iskcon prison ministry - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-28T16:10:39Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/iskcon+prison+ministryLife-changing Service Shares the Love of God with Hundreds of Inmateshttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/life-changing-service-shares-the-love-of-god-with-hundreds-of-inm2023-08-14T13:19:51.000Z2023-08-14T13:19:51.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12189055083,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="12189055083?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi</strong></p>
<p>ISKCON Prison Ministry, an initiative of the BBT (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) Mail Order Department in Los Angeles, has been a spiritual lifeline providing spiritual support and guidance to incarcerated people for five decades. </p>
<p>The mission of ISKCON Prison Ministry is to spread Lord Caitanya’s mercy to those who find themselves in prison within the “prison house of the material world.” Candramauli Swami, who represents ISKCON Prison Ministry at the Mayapur Festival every year, has written several books about the prison ministry, including “Holy Jail” and “Forbidden Voices,” Through the decades, he has also visited prisons in the USA, Europe, and India. </p>
<p>ISKCON News interviewed Bhakti-lata Dasi, the Director of the ISKCON Prison Ministry, who began by telling us her experience serving the prison ministry has been both deeply satisfying and fulfilling. “ISKCON Prison Ministry promotes Srila Prabhupada’s understanding that the only cure for society’s ills, both for individual persons and as a whole, is the process of bhakti-yoga,” said Bhakti-lata, “By reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, following the four regulations (abstinence from meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, and illicit sex), and by chanting the maha-mantra even a criminal can become a perfect citizen.”</p>
<p>In a letter to Sri Puri in 1962, Srila Prabhupada said, “The means which I have adopted is spiritual, and it works quicker than any material means. If you give me a chance to speak to all the members in jail, I can turn them into ideal characters.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://iskconnews.org/life-changing-service-shares-the-love-of-god-with-hundreds-of-inmates/">https://iskconnews.org/life-changing-service-shares-the-love-of-god-with-hundreds-of-inmates/</a></p>
<div> </div></div>EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR KRSNAhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/everyone-is-looking-for-krsna2021-09-07T12:54:13.000Z2021-09-07T12:54:13.000ZBhakti-lata Dasihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/BhaktilataDasi<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9542647693?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em>Below are more reflections from inmate David B., from a prison in Danbury, Connecticut.</em></span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">When I got the Covid19 I felt physically terrible with severe joint pains, chest pain and uncontrollable shivering. Yet, I was so at peace, and not only did I manage to chant my twenty rounds every day but even during the worst I spent all my waking time chanting the maha mantra, grateful for such suffering and the focus it gives to what matters and all the mercy Krsna so kindly bestowed.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I was thinking back to the “old” me years ago and how much I have progressed. Observing others around me, I see that both staff and inmates alike really struggle with just being in the moment and</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">not letting their senses and emotions control and dictate how they interact with, not just others, but also themselves.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I can see I am much more at peace with everything. Seeing it all as neither good nor bad (equanimity) and seeing below the material surface to see the jivatmas. This time Krsna has helped me to not only be able to not feel stressed, anxious, or frustrated but also to help those around me with my calming energy. I have not mastered it yet, but I can see myself getting stronger at it and that I am at my best when I am chanting and reading a lot of scriptures.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I notice some days, no matter how I try, I cannot seem to get into my “spiritual groove”. In my morning services I find my mind sometimes distracted by the mundane, during bhajans I too don’t “feel it” and the more I try to bring my mind back it rebels like the bad monkey mind it is at times. Yet I have come to realize that in doing so I am upset due to my separation and inability to connect and “see” what I usually see and feel when offering such service to the Lord and His associates. Thinking back on what I have learned from the sastras, I can see how this only intensifies my desire to do more, offer more, dedicate myself more and love Krsna that much more in the time I can associated without my monkey mind acting up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I see that the more I talk on a spiritual level with others the more I am given even chances to talk on spiritual matters and that it only increases exponentially.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I can see how, if I become strong enough in preaching and I set aside the mundane, that such opportunities are limitless thanks to Kṛṣṇa’s mercy!