Mahavir Janma Kalyanak
Mahavir Janma Kalyanak Thursday 29th March 2018
2617 years ago, the last Tirthankar of our current cycle, Mahavir Bhagwan, was born. His teachings have been instrumental in propagating the knowledge of Jainism in our time and forthcoming times to come. This day also holds special relevance for us as it was also on this day in 1934 that Pujya Gurudev’s parivartan took place. The cultural team have been busy organising two events prior and just after the actual day.
With Mahavir Janma Kalyanak around the corner, our Pathshala children have been busy preparing a fun and interactive story telling of some important events in Mahavir Bhagwan’s life. All are welcome to come and watch the story unfold, and be inspired by our younger generation to learn more about Mahavir Bhagwan for ourselves. Please come along and show your support for our bright Pathshala kids. The programme will be as follows:
Sunday 25th March 2018
08.30 – 09:30: Pujya Gurudev’s CD Pravachan
09.30 – 10.30: Jinendra Pujan
10.30 – 11.30: Pathshala children’s story telling
As there is a four day holiday the day after MJK, we will be holding our main programme for the celebrations as follows:
Friday 30th March 2018
08.15 – 09:15: Pujya Gurudev’s CD Pravachan
09.15 – 10.30: Jinendra Maha-Abhishek (boys over 8 years most welcome) & Mahavir Janma Kalyanak Pujan
10.30 – 11.30: Gyaan Goshti – Religious discussion
In Balbodh Part 2, under Lesson 7 on the life of Bhagwan Mahavir, the following are listed as some of Mahavir Bhagwan’s important teachings:
1. All souls are equal, nobody is lesser or greater
2. God is not the creator nor the destroyer of things in this universe – he only knows them.
3. Telling lies and intention of telling lies are sins.
4. Theft and intention of theft are sins.
5. A greedy person is always unhappy.
During this event, we will be exploring together these teachings, giving all the opportunity to explore their meaning and applicability in our lives. You are invited to prepare a short passage (no more than 4 or 5 minutes), related to any one of these teachings, which you will share with your Sadharmis during the event. You can prepare this in any language you are comfortable with. In the passage you prepare, you should aim to share your thoughts in relation to the following questions:
1. How can you apply this principle in your everyday life, and what would be the benefits of doing so?
2. What obstacles prevent you from applying this principle in your life, and how could you overcome those obstacles?
3. What are examples of behaviours/conduct (think of obvious and more obscure examples also) that people engage in that go against this principle?
4. What evidence do you see in the world around you that supports this principle?
Everyone is welcome to attend the event, but if you would specifically like to be a participant in the discussions as per above, please put your name forward by emailing events@mahavirjaintemple.com. Please advise which topic you would prefer to talk on in your email. All ages are welcome to take part.
Children’s Pooja
On Sunday 18th February we will be holding our first Children’s Pooja. The Pooja will be conducted between 9.30 and 10.30am, in place of the regular Pooja.
In this Pooja we will be giving children the opportunity to perform Ashtdravya Pooja. The Pooja thalis will be provided, along with Pooja songs transliterated to English, so the children can follow along.
This is a brilliant opportunity for children and adults alike to learn why and how we should perform Pooja. The event is open to all, so please come along to enjoy this new intiative being delivered by your cultural team.
For any children that will be attending, please provide their names, either by messaging 07817 319838, or by emailing events@mahavirjaintemple.com. This will enable us to ensure we have sufficient Pooja thalis available.
Bhakti evening Sat 20th Jan
The first Saturday evening event will be held on Saturday 20th January, between 7pm and 8.30pm. The evening will be a mix of Bhakti (with live musicians), and some light games (time permitting). All are welcome to attend, and we especially encourage those with children to come along, as we will be singing some child friendly English bhaktis, along with easy to follow traditional bhaktis, that will be written up in traditional font for anyone who cannot easily read in traditional languages.
Although the event is designed for children to get involved, everyone should come along to make the evening as lively as possible, and to encourage our younger generation to increase their participation in Mandir activities. We should also use this as an opportunity to spend more quality time, interacting with our fellow Sadharmis, young and old, and regardless of learning level.
Diwali
SHREE DIGAMBER JAIN ASSOCIATION www.mahavirjaintemple.com
Jai Jinendra!
This year Diwali falls on Thursday 19th October. Our grand celebrations will start with Mahavir Bhagwan’s Abhishek at the usual time of 8.15am. The mandir will be open from 8-9pm in the evening for darshan and bhakti, with the arti taking place at 8.45pm.
