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YOGA
EXPERIMENT
IN THANE CENTRAL PRISON
Dr. S. K. Vyavahare
Brothers and sisters, at the outset I apologize to all of you for taking you into the Thane Central Prison, thirty kilometers from Bombay, but be mindful that we are entering this prison with honor and dignity. Remember also that you will be coming out of the jail within ten or fifteen minutes. I took Paramahamsa Satyananda to Thane Central Prison some ten years back to witness the transformation which we brought about in the convicts, murderers and cheats. I can tell you that it was my pleasure to have Paramahamsa Satyananda with me in the jail to witness the prisoners in action.
This unique experiment first began in the middle of 1975. We received the permission of the Government of Maharashtra, the Minister concerned, the Inspector General of Prisoners and the Superintendent of the jail. They extended their full co-operation. I delivered the first lecture before 1,500 criminals on Sunday 4th January 1976. The very next day we started a yoga class for the jail inmates. Three to four hundred volunteers came forward but, since the area was limited, only eighty or ninety were admitted. So, how did this transformation take place in the convicts? How did we begin to conduct yoga teachers training courses with them? What was the training they had to undertake to complete this course?
Those who volunteered to become yoga teachers were trained in the science, theory and practice of yoga. After completion of the Yoga Teachers Training Course, the prisoners were subjected to written, practical and viva voce tests in the prison itself. The thirteen convicts passed the yoga teachers examination, eight of them securing first class. The minimum mark obtained was 42.33% and the maximum was 87%. Some of the convict yoga teachers are now teaching yoga practices to the other inmates. Others were sent to the different prisons throughout the state of Maharashtra in order to disseminate the practices of yoga.
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