Jail Promises to Serve Prasadam to Prisoners

On 25 October, the day before Kartika started, we again went to do a preaching program in the Gwalior Central Jail. During his lecture HH Subhaga Maharaja convinced the Jail Superintendent to first offer all food to the Lord and then serve prasadam to the prisoners. In his thank-you speech, the Jail Superintendent announced to the three thousand prisoners that from now on they would be served prasadam.

After a few months' gap, the Gwalior Central Jail again invited us to do a program for their three thousand prisoners. The only day open for us happened to be the day before Rasa-purnima. We took almost twenty devotees with us, including devotees from Peru, America, Germany, Russia, and Iran. HH Subhaga Maharaja and HH Amiyavilasa Maharaja also came with us. Just the day before, by the mercy of Vrinda-devi and the Vaisnavas, I was able to purchase one Toyota Qualis for taking devotees on parikrama. Now its maiden voyage would be to take these devotees to the jail program.

We arrived at the house of Dr. Mishra, who had expired since our last program but had been initiated by HH Radha Govinda Maharaja some time before his passing. At the time of his departure, all of his family members were chanting and he was listening to Srila Prabhupada’s tape. The family members have maintained regular kirtana programs in the house, inviting many people. Many young students who come for these programs were there to serve us. In memory of Dr. Mishra, they also donated one cow to our goshala. It just so happened that Sanaka-Sanatana Prabhu, the goshala in-charge, was with us, and they were very pleased to meet him. Then they very lovingly served wonderful prasadam to all the devotees, and we also held kirtana in their small kirtana hall.

Just as last time, when we entered the jail there was a band playing bhajana music and a hundred prisoners dressed in yellow uniforms were standing on either side of the path. They chanted Vedic hymns and showered flowers as the devotees passed by. The Superintendent explained that these prisoners in yellow uniforms have been awarded the title purohita (priest) by the Gayatri Parivar.

We were led inside the jail to a huge field with a large stage, where nearly three thousand prisoners were sitting eagerly awaiting our program (shown above). Then HH Subhaga Maharaja garlanded a large picture of Sri Sri Radha-Shyamsundar and performed arati. The Superintendent also did arati, as well as myself and other devotees. Then we were invited to sit on a raised platform on the stage. We also invited the Jail Superintendent, Sri Krishna Prakash Srivatsava, to sit with us. (He has received the President’s Award for his work in the field of prison management. Seeing his eagerness to arrange this types of spiritual program for the benefit of the prisoners, it was easy to understand why he received this prestigious award.)

Then the prisoners’ own bhajana band very devotionally sang a bhajana, expertly playing harmonium and tablas as well. This was followed by one of our devotees leading a short sit-down kirtana of the maha-mantra. After this, I led a short Hindi bhajana about Lord Caitanya, and the prisoners sang along. With an almost full moon rising in front of us, I spoke how tomorrow was Rasa-purnima and the beginning of Kartika; in Vrindavan, hundreds of devotees from all over the world and every corner of India were gathering. I explained how all of this was the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who predicted that a change would take place all over the world. This prediction, I noted, was fulfilled by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. I concluded by having them all very loudly chant the maha-mantra.

Next HH Subhaga Maharaja was invited to address the prisoners. He first apologized for Hindi not being his native tongue, but went on to give a very enthusiastic lecture, with his sweet Bengali accent, that several times brought applause from the crowd. At one point he was making the point that part of the process for purifying the heart is to eat only prasadam. Seeing a small temple to the right of the stage, he suggested that whatever they cook should first be offered to the Lord, and the prasadam served to the inmates. This met with very enthusiastic applause.

Following HH Subhaga Maharaja, HH Amiyavilasa Maharaja said that it was getting late and darkness was filling the sky. So instead of speaking, he got all the prisoners to chant one round of japa with him (shown above).

Sri Krishna Prakash Srivatsava then took the microphone to thank us. To the wild cheering of the inmates, he promised to offer all the jail-food to Lord Krishna and serve prasadam to the prisoners.

I then led a rousing kirtana, with all prisoners dancing with us. Sri K. P. Srivatsava also danced very happily with the devotees, and with Jankinatha Prabhu, who is running the jail-preaching program, just to his left (shown in the photo below). It was really amazing to see almost three thousand prisoners jumping up and down in kirtana. Then we left maha-prasadam to be served to the inmates in their respective barracks, as it would have been too hectic to serve from the stage.

Sri K. P. Srivatsava then invited us into his office, where he offered us nice refreshments and thanked us very warmly. Thereafter we headed back to Vrindavan for Rasa-purnima, as many things had to be done; on the following night we were going to offer sweetrice made from 150 liters of milk to Sri Sri Radha and Krishna and Their Gopis, for they would be engaging in rasa dance. This offering would remain all night in the moonlight, and next morning after mangala arati would be served to the eager devotees.

Sri Sri Krishna-Balaram Prison Preaching ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki aya!

In service of Srimati Vrinda Devi,
Deena Bandhu dasa