Announcements
Def Poet | Flowmentalz
Master of Personification, Dubber of Duct Tape Poetry, An all around Cool Frickin’ Guy. Flowmentalz appeared on multiple seasons of HBOs Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry.
To see Flowmentalz and other artists perform at the Peace Jam, sign up for the evening social activities when registering for the Jaina conference.
Def Poet | Gemineye
Christopher Kuretich a.k.a. Gemineye has taken the poetry world by storm! A 2002 finalist at the world renowned Nuyorican Poets Café in New York, a 2002 finalist at Serengeti Plains in New Jersey- he would soon hold the title of Grand Slam Champion in New Jersey and become a member of the 2002 New Jersey National Slam Team. Gemineye would reaffirm his position atop the Slam circuit in New Jersey with a repeat performance earning him a second year as the Grand Slam Champion for 2003 and earning him another spot on the 2003 New Jersey National Slam Team. You can catch Gemineyes most recent television appearance on the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of HBOs Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry.
To see Gemineye and other artists perform at the Peace Jam, sign up for the evening social activities when registering for the Jaina conference.
Emcee, Poet | Bejoy Philip ft. Frontlynaz
About 10 states and 3 countries have already been impacted by the gifted, slick, edgy, and witty flow of Bejoy Philip. Bro. Wize, is called to motivate this generation to become living billboards that convey one simple message…”I’ve made successful decisions”. His goal is not only to motivate but to transform his listeners. By leveraging his academic, professional, and leadership experience, Wize wants to see an uprising of young leaders that will transform the marketplace and the community. With an ability to relate to teens and young professionals across various cultures, Bro. Wize is a positive influence in today’s pop & hip hop culture. Currently, he works for a fortune 500 financial services company as an internal consultant and process lead. He is President and rap artist for Frontlynaz Inc. (www.frontlynaz.com) and serves as Director of Chi Alpha young adult ministries in Newark. His passion is to see you walk in the purpose you were created for and achieve more than what you have expected. Wize has been privileged to communicate this message of power and purpose in various schools, conferences, and churches spanning 10 different states. Crossing international borders, he has also been privileged to speak in South America, West Indies, and Africa. He is a speaker, rap artist, teacher, but more importantly, a man that has a heart for teens and young professionals. Join Bro. Wize in unfolding wisdom that will change the course of your life.
To see Bejoy and other artists perform at the Peace Jam, sign up for the evening social activities when registering for the Jaina conference.
Get your Picnic On, Jain Style!!
AmitIf you’re gonna be in SoCal this Memorial Day weekend make sure you get on the Jain Train and hang out with your friends and make some new ones while we enjoy the beautiful weather (fingers crossed) and play silly games and munch on some great food!
Sunday, May 27, 12:00pm
Mason Regional Park
18712 University Drive, Irvine, CA
Hello Everyone!
Please join us on Sunday, May 27 for a YJA Picnic bash. So come out, have fun, meet people and re-connect with old ones!!
We will be serving drinks, food and snacks all day. The cost will be $ 5.00 as a donation fee towads YJA
Also, feel free to bring games, footballs, Frisbees, etc. etc.
This is a recommended 21 + event
We can’t wait to see you there and we know you can’t wait to hang out with two of the coolest people ever. The excitement is building up. It will be lots of fun.
Just in case you need our numbers here they are:
- Shefali - (949) 292-6920
- Amit- (310) 901-0709
For any questions or further details regarding this event, please contact Shefali.shah@yja.org or Amit.jain@yja.org
Hope to see you all there!!
Jain Dharma Questions & Answers
YJA was recently contacted by a student at Warner Pacific College who was researching Jainism for a world religions class. The student ask if YJA would be interested in participating in a Question / Answer email exchange regarding Jain Dharma.
Since I was the first to get the email, I volunteered, but our Rajiv Jain (Co-Chair), Jainy Savla (Education Chair) and Amit Jain (Project Manger) will be taking a crack at the questions too!
Note: I’d like to state that I’m not a Jain scholar nor do I speak on behalf of YJA or the Jain community. I’m just a simple kid sharing my thoughts.
1. What are the reasons in which you chose to practice Jainism? Were you raised this way? Did you choose this path for yourself? If so, what led you to your decision?
