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THANKSGIVING DAY

Almost every culture in the world has held celebrations of thanks for a plentiful harvest. The American Thanksgiving holiday began as a feast of thanksgiving in the early days of the American colonies almost four hundred years ago. In 1941 Congress ruled that the 4th Thursday in November would be a Federal holiday proclaimed by the President each year.

Thanksgiving is a time for tradition and sharing. Even if they live far away, family members gather for a reunion at the house of an older relative. It provides a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with those most important to us and be reminded of our common values. It is a day to strengthen family connections, values, and traditions. It also provides a special time for families to share their strength, stories, and spiritual foundations.

All give thanks together for the good things that they have. In this spirit of sharing, civic groups and charitable organizations offer a traditional meal to those in need, particularly the homeless.

The foods eaten at the first thanksgiving meal (turkey, corn [or maize], pumpkins and cranberry sauce) have become traditional Thanksgiving meal. Millions of Turkey will be slaughtered in USA and other places on this day which is on Thursday, November 22, 2007.

We request the Jain community of USA and other places to celebrate such an important tradition with your family and friends in the following manner:

• Thanksgiving dinner - a home cooked Vegan meal (pure vegetarian meal without any animal products including milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, ghee, and ice cream) or Äyambil
   

• Recite the prayer below before your Thanksgiving meal
   

• Do Pratikraman in the evening
   

• Serve vegetarian meal to homeless and needy

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

Today we give thanks for this vegetarian meal and the people who have labored to harvest and prepare this meal for us. We give thanks to all other human beings who have contributed to our lives. We also ask for forgiveness from all living beings that we have harmed, intentionally and unintentionally.

We are grateful for our health and the opportunity to share this meal with others on this day. We aspire, with compassionate hearts, to use the energy that we gain from this meal and our friends to contribute to the peace and happiness of all living beings.

We pray that all the people everywhere in the world will avoid inflicting harm on animals and fellow human beings and practice nonviolence and compassion. We express our sorrow at the suffering of all the animals that have been killed to provide meals for the Thanksgiving celebration.

May peace and compassion grow in ourselves and extend to all around us.

ENGLISH PRATIKRAMAN

Anger, ego, deceit, and greed arising out of attachment and aversion are the soul’s impurities. To remove such impurities, Jainism has prescribed six essential practices (rituals) known as Ävashyaka to be performed daily of which Pratikramana is defined as the 4th Ävashyak.

Monks, nuns, and devoted Jain laymen (Shrävaks and Shrävikäs) staunchly observe these rituals while others practice them occasionally. The annual Pratikraman that all Jains should strive to participate in is called Samvatsari Pratikraman, which is performed on the last day of Paryushan.

During the last few centuries, studies of Jain literature work indicate that the word “Pratikraman” is used as a common noun for all six essential acts (six Ävashyaka). This is also meaningful because during the course of time the Pratikraman ritual has been enhanced to include all six Ävashyaka.

Hence the entire Pratikraman ritual which covers all six Ävashyaka or six essential acts, occupies such an important place in the Jain tradition as does Sandhyä in the Vedic (Hindu) tradition, Namäj in the Islam, Kharavela Avesta in the Zoroastrian, and prayer in the Jewish and Christian traditions.

The JAINA Education Committee has put together a simple Pratikraman ritual for the English speaking community of North America and other countries. In this ritual, they have maintained the traditional flavor of original sutras along with their essence and meaning.

The Pratikraman ritual is divided into six sub-section corresponding to each Essential. This way one will have clear understanding of the performance of each Essential. Also included are the following 4 articles related to Pratikraman and Paryushan in the book. Please read these articles before performing the actual Pratikraman ritual.

