jain Monks Learning from Muslim Teacher!

AHMEDABAD: This unique student-teacher relationship can itself be the subject of a doctoral thesis! A Muslim assistant commissioner of commercial tax,Intaj Malek,is PhD guide to two Jain monks Chintan Muni and Niranjan Muni helping them understand Jainism in a new perspective.

Unlike other doctoral guides who keep their students on their toes,Malek follows his on-the-move students around the country,meeting them at upashrayas to follow up on the progress.He also carries reference books and laptops for his students.

Chintan Muni,52,is writing his thesis on Austerities in  Jainism and other religions a comparative study.Niranjan Muni,45,on the other hand,is studying Bhavna Shata Treatise on 12 reflections of Jainism by Shatavdhani Ratnachandraji Maharaj.

The student-guide relationship happened by accident.The Jain munis of Sthanakvasi Jain Ajramar Sampraday were finding it difficult to register themselves as PhD students with Gujarat University and finding a guide.The two munis have not cleared the standard XII exam,but have bachelors and masters degrees from Jain Vishva Bharati University in Ladnun,Rajasthan.

Malek helped them register as students.Once they came in touch,Malek was requested to become their guide since he was eligible,having done in-depth study in Jainism as well as other religions.He also holds a doctorate in Upanishads and Islamic mysticism.

Since 2008,this unique student-teacher trio has not only made progress on the academic front but had a deep influence on the personal front as well.Malek,for instance,has become a vegetarian out of respect for his students.Whenever he goes to meet them to upashrayas,he follows strict Jain rules of not drinking water after sunset.

The students too are in awe of their teacher.We may belong to different religions,but we have similar values.We have never had a difference of opinion on religious issues.Our teacher is an excellent human being who has taught us a lesson in dedication, says Chintan Muni.Despite being on the move as munis are meant to be,their preparedness is humbling.They generally study under a streetlight.While Chintan Muni will complete his thesis soon,Niranjan Muni will complete it by the end of this year, says Malek.

(TOI)

Jain Monks Stops His Journy after Naxal Threats

AHMEDABAD: A Jain monk on a Mumbai-Rajkot padyatra was given police protection after community sources said he received naxal threats. The valsad district police was given the responsibility to provide security to Namra Muni, 40, when he reached Vapi in south Gujarat on Saturday morning.

Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, superintendent of police, Valsad, said, "Some  Jain leaders told us that the monk faced a threat; so, we decided to provide protection to him."

The anti-terrorist squad in Ahmedabad has detained four suspects from the Vapi-Valsad stretch and is questioning them in this regard, said the squad's sources. The Valsad district police gave the monk four armed policemen and stopped his padyatra. They have taken him to a safe place and are not disclosing the location even to people from his community. The monk, who got Naxal threats during his stay in Bihar, had no security on the Mumbai-Vapi stretch of his walk. When he reached Vapi, the police tracked him down.

Bipin Shah, manager,Nandigram Jain Teerth, where he was supposed to stay, told TOI, "When the monk came here on Friday, the police said he had to be protected and could not be allowed to carry on with the padyatra and that he would have to take a police vehicle."

Fashion Designer to Become a Jain Ascetic

-Srinivas Sirnoorkar,Gulbarga

In February, a fashion designer, his wife and their young son would be expected to travel to Dubai for the month-long shopping festival, Bali in Indonesia, or Cape Town in South Africa.

Instead, in eight weeks, couturier Kiran Maru, his wife Jyothi and son Bhavya are taking a journey into Sanyas (renunciation).

Thirty-six-year-old Kiran has decided to free himself from worldly pleasures and pressures. He, wife Jyothi (34) and eight-year-old Bhavya are all set to become Jain ascetics by renouncing all their material possessions. Their move towards asceticism has brought great joy to the Jain community here and elsewhere.

The three will attain the highest order of spiritualism for the noble cause of preaching and propagating one of the oldest religions on February 23, 2011, with Acharya Bhagawant Kalapuran Surishwar formally initiating them into the ascetic world at Adhoi in Kuchch district of Gujarat.

