Personality speaks the language of Talent with the echo of moral values. Everyone in itself possesses very unique talent and characteristics, which helps in building their persona. But Garnishing is always done by the flavor of Moral values. Objective of Young Jaina Award is to inculcate the values of Jainism while recognition of Young Talent so that Young Jaina Awardees can make their ambience better place to live.
With the blessings of our Guru Munishri Kshamasagarji , true disciple of Acharya Shri Vidhyasagaji, concept of Young Jaina Award was launched in the year 2001 at Shivpuri (M.P.) on the auspicious occasion of the 2600th birth anniversary of Bhagwan Mahavir. Blessings of Munishri Kshamasagarji and the impact of his lessons sounds like “DIVYA DHWANI”, which has spreaded all over India and impacted the young, talented student fraternity. The award envisioned and conceptualized by Munishri Kshamasagarji has gained much coveted value among the Jain community over the years.
Every year there is an overwhelming response and more than thousands of forms are received. To bring all the boards to a common ground, normalization of the actual percentages was done using topper’s marks in the respective board examinations.
Flashback of all the Award ceremonies held yet:
In the first ceremony organized at Shivpuri (M.P.), Dr.Sunita Jain, Professor, IIT Delhi was the Chief Guest in the function. 224 students securing 75% and more marks in Class XII were bestowed by the Young Jaina Award-2001. Shri Yogendra Jain of Nagpur (Maharashtra) secured the first position with 93.5% marks.
In the second function held at Jaipur 1050 Jain students were invited with 75% and more marks in Class X and Class XII inclusive of 200 students who were selected in IIT, CPET/PET and CPMT/PMT. Smt. Saryu Daftari, renowned Industrialist and social worker of Mumbai was the Chief Guest of the ceremony . Shri Dhiraj Jain of Pondicherry with 95.91% marks in all the State Level Boards for XII Class examination and Shri Darshak Shah, Gujarat with 92.8% marks in XII class examination of CBSE got the first position. Shri Ujjawal Vijay Mahatme of Nagpur (Maharashtra) with 96.66% marks in the X Class in all states level Boards and Shri Aviral jain of Nagpur(Maharashtra) with 96.4% marks in the X class CBSE examination got the first positions.The only girl Jain student selected for IIT-JEE, Ku. Priyanka Jain was awarded for her rare achievement.
In the third ceremony held at Ramganjmandi (Kota-Raj) 1025 students were invited inclusive of 231 students securing 85% and more marks in Class X, 574 students securing 75% and more marks in Class XII and 88 and 132 students as special and additional awardees respectively. Retired Professor (Dr.) Sunita Jain of IIT, Delhi was the Chief Guest for this function. Shri Chainmay Kothari, Jaipur (raj.) with 96.8% marks in X Class secured the first position. Ku.Anthima Kasliwal (Pondicherry) with 96.55 marks in XII Class Science, Ku.Namrata Nirmal of Bangalore with 95.0% marks in XII Class-Commerce, Ku.Shashi Jain of Khanpur (Raj.) with 86.0% marks in class XII-Arts got first positions. Ku. Pooja Jain, Kota (Raj.) was selected for admission in IIT in the first attempt. All these were specially awarded for their rare distinctions. During this function, Jain Quiz was also organized and 16 students with 100% marks were given the award for Jain Quiz. About 300 students were given “Certificate of Honour” in appreciation of their adherence for daily Dev-darshan and for taking meals only in day time. Almost all participants pledged for living vice-free life. About 100 economically weak Jain students were awarded scholarship for their higher studies. It was heart touching to see about 500 young participants clad in prescribed religious attire taking part in the Ahar Charya of Munishri Kshamasagarji . All the students participated beneficially in career counseling held during the award function . They actively participated in this counseling and interacted with the senior bureaucrats, industrialists and senior professionals from various fields.