</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I can see how asking Kṛṣṇa for “my daily bread” is foolish and is actually a sign of lack of devotion to Krsna. While it is not a business transaction between myself and Krsna (He would go bankrupt if He was an ordinary person with the way He does business), I find that the more I praise Him to others, discuss spiritual matters, and devote my life to Kṛṣṇa, that He blesses me with resources to keep me strong physically and mentally, and provides me opportunities to be of some small service to Him and His associates.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Due to the lockdown for the past few months, I also now have more time to read and strengthen my ability to preach to others His glories, and all this expands without limit. Jaya Kṛṣṇa!</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">For a while now I have noticed how I was not preaching and also struggling with balancing my duties in the mundane with my devotional practices, and I was seeking how to rectify the issue. I was begging sincerely for Kṛṣṇa to re-engage me in His service. I came to realize that all I had to do was act from the soul and to stop looking at others as Christians, Muslims, Catholic/Protestant, faithful/unfaithful, etc.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Everyone is looking for Kṛṣṇa, whether they realize it or not, and no matter a person’s current faith/designations, they all can be and should be talked with on such nectarean subjects which are so joyful. It amazes and enlivens me every time it happens, especially when it is with the most materially unlikely of persons.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I now make it a point to seek out such connections and I am learning that any mundane conversation can be turned at any moment to spiritual matters.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I have come to understand finally that the reason we get frustrated and upset is because we have plans and try to control that which is not ours to control. When my efforts to play God was thwarted I would get upset at the players involved in the situation, not considering that they, like me, were at the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and what Kṛṣṇa wanted. Since I quit trying to be the controller, I have been able to accept everything just as it is, knowing that there is no good or bad situation, but all due to Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. There are so many people around me trying, like I used to do, to control, and, when that fails, they spend so much energy and precious time in futility and only make their life worse.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I am hoping to get more involved with the Christians, Muslims, and Jews (as they see themselves) and build upon the steps I have already begun in the interfaith discussions, and help others develop deeper devotion and love for Kṛṣṇa and, in doing so, also help myself do so too. Hare Kṛṣṇa!</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Even during this lockdown, Kṛṣṇa has provided the resources for me to be able to offer some nice prasadam of laddus, lime cheesecake, and a rice dish, to many in my unit, in celebration of Lord Nrsimha’s appearance day. It is always wonderful to see how such changes in the energy of those who eat prasadam, and it only encourages me to reciprocate even more. Thank you Krsna for allowing me to offer You such service.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Talking to quite a few Christians, I got to realize just how special and complete is the Vedic system Srila Prabhupada gifted to all of us. Unlike the Christian faith process, which, after talking with Christians of varying degrees of knowledge and devotion, I have found to be imprecise in how to develop bhakti for God, the Vedic system gives a step-by-step scientific process. The beauty, as I see it, of the sanatana-dharma system is that it does not matter what labels one and/or society place on a jivatma’s material body and illusions on the mind —this is scientific process that can be used by all and, if followed, will get the results as presented. It is amazing to me to see such proof too, as I know of at least one devout Catholic here who has not only read the Bhagavad-gita, but, since it helped him in his faith so much, he has now also begun reading the Srimad-Bhagavatam, and I am sure that after that he will read the Caitanya-caritāmṛta too, if given the chance and time. He did not have to “convert” at all but just deepened his own faith and still is very much a Catholic by his own label. Sure, still being attached to such a label some might say he has not fully embraced the teachings, but I see it that at least, through Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, the seeds have been planted and I am sure that in time they will grow into a beautiful Bhakti vine.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">Other Christians I have talked to have admitted the lack in their scriptures for such knowledge of who God really is and how exactly to love Him. Some even are against organized religion for such reasons and yet, I see them seeking for what their intuition says is there, even if by maya’s arrangement they have forgotten such knowledge.