Kiran from Adoni in Andhra Pradesh and Jyothi, a Kannadiga from Belgaum, married 10 years ago and are settled in Mumbai.

“They were passionately discussing the tenets of Jainism and were planning to take sanyas to attain moksha (liberation) which is the ultimate goal in our religion. Over the last couple of years, they have been preparing for the ultimate by renouncing one pleasure after another of the material world,” said Manilal Shah, Kiran’s cousin.

The Marus were given a rousing reception by the Sankeshwar Parshvanath Jain Sangh when they were here recently to seek the blessings of their elders before taking up sanyas.

The three Shwetambars have already undertaken the ‘aparigriha vruta’, a religious ritual of not accepting anything from anybody, and have been undergoing vigorous training of the life of sanyas ashrama. After attaining sanyas, each of them will be moving independently all over India to preach and spread the universal values of Jainism. For the rest of their life, they will have to live on the alms and eat only once a day.

Manilal Shah said Bhavya, who has studied up to third standard, has also been given due training and he has been mentally prepared to take up ‘bala sanyas’ to become an infant ascetic. Ten years ago, a young commerce graduate Sapna from Gulbarga had taken the Deeksha.

Jains celebrate Bal Diksha victory

Ahmedabad: Following a sustained movement to prove Bal Diksha as a religious practice that has been performed for thousands of years, the Jain community has succeeded in keeping it away from the provision of the Juvenile Justice Act. The community is now planning to organise celebrations in various cities, including Ahmedabad and Surat.

The Shri Jain Shashanam Trust (SJST) had provided sustained legal and documentary support under the guidance of senior Jain monks.

"Bal Diksha has been opposed for many years and this agitation increased over the last 100. But it is a religious tradition and has continued for many centuries. Our great Diskhayug Pravartak Tapagchchhadhiraj Acharya Ramchandra Surishwarji Maharaj and Sagarsuri Maharaj had taken up the challenge of proving that Bal Diksha is a religious practice of Jains," said Anand Parikh, the Ahmedabad representative of SJST.

"Though Ramchandra Surishwarji Maharaj passed away 20 years ago, he started a great movement for Bal Diksha and created a momentum for it. Wherever he travelled, he inspired the Jain community through his lectures to come forward and work for the endeavour," he said.

Parikh further said that Kirtiyash Suri Maharaj Saheb, Ramchandra Surishwarji Maharaj's grand disciple, had taken over the mantle and continued the campaign.

"We have finally achieved our aim. The Union government has admitted that Bal Diksha is a centuries-old religious practice and has excluded it from the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Justice Act," he said.

The SJST conducted a celebration in Mumbai on June 7, and further a celebration will held in Ahmedabad within a week or two.

"Communities of senior Jain monks gathered at Madhavbaug in Mumbai last Sunday. In the presence of nearly 4,000 people, Acharya Kirtiyash Suri Maharaj Saheb was appreciated for his efforts for Bal Diksha. We are now planning to celebrate this victory in Ahmedabad. We will be decide the dates after contacting our spiritual leaders. It is likely to be scheduled in next 10-15 days," Parikh said.

The community had received official intimation about the exclusion of Bal Diksha from the venile Justice Act last April.

Jain monk walks barefoot across India to reform the men

By Santanu Barad

Jain Monk Prasanna Sagarji Maharaj takes rest at Raghunathpur Village near Berhampur during his Ahimsa Sanskar Padyatra on bare foot to reform men.

Berhampur (Orissa): The monks at normal times live in the wood and pray for the welfare of the human civilization. However, there are few monks like Prasanna Sagarji Maharaj, who lives among the people to reform the men and their attitude by restoring degradation in morality owing to modern living habits.

Prasanna Sagar was born in the Chatarpur region of present Madhya Pradesh left the home at the age of 19 years and became a Digambar Jain monk.

Since then, Prasannaji has been walking bare foot across the country to bring a reform in the men by changing theie lifestyle and the attitude that ought to be in the human being for the development and welfare of the human civilization.

Prasannaji was recently at Berhampur during his tour and stayed for a night at the Raghunathpur village.

During his tour in last 20 years, he covered at least 25,000 kilometers in bare and left a kind of indefinable mark in the minds of the people he met.