Next comes the fourth ceremony held at AshokNagar (M.P) with 1200 students. Awardees were welcomed in Ashoknagar with the concept of “Athithi Devo bhavo” . Sindhu S. of Chennai was awarded first (97.00%) in Science, Neha Jain of Pondicherry was awarded first (95.92%) in Commerce, Himanshi Jain of Bahadurgarh was awarded first rank in Commerce with 94.20% , Taruna of Ganaur forest was awarded first rank (88.20%) in Arts, Devesh Kumar Jain of Ajmer was awarded first rank (87.53%) in Arts, T S Sowmya of Tumkur was awarded first rank (95.68%) in Xth class, Manav Jain of New Delhi was awarded first rank (95.60%) in Xth class, Also Mayank Jain got selected in National Level Excellence in Cricket, Shruti A. Pande was awarded for getting National Award in Kathak, Shrey Modi of Esagarh was awarded for getting selected in AIIMS, AFMC and CPMT and Alok Kumar Jain of Kishangarh was rewarded for scoring first rank in Raj. Board, selected in IIT-JEE, AIEEE, RPET and BITS Pilani without coaching and for being a strict follower of Jain moral values. Two day ceremony conducted various events and counseling which was found very beneficial for the awardees.
It was organized in Morena M.P where 1500 students were awarded which was highest in number than all the 4 previous years award ceremony. Ankit Patni of Kuchaman City and Deepika Jain of Hyderabad were awarded first in Science Category. Abhishek Jain of Kvehaman City and Arthi of Thiruvannamalai were rewarded first in Commerce category. Sakshi Jain of Jaipur and Nishu Jain of Hisar were awarded first in Art category. Rajeev Kumar of Chennai and Nikita Jain of Jaipur were rewarded first in Xth standard. Senior awardees of YJA 2001 Graduation with high Percentage were Nimita Patni of Ajmer in Physiotherapy, N. B. Thrilogasundari of Chennai and Megha Jain of Bhopal in Engineering, Roompan Jain of Harda in Arts, Poojashree of Ujjain in Management Science, Swati Jain of Shivpuri, Puneet Jain of Agra and Shikha Jain of Shivpuri in Science and Deepika Jain of Jaipur, Preeti Sangni of Jaipur, Vashudha Jain of Agra and Rakhi Jain of Morena in Commerce category. Awardees going home carried “ Preachings of Munishri” as asset with them altogether with award and certificate .
This was the first time when YJA was organized in absence of Munishri Kshamasagarji , but at welcome gate every awardee was given a Bookmark with Munishri’s signature of “ SUBHASHISH” . That very moment an air of presence of Munishri was felt around by every awardee. Ceremony started when awardees in “white dhoti- duppatta”and “saree” participated in Jin Poojan. These events like Jin –pooja , Jin- bhakti were aimed at familiarizing the awardees with means of mental and spiritual prosperity and this is integral part of the Young Jaina Award. After Jin Pooja, everyone was blessed by the Munishri’s Pravachan via Video CD. Afternoon session was started with Jain Quiz which was awaited program in the session. A set of 20 objective questions covering the basic aspects of Jainism to be solved in 15 minutes, was given to the awardees. In the evening just after the Aarti, carrier planning sessions were organized. Stream wise counseling was organized for Science, Arts and Commerce streams. Special session for Class X awardees was also organized. The next day again started with Jin Poojan, Munishri’s Pravachan Video CD. In the afternoon, award ceremony started with the Mangalacharan.
Munishri Kshamasagarji Maharaj has always emphasized that career should go hand in hand with moral values and an impeccable character. Honesty, integrity and humbleness should be our core assets and strengths along with our intellectual skills. He emphasized that higher education should inculcate simple, easy and systematic values in out personality. Positive thinking, sweet speaking, constructive activities and simple living should be undeniable aspects of our lifestyle. We should also learn the art and science of compassion and affection. In every ceremony, Young Jaina Awardees take the oath to practice moral values like devdarshan and sacrificing meals after sunset as far as possible. That is how YOUNG JAINA AWARD makes a difference in an individual and every individual altogether practices the principle of “Live and Let Live”.