For those who are working, we have a weekend celebration on Sunday 22nd October, where again the grand celebrations will start with Maha-abhishek, poojan, offering of Nirvana ladoo and bhakti.
We will be holding a raffle draw for the ‘Nirvana ladoo’ at £10 a ticket. The raffle will be drawn on the Sunday , the lucky winner will have the opportunity to place the offering in front of Bhagwan Mahavir with their entire family. Please obtain your raffle tickets from Nileshbhai, our pujari.
The programme on Sunday 22nd October is as follows:
8.00 – 9.00: Pujya Gurudevhree’s CD Pravachan
9.00 – 10.45: Jinendra maha Abhishek, poojan, Nirvana ladoo & bhakti (with music)
10.45 – 11.15: Swadhyay by Saurabhji Jain on Dev Darshan
11.15 – 11.45: Children’s programme
Hope to see you and the entire family on Diwali!
English talk
Jai Jinendra!
Das Laxan Maha Parva 2017
English Das Lakshan Talk
Sunday 27th August, 2 – 3.30 pm
Last year we held two English language sessions to explore the meaning of the Paryushan parva. These were very well attended and received. This year we will be holding a single English language session which will focus on the Nischay (absolute) and Vyavhar (conventional) angles of the das lakshan dharma on which we contemplate during this great festival. The event is being held in collaboration with Young Jains. All are welcome to attend.
Das Laxan Parva 2017
Jai Jinendra!
Das Laxan Maha Parva 2017
Saturday 26th August till Tuesday 5th September
As we approach Das Laxan Parva, we are presented once again with an excellent opportunity to make significant in-roads in embarking and furthering our individual spiritual journeys, journeys that we are all privileged in even being able to make in the first place, journeys that we may not have the opportunity to make again for a long time. So come and join the celebrations !
This year, unfortunately, our visiting lecturer’s visa application has been rejected. However, we will have the benefit of our resident Shastri – Saurabhji Jain, who accepted our request to step in immediately, despite having work commitments.
Weekdays
08.00 – 08.15: Jinendra Prakshalan
08.15 – 09.30: Das Laxan Puja
09.30 – 10.30: Saurabhji’s Swadhyay
10.30 – 11.30: Pujya Gurudev’s CD Pravachan
18.45 – 19.15: Jinendra Bhakti
19.15 – 20.15: Pratikraman
20.15 – 20.30: Jinendra Aarti
20.30 – 21.30: Saurabhji’s Swadhyay
Weekends & Bank holiday
08.30 – 09.45: Jinendra Prakshalan & Puja
09.45 – 10.45: Saurabhji’s Swadhyay
10.45 – 11.45: Pujya Gurudev’s CD Pravachan
18.45 – 19.15: Jinendra Bhakti
19.15 – 20.15: Pratikraman
20.15 – 20.30: Jinendra Aarti
20.30 – 21.30: Saurabhji’s Swadhyay
There will be some slight changes to the above programme to accommodate the following:
Sunday 27th Aug : Children’s sanskrutik programme at 10.45am & sanskrutik programme at 9.15pm
Friday 1st Sept : Sanskrutik programme at 9.15pm
Saturday 2nd Sept : Sanskrutik programme at 9.15pm
Sunday 3rd Sept: Sanskrutik programme at 9.15pm
We have tried to adjust the timings so that maximum number of people can take part in all the programmes. Please bear with us if there is a delay of a few minutes here or there in any of the above timings
Kshamavani Parva will be on 7th September. We will ask for kshama in front of Dev Shastra Guru at 10.30am.
Swami Vatsalya Bhojan
Sunday 17th September 2017
12.30 – 14.30: Swami Vatsalya Bhojan at Masefield Suite, Harrow Leisure Centre, Christchurch Ave, HA3 5BD
To enable an accurate list for catering purposes, please give your names if you will be attending to Nileshbhai, our pujari, by Sunday 10th September at the latest.There will be a charge of £10 to all over 8 years old. There is free parking for 3 hours at the leisure centre, however, A VALID TICKET MUST BE DISPLAYED.
Finally, we have the following fund raising schemes also in place. Kindly take part in dharma daan by way of:
1) Mangal Kalash to be installed on Day 1 on Mandlo – Center @ £75 and rest 4 sides @ £51 each.
2) Arti for each day of Das Laxan – boli starting at £25
3) Das Laxan Puja – 11 days @ £55and 1 day @ £11
4) Das Laxan fund
5) SV Bhojan fund
