By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/life-changing-service-shares-the-love-of-god-with-hundreds-of-inmates/
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