At the age of 16 I was in a place in my life where I started to look for meaning at a higher level. Although I came from a loving, providing and spiritual family, I still need to understand, for myself, what “life” was about. I was asking myself the same question that all developing minds ask themselves, “Why am I here?” “What does this all mean?” “Is there a God?” “If there is a God what is my relationship to him?”
In that search for meaning, I started to read about all sorts of religions and philosophies. One of the common themes I started to pick up on in my readings was the theme of “enlightenment through inner dialogue.” The understanding that without self-inquiry, there is no lasting happiness.
The teachings of Jain Dharma stood out significantly because Jain Dharma wasn’t a religion. It was a way of life that revolved around the laws of the universe. I didn’t need to “do” anything to become a “Jain” and in fact the word “Jain” simply means student of the “Jina” or “Enlightened One”. Therefore being a Jain simply means that you are a studier of any individual who has achieved awakening.
Although my mom came from a Jain background, she was not taught much about the true teachings growing up. Her limited experiences were centered about rituals and the culture of being Jain. Like going to the temple and reciting prayers that she didn’t understand. When I started to learn about Jain Dharma though, I was fortunate to have discovered it from a “purer source”.
Once I got the base of understanding and teaching, I went from being depressed about life to being excited about the possibility that there was more to life than what I saw on the surface. But it was just belief that was making me feel this way, there was an inner truth inside of me that was activated once I started to read about Jain Dharma. I felt excited that I was in control of my life and through action and meditation I could show up stronger in my career, relationships, education and family life.
2. Please tell us a bit about Dharma? What personal significance does it have for you? Is it sacred? How so?
Dharma has no direct translation in the English language. Some of the words/phrases used to describe it are teaching, deep purpose, spiritual path, and the overall underlying order of the universe.
A great way to understand the significance of Jain Dharma is to see it in relation to culture. The Jain Culture is the culture of how to dress, who to marry, what ritual to perform, what to eat, what jobs to hold and other social norms. The Jain Culture is constantly changing and evolving, but is always temporary - reflective of each generation.
Jain Dharma, on the other hand, is the deep and person experience of stillness and Ahimsa. It is the experience of going within through self-reflection to understand where your karmas and conditioning are coming from and how to slowly let go of them. Jain Dharma is the deepest truth.
While Jain Culture is a public experience, Jain Dharma is a private experience. Jain Culture is relative and Jain Dharma is absolute. Many people, including Jains, forget about this and often confuse being “religious” as following the social norms. The great teachers though, try to remind us that the truest form of Dharma is within.
3. Do you have a center of focus within your religion or something you consider sacred? If so, what or whom is it and why is it important to you?
The focus and sacredness of Jain Dharma is not a person, lord nor higher power. It is the daily practice of Ahimsa, translated as Non-Violence.
On the surface, most people understand Non-Violence as “not physically hurting someone or something”. But there is a much deeper practice of it. Ahimsa is also the practice and understanding that the number one person we hurt everyday is ourself - specifically with our thoughts. Everyday we have so many negative thoughts that our “ego” creates to perpetuate the cycle of Maya (translated as delusion). Sure, some thoughts are good, but overall, most thoughts people have are thoughts of worry, confusion, drama, and depression. The severity may vary from person to person, but the underlying tone of “what will happen to me” is usually present.
The deeper practice of Ahimsa is the practice of understand why the human mind is caught up with drama and how we can go beyond it. This personal drama, responsible for 99% of personal suffering, is what eventually leads to greater acts of violence. The only way we could ever hurt another human being or animal is if we’ve first hurt ourselves. Ahimsa is about “first stop hurting yourself” and then not only will you not hurt others, but life, in the absence of drama, will become an amazingly beautiful experience.
4. Do you believe in the afterlife? If so, what is it like/what occurs?
Jains believe in the natural law of Karma. Karma effects how all energy manifests. Our human bodies are just a shell, a type of energy, with a soul “inside” of them. Based on the karma attached to our soul, our energy manifests in different forms - human forms, animal forms and so on. Based on our ability to shed karma our souls have the potential to either be reincarnated or be liberated. Jains call this liberation Moksha and it is dependent on our souls being able to still of all of the ego’s passions and false identities.
