Essay on the Role of Yoga in the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Crime !
Yoga refers to various types of exercises of the body. Spiritual development of the human child is therefore emphasized to-day through yoga and trans-dental meditation. Yoga makes the mind strong and disciplined.
Yoga can improve the learning and achievement of children. It is very helpful for children with special needs, for law violators, for violent and indiscipline persons to calm their mind from the impact of aggressiveness. For the full development of one’s personality yoga is essential and the most characteristics of Indian spirituality can be realized from yoga.
In the past the vedic sages emphasized on the practice of yoga for building psychological and psychic discipline in one’s personality, which led to spirituality of highest kind. Without yoga spiritual development is not possible and alternatively without spiritual development holistic development of a person becomes difficult.
However, with the influence of western culture on Indians the idea of spiritual development of man is gradually disintegrating. Man to-day is mostly interested with materialistic development sidelining the spiritual development of the past. The world is passing through a stage of stresses and strains, anxiety and depressions.
A person to-day is under severe pressure all the while due to the materialistic temperament. Under these circumstances, violence and crime have become very common and every day affair. This type of situation has provoked the social scientists to put emphasis on yoga and trans dental meditation.
Thus, ”Art of Living” emphasizing yoga, meditation and disciplined life is now gaining importance everywhere in our society in India. Art of Living includes Yoga, various types of exercises and good habits for self discipline and purity of mind. It has become very popular with the common man to-day.
Realizing the importance of yoga, Yoga has been adopted in the curriculum of many Schools and Colleges. In schools now yoga teachers are appointed to teach children yoga as a form of physical and mental exercise.
Yoga and physical exercises are demonstrated regularly in electronic media like television. In order to restore the positive attitude towards spiritual development parents and teachers are encouraging their children/students to practice yoga.
More and more yoga and meditation schools are being opened now-a-days in India. People from foreign countries are coming to India in search of peace through yoga and meditation.
Everyone in the society has understood that to get peace and happiness and for healthy physical development practice of yoga is essential. In big cities there are Meditation Halls where people go and practice meditation daily.
Meditation brings concentration and relaxation to the body and mind. In view of the importance of yoga to reduce tension and improve physical mental health, keep the body and mind fit, everyone should start doing yoga and meditation keeping in view his physical health and age.
It has been observed that yoga and meditation not only improve the physical and mental condition of a person, provide relaxation, reduce stress, but also cure many diseases. In the practice of yoga the person has to be led through his nature according to his capacity. Yoga also helps a man to become disciplined and non-aggressive.
It is said there are yoga’s of many kinds such as yoga of love, yoga of work and yoga of knowledge, yoga of Bhakti and yoga of self exceeding through the powers of the psychical being. Yoga is also required for self discipline which is extremely urgent for making a person non-aggressive, reasonable, emotionally intelligent and mentally sound.
Yoga reduces violent tendencies from one’s personality and enables his to show non-violent behaviour condusive for a peaceful, law and order abiding society. In accordance with our rich cultural heritage spiritual development is necessary through yoga and trans-dental meditation.
Many Indians saints like Maharsi Mahesh Yogi have established huge yoga centres in Western countries to make yoga popular as well as to lead the materialistic countries in spiritual development. Yoga centres around the world are getting tremendous response in this world of stress and anxiety.
Sri Ravi Sankarjee is preaching the Art of Living from country to country to make people stress free. Through his preaching’s, and words and even very presence, people from all walks of life have been benefitted in body, mind, emotions and spirits.
From the very beginning, parents should encourage their children for meditation. Each school should have a meditation hall keeping in view the number of students. Meditation and yoga should be practiced every day.
One must realize that physical education is more important than formal education as physical education purifies both mind and body. To start with, children should be allowed to be engaged in meditation for small duration which may be increased with increase of age.
Parents should also take necessary steps for their good physical health through exercise, yoga and meditation. The spiritual development of a person helps in his holistic and all-round development i.e., physical, mental, emotional and cognitive.
