Chicago police department)
Lieutenant Mozee: Would there be more of a beneficial influence-more
of a strengthening of the community-if the program [congregational
chanting] were held in a poorer area rather than an affluent area?
Srila Prabhupada: Our treatment is for the spiritually diseased
person. When a person is afflicted with a disease, there are no
distinctions between a poor man and a rich man. They are both admitted
to the same hospital. Just as the hospital should be in a place where
both the poor man and the rich man can easily come, the location of
the sankirtana facility should be easily accessible to all. Since
everyone is materially infected, everyone should be able to take
advantage.
So our chanting process is for everyone, because it cleanses the
heart, regardless of the man's opulence or poverty. The only way to
permanently change the criminal habit is to change the heart of the
criminal.
As you well know, many thieves are arrested numerous times and put
into jail. Although they know that if they commit theft they will go
to jail, still they are forced to steal, because of their unclean
hearts. Therefore without cleansing the heart of the criminal, you
cannot stop crime simply by more stringent law enforcement. The thief
and the murderer already know the law, yet they still commit violent
crimes, due to their unclean hearts.
So our process is to cleanse the heart. Then all the troubles of this
material world will be solved.
Srila Prabhupada - The Science of Self-Realization Pg 170
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