|
The 6th Annual Young Jain Professionals convention was held in San Diego from October 10 to 13, 2003. Jains from the US, Canada, and England convened at the Shelter Pointe Hotel and Marina and participated in scholarly presentations and team building activities for the weekend. The convention began Friday evening with icebreaker activities. The activities facilitated getting to know each other while challenging our minds. Saturday morning then began with a yoga session, where participants had the chance to warm up for the day, led by Dinesh Shah of San Diego. This was followed by a presentation by Yogendra Jain on “Re-branded and Re-packaged: Jainism’s Role in Reshaping Future Human Thoughts”. This presentation challenged the notion that Jainism must be taught using traditional methodology and addressed the idea that Jain teachings could be made more appealing and more accessible to a Western population by implementing creative ideas such as a Jain theme park. Although some of the concepts presented might not become reality in the immediate future, discussing such ideas encouraged the audience to think about these issues. The audience was then called upon to meet in small groups later in the day to come up with recommendations on various assigned topics to present the next day. The topics included: Why a mission and vision is needed for Jains, Understanding related trends in North America, Lobbying US/international companies, Messaging and promoting of Jainism to Jains and non-Jains, Analysis and update/modification of Jain practices, Leadership, Public relations, Alcohol and veganism, and Marrying non-Jains. A total of sixteen topics were covered. Next was a presentation by Prem Jain, senior vice president of Cisco, called “If Ken Lay were Jain… Would we have had an Enron?” This presentation addressed the contradictions many of us face about maintaining Jain values while working and excelling in the business world, such as promoting strengths and hiding weaknesses of products and creating stress in the family when working long hours. This session challenged the notion that Jain values need to be ignored to succeed in business, arguing that principles such as ahimsa, honesty, sincerity, aparigraha, and anekantvada boosts a company’s image and elicits trust from its consumers. After a break for lunch was a session titled “Creating Inner Balance… Can it really be achieved?” presented by Erik Sowder of Kaiser Permanente. This presentation emphasized the importance of balancing physical, mental, and emotional energies. In this session, Mr. Sowder helped the audience understand the mind/body connection through biofeedback technology. Volunteers were hooked up to a biofeedback device that monitored physiological changes as they performed various mind activities. Later in the afternoon, the group participated in team building activities organized by Team Building USA. The activities focused on communicating and trusting each other while working together towards a common goal. After enjoying a scrumptious dinner on the beach, many attendees enjoyed the nightlife of San Diego, while some participated in a local garba. Others gathered around a bon fire on the beach and sang songs or discussed Jain philosophy. Sunday morning again started with yoga. This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Manoj Jain, a physician specializing in infectious diseases, called “What’s ‘in’ for the 21st Century? Jainism?!”. This session challenged the Cartesian mind/body model and posited the existence of the soul and the existence of vibrations that bring together the mind, body, and soul. It also addressed the notion that many practices common to Jainism, including forgiveness, prayer, meditation, and vegetarianism, are likely to have a positive impact on a person’s health and well-being. Next came a follow-up to the session “Re-branded and Re-packaged: Jainism’s Role in Reshaping Future Human Thoughts”, where the each of the groups presented their ideas on the topics they had been assigned to. Each group had apparently put a lot of thought into their ideas and recommendations. At the end, Yogendra Jain indicated that these ideas will all be presented to JAINA in hopes of actually implementing them. Thus the activity was not only a thought provoking exercise for the participants, but was also shown to have practical importance. After lunch, the group headed off to Balboa Park, where we met up with Team Building USA again for another afternoon of bonding activities. At the park, attendees participated in a scavenger hunt, where everyone divided into groups to explore the park and search for various pieces of information. Participants in each of the groups took on roles such as leader, navigator, and encourager in the search process. While some groups diligently searched the park for all the information requested, other groups gave up quickly and spent their time leisurely enjoying the park. After the groups reconvened, participants enjoyed a picnic dinner at the park. After returning from the park, Amar Salgia, author of Pure Freedom: The Jain Way of Self-Reliance, presented a session on “Balance in Anekantavada”. This session explained the proper meaning of Anekantavada, helped dispel some of the misconceptions about Anekantavada’s meaning and purpose, and clarified ways of actually applying it in our day-to-day lives. That night, many of the participants stayed up most of the night, enjoying their last hours together before having to go off in separate directions. A few even remained awake long enough to watch the sun rise. Monday, as everyone parted, many looked forward to seeing each other at next year’s YJP Convention. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|