You are probably aware that National Census will take place on 27th March 2011.

The forms will be delivered by hand or by post to each house in the UK. The householder will have the option to complete it on line or fill up the form physically and send it back by post.

The last census

When the last census took place in 2001 – only 7,000 persons registered as Jains! The name Jain is not listed in the list of religions thus it needs to be entered as an option.

Why is the name of your faith important?

Because the number registering as Jains was below 10,000, the Jain community did not get an official recognition as a minority religion in the UK. This has many implications in terms of grants, other forms of support, education and more.

If you are Jain please enter your religion as Jainism and don’t be shy about it. : )

Over the last 3 years I have been covering PPA, rather than, being a class teacher. I ended up teaching a lot of R.E. and P.E. and I ended up really enjoying teaching R.E., especially in Middle School. The children are able to articulate their thoughts, ask questions, reflect and more. It was truly amazing!

One lesson stood out the most. The lesson was called ‘Deep thoughts about deep ideas.’
The objective was for the children to know about Hindu concepts of the atma (the true self).
They also needed to understand the Hindu belief that God is within the heart and conscience.

We discussed the soul and the various words that can be used to describe it. We also talked about the fact that many religions talk about the soul or the spirit. Many of the children had heard of it.

Here are some of the things that the children said: -

Fred said that an example of the soul not needing a body was shown in Harry Potter. Moaning Myrtle lives in the in the toilet.

Dave said that the soul’s trapped in the body.

Vijay said if the soul doesn’t have a body it can live but if the body doesn’t have a soul it can’t live.

Danielle said that “the soul controls you. When you die it gets re-born into another body.”

Sandy said “it’s like a ghost. It leaves the body when you die”

Tommy said “the soul leaves the body when you die and goes somewhere. If you’re knocked out you see yourself on the floor but you’re see-through and like a silky wall. If your heart stops you see your soul raise out of your body and you go to heaven.”

Natalie said “A child could see the soul that came out of the body of the dead person” so we discussed that many people believe children’s minds are more open to this kind of thing and others believe that our minds becomes closed as we get older. Thus we lose the ability to see things like this. We discussed that others believe it’s not possible at all.

Ben said “It helps you make hard decisions. The soul helps you face your fears.”

Ali remembered the episode of Tom and Jerry when Tom died and 9 souls came out. They all showed different feelings – playful, bossy etc.

Tammy said the same as Ali but she remembered a similar episode from Garfield.

It may not read as well as it felt. The lesson was buzzing. The children were so into it. their hands were shooting up all the time because they wanted to explore their ideas together. They felt curious, safe & most of all, they all showed respect for all faiths as they spoke. It was amazing!

Suraj and I devised a menu for the 8 days today. Paryushana began yesterday. We started late as I was fasting until this afternoon so we hadn’t really thought about it. Usually we’d make extra dinner for lunch. We’re going to try and finish dinner that night and take something ‘fresh’ for lunch. For example, fruit or mashed banana with nuts and coconut. It’s well yummy!

Anyway here’s what we’ll have for dinner this week: -

Sunday: -
Cauliflower and courgette shaak with a wrap or rice

Monday: -
If we don’t eat out it’ll be pitta bread with salad in it.

Tuesday: -
Black eyes beans shaak with a wrap or rice

Wednesday: -
A pasta salad with sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes, rocket, nuts etc.

Thursday: -
Sweetcorn shaak with a wrap or rice.

Friday: -
Rice with peas in it with kadhi (it’s like a soup made with yoghurt)

Saturday: -
Lunch – Daal and rice
Dinner – Banana shaak with a wrap or rice

No garlic or onions needed in any of these dishes? Not so hard is it?

Did you notice? It’d all vegan too. The kadhi will be made from soya yoghurt!

My friend Sagar wrote the message below. He sent it to many of us last year. I saved it in order to send it out this year. I’ve had so many responses to the one and only reply I received about it; I had to share them.

Below you’ll find the message by Sagar, followed by the message from my anonymous friend. The comments that followed will appear in the comment section below the post. Please feel free to add your tuppence!

The message I forwarded which was originally written by Sagar: -

Dear friends,

As many of you will know, Paryushan, the Jain festival of penance and forgiveness has begun.

During this festival, members of the Jain faith traditionally fast and participate in pratikraman. For lay members, fasting often entails avoiding activities that are traditionally thought to cause more himsa than others, such as eating root vegetables.

