Jail in south Mumbai reverberating to the chants of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna...

krsna · April 4, 2004

Reforms, with the name of Krishna

Posted: 1/18/2004

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai

They were unclean, unshaven, appeared tired and ill-fed. All of them have a common friend that is a 20-feet high wall, which surrounds and cuts them off from the rest of the world.

No wonder than that over 500 inmates of Arthur Road Jail turned up on Monday morning for an hour-long meditation course organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness with the help of Anagha Charitable Trust. The jail in south Mumbai was reverberating to the chants of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.

"It gives me a great feeling," said Hariram Jaiswal who is accused of murdering his friend and is an undertrial (a court is seized of his case). "I never participated in such programmes so far. But after spending three months in jail, I feel this (the meditation course) is the best thing that has happened to me ever," he said.

Shailendra Tripathi, another murder accused, said, "So far, I did not know the meaning of Bhagwad Gita. But now I know the importance of the Gita in my life and more important, my religion, of which I had no clue till date."

The organisers had set up a stage and loudspeakers that spewed slogans praising Lord Krishna while some ISKCON members explained the meaning of the Gita to the inmates.

ISKCON organises such functions for jail inmates across India in 23 states every year in the month of December.

"We have found that these kind of programmes help prisoners realise their mistakes. The quality of their life improves if they continue to follow the teachings of the Gita," says Amit Vyas, a trustee of Anagha Charitable Trust, which had arranged for distribution of copies of the book free of cost to the inmates.

R N Parde, Deputy Superintendent of Arthur Road jail, says, "We want more and more inmates to know about religion and God. It will help them to lead a more decent life after they are released from jail."

The impact of the event on the inmates could be gauged from their reaction when one of the organiser took to the stage and announced the distribution of copies of the Bhagwad Gita in various languages.

There was a clamour and inmates could be heard saying: "Please pass on a Marathi Bhagwad Gita."

"For me a Gujarati," shouted another.

Bhim Das, president of the Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu, explained, "The common man feels more attached to the Gita when he reads it in his mother tongue."

Asked if there was any lasting impact on the lives of the prison inmates, Vyas says, "There are many examples of jail inmates reforming after participating in our programmes. Two years ago, we held a programme in Nashik Jail. One of the inmates was so moved by the teachings in the Gita that he dedicated two years of his life, after his release, to our trust and went on to become a life member."

Concludes Parde, "We are just trying to build a better future for the inmates. A drug addict won't give up his addiction overnight. But he may change his viewpoint or his habits if he attends such programmes. We encourage such events hoping the inmates will continue to follow the good path after their release from here."

http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/23mum.htm

theist · April 4, 2004

Mahaprabhu came to set the inmates (us) free!

theist · April 5, 2004

is impenetrable to Mahaprabhu.

A First in History

Bhakta Chris Matthews

Krishna Prison Ministry would like to announce a first in Vaishnava history! The Oregon state prison is broadcasting Srila Prabhupada’s lectures twice a week to each and every cell in the institution!

The prison has each cell wired with radio allowing the inmates to plug headphones into the wall jacks and hear.

Jivanada Dasa, an inmate there, has started broadcasting Srila Prabhupada lectures twice a week so every man has the opportunity to start his journey back home, back to Godhead.

As far as we know this is the first time in history that a Vaishnava Acarya has been in every cell in a prison preaching Krsna consciousness!

We are ecstatic!!!! Hare Krsna!

We would also like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have donated books, stamps, money, tapes and cds.

Especially Bhaktivedanta archives and Kamlesh Patel.

We would also like to thank those who have written inmates giving them much needed devotee association.

If you would like to help or contribute to spread Krsna consciousness to the most fallen souls incarcerated in our world prisons please contact us at:

Krishna Prison Ministries

c/o Bhakta Chris Matthews

5437 Meadow Rue Trail

Knoxville TN, 37918

or e mail us at matthews97@aol.com

krsna · April 5, 2004

My First Day in Jail - By Kaunteya Das

I mean my first day preaching in jail. The desire of doing something in the prisons had been off and on in my mind since a long time. On top of that recently the ISKCON Prison Ministries joined the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry as an integral part of it, and therefore I also felt that it was my duty to become more acquainted with that reality. A few days ago I got the opportunity to enter a prison and give a lecture to the inmates.

The meeting has been arranged by Mother Vasanthi, better known in the devotee community and in her workplace as Dr. Vasanthi. She has working for more than ten years as a physician in various prisons in Madras, India, and since joining ISKCON she has worked to introduce Krishna consciousness in six of such institutions, engaging her medical position and her personal influence (and her compassion…). It wasn't always easy. A few months ago, for instance, after the Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat, the political administration of Tamil Nadu (the state of Madras), to prevent religious tensions, banned all religious preaching in the jails. But she kept going, and now that the emergency has eased, she is able to bring even other people to meet, talk with and chant with the inmates. So a few days ago I went with her to the Madras Central Jail or something like that, a prison for two thousand inmates. She has so much clout in the ambience that nobody checked me, even cursorily (I could have brought anything inside). Anyway, she brought me to a place that previously was the prison hospital and that she turned into a temple (I tell you, many ISKCON centers in the world don't have such a well-ventilated, spacious temple room).

I counted 33 laminations of standard BBT paintings gracing the walls and giving the place almost the look of an art gallery and certainly a very spiritual atmosphere. The place of the "temple" is peaceful-it doesn't even feel like being in a jail. Outside, in front of a little shrine of Durga Devi, a John Lennon-looking inmate from North India was absorbed in reading scriptures.

She showed me the recently-build fences to protect the prison offices: sometime back the inmates burned a guard alive-an especially nasty one apparently. Hmmm… we are in a prison after all…

I was curious and expectant to see the inmates I was supposed to preach to. How would they look? What would their mood be? But seeing them was an anticlimax: these are normal people. In one sense more normal than those outside, their humanity and vulnerability more evident. They made wrong choices; they made mistakes; they are now paying. But they are extremely fortunate: I remembered the episode in which Haridasa Thakura is brought to jail and told the prisoners: ""Now you can all together constantly chant the names of Krishna and think of Krishna. Here you have no envy or trouble from others, so you can humbly chant and think of Krishna. Otherwise if you again return to material enjoyment, by bad association you'll forget everything about Krishna."

We had a lecture and then a bhajan that transformed into kirtana. They were very sweet and appeared grateful. Dr. Vasanthi told me that sometimes back-before that batch got released-she had the temple room filled with prisoners who were chanting sixteen rounds.

There is an amazing opportunity to preach to millions of men and women suffering in the world's jails. Many of them are much more receptive to Lord Caitanya's message than those outside, distracted by the myriad of objects and names and forms, their mind spinning in an endless sequences of illusory engagements.

I had the clear insight that to preach to these same people would have been much more difficult if they were outside, in the world at large, embedded in their often dysfunctional environment and weighted down by unhealthy association. While they are in jail they have plenty of time to reflect, to read and to chant, and to realize that real freedom is only at the lotus feet of Krishna.