Prison Ministry Needs Help with Postage
January 16, 2003 by bhakta-chris-matthews
Filed under Preaching
There are over 300 devotees practicing Krishna consciousness in our nations prisons under some very hard conditions and they depend on us for books, beads and correspondence. We are asking interested Vaishnavas to please help by donating stamps and postage.
Hare Krishna
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Some time back a very beneficial ministry was started to bring Srila Prabhupada’s books into the nations prison system. There are over 300 devotees practicing Krishna consciousness in our nations prisons under some very hard conditions.
Many of these men and women are very sincere and have altars in there cells. Many are severally persecuted by the administration in the institutions and they undergo some sever ordeals and still keep chanting and preaching. Not having the sumptuous prasadam dishes but only beans or macaroni and cheese to live on for years they still follow a strict vegetarian diet.
I received a letter from an inmate devotee before the holidays telling me how he was handcuffed and beaten because he was causing “trouble” by asking for a vegetarian plate to be served him. After this a plate full of meat was pushed into his face and rubbed around. He was told he would eat it.
These men and women are devotees and they depend on us for books, beads and correspondence.
We are asking for interested Vaishnavas to please help us by donating stamps and postage.
Everything we send comes from our pockets and we just cant keep up with the amazing amount of inmates who are wanting to correspond and receive books. If any one could donate so much as one stamp it would be a beginning.
We have packages ready to be sent but no postage so please take compassion and help us spread Krishna consciousness and Prabhupadas books to those suffering, contact us here:
matthews97@aol.com
or
matthewsipmp@aol.com
or
Vaishnava Prison Ministries
Bhakta Chris Matthews
980 S Old Sevierville Pike
Seymour TN 37865
Hari Bol
your servant
Bhakta Chris Matthews
I would like to know, speaking as a person with a criminal record, can we still be initiated as a disciples?
We are all criminals in the material world.
We have all come here because we have rejected the authority of God.
So being a criminal in the past is no disqualification at all.
In fact Lord Caitanya is “Patita-Pavana”
It means the deliver of the most fallen.
So in this sense being fallen is not a disqualification at all because Lord Caitanya is especially merciful to the fallen souls in this Kali-yuga.
But we can not remain criminals and expect to become liberated. We have to reform. So in Krishna consciousness there are 4 regulative principles that any serious student must follow if he is actually interested in advancing spiritually. They are No illicit sex life, No meat eating, No gambling and No intoxication. At the same time we need to chant the name of God, the Hare Krishna maha mantra. In this age the most powerful religious process is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So if you follow the regulative principles and chant Hare Krishna you will automatically give up your criminal activities of the past.
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy!
Krishna is merciful! Where the world seems to have so much prejudices against people who have made mistakes, Krishna in his mercy give us the Maha Mantra to become liberated.
I have a few months ago begun following the 4 regulative principles and chanting; now I pray everyday for Krishna to have mercy on me and bring me to a bona-fide guru.
Hare Krishna!