Original subtitles

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w

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India is a vast land intense and full of

extremes spectacular Landscapes lie next

to overflowing multitudes of

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humanity wretchedness and Decay blend

with astonishing wealth

side by side one finds overwhelming

noise and deep Serenity cruelty and

kindness dark ignorance and the highest

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wisdom India is a land of

paradox where else can one witness the

sight of a prisoner weeping like a child

in the arms of his

Jailer but this is not just another

Indian Paradox this is an entirely

different story wor

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[Applause]

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I came to tar in

1988 I get C in the airport IND Gandhi

International Airport

sorry uh with four K of

heroin um put here on ndps

charge for um allegedly possession of

some

CHS triple murder

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my life sentence

is when am I doing an Indian jail time

is what I'm doing in Indian

jail no actually I'm doing v p

now we are all

prisoners undergoing a life sentence

imprisoned by our own

minds we're all seeking parole

being hostages of our anger fear

desire is there anyone who doesn't crave

at one point or another to take

something that is not

his is there anyone who doesn't wish at

least once to hurt the one who hurts

him it is a thin line that separates us

from these people who stare at us from

inside this cage

the same things that do not go beyond

the threshold of our thoughts have

crossed in their case the threshold of

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action but still we are

alike inside our heads we're all

potential

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criminals this is tiad jail one of the

largest prisons in the

world 10 ,000 people are imprisoned here

9,000 of them are still awaiting their

trials the wheel of Justice rolls slowly

and heavily in India like an overloaded

truck a pig pocket may find himself

waiting for 6 years in order to receive

a one-year

sentence it could take um another 2

weeks it could take um

another 2 years 3 years 4 years

they take their

time located in Suburban New Delhi tiar

is India's best known high security

prison due to its large population it is

divided into four separate

jails for decades tiha was Notorious for

its inhuman conditions it was branded a

veritable hell

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violence corruption and drug use are

common problems in almost any prison but

in tar they were magnified due to

congestion and harsh conditions it was a

horrible place there was a lot of

extortion a lot of beating a lot of gang

fights within the S inside the jails

there was a lot of problems many

problems the combination of 1,000

convicts along with thousands still

awaiting their trials had created a

hierarchy of power and an explosive

atmosphere there are massive more under

trials and there are coms the few can

control the many take from the under

trials convicts used extortion and you

you a few people up occasionally and um

the many will come across with a few

rupees here a few rupes there you know

the inmates they're not being themselves

I mean this a macho image I mean tough

aggressive you know you get a few

thousand Macho people together you know

and that's a lot of aggression you know

and that's a lot of controlling because

this is prison that's a lot of

controlling to do so I've understood

when I first came here myself that uh

sometimes the stick had to be used but

um you have a point where you don't go

beyond the jail staff were trained under

the old tradition of Oppression

isolation and Punishment they believed

that if the prisoners were made to

suffer they would not commit crimes

after their release for fear of being

sent back to this hell but they were

wrong inar prisoners were specializing

further in

crime I'm here now about 13

months I was taking some

heroin from catmandu to Toronto via the

airport in New Delhi I researched in new

jelly and I was brought here David is

one of the foreign inmates kept in thar

everybody is a legal expert in in tiha

jail everybody knows all the ins and

outs of the Indian system just so

happens some of them be for six or S

years maybe but they'll tell you how to

get

out h

with this record tiar was hardly the

place to expect a breakthrough in prison

reform and yet this is exactly what

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happened in May 1993 a new Inspector