1. Paryushan and Das Lakshana Parva

2. Pratikraman and Six Ävashyaka (Essential Rituals) :

• Sämäyika - Equanimity

• Chaturvimshati Stava - Prayer

• Vandanä – Respecting Ascetics

• Pratikraman – Repentance and Confession of Sins

• Käyotsarga – Non-attachment to the Body

• Pratyäkhyäna / Pachchakhäna – Religious Vows

3. Twelve Vows of Laymen (Shrävaks and Shrävikäs)

4. 108 Attributes of the Five Supreme Beings

For English speakers, the Sutras may be difficult to pronounce without due practice. After understanding the purpose and meaning of the Pratikraman, one can either recite sutras or the explanation of sutras. This way one can complete this ritual within 48 minutes, which is the required duration of the Sämäyika ritual.

You can download the entire book and use it during Paryushan / Das-laxana celebration from the JAINA website:

• English Pratikraman (PDF)

• English Pratikraman (MS Word)

To buy the Pratikraman book (Cost is $1.00 per book + postage with minimum quantity of 5 books per order), just send an e-mail to education@jaina.org with your postal address and telephone number.

AUDIO CD OF JAIN PRATHANAS AND SAMAYIK SUTRAS

The Jain Center of Greater Boston (JCGB) is delighted to publish this audio CD on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Pratistha Mahotsava of their temple. This audio CD is an extension of two booklets that were published in 2003 by JCGB. These booklets have become very popular and several Jain Centers requested an audio version of these two booklets. The Prarthanas are presented with light symphonic music and are pleasing to listen to. The Sutras in the CD are recited by the youth born in USA.

Listening to this CD frequently, children and also parents should be able to recite and memorize these Prarthanas and Sutras with correct pronunciations.

Distribution: The audio CD with two accompanying booklets are available at $5.00/set. This includes shipping. This cost is below our material cost. A minimum order of 10 sets is requested for your pathshalas. Email to mitashah@comcast.net or call 781-449-3297 for order. Make your check payable to Kreate and Print.

A Samayik now can be performed by listening and following the instructions on the last two tracks of the CD. This CD is a production of the JCGB Pathshala parents, teachers, and alumni students.

The Content of the Audio CD:

• Jain Prarthanas - Tracks 1 through 21
  Tracks 1 through 20 contain the Prarthanas from the JCGB published booklet, “Jain Prarthanas”. Melodies have been maintained in a simple, traditional, and easy to sing along manner. We have added light background music to make listening to the CD a pleasurable experience.

• Sutras - Track 22
  The Sutras presented in the booklet “Shri Samayik Sutra” are recited with correct pronunciations by Pathashala youth who are born in the USA.

• Introduction to Samayik – Tracks 23 and 24
  A very clear and easy to understand organization of the booklet “Shri Samayik Sutra” are presented in these tracks. The entire processes of Samayik initiation and ending are explained.

• Initiation of Samayik – Track 25
  It will be somewhat unlikely that youth born outside India and whose first language is not English may memorize the all Samayik Sutras. If an aspirant desires to perform Samayik and does not know the process or the Sutras, he/she should just simply listen to this track using a CD player and follow the instructions for initiation of Samayik. After listening to Track 24, he/she should observe 48 minutes of Jain religious study or Jain spiritual meditation.

• Ending of Samayik – Track 26
  After observing 48 minutes of Jain religious study as explained in Track 24, the aspirant will now listen to Track 25 using a CD player and follow the instructions for the ending of Samayik.

JAINISM AND ECOLOGY

The twenty-five-hundred-year-old tradition of Jainism, which emphasizes nonviolence as the only true path leading to liberation, offers a worldview seemingly compatible with the goals of environmental activism. But can Jainism adopt a sociocentric environmentalism without compromising its own ascetic principles and spiritual tradition? How does traditional Jain cosmology view the natural world? How might a Jain ethical system respond to decisions regarding the development of dams, the proliferation of automobiles, overcrowding due to overpopulation, or the protection of individual animal species? Can there be a Jain environmental activism that addresses both the traditional concern for individual self-purification and the contemporary dilemma of ecosystem degradation? The voices in this volume reflect the dynamic nature of the Jain faith and its willingness to engage in discussion on a modern social issue. Read more in our Author Spotlight...

Read Excerpt: From Liberation to Ecology: Ethical Discourses among Orhodox and  Diaspora Jains by Anne Vallely (PDF)

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To Consider...

