Shradh Paksh’ on, many are thronging the holy city to pray for their ancestors. They are having their heads shaven while performing rituals on the Ganga ghats. Eighteen such people were found on Thursday morning, tonsuring their heads. They shaved their heads after taking holy dip in the Ganga at Har Ki Pauri. Things were usual around this time of the year. However, a closer look revealed that they were convicts. Some are even hard -core criminals. They are now resolved to turn over a new leaf, shedding their past and embracing a new life. Selected from the inmates of Tihar jail, they were picked up by a Haridwar based seer to give them ‘sanskars’ to change from within.
After they alighted from an air- conditioned bus, they took time to realize hat they were out into the normal life, away from the gloom of the cells they were forced to live with for years. Yog rishi Swami Ashutosh of Panchwati Yog Ashram has taken the initiative to give them new sanskars, to transform them from within, help them live anew.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Swami Ashutosh said, “The only motive behind bringing these prisoners out here is to help them shed the hatred of life that seems to be inherent in them. They should be inspired to live anew so that they do not fall upon crime on being released from the jails. Here they would be staying in Chetan Jyoti Ashram. They would offer tarpan to their ancestors. They would participate in yoga classes too. They would sing devotional songs along with others.”
They appeared relaxed while attending the Vedic class in the ashram. Their faces beamed after they were blessed by the seers of the akhara. Swami Harichetanand of Udaseen Bada Akhara said that their lives would be transformed from within as they have been initiated in spirituality.
One of the prisoners Rajeev Kumar Verma said that he was ready to do severe penance for the crime he had committed. “I have been in prison for over four years. I would have to be here for three more years. I can hardly express the joy I am feeling now, being free and being amongst the normal people, in the benign company of the seers. I feel I am changing from within. After I am finally released I would come to Guruji to pay my obeisance. He has taken immense pains to inculcate new values that are changing many wretched souls like me from deep within,” he said, eyes glittering in unshed tears of joy.