General of Prisons was

posted the new IG was Kiran Betty a

little woman with a big reputation and

an even bigger

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Vision as India's first woman police

officer Betty has always attracted

controversy using unconventional methods

to achieve high

goals you can to me she's a magnificent

woman she's she's got Integrity she's

got very high morals and she certainly

has ambition she's been everything from

a tennis sty to a notorious um

policewoman who used to tow away

dignitaries cars from toway areas that's

where they called the crane Betty I

clearly Bly remember the day when she

she was to join we have a meeting for

one uh one and a half hours and that

meeting she only made us clear there's a

very thin thread between us as officers

and those

inside we have also made blunders in our

life but thank God we are not inside

Unfortunately they are right from the

start Betty told her staff that she

intended to turn thar prison into a

place for personal development an ashram

I started to share with them my vision

of a prison I held my meetings first of

all told them that you're going to work

as a team work as a family asking them

are they aware of what their whole job

priority is what are they meant for are

they here as Watchmen or are they here

for a larger job

ever since she took office she did a lot

of a transformation she's a person who

who solves

problem if you cannot solve a problem

that you are part of the problem

yourself we kept using a lot of love and

care actually giving them love and care

allowed them books canteen facilities

better Medical Care clothing radio

outside visitors before we were regarded

here as um I don't know really what to

it's beyond description of the word

she showed us that we are human beings

and therefore we deserve to be treated

as human

beings I've talked to them I've shared

with them I've read with them I've

laughed with them I've sung with them

I've even danced with them is to make

them feel as normal as they should be

feeling why because after all when

they're going out they have to go into

normal

society so how can I keep them bottled

up here and expect them to be normal

when they going out I must release them

as normal human beings on if possible

even better human

beings this is a general feeling that

those who have done some crime they

should be punished this is fine they

should be punished but after punishment

what they will not live in jail all

through their life they will come out in

the society and if they are not reformed

they will commit more crimes

the atmosphere in thha had improved but

Betty knew that all material Solutions

are always partial Solutions she was

seeking a deeper change human mind needs

its own food human mind needs positivity

human mind needs some higher thinking so

this was all I knew because that's what

my mind needs many of them did not know

the way to change they ready to change

they said we want to change but how they

have no skills to handle their problems

how do I give them skills to handle

themselves what do I do I was absolutely

like a fish out of water where do I go

for a magic who will come to this prison

to councel who will provide the

psychological food I was just looking

for an answer and I got an

answer the answer came unexpectedly from

inside the

prison one morning Ed was doing her

daily rounds a young jail officer

approached her and told her of an

age-old teaching called

Vasa I was walking the prison and one

officer rajendra Kumar came to me said

Madam you looking for an answer I have

the answer and what is the answer there

is a

technique which Chang all I also do a

work of vashna

meditation and it changed a lot in

myself he I was a very angry man I would

be horrible as a person but I went for

vashna and I'm a different person Madam

if you don't believe me ask my family

ask my colleagues if you introduce this

course in jail though it will help all

the inits they will get rid of their

sufferings then she immediately told me

you give me address so he gave me the

address of Mr Ram Singh I wrote a letter

to Mr Ram Singh saying could I have you

visit my prison exactly still not

knowing what vashna stands

for what Kiran Betty also did not know

was that Vasa meditation had previously

been tried in Indian

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prisons theas is a journey of Discovery

taken with closed

eyes the goal is not simply to satisfy

the Traveler's curiosity but to get

transformed by the journey and start

living a better

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life the Pasa means to see things as

they really are in their true

nature it is an ancient meditation

technique discovered 25 centuries ago in

India by a man named sidharta Goa known

as the

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Buddha the record Recs from the Buddhist