BE CAREFUL DRINKING TROPICANA 'HEART HEALTHY' OJ

A common variety of orange juice made by Tropicana (the "Healthy Heart" variety) has fish oil as one of its ingredients! Be aware of this and share this information with others. Health experts suggest that the same benefit of 'omega-3 fatty acids' provided by fish oil can be received from consuming flaxseed or flaxseed oil. Read more information about flaxseed.

Source: Tropicana Website

DO YOUR PART FOR GLOBAL WARMING THIS PARYUSHAN

Give Up Something That Contributes to Global Warming For Paryushan! Paryshan is not only a Jain time of fasting and prayer, but it can also be observed as a time to "give up" something to make the world a better place. Paryushan is the perfect time for you to make a change in your life to fight global warming.

You can take action in simple ways, like replacing incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs. CFL bulbs use only a fraction of the energy used by incandescent bulbs and significantly reduce carbon emissions. You can also choose to buy produce that is locally grown, purchase energy efficient devices or commit to driving your car one day less each week.

Global warming is already putting stress on the planet through rising waters, increased storm events and severe drought.

Help curb global warming and protect the planet for future generations.
 

MARS STARTS USING ANIMAL PRODUCTS

Some of the UK's best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will no longer be suitable for vegetarians. Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products. Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a "principled decision" on its part.
The Vegetarian Society said the company's move was "incomprehensible".

'Extremely disappointed' Masterfoods said it had started using rennet from 1 May and non-affected products had a "best before date" up to 1 October. Rennet, a chemical sourced from calves' stomachs, is used in the production of whey.

It will now also be found in Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way products, and the ice cream versions of all Masterfoods' bars. "If the customer is an extremely strict vegetarian, then we are sorry the products are no longer suitable, but a less strict vegetarian should enjoy our chocolate," said Paul Goalby, corporate affairs manager for Masterfoods.

The Vegetarian Society said it was "extremely disappointed".  "At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods' decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step," it said in a statement. "Mars products are very popular with young people and many will be shocked to discover that their manufacture now relies on the extraction of rennet from the stomach lining of young calves," it added.

(Source: BBC)
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Jain News Around The World

NEW BOOK: The Jain Path: Ancient Wisdom for the West, by Aidan Rankin, published by O Books
Jainism is India's oldest spiritual tradition, and one of the world's oldest religions. It is not well known in the West. But it embodies many of the ideas underlying current thinking on the interconnectedness of all living systems, the principle of non-violence and the need to live simply. It is perhaps the most demanding, rational and radical of all religions, attaching great importance to individual responsibility. Today we are questioning our own inherited values and also rediscovering ancient traditions. We are looking for continuity and balance-a "return to the centre." Understanding of Jain principles can point us towards the elusive "paradigm shift", giving spiritual and intellectual strength to a new global ethic of compassion and interdependence. Based around the individual's own spiritual journey and the choices he or she makes, Jainism, more than other spiritual tradition alive today, can bridge the gap between eastern and western patterns of thought.

Author, Aidan Rankin, is a qualified stress management consultant and has a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics. He was the first non-Jain to guest editor of Jain Spirit, the international journal of Jain culture, which he has also served as news editor and commentator. He lives in London and is on the National Council of the Theosophical Society in England.

Copies may be ordered from the publishers or from Amazon.

PAKISTANI SCHOOL KIDS HAVE JAINISM LESSONS
Islamabad: The Pakistan government has decided to include brief lessons about religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism in the revised national curriculum for history subject for middle school students. The students in classes VI to VIII will also be provided information about various civilizations of South Asia, starting from the Indus Valley civilization.

The education ministry has reportedly sent curriculum guidelines to the provincial textbook boards for formulation of books in detail for such classes. The curriculum's main objective is to create awareness about various ancient civilizations that developed over centuries in South Asia; especially in areas now constituting Pakistan, reported the Dawn.