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">I too am learning so much from these interactions and my devotion to Kṛṣṇa grows with each ecstatic discussion and I am always gladdened to help others in deepening their faith in and love for Kṛṣṇa. You can just see the glow of energy radiating off that person, the smiles, the peacefulness, and the compassion that before they did not have, and I know also that, by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy, I too am ecstatic and glowing. In doing so they and I transcend the prisons of the world, even if for just a little while, and even a second of that time, I have come to realize, is greater than hours of engaging the senses in the greatest of mundane pleasures of the material world. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> *********************************</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> <strong>NOTE: </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> This article is only a part of IPM NEWS, our bi-monthly electronic newsletter. To read whole issues, please go to: <u>iskconprisonministry.org</u></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">If you wish to receive it in your mailbox, simply email me at <a href="mailto:iskconprisonministry@gmail.com">iskconprisonministry@gmail.com</a> with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">More excerpts of inmate letters and also their artwork are available on our website at: <a href="http://www.iskconprisonministry.org">iskconprisonministry.org</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"> ************************************************************</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>WANT TO HELP?</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>4 Donation Options:</strong></span></p><ul><li><span style="font-size:12pt;">Send check or postal money order to:</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> ISKCON Prison Ministry</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> PO Box 2676</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Alachua, FL 32616</span></li><li><span style="font-size:12pt;">Donate through PayPal at: <a href="http://www.paypal.me/IPM">paypal.me/IPM</a></span></li><li><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>NEW!</strong> Donate through <u>google.com</u> to iskconprisonministry@gmail.com</span></li><li><span style="font-size:12pt;">For automatic, monthly donations, you can do so on our website (with the PayPal button), or through your bank “Automatic Bill Pay” option, which is free and easy.</span></li></ul><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">We will send you a <strong>tax-deductible receipt</strong> at the moment of the donation, provided you give us your legal name and mailing address.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:12pt;">ISKCON Prison Ministry</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> PO Box 2676</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> Alachua, FL 32616</span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> <a href="mailto:IskconPrisonMinistry@gmail.com">IskconPrisonMinistry@gmail.com</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:12pt;"> <a href="http://www.IskconPrisonMinistry.org">IskconPrisonMinistry.org</a></span></p></div>The importance of ISKCON Prison ministry —a firsthand account of how it changed my lifehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-importance-of-iskcon-prison-ministry-a-firsthand-account-of-12021-05-12T12:07:17.000Z2021-05-12T12:07:17.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8918137255,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="8918137255?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Krishna Kirtan Dasa</strong></p>
<p>Back in 2007, an inmate devotee [who wants to remain anonymous] slipped a Back to Godhead magazine underneath my cell door. That started my journey in Krishna consciousness. Saying ISKCON Prison Ministry (IPM) changed my life would be an understatement. IPM has transformed me, providing an understanding of life, Truth, and bliss I never thought possible.</p>
<p>If you ever thought you should show your gratitude to Srila Prabhupada for the bliss you’ve experienced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, IPM seva is a profound way that he will recognize and approve from his place at the lotus Feet of Lord Krishna. Think about it. Your service to us, the most fallen of the fallen, the most conditioned of the conditioned, the outcastes of American society, can be like the mercy Lord Nitai gave to Jagai and Madhai —and it will grow and expand exponentially. If you have any doubts, please read on, and find out for yourself.</p>
<p>Starting out, a new volunteer in IPM should know a few basic things: communicating and teaching inmates about Krishna Consciousness can involve many challenges. Postal mail rules vary depending on the facility in which the inmate is housed. It also depends on the stage of the legal process in which the inmate is at. For example, when an inmate is first arrested, sending regular mail to a jail facility may result in the mail being returned for reasons that may not make sense. A jail is the first stop and the most restrictive in terms of what an inmate may receive. Be sure you check with the inmate before sending books or other worship items. Some jails allow 4” by 6” postcards only while others may not allow postcards at all. The restrictions vary greatly. Most people on the “outside” don’t realize there’s a big difference between jail and prison. If a minor crime is committed (a misdemeanor), people are sentenced quickly and usually do their time at the jail. Most often it’s less than a year. Serious crimes (felonies) involve longer pre-trial periods (even though actual trials are rare —usually a plea agreement is reached) depending on whether the State of the Feds are charging them. Pre-trial can last from months to years.</p>