time tell remarkable stories of serial

killers changed into Saints and of cruel

tyrants who became model rulers by

practicing this

technique with the passing of time

civilizations Rose and fell but the Pasa

was carefully preserved and passed on

from generation to generation in South

Asia today it is taught by SN goena an

Indian who was born and grew up in Burma

Mr goena learned Vasa from his Burmese

teacher sayaji

ubin in 1969 Mr goenka arrived in India

and started teaching for

Pasa a few years later he was given a

challenge by the renowned Indian leader

benova bave to teach the Pasa to

youngsters and to harden

criminals I said I'm here to serve if

you can arrange I will teach the the

hard criminals in the jail I will teach

the students he arranged in the school

and it was very successful but he could

not arrange in the prison because the

rules of prison Manual of prison is such

that uh a teacher cannot go and stay

there when has to stay outside and that

was not acceptable to me when a course

is given I must be there with my

students it could not materialize but

later on the Rajasthan government was

good enough to relax their rules and

first course was given there in the jaur

jail in 1975 in Jaipur prisoners learned

for Pasa for the first time Mr goena

insisted again on some conditions and

the prison authorities were trying hard

to meet his demands before the court

started some people were brought in

Chains and Ankle chains so he said what

is this I said they are very hardened

criminals and very dangerous criminals

and we want that they should also get

take of course but he said why have you

put the chains on them because they are

dangerous he said no I can't give Tama

to the people while they are in Chains

so they have to be removed and the IG

and the superintendent of jail they

didn't agree because the IG said that

there is a great possibility that one of

them or few of them will get up and

strangle Mr goenka or you as Home

Secretary and they will get a big name

because they are any case dying they

will be hanged or they will have serious

punishment so we took little risk and uh

it was decided that they will put a

guard close by and if anybody got up

menacingly towards us he should be

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shot fortunately no shot had to be fired

the jaipore jail course concluded

peacefully its success led to more

courses in other

prisons one of them was Boda

jail the superintendent Mr Vora was

impressed by the effect of aasa on his

prisoners and decided to take a course

himself after that he arranged five more

courses in baroa jail

Babu Baya was Notorious for killing

three people in 5 minutes during a gang

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fight after taking a call he contacted

the family of his victims seeking

forgiveness

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of a passer course is 10 days

long students live in complete silence

meditating from early morning till

night for 10 days they follow a basic

code of moral

conduct they abstain from killing

stealing lying sexual activity and the

use of

intoxicants without a base of morality

the mind will remain too agitated to

investigate the reality within any

physical or vocal action which is UNH

wholesome which goes against morality

which is immoral starts with a impure

mind a negative mind so you kill

somebody you can't kill somebody without

generating tremendous amount of anger or

hatred in you you steal something you

can't steal something without generating

tremendous amount of craving or greed

and every time one generates negativity

in the Mind One becomes miserable when

you do something wrong you instantly

punished why because you're now guilty

you've told a lie and you telling 100

lies to justify one lie you've stolen

now you suspicious that you might be

caught the very fact that you are under

the agony of getting caught is the the

pain you're getting out of the law of

nature back in tiha Kiran Betty Was

preparing the ground for a vac

course she said that if a course could

be organize I say why not we can do this

so there also the similar difficulties

came I said first condition is that some

of the jail senior people should attend

the course first then only we'll agree

unless the keepers of the prisoners ch

prisoners will not

change your search should be more

effective your officer search Kieran

Betty was not afraid to experiment with

new ideas she sent some of the more

stubborn and aggressive members of her

staff to have a passer course held

outside jail when these men returned

colleagues and inmates alike found them

to be much more calm and positive

there was actually stories of a couple

of officers you know that were caught

doing the wrong thing you know like

smuggling bees in CU they pay money for

them and you know when they're on such a

small wage this is good for them and um

I think she was going to sack these

people or you know get rid of them she

like gave him a chance and said if you

want to keep on working right you have

to do this and this and this and you

have to go and do one of those 10day

courses as well

go everything you do you have to pay for

one way or another my life is instant I

do something wrong and it's there

po my family still don't know um exactly

where I am my mother thinks I'm in India

but I don't I didn't want to worry her

to say where I was so I thought I just

tell her I was doing fora and I am the

first for pass a course as taught by SN

goenka at thha jail was held in November

1993

over 100 prisoners and jail staff

participated she was not forcing people

just go and see

yourself if you like it well and good if

you don't like it well and good but just

go please and see yourself they were

asking people interested in in V or

meditating the school came around in one

of the wards and so I went

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at first all one is asked to do is to

focus on one's own natural breath to

feel it coming in and out of the

nostrils and to maintain this awareness

for as long as

possible sounds simple but it's not

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it's something which you can't avoid you

know you can concentrate for so long

then after a while you don't realize it

but your mind

wonders and it's after a while you say

Hey you know you're supposed to be back

here you know concentrating and so you

come back to it then you find yourself

you're off wandering again thinking

about something which you're doing back

home and then hang on you're supposed to

be back on the

meditation when one sits down to be

still an endless stream of thoughts

Wells up in the

mind memories hopes fears

start flooding

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in after a 3-day struggle the Mind