Spiritual development helps in the proper development of conscience and morality from the early childhood. Spiritual development and moral development are highly correlated. Both the developments are required for a tension free, peaceful and non-aggressive society.
Keeping in view that spiritual development of human beings is necessary in every society, we may now come to the anti-socials, delinquents, mischief mongers and criminals and examine how far yoga and trans dental meditation help in making a society crime and violence free.
In earlier chapters it has been reviewed how the present society all over the world is tending towards rising criminalism, aggression and violence due to multiple factors. We have also discussed various preventive measures and remedies to reduce and control aggression violence and crime. Yoga, physical exercises and meditations help in making a mind disciplined and free from worries and anxieties.
It is therefore essential to provide children yoga and meditation from the early childhood to reduce juvenile delinquency. Offenders, criminals, robbers and people engaged in violent activities should also be given training in yoga and meditation.
For rehabilitation and reform, the convicts and under trials in jails and prisons should be given training in meditation and yoga to train their aggressive personality to non- aggression and discipline their mind.
In each and every jail yoga and meditation classes should be introduced (if not introduced yet), to pacify the mental state of the convicts, reduce the tension, guilt feeling anxiety and stress from their mind. Yoga and meditation are more, essential for anti socials and socially maladjusted aggressive and delinquent persons than normal human beings. Yoga and meditations are very important reform measures for them.
Mrs. Kiran Bedi of Indian Police Service introduced yoga and meditation classes in Tihar Jail Delhi some years back. Here hard core criminals, narcotics and drug offenders, criminals convicted for mass murder and killing are kept. She in a planned way introduced these two measures along with other measures of rehabilitation which were highly appreciated by our government as well as the public around the world.
The prisoners themselves also appreciated this effort and it did boost their morale. For this novel and noble endeavour she got tremendous recognition not only inside India but abroad and was awarded the prestigious. Magasaysay award.
After her endeavour many prisons of India have started giving yoga and meditation training to the jail inmates to discipline their mind and sublimate their aggressive and hostile feelings in socially acceptable activities.
The prisoners have also felt the positive effect of yoga and meditation in their life. Many of them have been able to sublimate their aggressive and hostile feelings, and discipline it instead of suppressing and repressing, the outcomes of which are dangerous.
With Yoga and meditation training, training on “Art of living” when the criminals, go back to the society after their jail term is completed, feel relaxed, free of tension, anxiety, hostility and aggression. Yoga and meditation definitely help in channalizing their negative feelings and attitudes, vindictiveness towards the society. They become changed man.
Therefore it is high time that all the prisons and even sub-jails should provide facility for daily yoga and meditation for the inmates of the prisons. This endeavour does not cost much compared to the benefits obtained for bringing social change. Further yoga and meditation should be practiced daily to keep its effect alive.
When the convicts go back to their society after their prison term is over they by and large become good persons of the society. They usually do not repeat crimes again provided the yoga and meditation have genuinely benefitted them. Follow up observations of convicts show that they improve their character after attending carefully conducted yoga and meditation classes.
Yoga and meditation having such huge influence on human mind and body should be practiced also by the juvenile delinquents in “Children Homes” and orphanages. Provisions and facilities for yoga and meditation should be provided to each and every inmate of a jail, and women in “Women Homes”, for a better society, a better world free aggression, violence and anti-social activities.
Yoga and meditation lead to spirituality and spiritual knowledge. All human unhappiness and worries start from the erosion in the spiritual knowledge. This leads to decline in the moral standard and values of life of human beings.
In the ancient India people remained happily and peacefully because the happiness of the then society was in its strong belief in spiritual traditions and knowledge of one’s culture and human values. This is why in ancient India people lived in a peaceful and happy society.
At that time people believed that happiness is nothing but peace of mind, not wealth and comfort from material benefits. Plain living and high thinking was the motto of ancient Indian culture.
But to-day people drifting away from spirituality are experiencing unhappiness, worries, sorrow, stress and anxiety inspite of wealth and material prosperity. Everyone should therefore practice Yoga and meditation to restore peace and happiness in oneself.