Pathshala 1
Violet Mcdow
The Jain Center Youth Council (JCYC) Pathshala program follows the school calendar. Classes are held in person every other Sunday between September and June each year. The 2024-2025 pathshala year will begin with the first class on August 18. Children that are 3 Years or older on August 31 of that year to be eligible to enroll in Pathshala classes. Please note that pathshala classes will be held in-person at the Jain Center.
Once the registration opens up, please complete your registration to avail the Early bird fees which is for JCNC Members only. If you are not a JCNC Member and would like to avail the Early bird fees please register for the membership.
The detailed Instruction document has all the information for registration including classes offered, fee structure, payment information, pathshala calendar and the registration link for 2024-25.
Volunteer: We are actively looking for volunteers to help out in coordinator or teacher roles across Shala classes. If you are interested in being a volunteer, you can select the option for volunteering in the online registration link. Please mention you are interested in teaching or helping in other ways with JCNC Shala.
In India, Jain young people most often live in religiously saturated environments, allowing them to acquire knowledge of their religion through daily life by interacting with the monks, temples, texts, and people that surround them. This general cultural education, along with the assurance of readily available resources to which young people can always turn with new questions, together provide an adequate grounding in the Jain religion. The environment for American Jains, by comparison, is religiously dilute. Here Jains are spread too thinly to provide young people with the Jain environment necessary to sustain such education by osmosis. In addition, the assurance of accessible resources is replaced by the formidable barriers of language and distance. Even when leading Jain teachers come from India, the language and context out of which they speak is distant from the experience of second-generation American Jains.
While each pathshala is unique, most teach the fundamental Jain principles and several basic Jain prayers in the original Prakrit language. More varied is the way they approach the challenge of how youth can apply Jain principles in their daily lives. The importance of the vegetarian diet and its relationship to the American lifestyle is fundamental. (How does one explain why they are vegetarian to their friends? Which fast food places serve vegetarian food?). Some classes discuss ethical career choices and issues of animal rights. Others reexamine traditional Jain rituals and lifestyles in light of the new context.
Caldwell Pathshala is an integral and vibrant part of Jain Center of New Jersey. This Jain Pathshala was established in 1983 at Caldwell Derasar with following goals in mind: To teach Jainism / Jain Religion principles, values and culture based on Jain scriptures.To introduce children to Tirthankars, Ganadharas, Five Parmesthis and other great Jain souls and learn from their lives and teachings.To introduce children to Chaturvidh Sangh (Sadhu, Sadhvi, Shravak and Shravika) established by Lord Mahavir and their Jain way of life.To teach Jain Sootras and processes of Darshan, Vandan, Pujan, Samayik, Pratikraman, etc.To introduce children to Karma Theory, Cosmic Order, Soul and Moksh (liberation of soul).To teach importance of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct.To introduce children to Jain Pilgrimages and history.
Over the period of time the number of students attending the Pathshala has increased many fold and so as the activities of the Pathshala. Please visit Activities section for more details about various activities organized / carried out by Caldwell Pathshala. In recent years the total number of students attending Pathshala is 100+ on average.
In addition to the pathshala classes, in 1991 we started Gujarati Language classes for children who want to learn the language. These classes are held for one hour prior to the pathshala classes, as given in the schedule.
Please visit Registration section for more details about Registration Process, different class levels and eligibility criteria for each level. Every year, the Pathshala sessions are held between September/October and June of following year. Please visit Calendar section for details about dates and timings of various Pathshala sessions. Please visit Events section for details about dates and timings of various upcoming events.
The credit for success of Caldwell Pathshala goes to very knowledgeable and dedicated panel of teachers. Please visit Teachers section for names and other details about teachers of Caldwell Pathshala. During each Pathshala session, students are served with snacks. Please visit Snacks section for more details and to know about Snacks Sponsorship Program. Please visit Gallery section for photos and videos of various Pathshala Events.
Caldwell Pathshala is very thankful to Jain Center of New Jersey, all the teachers, pathshala admins, students & their parents / guardians, and our generous donors for making this Pathshala a big success.