<p>My pre-trial period lasted a very long four and a half years. Fortunately, there were no limits to the correspondence I could receive, which sustained me and allowed my bhakti to grow. A number of IPM volunteers buoyed my spirit during this dark period: Candrasekhara prabhu from Columbus, [anonymous] from Boise, and most notably, Bhakti-lata dasi from Alachua, Florida. She really lived up to her spiritual name and kept the bhakti-lata bija growing within me. Every single letter I wrote to her she replied in equal length and depth, sometimes as many as two a week! It was so amazing and meant so very much. She kept my hopes high, no matter what, always encouraging me to look to the future when I could start a Hare Krishna program at whichever institution I’d be doing my time.</p>
<p>This pre-trial period is tough. It pushes you to your limits, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It’s ugly and depressing to see how cruelly a fellow human can treat another —both inmates and guards. You see a lot of suffering and sickness and it’s so sad to watch a guard getting off on making someone miserable. It’s disgusting. There’s no doubt in my mind that most individuals who work in a correctional environment are of a demoniac nature —so it is SO important for IPM volunteers to safeguard their inmate pen pals, fortifying them with Prabhupada’s books and lots of Krishna katha. These demons love exploiting an inmate’s doubts and insecurities; during this time an inmate often obsesses about questions like —How much time will I get? Where am I gonna do my time? Will I be safe? Do my friends and family still love me? So many questions while being in limbo, in a state of suspended animation and treated worse than dogs in a dog pound. No kidding. Land of the free? It was really hard hearing the national anthem knowing how this government treats its citizens and the hypocrisy of those words. I’d have to plug my ears and chant.</p>
<p>In early pre-trial, during my first year in ’06, as a Mormon, I was down on my knees every day and night, reading only scripture. When I found out I was getting a 25-year sentence, I was devastated, as if God had held up his middle finger at me. All my fellow church members turned their backs on me. So a few months later, when a devotee gave me that BTG and taught me how to chant, I was willing to try anything to be relieved of such an abject misery metastasizing inside me like a disease from rotting meat that was swallowed, but fighting digestion. THEN, this devotee also GAVE me his only copy of the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. I considered and appreciated this as an awesome gesture of goodwill that seemed to reflect those devotees I was reading about in the pages of the BTG. His kind and selfless act stood out. If this was indicative of how an INMATE devotee acted, what must they be like in the free world?! A big difference compared to the hypocrisy I discovered in those church members who professed to love me just a year earlier.</p>
<p>Chanting felt good. I was beginning to change and then something happened: I got to chapter 2, text 56 of the Gita and, reading in the purport, I learned that a person in Krishna Consciousness<em> “accepts all miseries as mercy of the Lord, thinking himself worthy of more trouble due to his past misdeeds; and he sees that all his miseries, by the grace of the Lord are minimized to the lowest” </em>A powerful realization lifted me like a Saturn V rocket. I had found Krishna, which is an astounding blessing. When I dove deep, fearlessly, and in complete self-honesty, facing those ugly past misdeeds, it occurred quite plainly that if things in my life had been just a smidge different, down to the simple fact of where I laid my head at night, I could have wound up with a life sentence. Krishna gave me such extreme mercy when I could have been doomed to spend the rest of my life in prison. In the eyes of many, I probably would have deserved it, but Lord Krishna, Lord Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada…they had other things in mind for me. Now THIS was liberation. THIS was a paradigm shift in my thinking.</p>
<p>And THIS is how volunteering for IPM can affect another Spirit Soul. By fostering an inmate’s growth in Krishna Consciousness, you can be a catalyst of Srila Prabhupada to change a life from subversive to sublime. Read on and see how Bhakti-lata accomplished this with me. She views her own seva so humbly when it really is beyond profound. Her work has moved mountains and changed so many hearts steeped in nescience, hearts that were black and rotting, to transformed beings filled with light and Godhead. I wish there were more steady volunteers to assist her. I just know that Srila Prabhupada is very pleased with her service.</p>