As per the tradition of the Digambar section of the Jain, the monk walks bare foot, wears no cloths and remains in bare body throughout the year. He takes food or water only once in a day, maintains silent in the night, uses no vehicle, uses no metal either, pulls the hair of the head by hand only.

Moreover, he never uses any kind comfortable things, sleeps on the bare floor, never takes bath and always carries a Jhadi made of peacock's feather for the security of lives and holds a pot for the purification of the body.

To the astonishment of many people present at the village, Prasannaji broke his silent in that evening before this correspondent, though in the evenings he remains silent as per the Jain tradition.

When asked, he said, "when a monk speaks few people listens, but when a scribe writes the message reaches among the masses. Hence, the journalists should write for the people that could bring a reform in the society by creating awareness".

Speaking about the aims of his Ahimsa Sanskar Padyatra, he said that with each passing day, the men are loosing their moral characters, idealism are being vanished and human attitudes are being changing. So, he felt the need of propagating the people about the reforms in themselves by changing the attitude, spreading love and peace in the society.

Putting emphasis on welfare of the human being and high moral value, Prasannaji said putting aside one’s selfishness; the men should work for the betterment of the society in order to revive the rich social and cultural heritage of the country.

Jain sadhvi alleges molestation in Palitana

BHAVNAGAR: A Jain sadhvi's alleged molestation outside a dharamsala in the pilgrim town of Palitana has outraged the region's Jain community.

In a complaint registered on Monday, the 27-year-old sadhvi told the police that a man attacked her on February 9, when she had gone into the open field behind the dharamsala to attend to the nature's call. She said the man molested her and ran away when she shouted for help.

As the community threatened a major agitation, the police held an identification parade on Monday, in which the sadhvi identified a balloon-seller, Laxman Bhara, who lives near the dharamsala , as the culprit. Bhara was immediately arrested.

Palitana police inspector R J Waghela said Bhara had taken the sadhvi by surprise, pushed her to the ground and tried to gag her. But sadhvi's cries forced Bhara to flee, he said. The sadhvi had immediately informed the dharamsala caretakers about the incident. The police was called in, but the caretakers didn't want to register the complaint initially, preferring to discuss the issue among themselves first.

Maharaj Revant Vijay of the Palitana Jain temple has demanded stern action against the accused. The community's religious heads are planning a protest rally.

Modi and Singhal: Pro-Jains?

Junagadh, December 7 All India Sadhu Samaj president (Gujarat Chapter) Mahant Gopalanand has come down heavily on Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal for his derogatory remarks on the sadhus of Gujarat, who have been tacitly campaigning against the Narendra Modi government.

Gopalanand said in a statement that while the VHP has been playing politics in the name of Hindutva, it has also misused the sadhus under the banner of Dharma Sansad and Hindu Jagaran.

He said the VHP under the leadership of Singhal, has mustered crores of rupees and gold bricks in the name of constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya, but it never made the account public, and since it has failed to construct the temple, the VHP should be considered as an anti-national, anti-society and anti-religious organisation.
"Ashok Shinghal himself is a Jain and in spite of being a Jain, he is the leader of a Hindu religious organisation (VHP). He (Ashok Shinghal) never bothered about Jain sadhus," Gopalanand said in his statement.
He said though the foundation-laying ceremony of the ambitious Girnar ropeway project in Junagadh has been completed thrice, it could not get started, because of the opposition of the Jains to this project. "This is because Jains are against this project and, Singhal and Modi are pro-Jains," he said.

He said during the last five years, many sadhus, including several VHP office-bearers have been murdered, but none of the accused have been convicted or punished by law. "Why is the VHP not raising this issue of sadhus' murder under the BJP rule? There are number of slaughter houses functioning in Gujarat, but why is the VHP keeping quiet?" he said.

Gopalanand declared his support to Sarsa-based sadhu Avichaldas for the latter's announcement to start an agitation and mobilise sadhus from across Gujarat against Singhal. Gopalanand said the VHP is playing dirty politics in the name of Hindu Jagaran and looting the country and the religious people.