hare krsna in bengal

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/590890.cms

 

KOLKATA: The global Hare Krishna sect has floated a new wing to counsel

students who are depressed, demoralised and even addicted to drugs.

 

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) sect,

headquartered in West Bengal's Mayapur town, says distressed students are

getting back their zest for life by chanting "Hare Krishna" and listening to

regular religious discourses.

 

The sect's counseling centre, called the Youth Forum, is run at its

premises in the city. "We started the forum a couple of months ago and the

response has been tremendous," said ISKCON official Ananga Mohan Das.

 

The forum is now visited by about 176 students "and the number is growing

by the day".

 

At these sessions, held every Sunday, students listen to discourses by

ISKCON monks, chant hymns, meditate and discuss their problems with the

monks.

 

"The students come from the best of colleges and universities and also from

very reputed families," Das said.

 

Besides its endeavour with students, ISKCON is planning programmes for

reformation in the state's jails.

 

The sect wants to conduct regular religious sessions in jails in the hope

that it would awaken spirituality in convicts and make them better human

beings.

 

The proposal, already submitted to the state government, is that ISKCON

volunteers would introduce convicts to meditation and religious discourses.

 

ISKCON monks want to distribute Hindu religious texts such as the Bhagwad

Gita and hold its readings regularly. They also want convicts to chant "Hare

Krishna".

 

ISKCON philosophy says a convict is not to be blamed for his crime, but it

is society that is responsible because it could not impart the right lessons

to the sinner.