When the soul has attained Moksha, it is free from the cycle of birth, death, space and time. The soul does not enter any sort of heaven, in the traditional sense, but simply transcends the current experience of life as we know it.
5. When a loved one dies, what burial rituals take place? What do you believe happens to a person once they pass away?
The burial rights that take place are a series of rituals know as “pujas”. The body itself is cremated and often the ashes are scattered in a river, if possible a holly river in India.
See above about someone’s passing
6. How do we know what is right according to Jainism?
There is no right and wrong in a relative sense. For example, war is neither right nor wrong according to Jain Dharma. Rather, war is an unfortunate reality that has its own consequences. It causes deep suffering for all and can only be waged by unconsciousness. But Jains won’t call it wrong, because to call something wrong is to make it an enemy. And when you make something and enemy, you don’t understand its roots, how it got started and what to do to change it. Making something an enemy often means that you are willing to do what ever it takes to rid of it. Even if that means violence to end violence.
When you understand something though, and see it as a reality, you can go deeper and search for the root causes. This is the Jain principal know as “anekantavada’. Anekantavada means that everything has multiple perspectives and no one perspective is “totally right” or “totally wrong”. Anekantavada is also about honor and respecting perspectives in an effort to understand something that you may not see or recognize.
In an absolute sense, there are certain laws of the universe that are “right” or true. For example, gravity is a law that governs this Earth. Like it or not, it is there. Is gravity right or wrong? It is neither - it just is. Similarly, there are laws that Jains recognize that govern the universe we live in, such as Karma.
7. Does Jainism have more in common with Buddhism or Hinduism? How so?
Most modern Jains are culturally Hindu. They celebrate many of the same holidays as Hindus and have similar weddings and rituals. Jains are only 2% of the population of India, a majority Hindu country, so their culture is very influenced by the Hindu culture.
Spiritually, Jains, depending on who you talk to, tend to have more in common with Buddhist. Although, Buddhist do not recognize the soul and a few other things that Jains recognize, both practices recognize that there is no creator and no supremer governing being.
8. Regarding the ritual in Jainism, “death of the wise” (panadita-marana): What your personal thoughts on the subject. Also, I was wondering if you knew if it was a ritual that people not only do in India but possibly do in the United States as well?
Pandita-marana was more popular in the past than it is now, but I still occasionally hear of individuals who under-take it. As you noted, it is more common in India than in the USA. Partly because the population of Jains in the USA is 100,000 and the population of Jains in India is 15 to 30 million. But also because the times are different now and the elderly community, as a whole, are more encourage to use medicine to extend life. People also have more chronic diseases these days, so dying of old age is far less common. Many more people today are dying without feeling that their time has come.
My personal feelings on the topic: Many individuals outside of eastern traditions tend to look on this practice as suicide. However, it is not suicide. The goal of suicide is to end your life. The goal of pandita marana is to come to peace with your departure from this planet and die on your own terms, rather then on the terms of external forces. In many eastern traditions, including Jain Dharma, the last few days of ones life is very important because of the recognition of rebirth / reincarnation. Individuals use this opportunity to face their ego’s fear of death and instead of running from the inevitable, they face is straight on by slowly lowering their intake and fasting. It is almost like facing the fear of death and realizing that it doesn’t exist. The opposite of death is not life, but birth. We are born and we die, but we are always life. Life has no opposite.
In the Jain traditions, this is one of the most honorable things a person can do and it is very well respected by the community. As honorable as it is though, I imagine that the practice will slowly fade away, as it already has, as medicine, drugs and bad health become more popular.
When my time of departure comes, I hope to be in a place where I can face the fear of death straight on and choose to go on my own terms.
YJA & YJI - East Meets West
I’m happy to announce that Young Jains of America and Young Jains India held a monumental meeting this Jan 2007 in Mumbai, India to further their joint efforts. YJA & YJI have started planning their first join project and will start releasing news updates as planning progresses.
From left to right: Paresh Jain, Dhrumil Purohit (YJA), Manish Kasliwal, Yogesh Jain, Sachin Jain
About Jain Diaries
Jain Diaries is a blog by YJA about Peace, Compassion, and having a good time. Written and edited by youth just like you. Enjoy!