Prison smart course in Aligarh Jail

“If people get sick, we take them to the hospital and give them the right medicine to get better. If people’s behaviour is sick, we bring them to the prison, but we forget the medicines.” – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

For the past 6 days i was conducting a prison smart course of Art of living in Aligarh district jail. Course was organised by Parul saxena ji and she requested me to teach to the inmates. 

There were around 50 inmates and juveniles and teaching them was an interesting experience. On the first day there were some inmates who were perhaps caught up with  something going on in their mind and had difficulty in following the instructions.  Most of them though were sincere and wanted to learn. Juveniles were a bit tricky to handle but i reminded myself if teenagers (around 18 yrs age) will not be naughty then who would be ? And i accepted them with smile. 

 

However with each passing day, i could sense the improvement in their condition. Many reported that there sleep quality has improved and they are feeling light. Yoga is best way to remove stress and ensure that not just the body but even mind is flexible and light. 

Thus inspired them each day to practice yoga and later seek even a career in yoga. Told them how to manage anger and taught them how a calm mind is essential before taking any decision and decision taken in haste often leads to repentance later. I was aware that most are inside due to some wrong decision that they took in anger. 

Touched by Sudarshan kriya and teachings, an inmate on his own started keeping flowers everyday near the image of Guruji. His gesture of gratitude touched me and i was not surprised when on the last day of the course he has tears of love in his eyes.

Also during my Art of living sessions, i was noticing that one prisoner had torn shirts and wore them daily, today while his eyes were closed i kept a shirt near him that i took from my home. Seeing this  love he started crying before me and i was happy at the transformation for the tears of gratitude are very precious. They purify the one who has them. .

Today on the last day of the course , all the inmates profusely thanked us for conducting the course and most had tears in their eyes. Though i don't allow people to touch my feets but a juvenile before i could stop came to me and quickly expressed his gratitude. Their transformation was a transformative experience for us too.    

Teaching and volunteering in Prison is a unique experience and must to have atleast once. So i request all the Art of living teachers spread around world to experience "going to prison" atleast once :P :) 

Jai Gurudev

A short introduction to Yoga vashistha

Yoga Vashistha

Yoga vashistha says that individuality does not exists and presence of an independent identity apart from paramatmaa is an illusion. Lets discuss finer details of it.

You mean i dont exist ?

You exist, but your existence is not seperate from the things you see. You see variety in nature but it exists only at surface level. All objects have one soul and are not different from Paramatman. So you exist as paramatman will be more appropriate thing to say.

So why do i feel pain, when i get hurt. Paramatman should feel pain.

Find out the one who feels pain. You dont feel when your nails are cut but feelings are there when other part of body is hurt. Its because you are conscious of some parts of body and unconscious about some. Doctors perform operations on body under the effect of anaesthesia which make you unconscious and you feel nothing. So feeling of pain is dependent on consciousness. 

A mother attached to her child will feel pain if the child is hurt though she cant experience his/her pain.

So do you mean to suggest that we feel pain for those things which are related to us ?

Yes. You didnt suffer when the recent floods in Uttaranchal killed thousands. However the presence of someone you know in Uttaranchal would have changed the scenario.

Ok, If i am paramatman. Why am i limited in this body? Should i not be omnipresent ?

You are omnipresent. You are limited to this body due to attachment to it. You are watching this body since time and you have started to believe its you. 

Wait, Are you saying that i am merely watching this body ? I am acting too. I can lift my hand whenever i want. I can move. Thats my body as i control it.

Seasons come , Rivers ,Sun and Planets move on account of that power, they do nothing. Complex process of digestion of food happens on its own. Everything is happening on its own. When you watch a movie with full attention ? Do you exist then. A person feels at height of his work that he is not existing and is completely absorbed in his work.

Poets experience this and say that nature spoke through me. You work is an illusion, everything happens through gunas (nature).

Ok. I have experienced that i dont exist when i am fully absorbed in work. But why  am i conscious when i am partially absorbed ?

So you experienced that you were nowhere when you focused completely on your work. At that moment just the work existed.

When you are partially absorbed, you are focused on many objects at a time , world being one of them. Hence you are conscious of world and things that you have long identified as yours. Their presence leads you to imagine you are present too. That's why many scriptures advise practice of discrimination and detatchment, so that you dont see world then.

When i see the world , the world rises on account of me seeing it

... to be continued