In today’s complex society, the process of milk production causes far more suffering and killing than typically meets the eye. Dairy cows are forcefully and artificially inseminated to stimulate pregnancy and milk production. They are immediately separated from their offspring at birth. Any male calves that are not reared for veal or beef are slaughtered immediately after birth (since they have no intrinsic value to a dairy farmer), and their sisters are forced to go through the same agony and suffering as their mothers. A dairy cow could live up to 30 years in a natural environment, but will almost always get slaughtered before the age of 10, as her milk yield drops, and it is no longer financially viable for a farmer to use her for milk production (or anything else).

It is the unfortunate (and inconvenient) truth that our consumption of milk and other dairy products contributes to the above processes. In light of this, it seems natural that Jains (adherents of Ahimsa) should acknowledge and consider the suffering caused to cows in the milk production.

So…. why not give up dairy products this Paryushan?

For more information, please see the following documents addressing the reasons to give up / reduce animal product usage, alternatives to dairy products, and possible health concerns:

Problems with dairy products: http://sagarkiritshah.googlepages.com/ProblemswithAnimalProducts.rtf
Alternatives to dairy: http://sagarkiritshah.googlepages.com/DairyAlternatives.rtf
Health concerns: http://sagarkiritshah.googlepages.com/Healthconcerns.rtf

Many members of the Jain community have made steps to completely remove dairy and other animal products from their diets in order to reduce their himsa footprint. If you would like to find more, or have any questions about reducing dairy from your diet (over Paryushana or longer), please feel free to JainVegans-owner@yahoogroups.com, or join the Jain Vegans e-group by e-mailing JainVegans-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

If you think giving up all dairy products will be too difficult, please consider reducing dairy products. For example, you could have two dairy free meals a day, or try and just replace milk and chaas with soy milk or rice milk. Every little step will help reduce the harm and suffering caused.

Please forward this message on to anyone who you think would find it relevant or of interest.

Micchami Dukkadam (sorry for any offence or harm caused by this message),

Sagar Shah

The reply from my anonymous friend: -

I want you to consider the result of this action.

The dairy farmer is in business for money.
His sales of milk and milk products drop.
He starts making losses on his dairy farm.
He thinks. There is more demand of beef than dairy!
He changes his farm to beef farm.
Presently he sends his bulls to the abattoir because they are of no use.
If the cows also become of no use to his dairy profits?
Then of course he will fatten them with hormones and non-eatables!
He will send the cows to the abattoir with the bulls.

By not using dairy products ARE YOU DOING ANY FAVOURS TO THE COWS?

This is a deception being spread by a few who do not respond to the above thought process.

What do you think? Any comments?

This song is from the film Jodha Akbar.

When the Sufis sing this song the emperor himself gets up and joins them whilst the Sufis dance. He appears intoxicated in this Bhakti. There’s something about it, regardless of the faith that I follow; which makes me feel at peace, hopeful and divine.

If it helps I’ve pasted the lyrics below

I wrote a series of articles about death and Jain traditions when my grandfather passed away . This post lists all the articles that I wrote. Some of the posts share opinions that explain why, for example, Indians and East Africans began to cremate bodies whilst the other opinion focuses on the Jain perspective.

1. Death and rituals in Jainism.
2. Why do we cremate the deceased?
3. Why should we walk around the coffin?
4. What happens to the cloth that is under the coffin?
5. Why are incense sticks placed in the coffin?
6. Why should funerals only be attended by males?
7. Why do we need to bathe after touching a dead body?
8. How should the body of the deceased be removed from the home?
9. Which way should the body of the deceased face when it is brought home?
10. What to do when someone passes away in the Navnat community

This article was written by Chandraprakash Shah. I have found it really informative. It is a fuller explanation than I have received to date, explaining why Jain celebrate Diwali.

There are about eight days during the Dipavalee celebration in Jainism. It begins on Dhan Terash and ends on Gyan Pancham or Labh Pancham or Shrut Panchami. There are last three days of Ashwin month and first five days of Kartik month.

There are five Kalyanak celebrations of each Tirthankara. They are:
1. Chyavan (Entering womb of mother)
2. Janma (Birth)
3. Diksha (Initiation)
4. Kevalgyan (Omniscience)
5. Nirvan (Emancipation)

All are very auspicious occasions and are celebrated with the presence of heavenly gods. Except the last, Kalyanak. This is when the Tirthankara attains emancipation. The people and gods are very happy in the company of Tirthankara as they obtain purest form of knowledge. They can remove their doubts, realize their past, present and future happenings. When Tirthankara emancipates practically all glamour and happiness vanishes.