1.AstroPathshala is the only place, where One finds Solutions to all his problems by seeking Remedies and if someone wants to learn Astrology, only place in the Universe where you get to learn from the Experience of the Guruji in a most methodical manner. Concepts are better understood with the help of Sutras and some Unique Techniques devised by Guruji Sunil Vashisht Ji. And most importantly, the charges are negligible when compared to the knowledge/Returns which we gain and hefty Fee's charged elsewhere.( amar das)
2.Astro Pathsala is reputed and ethical based Organization of Divine science/Occultism. Guruji Sunil Sharma, MK Bhandari sir, Kammal ji ,Urmi ji, Pratap Sir and their entire team has today helping lots of students interested in Divine science. Till now I have already completed around 10 numbers of different types of courses from Astropathshala .The most interesting thing I found with Astropathshala is unique in teaching methodology, esay to understand, doubt clarify,one to one communication level and always believe in ethics.(Rachna Jain)
3.Astropathshala is giving these courses in minimum charges but quality wise much more higher and excellent than anyone in this field. Astropathshala's online courses are very useful and effective for learner. Hope in coming days Astropathshala will introduce many more unique courses for us. Overall Astropathshala is like a friend of us and teach us qualities of a responsible/ Good person. Astropathshala is giving us more than expectations. So interested persons can get into these courses.Thanks a lot ? (Bhupinder Pal)
Astro Pathshala strives in bringing traditional knowledge of Vedic Astrology, Vastu, Palmistry, Numerology, and so on with modern techniques of learning and their implementation by offering expert teachers
Pathshala pre-modern local elementary education centre imparting secular instructions geared to meet the practical needs of the community, such as zamindari accounts, mahajani accounts, weights and measures, document and letter writing etc. The pathshala was usually set up by an instructor called guru, who ran the centre as his private concern. There were also pathshalas established, though rarely, at the initiative of the community, but the guru's predominance in the management of the pathshala was unchallengeable. The guru based pathshala system in Bengal was in existence from very early times and it continued until the system began to erode under the pressure of the new education policy of the colonial government in the nineteenth century.'
The pathshala was an open air institution having no paraphernalia like permanent structures, furniture and staff. A pathshala carried no name. It was usually known to people by the name of the guru who ran it. The pupils sat on the ground. They were, however, free to bring from home their own gears to sit on, such as small-sized mats made of cane, bamboo reeds, barks, leaves etc. The guru maintained his honour and difference with the rest by sitting on a wooden stool, which was again brought from home. As the guru maintained the pathshala all alone as an enterprise, he admitted students to the limit he could well manage. The gurus mostly came from the Hindu Kayastha caste, which was socially specialized in teaching and serving in state and business establishments. The pathshala was open to students of all religions and castes, though predominantly Hindu students attended pathshala and Muslim students maktabs.
Traditionally, the maintenance cost of a pathshala came from the voluntary subscriptions of the guardians of students and donations from philanthropic neighbours. A guru's monthly income, as is gathered from some surveys conducted in the early nineteenth century, varied from place to place. On an average the income varied from Rs. 5 to 12 in the early nineteenth century. It was a respectable income for the time in the sense that this sum, which could buy in normal seasons two to three maunds of rice in the rural areas, was rarely surpassed by officers of similar qualifications engaged by government, zamindars and commercial concerns.
The pathshala syllabus included reading, writing, arithmetic, letter-writing, rudimentary Sanskrit grammar, religious tales, zamindari, mahajani and commercial accounts and correspondence. The pupils received instructions not only from the guru but also from the select senior students who were given considerable leverage to maintain pathshala discipline. They were called sardar podos. The gurus saw to it that all attend the pathshala regularly. As a disciplinary measure, the sardar podos were sent out to bring back the long absentee students from their homes who were normally severely punished for the default. The gurus and sardar podos maintained strict discipline and order among students by inflicting harsh punishment when normal shouting and warning proved ineffective.
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