Prison Preaching Expands to Gwalior

[Guest guest]

SrI SrI Guru Gaurangau Jayatah

 

Camp:Gaura Nitai_Sita_Rama_Sri_Nathaji temple, Towaco NJ.

DaNDavats Dear Deena bhandhu Prabhu. Jaya Krishna BalarAma!

Please accept my respectful obeisances. All Glories to Sreela PrabhupAda..

 

Thank you for your ecstatic letter.

 

> Our Vrinda Kunda Prison Preaching expanded to Gwalior Central Jail on

> Saturday, 17th June. Jankinatha Das, a disciple of Gopal Krishna Maharaja,

> who runs this program, contacted one of our life members in Gwalior, Dr.

> Suneet Misra to arrange a program in the Gwalior Central Jail. His

> relative, Sri Suneet Sharma is the Deputy Jailor there and he was very

> enthusiastic to have us come.

>

> He talked to Sri Raja Ram Dangi, Head Jailor, and he was also very anxious

> for us to do our program in their jail. Actually some other group who

> believes that Gayatri is the mantra for the age of Kali had already done

> some programs there and, seeing the result, they were happy to also have

> us come to enliven and enlighten the prisoners.

>

> Even in temple and other religious gatherings I have seldom seen the type

> of welcome we received. Sri Dangi himself entered our names and

> particulars in the register, a formality that we always have to do before

> entering any jail. They have these huge wooden doors and inside is like a

> vestibule with offices on either side and then another set of huge wooden

> doors. They always lock the first set behind us before opening the second

> set. When the second set swung open, we were suprised to see a brass band

> in full uniform waiting to escort us.

>

> The band broke into a famous Mira Bai song and we walked between neatly

> made white chalk lines on the path for about 100 meters. Then for the next

> 200 meters to the door of the grand courtyard there were about 100

> prisoners in clean yellow uniforms with little yellow Nehru caps to match.

> They were raining flower petals on us and chanting Veda Stutis, om indra

> devatah, om surya devatah, om candrama devatah, om vayu devatah...

wonderful!

> We were completely flabergasted. Sri Dangi, seeing my surprise, leaned

> over in my ear and said that the other group had made some of the

> prisoners into purohits

 

as you should carefully train then similarly..

 

.. Then we entered the doors of the courtyard, where

> 3,000 prisoners were all sitting in the shade of the trees there. They all

> stood up and applauded as we entered. Then we were escorted on to a very

> large stage where they had already placed a picture of Radha Krishna on a

> makeshift altar with a large brass lamp next to Them. They even had a nice

> but simple Vyasasana set up with cushions all around it.

>

> I then lit the five wicks on the lamp and we garlanded Radha Krishna, and

> the pictures of Radha Shyamsundar, Krishna Balaram, and Srila Prabhupad

> that we had brought with us. We sat down and then the prisoners themselves

> had a bhajan group with a very expert singer who played harmonium, while

> another prisoner played tabla and they did two popular Hindi Krishna

> Bhajans. One of them was all about Radha asking everyone if they have seen

> Shyam, that was pulling our heart strings.

jaya!

> Then we taught the prisoners the mahamantra which most of them already

> knew anyway and had kirtan with 3,000 prisoners enthusiastically

> responding. Braja Bhumi, Temple President of Jhansi who had come to join

> us in the program, then spoke explaining that not only the prisoners, but

> even the people outside were also prisoners. Citing many verses he

> explained that real reform can only come when we actually change our

> heart. The prisoners applauded many of his points.

jaya!

> Then before I spoke, I thanked the prison administration for organizing

> such are reception that we have never seen in any other Jail. Picking up

> the que from Braja Bhumi Prabhu, I began explaining how there was no

> difference between us and them. We are all prisoners in this material

> world and offenders. I have seen other groups come and talk down to them,

> like they are aparadhis and we are pure. They immediately warmed up by

> this point. When I mentioned our four regulative principles, to my

> surprise, they all applauded!

jaya! the suffering circumstances has given vairagya a boost! now capitalize

on this to soberly train them. if they get trained up under you, then as per

SB 2.7.46. You should give them shelter and initiation Dinabhandhu..

