For some time there had been talk of preaching in prisons. In Delhi there is a world famous prison called ‘Tihar Jail,’ a stones throw away from our temple! Syamarani didi was very supportive and encouraging of me (Akhilesh das) beginning this project.
But you are not allowed to visit a prison without an appointment. I tried to find some inroads with some contacts I had in Delhi. I waited some days, but either my contacts were too busy to make the arrangement or the D.I.G. (Deputy Inspector General of Police) himself was out of town. It went on like this for a couple of months. It seemed very difficult to get this much desired appointment.
One day, Sulata dasi and Caru Candrika dasi, both from England, and I decided to go to Delhi to see if we could get this appointment ourselves. We went by car to our Delhi temple and tried to find some contact through whom we could approach the prison authorities. After two days we were nowhere closer to our goal and were becoming restless.
While in the car on the second day, Caru Candrika said, “Why don’t we just go ourselves to see the person concerned?” “And who is going to let us inside such a high security area with out some recommendation”? I replied.
But we were so restless that we decided to try anyway. I turned my car towards what I thought was the entrance gate to the prison, but I was wrong. After taking a tour around the periphery of the prison and making several inquiries, we turned into the main entrance gate. As driver of the car, I was approached by one of the guards.
He asked us what our business was and who we were. When the guard noticed that we were wearing devotee clothes I sensed he softened a bit. I told him that we wanted to see the person in charge of the prisons. “You mean the I.G. (Inspector General of Police),” he suggested. He opened the gates wide for the car to enter, and pointed to where I could park my car.
Sensing a minor victory of sorts, we then entered a lone building surrounded by parks and approach roads. We were again stopped at the entrance of the building, and a reception consisting of several uniformed policemen inquired about the purpose of our visit and who we wanted to meet.
Since I was the only Hindi speaking person in our group, I replied we were from the Gaudiya Math and that we would like to give some books as gifts to the prisoners. A policeman ushered us into the plush office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr Garg, who pointed toward some chairs and we sat down. After finishing a telephone conversation he addressed us. “Where are you from, and how can I help you?” he inquired.
We introduced ourselves as Krsna’s devotees from the Gaudiya Math and said that we wanted to donate some books as gifts to the prisons’ library. He informed us that there were ten prisons inside the complex and that each prison had around one thousand inmates and a library. “Yes, I can put your books in our libraries, but I will need eleven sets, as we have ten prisons in this complex plus one prison outside in another complex.”
I inquired further if it was possible to preach in the prisons of the ladies. “Oh! Why do you want to preach only in the ladies prison? There are only about 450-500 lady inmates, but there are around 10,000 male inmates and there you can have regular programs!”
Sulata, Caru Candrika and I looked at each other in amazement at this opportunity sent by Krsna, and we promised to bring eleven sets of books and return to the prison after Gaura Purnima to organize some programs.
Having made this wonderful contact, we came out of the office with obvious glee and a promise to bring eleven sets of books to the prison the next day. [Since then we have made several inroads into the prison programs which hold immense potential.] The next day we also took some books and posters for Mr. Garg as personal gifts in appreciation of his help.
We have had two programs now, in which we were given a chance to sing kirtans to the prisoners and speak hari-katha. We all felt that seeing a majority of inmates singing and swinging to kirtan and responding to hari-katha is indeed a very satisfactory sight. A few times, when the inmates surrounded us and asked some questions, we wondered, “Why didn’t we do this earlier?”
In our next program we are planning to give some books to the prisoners themselves. We also plan to go to other cities where I am sure so many such programs are waiting to happen!
Oh yes, last but not the least, on both of our visits we also sponsored halawa prasadam distribution inside the prison for all inmates. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj (popularly known as Srila Prabhupada) described this as our secret weapon!
Video and photography equipment are not allowed inside the premises, so we have not been able to produce photographs for the perusal of all the devotees.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva
Akhilesh das
http://backtobhakti.com/2010/05/pure-bhakti-yoga-society-interview/
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