<p>Back to my story. Freshly sentenced and having arrived at my first federal institution near Salem, Oregon, Bhakti-lata sent me my very first Tulasi japa mala and DVDs of Srila Prabhupada. I remember sitting by myself in a chapel room, viewing Prabhupada for the first time. Hearing his voice, watching him teach those early devotees, brought chills up my spine. I was ready and fired up to start a Hare Krishna service. I approached one of the staff chaplains, a Judeo-Christian, and in his exact words he informed me, “You will NOT practice that weird (expletive) in my chapel!” I was prepared to fight with the ferocity of Lord Narasimha, but after a few months that chaplain remained true to his word and orchestrated my removal from that facility.</p>
<p>The next facility was a small institution in Tucson and there, Bhakti-lata sent me more books, a bead bag, and my first neck beads. After only five weeks though, I was on my way to yet another institution. Destination Petersburg, Virginia. Lord Caitanya took no time showing me this was the place He prepared for me. No sooner did I introduce myself to the Supervisory Chaplain that he threw his arms around me declaring to the chapel, “Here’s Petersburg’s first Hindu!!!” He gave me a job on the spot, working in the chapel, and gave me a budget to order whatever was needed to start a service. Tell me that wasn’t miraculous? With the help of Bhakti-lata we contacted a Hare Krishna vendor and two weeks later the service was equipped with two mrdangas, four sets of kartals, a harmonium, murtis, wall hangings, multiple copies of Bhagavad-Gita As it Is, incense, oils, and japa malas! I was allotted 2 ½ hours for a service and another two hours for a study group, each week in the chapel. Immediately, Krishna Consciousness at FCI Petersburg began to grow. I shaved my head and started growing a sikha and observed strict adherence to the four regulative principles. Every morning, rain or shine, sleet or snow, I went outside to the yard and chanted my 16 rounds. It felt in Vaikuntha, right there in Virginia.</p>
<p>So blessed was my sanga that Srila Prabhupada sent us his disciple of 40-years, Sarva-drk dasa. He blessed us with his association once a month for the following six years, before he moved to India. And finally, the most auspicious day of my life: Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance day, on November 15, 2012, with full agni-hotra, in the outside worship area behind the chapel, I was initiated into the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya and given the name Krishna Kirtan dasa, because of my very loud and enthusiastic singing of kirtan. Many members of our sanga, when they were transferred, started their own Hare Krishna services at other institutions and now, to this day, hundreds and hundreds of inmates have been blessed with hearing the Holy Name. All because a few devotees and IPM volunteers gave me their mercy and helped us do what those in our Parampara wanted us to do.</p>
<p>I now have about six years left to my sentence and I promised Bhakti-lata that I will devote my time, effort, energy, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the penal system in the U.S. to advocate for inmate bhaktas and be an integral part of ISKCON Prison Ministry.</p>
<p>Also I have a dream —a goal really: I want to find a rural setting somewhere in the U.S. and, with charitable funding, design a shelter for inmate bhaktas just getting out of prison. Applying Srila Prabhupada’s axiom of “simple living – high thinking”, it could be a halfway house, a community reentry center, or even a prime destination for ex-felons to relocate. A place where the formerly incarcerated could be understood, where men and women could practice Krishna Consciousness in an environment where their spirituality would thrive and the general public would not have to be concerned because of ex-felons living near them. It would have a goshala, a farm, a temple, and run them like all the other Hare Krishna rural communities. It would encourage and mandate exemplary social behavior following the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, the Gita, the Bhagavatam, the Caitanya Caritamrta, and the Vedas. Its name would be “Jagai-Madhai Village” in honor of the former rascals and miscreants who were transformed into first-class bhaktas.</p>
<p>Do you see? It’s because of the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his merciful devotees of ISKCON Prison Ministry that everything I just described came to pass. Make Prabhupada proud. Get involved in ISKCON Prison Ministry and help us, the MOST fallen of the fallen, and watch the blessings of Godhead be showered upon you.</p>
<p>Dandavats and Vaishnava pranam to all of you and of course…</p>
<p>JAYA SRILA PRABHUPADA!</p>
<div><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=95315">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=95315</a></div></div>A good year for the ISKCON Prison Ministry by Bhakti-lata Dasihttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/a-good-year-for-the-iskcon-prison-ministry-by-bhakti-lata-dasi2020-01-21T12:28:55.000Z2020-01-21T12:28:55.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="https://i.imgur.com/z0J0sJw.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" alt="z0J0sJw.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img class="align-center" src="https://i.imgur.com/FGWsKpD.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="300" alt="FGWsKpD.jpg?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></p>
<p>When farmers have a good harvest, they say it was a good year. That’s the feeling I have at the end of each and every year; “it was a good year.” For the prison ministry, it’s always a good year! The IPM harvest is always aplenty; this is confirmed by the inmates’ wonderful testimonials and the wonderful things that happen in their lives.</p>