Bhagwan Mahavir knowing his emancipation very near approached Pavapuri alias Apapa town. The heavenly gods created Samosaran (beautiful dome). Bhagwan Mahavir sat on golden throne inside Samosaran. There were twelve beautiful qualities surrounded him. It was Kali Chaudash. His principal eleven disciples were present including Gautamswami. Heavenly gods and goddesses, other people too were present.

He had royal patronage too. Rich financiers and merchants, kings, queens and princes and their ministers were followers of Mahavir. Some of them were present to witness the last moments and last discourses of Mahavir. One of them was king Punyapal. He had received eight dreams the night before. Punyapal told Mahavir that he had become scared after having these dreams. He narrated them before Mahavir and requested Mahavir to forecast its results. We shall deal each dream separately in detail later on. But the mention of eight dreams is of important and hence I provide the names of them.

They are:
1. Elephant
2. Monkey
3. Kshirvruksha
4. Crow
5. Lion
6. Lotus
7. beej (Seed)
8. Kumbha (Pot)

These dreams seem to be beautiful but the forecast was horrible and it related to entire Jain four fold organizations and universe.

Mahavir gave discourses for 16 Praharas continuously i.e. two days and two nights without any break. In these 16 praharas he spoke on 55 chapters of Punya (merits) and 55 chapters of Paap (demerits). These are well-known as Uttaradhyayan Sutra in Jainism. Mahavir also forecasted the horrible future of fifth and sixth Aras of present Avasarpini.

As soon as the time for emancipation reached nearer Mahavir asked Gautam to go to a farmer named Devsharma and enlighten his soul with knowledge. This was the day of Amavasya in the month called Ashwin.

At midnight on that day Mahavir attained emancipation and relinquished this universe forever. He sat on the deat of salvation. He will never return from there. His emancipation caused extinguishes of Bhav Deepak and turned the atmosphere into darkness and hence those who were present at that time lighted Dravya Deepak. Dipavalee festival since then commenced for Jains. It is celebration of NIRVANA KALYANAK and not enjoyment of worldly pleasures. Why? Because we wish to have NIRVANA as early as possible.

Later on Gautamswami returned after meeting Devsharma. He learnt about emancipation of Mahavir and began crying. He then went into deep thinking and converted these thoughts into meditation and concentration of non-attachments. At the dawn of first day of the new month i.e. Kartik he achieved luminous and brilliant kevalgyan (Omniscience). Heavenly gods celebrated his kevalgyan with all gaiety and pleasures.

Jains participate in a gorgeous procession on the second day of new month of Kartik every year. In British rule, in Kolkatta, the procession of Bhagwan Mahavir was the scene of gaiety and pleasures for all communities. It was moved through the entire town and halting at Shitalnath Temple.

Now let us observe how Jains celebrate Dipavalee:

·         On Dhan Terash: Jain Merchants carry out Puja of Dhan (Money) and their books of accounts. They prefer to close down their shutters after this Puja and Pujan for eight days.

·         On Kali Chaudash: Most of the Jains start observing fast for two consecutive days, preferably women. They sit in Jaap means counting rosary at night. Some go to listen Diwaleekalp. Some enter in to Paushadh (behave like a nun) for two days.

·         On Amavasya Day: People go to the derasar to worship and meet each other. They distribute clothes, give donations and again at night, they sit in Jaap. The Jaap mantra is MAHAVIRSWAMI PARGATAY NAMAH

·         On New Years day people greet each other and express best wishes for the forthcoming New Year. As midnight passes those doing Jaap start chanting “GAUTAMSWAMI KEVAL GNYAYA NAMAH”

·         On the second day of New Year there is a procession of an idol of Mahavir. This is called Bhai Beej.

·         On the third day of New Year, the derasars (Jain temples) and jina idols are decorated with flowers.

·         On the fourth day of New Year people visit the derasar and pray.

·         On the fifth day of New Year it is Gyan Panchami or Shrut Panchmi. On this day Jains worship “Gyan” with different materials, sweets and fruits. They also count rosary to gain pure knowledge.

Therefore Dipavalee for Jains is quite different to the way others celebrate it.
Jains do not explode crackers.
They do not believe in extravagant spending on Dipavalee festival.
They believe in making donations to charity.
It is also called accounts squaring or balancing merits and demerits.
Jains avoid colossal violence
They observe fast
They worship the Tirthanakaras’ images,
They decorate the Jina temples,
They observe Jaaps,
And businessmen keep their shutters closed.
Author : Chandraprakash Shah
Minister of Religion
Chandraprakash.Shah@gmail.com & chandraprakashshah@rediffmail.com