Turn Police Stations and Prisons into Counseling and Moral Uplift Centers

T

he title may astonish many… Is it a crazy idea? Is it a dream or illusion? What is the connection between morality and police stations? Why trying it with police stations? Is it a possibility or just a theory? No, it is definitely a possibility.

I am not proposing a vague theory here, but am writing this with full confidence. I have with me the experience of counseling at least 50 people and successfully changing their life-style and attitude. All your doubts will be cleared and you will be convinced, provided you go through the article till the end patiently and without any prejudice.

First, what will be the result if the project is carried out?

There is nothing to lose either materially or otherwise. If it works out successfully, though an ideally peaceful and fear-free state is at a distance, we can at least enjoy the following benefits:

·  The present trend of prisons producing bigger criminals out of smaller criminals will come to an end. Instead, reformed citizens contributing to the establishment of peace and justice in the country will be coming out of prisons. They can be engaged in more constructive works.

·  The governments can save money spent on maintaining law and order, maintaining police stations and prisons and their inmates and staffs.

Why Police-stations and Prisons?  

Though crime and evil are spread all over, our focus is on police stations and prisons because:

·  These are the places that are meant to be used for correcting and controlling crime in the country. Though government, judiciary and other authorities are there to ensure peace and justice for the public, the policemen are the people who directly work to control crime.

·  Police stations are places of security and hope for sections of the public that are scared of, or are affected by, crime.

·  These are the places wherein captured criminals are lodged together. While many criminals roam free outside, those imprisoned are the ones directly involved in crime.

·  These are the places where criminals are found disengaged from their routine work and environment and are available for open consultation.

The Need

In every police station we can find tables and charts depicting the statistics regarding the alarming increase of crimes. These are, of course, reported data; we can only guess as to the unreported ones. Needless to say, people are frustrated with the situation. Day by day our existence is becoming awful. Now almost all of us want to do something to change the situation, but we do not know how to go about it. The initiative which I am proposing is a step in this direction. It is not a new one, but it is, nevertheless, a time-tested one, which is taught by our own Creator! The initiative proposed will be a part of establishing dharma on earth which is the common goal of all religions.

The Cause

If asked as to why crime and evils are on the rise, we could blame the government, the politicians, the economic conditions, social and cultural background, and so on. But one of the main reasons for the growth of crime in society is the ever-deepening moral crisis.

To control this, we have to correct immorality among the individuals that make-up our society. Is it possible?  Yes, it is possible, if we understand certain basic facts and act upon that understanding.

Usually we human beings often forget three undeniable, fundamental, truths:

Ø  That the whole of mankind are descendants of the first parents on earth and all of us belong to the same family irrespective of our color, language, country, or period in which we live.

Ø  That above us there exists a Creator and Cherisher of ours who is also the Lord and Sustainer of the entire universe.

Ø  That we are answerable to our Master Who has created us. That is, our Creator will judge us for our deeds, and He will reward us for our good deeds and punish us for our bad deeds.

If we want to reform any individual or society, we have to remind them about the aforementioned truths and convince them about their accountability for their deeds on earth. If a man has to be righteous, he should essentially have a proper and clear concept of God. Only then can a true sense of accountability be realized by him.

It is natural to expect your good work to be recognized and rewarded. With laws,you get punished when you violate them. The law does not reward you for being good. Why would a person be motivated to do good deeds?

One may ask, if laws can prevent from doing bad deeds, isn’t that enough? We must note that, if man has to fear only the law, he will find a way to tackle the law. We see that happening today resulting in the increase of crimes.

When man realizes his accountability to God for his deeds, it will motivate him to stay good and keep away from bad.

If the concept of God is wrongly taught to man, a reformation is never possible, for this misinformation directly affects the seriousness of man’s belief in his accountability before God. Implanting the proper concept of God in the human mind is, therefore, the first step in the human reformation process.

Today, it can be seen that right from childhood, lifeless and senseless objects are shown to man and are explained to him as gods. People worship graves (e.g., darghas), statues, photos, monuments, symbols, animals, sun, moon, and stars etc., as gods even though our reason does not accept them as the real God. People, irrespective of the religions they belong to, fall victims to this practice of their ancestors. Thus, generations are nurtured with a corrupt conception of God and thereby do not have even the slightest sense of accountability of their deeds. They dare to commit any kind of sins and crimes without any hesitation. Thus, sins accumulate in society uncontrollably. This is the most important cause of sins and crimes and their perpetuation in society.