<p>Yesterday I was sharing with two friends some anecdotes to illustrate why I love this service so much, what inspires me to keep going, despite the heavy load of responsibilities that come with being the director of this prison ministry. So many stories enliven me and keep my enthusiasm level way up, even after ten years plus.<br /> Please allow me to share some anecdotes with you also.</p>
<p>* Inmate Gerald warns me to not send books to inmate Daniel anymore because Daniel doesn’t read the books; he is “selling” them to other inmates in exchange for cigarettes. [In prison cigarettes and stamps are called “prison bucks”; they are used to “buy” items from other inmates.] I write Gerald that I am delighted to hear that; Daniel is doing book distribution! If someone is willing to part with their precious cigarettes, it means they really want to read the book. Also, Daniel is finding people interested in Krishna consciousness, people I wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. Gerald’s understanding of Krishna consciousness expands.</p>
<p>* Inmate Richard tells me that many inmates are wearing the Tulasi neck beads I sent to the prison chapel, even though they are not interested in practicing Krishna consciousness; they just like how the neck beads look. Richard is wondering if he should forbid them to wear those neck beads. I explain to Richard that it is a wonderful thing to wear Tulasi neck beads and that anyone wearing them will benefit tremendously.</p>
<p>* One inmate tells me that he goes everywhere with the pocket Bhagavad-gita in his shirt pocket because when others approach him with questions he likes to answer directly from the Gita.</p>
<p>* Many bhaktas told me that guards and other inmates commented that they had changed; these bhaktas are no longer getting into fights, no longer responding with violence when provoked. That is the transformational results of chanting Hare Krishna and reading Prabhupada’s books!</p>
<p>* Inmates tell me that they figured out things to cook in their cell; with items bought at the commissary and the very hot water available to them, they cook anything from Ramen noodles, to fudge, offer that to Krishna, and engage in prasadam distribution in their cell block.</p>
<p>* Many bhaktas are greeted by other inmates with enthusiastic shouts of “Hare Krishna!”</p>
<p>* Many Hare Krishna programs are going on in the chapel libraries; sometimes newcomers pop up, by curiosity, and while there, they get swept away in a kirtan; singing and dancing with the bhaktas.</p>
<p>* An inmate in solitary confinement asks for books, saying that he needs them to keep his sanity. [in solitary one is alone 24 hours a day; 23 hours alone in a cell, with half hour to shower alone, and half hour to walk alone in the yard] After reading a few books, he writes back saying that he had a vison of Krishna who asked him for his heart. He comes out of this vision, prostrate on the floor of his cell, tears running down his face. He is more interested than ever to read and learn about Krishna.</p>
<p>* An inmate can’t find anyone to answer his questions about God. He is told to ask the “crazy guy”, the one who is always talking to himself. To his shock and surprise, this “crazy guy” answers all the questions he ever had in his life! The guy was not crazy or talking to himself; he happened to be a devotee chanting japa.</p>
<p><strong>IPM BOOK DISTRIBUTION SCORES FOR 2019!</strong></p>
<p>Prabhupada’s Books, total: 5,063<br /> Breakdown:<br /> Booklets: 535<br /> Small: 3,185<br /> Medium: 626<br /> Big: 140<br /> Maha-Big: 577<br /> Books by other devotee authors: 235</p>
<p>BTGs: 1,996</p>
<p>CDs: 207<br /> MP3s: 1<br /> DVDs: 29<br /> Japa Mala sets: 37<br /> Neck Beads: 21</p>
<p><strong>GRAND TOTAL OF ALL BOOKS AND BTGs IN 2019: 7,294</strong></p>
<p><strong>All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!</strong></p>
<p><strong>NEEDED URGENTLY: A SPONSOR TO PRINT THE MONTHLY FREEDOM NEWSLETTER</strong></p>
<p><strong>Every month we print a newsletter specially for the inmates; the Freedom Newsletter. The inmates really look forward to receive it; for many, the only mail they receive is from IPM.</strong></p>
<p><strong>We now need a new sponsor to cover the cost of printing these 150 monthly newsletters.<br /> The cost is $122 a month.</strong></p>
<p><strong>If you would like to be that sponsor, please contact Bhakti-lata at:<br /> IskconPrisonMinistry@gmail.com</strong></p>
<p>This article is only a part of IPM NEWS, our bi-monthly electronic newsletter. To read whole issues, please go to: <a title="http://www.iskconprisonministry.org/" href="http://www.iskconprisonministry.org/">http://www.iskconprisonministry.org/</a></p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=81820">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=81820</a></p></div>ISKCON Prison Ministry Showcases Inmate Art on New Websitehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/iskcon-prison-ministry-showcases-inmate-art-on-new-website2019-10-21T10:00:55.000Z2019-10-21T10:00:55.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><div id="article_image" style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://iskconnews.org/media/img_versions/2019/10-Oct/in1_slideshow.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/img_versions/2019/10-Oct/in1_slideshow.jpg" width="540" height="304" alt="in1_slideshow.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div><strong>By Madhava Smullen <br /><br /></strong></div>
