Jai Jinendra, Sanyam Mahotasava on June 23 The year long celebration of the 50th year of 'Diksha' of renowned Digambar Jain Guru Acharya 108 Shri Vidyasagarji Maharaj is being celebrated throughout the world as 'SwarnaSanyam Mahotsav and we at JCNC are joining the celebration by having a day dedicated to this event where we will showcase the life of this great saint and display some of the books written by him and have a small skit by kids depicting his life before diksha.
The overall co-ordinator for this auspicious event is Shri Ashokbhai Sethi and he can be reached at 408-823-9801, or you can email religious@jcnc.org
A brief bio of Acharya Shri Vidyasagarji is given below : His childhood name was ‘Vidyadhar. He was the second of four sons. As a child, he was fond of eating fresh butter which was used to make ghee. He wasn’t a demanding child and accepted what was given to him. Vidyadhar used to visit temples and teach his younger siblings the principles of religion. He was attentive and submissive towards studies. In spare time, he also used to paint. He took diksha on June 30,1968 in Ajmer from Acharya Gyansagar ji, who belonged to the lineage of Acharya Shantisagar. He was appointed Acarya on Nov 22, 1972, when he was only 26. His conduct as a Digambara monk has been exemplary. He has given up eating salt, sugar, nuts, milk, yogurt and oil for life. He only eats and drinks one time in a day. He is known for his strict ascetic conduct and his ability to compose verse in Sanskrit, Hindi and Kannada with equal ease. He has made tremendous contribution to Jain literature in the form of six Sanskrit Shatakas, Champukaavy, Mook-Maatee (epic), ten shatakas, three volumes of poems and 24 volumes of poetic renderings of Jain scriptures. Acharya Vidyasagar is the most renowned saint in the Digambar Jain community and wields influence beyond the community as well. He has been a source of inspiration to the people for starting institutions for the welfare of living beings at different places. The number of monks (munis) and nuns (āryikas) initiated by him and are directed by him exceeds two hundred (117 Digambar Muni, 172 Aryikas), they stay in more than 60 locations in India during chaturmas, ranging from Gujarat to Jharkhand, and Haryana to Karnataka. This ensures that only a few monks or nuns are staying in a particular place. Regards, Rakesh Jain & Mittal Kothari VP & Co-VP of Religious Programs | ||||||||||||||||||
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