Nal & Damyanti: A True Story from Our Rich Heritage

By Shashank Jain (Photos by Navin Mediwala)

Houston: JVB Preksha Meditation Center presented its 4th mega play, ww on November 13 to a packed house of 1,200 people at the Cullen Performance Hall at the University of Houston Main Campus. The play also marked the 1st Annual Day of its new facilities on 14102 Schiller Rd.

Master of ceremonies and Director/Past President Alok Jain started the program by introducing the audience to a new meaning of the letters JVB, as put forth by Samani Akshay Pragya Ji: J for Joy, V for Vision, and B for Balance. In summary, JVB is an organization that strives to bring joy in your life by helping you to balance your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional needs in pursuit of your vision. This was followed by JVB Houston Chairman Swatantra Jain who welcomed everyone to the performance, and requested the Samanijis to give the program an auspicious start with the recitation of the Naokar Mantra.

Nal & Damyanti is the true story of Princess Damyanti, daughter of King Bhimrath and Queen Pushpawati of Kundalpur. She chooses King Nal of Ayodhya at her swayamwar, and Ayodhya is filled with happiness, laughter and prayer. However, Nal looses everything including his throne, his material wealth, and even his wife Damyanti in a game of dice to his younger brother Kuber.

Damyanti is firm in her stance that she will never live with another man and Kuber banishes both of them from the kingdom. Both Nal and Damyanti find themselves in the harsh forest, where Nal abandons Damyanti, thinking she would go back to her father’s kingdom. The travesty of fate keeps them apart for 12 years, and Nal turns into a hunchback, as he is bit by a snake. As the story continues, Nal and Damyanti later unite, and are told by a monk that all this misfortune was the bearing of past karma.

With the help of the epic story of Nal and Damyanti, the JVB Preksha Meditation Center hoped to illustrate how love, compassion, tolerance and forgiveness can make our lives happy, healthy and harmonious, all which is emphasized in the teachings of Lord Mahavira.

The story of Nal and Damyanti conveys a very powerful message, which is that life is full of surprises, good and bad times and hardships are difficult to withstand. The question is, how do we choose to deal with them? One way is to question our faith when bad times come, become angry and resentful.

Through this, not only do we add new karmas but also old karmas become powerful in not a good way! The other way is to keep the faith, stay composed and tranquil, depicted in the play by Damyanti. This way, it makes it easier to endure the hardships for ourselves and the people around us.

The audience was captivated with the stunning visuals, backdrops and sound and light effects in the play. The attention to detail and fine production values and beautiful costumes left the audience in awe. The performances of the amateur actors was exceptional, and were the fruits of over 5 months and thousands of hours of work put in by over 100 volunteers.

As the play ended, Pramod Bengani, President, Houston JVB, JVB Thanked Board of Directors Jugal Malani, Raman Patel and Hasmukh Doshi and congratulated the producer and directors Nikhil free Hemant Bhavsar and Dilip Kapasi presenting each with mementos of the event. He also Samanijis Thanked Vinay and Akshay Pragyaji Pragyaji for kayzmakeuptrip untiring and Vision Dedication to make the event a grand Success.

After the play, an appreciation dinner cum reception was held for the cast, crew and their families at Madras Pavilion, Kirby. The cast and crew were appreciated for their outstanding performances and JVB Chairman Swatantra Jain distributed individualized appreciation plaques to each cast member.

JVB Houston acknowledges and appreciates its advertisers, sponsors, media partners, promoters; Navin Mediwala of ABCD Photography on camera, Anil Kumar of Video Works, Décor 1 for stage decorations, Anjali School of Dance, Madras Pavilion, Apna Energy and radio media partners Sangeet Radio, Masala Radio and Meena Datt’s Music of India and Ghungroo for unwavering support for this fundraising event.

The JVB Preksha Meditation center envisions a blissful and peaceful society through Yoga, Preksha Meditation and Education of Non-violence. It is open for all mankind. The JVB Preksha Meditation center has organized a free workshop “The Art of Positive Thinking” on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 9am.  For more information call Swantantra Jain at 832-875-3511 please visit www.jvbhouston.org or call the center at 281.596.9642.