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<p style="text-align:justify;">Run for twenty years by the late Syamapriya Dasi, then relaunched in 2009 by current director Bhakti-lata Dasi, the U.S. branch of ISKCON Prison Ministry has been working hard to give hope to the most desperate.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">IPM distributes over 5,000 pieces of literature, including Srila Prabhupada’s books and Back to Godhead magazines, to inmates in prisons all over the country every year. Around 300 inmates receive personal letters annually from volunteers like Bhakti-lata, Srutadeva, Ramaniya, Balabhadra, Pritam, Govindanandini, and Nandini Radha. And 150 receive the monthly ten-page newsletter “Freedom,” created by former inmate Bhavananda Das and his wife.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The impact of these efforts is lifechanging, but often missed by the devotee community. Which is why it was essential to replace IPM’s old, outdated website with a brand new, modern one that could properly showcase the inmates’ progress in spiritual life.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Built by Svarbhanu Das, a retired professional in web hosting and development, in collaboration with Bhakti-lata, the new <a href="https://iskconprisonministry.org/">https://iskconprisonministry.org</a> is attractive and easily navigable. </p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">One of the most exciting features is the inmate art gallery. Viewers can click thumbnails of all the inmates’ artwork to display it full screen, and learn the artist’s name, the subject matter, and some interesting details about the piece’s creation.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img style="height:373px;width:500px;" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/images/2019/10-Oct/in4.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Some are stunningly realistic depictions of Lord Krishna, Srila Prabhupada, and Lord Chaitanya by skilled artists like Brian B. and Burl D.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“They’re even more impressive because inmates are often transferred from one institution to another, and in some they have no access to art supplies,” says Bhakti-lata. “For years, Brian created all his black and white pencil drawings with just ordinary paper and a regular HB pencil, without all the different pencils for detail and range that artists usually have. And they are still out of this world.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">To paint, Brian fashioned his own homemade brush. He created paint using toothpaste as a base; then soaked M&Ms in water and mixed them in to make the different colors. For brown, he used coffee grounds.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Syamapriya said that his paintings smelled like food,” Bhakti-lata says. “Such ingenuity – nothing can stop devotional service!”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">While it goes without saying that people are impressed by the work of artists like Brian and Burl, Bhakti-lata found it equally important to display offerings by inmates who are not artists.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img style="height:363px;width:500px;" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/images/2019/10-Oct/in5.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“Their work is more crude, materially speaking,” she says. “But they are so dear to me. Because in my mind, I see an inmate sitting in a cell, surrounded by people absorbed in sex, drugs and TV – and they’re drawing Krishna. Some, like Richard C., had never drawn before in his life – but he was inspired to draw Krishna. That really touches my heart.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Another inspirational section of the new website displays inmate writings including letters, stories of “How I Came to Krishna Consciousness,” essays and poems. One of the best features is “Excerpts from letters.” On the old website, readers would have scroll down through pages of full letters to try and find something that struck them. Now, they can take a glance at a list of catchy one line quotes, then click on the one that appeals to them, make it expand, and read an inspirational excerpt from an inmate letter.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">The list is full of gems from the very first one, a sweet, endearing letter from newcomer Michael W that will make anyone smile. “Devotees, greetings, be blessed, and blessed be Mr. Prabhupada,” he writes. “He really was a gifted man of God… I got your beautiful magazine today. I read it and put the pictures on my wall. I have seven pictures of Kṛṣṇa on my walls. I am just doing my time, one day at a time. I chant on my beads every day. I am a vegetarian and all my food goes to Lord Kṛṣṇa.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Andre D. in Daytona Beach, Florida writes, “ I really enjoy chanting. I’ve noticed that when I chant it helps calm my mind. I have never experienced anything that calms my mind like chanting. It feels natural to me and I like it.” He adds: “When I read about Krishna Consciousness it confirms the unspoken thoughts and feelings I’ve always had about the subject of spirituality. To me it’s like I’ve encountered the truth I’ve always known but was unable to explain.