The curriculum starts with highlighting the importance of the discipline of history. For class VI, it covers the period from Indus Valley civilization to the end of the Delhi Sultanate (1,500BC to 1,526AD). In particular, it focuses on the civilization and social advancements made by the people of Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

The second chapter for class VI will focus on social, economic and religious systems of that time period in which salient features of Hinduism will be discussed besides explaining how Buddhism and
Jainism differ from Hinduism. The next two chapters will be on the arrival of Arabs and the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim to Mahmud of Ghazna, Shahabuddin Muhammad Ghauri and the Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq and Lodhi dynasties and their subsequent decline.

Students of class VI will also be learning about major Sufi orders and saints, and their contribution in the spread of Islam followed by the evolution of Indo-Muslim culture with particular reference to their contribution in arts, science and architecture. The curriculum for the class VII will be focusing on the Mughal Empire; its foundation, consolidation contribution and disintegration (1526-1857). Starting with factors that contributed to the conquest of India by Babur, learning outcomes also include administrative reforms of Akbar, poetry, miniature, painting and music of Nur Jehan, Jehangir's passion for dispensation of justice, and Shah Jahan's contribution to culture and architecture.

Source: JAINA_teachers@yahoogroups.com __________________________________________________________

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Author Spotlight

ANNE VALLELY
Anne Vallely is a cultural anthropologist in the Dept de Sciences des Religions, Ottawa University, Canada. She focuses on the Jain religious and cultural tradition of India, on ethics, asceticism, and women's religious lives, and is also deeply concerned with religion and "nature." Read more about Anne Vallely's publications...

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Ahimsa in Action

JAINS CAN BE GREEN
There are practical ways in which Jains can be Green -- as individuals and as members of our Jain Communities. Swati Shah (JCNC) has some ideas on how to start. Can you think of more? Read the list...

STOP TRADE IN
BLOOD DIAMONDS
The diamond trade has fueled civil wars and destroyed countries, killing close to 4 million people and displacing millions more. "Conflict" or "blood diamonds" have funded some of the most devastating wars in African history. After diamond-fueled wars in Angola, Sierra Leone, and the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), the diamond industry agreed in 2002 to regulation of the entire supply chain of diamonds through the Kimberley Process. Despite these efforts, the trade in blood diamonds continues. Global Witness and Amnesty International recently reported that $23 million worth of blood diamonds are being smuggled each year from the Ivory Coast of Africa and sold worldwide.
Call on Congress to finally bring an end to the blood diamond trade.

TRUTH IN FUR LABELING
The Fur Products Labeling Act requires that any garment made of fur list the type of animals used and the country in which the animals were killed. However, a loophole in the law exempts garments made with up to $150 worth of fur from being labeled. Without proper labeling, consumers don't know whether a product contains real fur or faux fur. And it’s not just scraps—animals are killed specifically for fur trim, which is commonly exempt under the loophole.
U.S.Representatives Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) and Jim Moran (D-VA) have introduced H.R. 4904, The Truth in Fur Labeling Act of 2006, which would close this loophole.
Join the Humane Society in urging your representatives to co-sponsor the Truth in Fur Labeling Act.

GO GREEN AT WORK
Greener homes are in the spotlight these days, but what about the other places where many of us spent huge chunks of our time -- our offices?
Some simple changes of habit can save energy and resources at work...
Find out more...

EPA SET TO ABANDON 30 YEARS OF AIR QUALITY CONTROL
Lead is one of the most harmful toxins on Earth and is especially hazardous for children. Incredibly, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering removing lead entirely from the list of pollutants it controls under the Clean Air Act. Tell the EPA that it must continue to use the best available science to protect the air we breathe from dangerous lead pollution. Send a letter to the EPA...

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of America’s great natural treasures, home to caribou, snow fox and millions of migratory birds. It is also the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s vanishing polar bears. Yet, time and time again, Big Oil and their allies in Congress have sought to industrialize this special place with harmful new drilling.
Speak out for permanent protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

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CONVENTION REPORT
Almost 6000 people attended the 2007 JAINA convention held in New Jersey over the July 4th weekend. Find out more...

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