London-based Institute of Jainology announced on Monday that its has received a Heritage Lottery grant of 375,000 pounds towards the creation of an ambitious online multimedia resource which will illustrate Jain manuscripts and artifacts held by major British libraries and museums.
While some in the Jain community have congratulated the institute, others have been very critical of it for accepting this money, thus dividing the Jain community in North America and England.
Prakash Mody, the Toronto Jain Society's representative on the Ontario Multi-faith Council and part of JAINA, is critical of "this bad money being accepted even if the cause is good".
"I don't know if this is good or not good news," he wrote to Dhiru Galani of the Institute of Jainology. "Gambling money shouldn't have been requested in the first place," Mody said.
Mody told India Abroad that the council needed money since the Ontario government had cut funding to the Multi-faith Council. He said the Ontario government had suggested accepting a grant from the Ontario Lottery Corporation, which the council refused.
"We can't use bad money for a good cause," he explained, adding that to him 'gambling money is bad money'.
Prof Harish Jain, President of International Mahavir Jain Mission of Canada, however, doesn't buy Mody's argument. "I don't find anything wrong in the Institute in London accepting the grant," he said.
"I don't find anything wrong in it as the money will be utilised for a good cause," Jain said.
"Most businesses gamble in one way or another hopefully to make money on the stock market," Galani said and asked, "Is this then bad money? Most pension funds are on the stock market. So if a pensioner donates money then I doubt that you will refuse this donation".
"It is estimated that if we do not accept black money as donations, 90 percent of our temple construction in India will come to a stop," says one Lalit Shah.
Manhar Mehta, another Jain leader in England, said the question of whether gambling is acceptable according to Jain principles is a debatable question. Mehta referred to a similar debate in Mumbai about whether donations from black market money could be used for Jain activities.
He didn't mince words by stating the obvious. "We Jains still use money made by tax evasion and black marketing for charities and progression of work for the Jain faith and the donors are praised from all directions," he said.
The right thing, he suggested, was, "The individual should follow his own conscience".