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Other inmates have taken to Krishna consciousness so fully that they are now seriously preaching it to others.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img style="height:322px;width:500px;" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/images/2019/10-Oct/in2.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"> “Our program has grown a lot,” writes James S. in Salem, Oregon. “New men are becoming interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I give a Bhagavad-Gita class every day on the yard. Then we have our own worship service…. We have many interfaith discussions. And so many faiths are coming to our worship service; Christians, Buddhist, Islam, Wicca, and even two Vedanta impersonalists. We all chant Hare Krishna together. And dance in great joy!</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">At our worship, we try to engage everyone. Like the chapel orderly, by setting up a fan, or to bring a table, something, anything. And the chaplain, who lights the candle. He’s made so much advancement over the past six years, last time he was dancing down the hall, singing Hare Kṛṣṇa maha mantra, matches in hand. Some men bought japa beads at our canteen and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! They read Prabhupada’s books and preach to their friends. Actually, due to wonderful devotees like you, this whole prison has become a holy Dhama! Because Prabhupada has come in the form of his books, CDs and DVDs.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Krishna consciousness has also come to women’s prisons. “I took the Bhagavad-Gita and was returned to general population the next day,” writes Carol S. “I sent a few books to another girl in another section, so then these girls got hold of most of those books and they are passing them around like hoarded treasure.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Finally, the new website includes all the ISKCON Prison Ministry newsletters since 2009, available at the click of a button. Each newsletter features excerpts from letters, appreciation from chaplains, artwork, and a a main article by a volunteer or inmate.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In one, Gerald N, who has been writing to devotees for years, recounted how several times, he had been faced with an angry inmate who wanted to beat him up. When he started chanting the Nrsimhadeva prayers at the top of his lungs, however, a bewildered expression came across the agressor’s face, and he turned around and left.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img style="height:386px;width:500px;" src="https://iskconnews.org/media/images/2019/10-Oct/in3.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">In the most recent Sept/Oct newsletter, inmate David B., who works in the prison kitchen, recounts how the prasadam he cooks transforms even the most hardened criminals. </p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“He is a big, physically imposing drug dealer and gang member with tattoos all over his body— even his face,” David wrote of one inmate. “Yet, he lit up like that little child he once was and ‘infected’ those around him with that energy as the laddhus I made quickly disappeared. He is another one who, when he sees me, does the Pranams hands and says “Hare Kṛṣṇa” to me. I smile and offer Pranams and say “Hare Kṛṣṇa” to him, another jivatma, and to Kṛṣṇa who resides as the Paramatma in all of us.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">Bhakti-lata is deeply passionate about transforming such people through ISKCON Prison Ministry – the service is her life. And she hopes that the new website will help to convey its importance to other devotees in ISKCON too.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">“When I was a young child, if I found a cricket, a pigeon, or a caterpillar that was injured, I would bring it home and try to nurse it back to health,” she says. “I was always trying to help those that needed it the most. And as a devotee, we know that Lord Chaitanya is Patita Pavana, and His movement is for the most fallen, the most desparate. And those in prison really have a sense of desperation. Their food is disgusting, the association is awful, they’re oppressed both by the other inmates and often by the staff. So a ray of light in that environment is so vital to them.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;">She explains, “Many inmates have told me, ‘Apart from the devotees, no one else writes me or cares about me.’ And they realize, ‘Wow, I can be free, even in a prison!’ They might not be able to change where they live, who they’re bunking with, or the food they eat. But their spiritual life is within their power to change, and it transforms their life completely. It gives them, peace, hope, and happiness, even if they have a life sentence. And for those that are released, it gives them a better footing to start a new life.”</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Visit: </strong><a href="https://iskconprisonministry.org/">https://iskconprisonministry.org/</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-prison-ministry-showcases-inmate-art-on-new-website,7125/">https://iskconnews.org/iskcon-prison-ministry-showcases-inmate-art-on-new-website,7125/</a></p>
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