quiets down thoughts become faint faded

like passing clouds

by focusing for so long on the small

patch of skin below the nostrils the

Mind becomes so sensitive that it can

feel the subtlest flow of breath a new

realm of Sensations unfolds within this

area itching tingling heat pressure

natural physical Sensations never before

experienced so

vividly only then is one prepared to

learn

Vasa the whole idea with Vasa is to go

inside

and when you go inside and everything is

quiet and yourself you're quiet then you

contact yourself you can come inside

yourself and you can feel your

Sensations continuous awareness of

physical Sensations without reacting is

the core of the vacina practice every

sound Vision taste smell everything that

contacts the body instantly produces

some

sensation the technique focuses on

natural physical Sensations as The

crucial Li link between mind and body

the key to understanding human

behavior through vapas one realizes that

one's own attitudes and addictions

suffering and happiness are not caused

by the outside world it is the reactions

to Pleasant or unpleasant Sensations the

world evokes within the body that

dictate one's actions and conditions the

mind

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on the fourth day of the course the

passer is

taught students learn how to observe

objectively all the sensations in their

bodies whatever they may be without

reacting to

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them they watch emotions come and

go they watch pain come and

go they watch pleasure come and go

and they realize not intellectually but

through their own experience that

nothing is

permanent hatred passion greed are not

abstract

anymore by watching the physical

Sensations accompanying these emotions

and by understanding their impermanent

nature one can actually start changing

the habit of blind

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reaction between the two poles of

expression and depression lies a third

option mere

observation the first course I was so

overwhelmed with everything I see things

as the way it is the reality you to

solve a lot of you to get a lot of

answers out of it it's you who can make

yourself into the right path and it's

you who

can lead to a misery is happiness in

there you

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know after the course it was no looking