> I finished with the dramatical rendition of Jagai and Madai showing how

> these two aparadhis became saints by the mercy of Chaitanya and Nityananda

> Prabhus simply by chanting the Holy Names. This emphasized the point that

> we are all offenders in Kali yuga. I told them I used to do all the same

> things as Jagai and Madai, but my spiritual Master His Divine Grace AC

> Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had saved us all with the chanting of Hare

> Krishna. You too can make your lives successful the same way and they all

> applauded enthusiastically.

yes. Jaya Prabhupada!

> Then Braja Bhumi finished off with an ecstatic kirtan. We invited all the

> prisoners to stand up and dance. Soon 3,000 prisoners were dancing jumping

> up and down ecstatically. It was really a sight to see! We had brought

> prasadam for them, which is one of the benefits of our prison preaching in

> India, as most countries won't allow you to bring prasad inside the jail.

> Sri Dangi thanked us all and explained that the boxes of prasad, would be

> brought to each barrack (the large number of prisoners would have made a

> difficult scene) and they all cheered. He also made us promise to return

> on July 1st.

wow so quick return? that's amazing they really wanted you to come cultivate

them..

> We had set up a book stall and sold many books and distributed quite a few

> japa malas also. We give the malas free on the promise that they actually

> chant on them. We usually go through about a hundred malas a month if

> anyone wants to sponsor them.

I will dino..I will!

> Actually Jankinatha Prabhu in his regular circle of Agra, Mathura, and

> Bharatpur, has about a dozen prisoners who chant 64 rounds. There are

> dozens who are doing sixteen rounds and a hundred or so who chant less

> than sixteen. He has distributed many books and now the prisoners who are

> doing sixteen rounds are asking about initiation. Anyone interested?

 

you should initiate them all! after all it's janakinatha, You and

Daivishakti who visit and train them all.

> Jankinatha Prabhu is practically carrying on this preaching single

> handedly. The Jailers are all very appreciative since they all say that

> since our programs started, they have less fights and difficulties than

> before. Since Vrindavan Temple is not interested, I have been subsidizing

> his program from our Vrinda Kunda project. Actually Vrindavan temple

> always tries to discourage him. The never let him use a temple car or if

> they do, at the last minute, they cancel as it has to go to market. So he

> has to engage outside taxis at a large expense in his budget. Still we are

> managing on a budget of just over $100 month. This is a selfless service,

> as neither we're going to get any daksina, nor we're going to get nice

> prasad like when we do at house programs. Instead, we have to bring the

> prasad! Anyone desiring to help out can contact me.

I will help you. I will ask others too.

> The next day we went to Jhansi, the city where Srila Prabhupada made his

> first attempt with the League of Devotees. Just underneath the imposing

> Jhansi Fort, of Rani Laxmi Bai, the famous Queen of Jhansi, we have a very

> nice property. One Bengali gentleman, Sri Ram Mukharjee, father of the

> well-know Bollywood startlet Rani Mukharjee, donated his ancestral house

> to ISKCON to make a temple there. Under the able guidance of Braja Bhumi

> Prabhu, disciple of Lokanatha Swami, the preaching is expanding in the old

> preaching grounds of Srila Prabhupada.

nice!

> Two Janmastami's ago, I was there and over 20,000 people attended the

> function. Srila Prabhupad would be very pleased to see this. Then next

> day, I met Dr. Suresh Chand Shastri with whom Prabhupada used to stay on

> his visits to Jhansi. He'll be 80 in August but is still going strong and

> can talk endlessly about his association with Srila Prabhupada.

jaya! his stories should be taped and he should be invited to Sp

disappearance festivals too.

 

> Srila Prabhupada Ki Jaya!!!

>

> In service of Srimati Vrinda Devi,

> Deena Bandhu dasa

jaya!

 

TridaNDi BhikSu, Bhakti Visrambha MAdhava