back even for us it was saying Hey thank

God we found a remedy we found an

alternative we found a way to take them

to then there's no looking back the

first the passinger course in tiha jail

was followed by five more and Kieran

Betty was once again thinking ahead we

became greedier we were impatient why

only 50 60 when I have 10,000 people

with me so why can't we reach at least a

large percentage of a massive course

rather than going into small trickles to

have a massive impact then said would

you be able to arrange a course of over

thousand I said yes immediately are you

sure I said

yes it was one of the most ambitious

ious projects in the history of Indian

prisons it was also the largest Vaso

course conducted in modern

times in just a few weeks a special area

was prepared inside the

prison accommodating in one place a

thousand inmates as well as Mr goenka

and his assistants was a tremendous

undertaking

nobody could believe that the 1,000

prisoners could be put together and kept

at a place because it's a grave security

risk

he pretends to be no saint he is like a

simple humble teacher he's not expecting

anything in

return the way he's done it for

prisoners for 10 days he's lived in the

prison for 11 days he and his wife

together and it was no comfortable

stay 1,000 prisoners gathered in the

huge tent on the evening of April

4th they reflected the wide range of

Human Experience Hindus Muslims

Christians siks from different nations

and social

backgrounds is essential that you will

keep silence Noble silence it doesn't

mean that your mouth will be locked talk

to your teachers your guides there's no

restriction about it in the early hours

of the next day a fierce rainstorm

extremely unusual for that dry season

suddenly

descended the tent collapsed

all the rugs and meditation cushions

were completely

soaked an emergency meeting was called

at 3:30 a.m. to consider cancelling the

course instead measures were quickly put

into action allowing it to

continue when the weather cleared a

massive Salvage operation was

launched meanwhile the course continued

as prisoners meditated in their barracks

by evening the tent was ready again for

the students to assemble and the course

went on as

planned 9 days later it was apparent

that something unique had been

accomplished it actually changed people

it made my my prisoners weep it made

them cry they had realized what life

actually could be they had looked within

and within themselves they had seen the

feeling of

Revenge they had seen anger they saw the

disrespect and hurt that caused to

parents in society and they wept and

they wanted to be different I felt

guilty that I did a wrong

thing I have done a wrong

thing and uh uh what I have done it's

something which I can come out of it and

correct it that realization was the

greatest magic that's exactly what I was

looking for how do I realize them make

them realize they've actually hurt

Society they're just all the time saying

we innocent we are innocent we never

hurt Society Society hurt us how do I

convince them that you did hurt Society

at some stage of your life therefore law

of Nature has had its scor you getting

it today so they learn in vashna I

didn't have to say anything they went up

on the mic and said we hurt Society but

we seek forgiveness that was a greatest

magic when the course ended 12200

participants and international guests

witnessed the inauguration of the first

papasa center to be established in a

prison within 3 weeks it began to offer

Vasser courses twice a month

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don't expect any Miracles it will take

time not that all of a sudden a criminal

changes to the Saint the beginning of

change is there and the again the

environment in the jail is so bad that

even one course it doesn't change the

whole environment so unless the

environment is Chang other steps are

taken facilities given for their regular

practice then real change will occur the

Pasa courses as taught by SN goenka are

alike everywhere in the world the same

rules same timetable same

instructions the workers who serve the

students during the course are

volunteers who have already taken the

course

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themselves a teacher trained and

appointed by Mr goenka stays within the

course site for 10 days and conduct the

course

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voluntarily nothing is by accident you

know I come I'm CAU I'm here all for a

reason I don't have to be caught going

to Canada I could have gone to Canada

and then gone back and my life this this

this all for a reason after taking a few

Vaca courses David asked to be

transferred to the Vaca award and work

there as a volunteer when I first came I

thought why is the P here of course when

when I say that it answers itself

because this is where it's needed

most this is history in the making you

know this is the first chance where the

PNA where this is being used in a prison

system to possibly reform people and if

this does show results then this could

reform the whole prison system and the

entire planet and it happens here

scratch his Bell he should attack me

there you

go you're attack thatat see all I can

really do is to try to set an example

for other people in doing this then

maybe they will try a little bit harder

for

themselves David the one day courses on

this date no we have four one day

courses yeah your 26th morning is jail 4

yes and 27th morning I'm bringing jail 1

2 and three together so tell him we

would need him at both the

9:00 please tell the

teacher I cannot do anything vassal wise

for anybody they have to do it

themselves the bottom line is you can't

help somebody unless they want to be

helped and the vasna if you can get

through to them is for themselves to get

inside themselves to

help twice a month prisoners from

different sections of thha arrive at the

vassan award to take a

course some of them have done this a

number of times each time they follow

the same program what differs is the

personal experience I call them buikus

when they come here which is the monk

because this is in effect what they are

but 10 days they become a monk a lot of

people are under the impression this 10

days they come over here is is um is so

easy it's not you have to work there's

no sort of lazy way out of it and

actually going on the course sort of

forces to work it's like being thrown

into a swimming pool you know you have

to swim man it's not a matter of saying

yeah I will learn to swim I will learn

swim it's when they throw you in the

pool that's when you have to swim so

when you go to this course you have to

do the 10

days next to the silent bubble of the

course on the other side of the wall

prison life flows along

in thar jail prisoners can have yoga

lessons counseling sessions and other

educational

programs but a Vass a course is quite

different from these activities and

prisoners are not always aware of this

fact we're in jail and jail have jail

rules this is VNA VNA has VNA rules and

it happens to be that vassal rules are

more

strict than what the jail is

some of them understand some of them

don't understand see in jail they have

the rules but they the game is to bend

the rules as much as they can or change

as much as they can to take control

themselves and they bring that same

attitude in here you still B thing boy

and I say no this is not jail that's

jail you want to go back to jail you can

go back to jail but this is V

Persona we do have a little bit of um

people who become jealous may be envious

because here people seem to get a little

bit more than what other people

do they don't realize that the the guys

who come here are putting more into

themselves if somebody has had some sort

of experience or self- discipline then

they seem to be falling into it much

easier let's understand the 10 days is

is the basic you know I mean this is the

least amount of time necessary to get

some sort of a a spark to the candle and

sometimes that spark doesn't ignite

maybe you need another spark another

spark but after a couple the light

starts to flicker it grows and then the

candle is

LD change does not come easy way change

takes a time and as I told you

earlier

that this Revenge

which I had an anger quick temper is

still

subsiding I'm not telling you exactly it

went off completely one time buam I did

a pass I sit down and it just went out

like that it's still subsiding subsiding

subsiding

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why did it happen that I'm

here what happened to me it's what I've

done to

myself and that's why I'm

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here I don't trust people as as I used

to do sometimes I meet them and and they

treat me not good

and I think if I have a vote I would

just pull the pin and let the whole

thing explode that's it and start all

over again V keeps trying to bring me

back away from this uh distrustful

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people I'm here now doing vashna and is

your way of life you you the way you

talk to people the way you think the way

you act the way you do things for people

or don't do things for people The Art of

Living they call this

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on the morning of the 10th day silence

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ends on this special day it becomes

clear how long a journey it has been

students make the transition back to a

more extroverted way of life for the

first time in 10 days they can actually

talk and share experiences

it was a great opportunity for me being

here before I used to regret now I'm not

regretting it there is no any regret in

within me that yes it happened and I did

this mistake so right now I look in

future

ahead actually I come from a very

orthodox Muslim family and my parents

when they used to pray and I used to

always I was very curious

child that you are praying and this

person whom you are begging always where

is he is he upstairs nobody see him and

why can't he listen to prayers why is he

prejudiced I was looking for something

which have a universal appeal something

which doesn't condemn other religion

saying that this religion is bad this

ours is good actually I found what I was

looking for for all these years the

thing which has been bugging me I found

the answer

here before I used to feel a lot of

self-pity about being inside J you know

I thinking why should this have happened

to me and all this sort of thing having

the passner course it's

like I'm grateful that it was there you

know I'm almost grateful for coming to

jail to actually go there and you know

have the opportunity to do it

you know I often think to myself when I

get home you know I've got my own

bedroom I can meditate there I can make

it a regular part of my life but you

know old habits die hard and it's very

easy just to fall back into the old

pattern of Lifestyle so before I leave

here like I don't know when that could

be you know there could be a chance next

month or middle or the end of next year

but actually what I'd really like to do

is go to a court

complete the course and then like the

very next day to be able to walk out of

jail I'd go out in a very good frame of

mind not a bad frame of mind which this

place can

create you know this coming to te it's a

lesson in life I'll never forget you

know it's in a way it's a great

experience but it's just going on for

too long now you know I've really like

it to finish and so I can go home

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it sure has come a long way earlier

prisons were not being opened for this

course some were some were not but now

the government of India sent out a

circular to all the prisons in India to

encourage vashna

courses because the prisoners were

capable of receiving

staff was accepting this the community

outside was expecting this to happen you

know there was a positivity of a belief

that this can happen in the prison now

people who were being released from the

prison were not coming back anymore

outside people had started to see the

change in their thinking and behavior so

there's been no looking back

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a technique which is effective here will

be definitely effective anywhere in the

world presence in the west and the

presence in the East men in the west men

in the east no difference difference of

degree but totality we are the same same

people all over the world the Traditions

are different culture is different but

man is not different his attitude is not

different governments are not different

it looks that government in India may be

harsh and present conditions are very

bad is a comparative picture even if you

build a all good things in the jail and

all facilities it doesn't mean that it

is a good prison what is the attitude of

the people that is very important

whenever passer course ends in Baroda

jail a special event takes place in the

presence of social workers and guests

supporting the vapas program the

superintendent a vapac student himself

greets the inmates coming out of the

meditation Hall

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in this country physical contact between

people from such different backgrounds

is Unthinkable but on this day barriers

are broken

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it's

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there was a one question one time I

asked Grand

B I ask her about uh I said

Madam uh how many people in this

world you

think that they're doing they just here

in this

world they believe they here in this

world just to do

good what the

percentage she looked at me and there

was a maybe 20 30 people sitting there

she say you have the

percentage it's you people okay it's you

can make

it uh this world a better place

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I

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d