But this fact is ignored and left unattended by the authorities of the nation who are responsible for the control of crimes. As a nation interested in establishing peace around us, we should initiate researches and action plans to arrest the growing moral crisis on priority basis. Unless we keep aside all prejudices arising out of our affiliations to different religions, races, regions and languages and take positive, constructive, steps in this direction, the future of the nation will be catastrophic.

The Solution

For the moral uplift of society, we cannot ignore the role of the messengers of God who came to India and elsewhere in the world and the Holy Books sent through them. We know that during their times they reformed their respective people or nations successfully and established dharma on earth. The reason behind their success was that they followed the guidance from God Almighty and adhered to it. After a comparative study of these scriptures and the sayings of those noble souls, we arrive at the following facts:

God almighty has been sending His messengers at different periods of time to different parts of the world to preach about the real concept of God and about the purpose of man’s life on earth. These messengers are known as ‘Rishis’ in ancient India and are known as ‘Prophets’ in Christianity and Islam. All of them taught their respective people about the unity of mankind and the unity of God.

They taught the people that the Creator and Cherisher of this universe is one and only one and He alone deserves worship. Except Him, everything else in the world is His creation and none of His creations deserve any worship. They also cautioned people strictly against worshipping any of His creations or associating partners to Him as this practice leads to growth of sins, division in humanity, spread of superstitions, exploitation in the name of God by middlemen etc. All of them taught their respective people to worship the Creator directly without any middlemen, formalities or spending of any money.

Traces of this can be seen in the below quoted examples from the holy scriptures and sayings of people revered by people of major religions of our nation:

About Oneness of God

Brahma Sutra of Hinduism:
“Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste Kinchan.” [“There is only one God, not the second; Not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”]

“Ma cid anyad vi sansata sakhayo ma rishanyata” [“O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him alone.”] [Rigveda 5:1:81]

"I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God." [Bible: Isaiah 45:5]

“There is one God, Eternal Truth is His Name; Maker of all things, fearing nothing and at enmity with nothing, Timeless is His Image; Not begotten, being of His own Being: By the grace of the Guru, made known to men.”
[Guru Granth Sahib - Guru Nanak]

”Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. There is none like Him.” [Holy Qur’an 112: 1-3]

“Na tasya pratima asti ” “There is no image of Him” [Yajurveda 32:3]

“Shudhama poapvidham.” [‘He is bodiless and pure.’ [Yajurveda 40: 8]

"Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.”  [The Bible, Isaiah 46: 9]

“And there is none comparable unto Him.” [The Qur’an, 112: 4]

Warning Against Worshipping False gods – i.e., ascribing partners to Him or worshipping anything other than Him

“Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste” [They enter darkness, those who worship the natural things” (Air, water, fire, etc.)] - Yajurveda 40: 9

“(One of the Commandments is this that) you shall not have any other gods before me." – The Bible, Exodus 20: 3

“Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray.” [Qur’an 4:116]

Besides oneness of God, the messengers of God preached about the purpose of our existence here. That is, the present temporary life is a test in which our deeds are recorded. After a certain period, the whole world will be destroyed one day and all human beings will be resurrected back to life again for judging their actions on earth. After the judgment, depending upon the weight of their good and bad deeds, people will be sent to paradise or hell wherein they will live eternally.

By reminding people about the Creator’s plan of rewarding the righteous with Paradise of eternal pleasure and punishing the sinners with hell fire, the messengers of God reformed their respective people who were going astray and gradually established dharma in their region. The holy books of God convey the message that the life after death is a reality. To avoid elaboration let me limit my quoting only from the Qur’an which is known as the last one in the series of divine books that have reached mankind. It has many arguments like this:

“Does man not consider that We created him from a [mere] sperm-drop – then at once he is a clear adversary?  And he presents for Us an example and forgets his [own] creation. He says, ‘Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?’ Say, ‘He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing.’” (Quran 36: 77-79)

It further says:

“Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it is so]; and He is the Knowing Creator. His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it,’Be,’ and it is.” (Qur’an 36: 81-82)

It convinces us logically that the One Who has created us for the first time out of nothing can create us again to judge our deeds to reward us or punish us.

The Method

After studying the background and psychology of criminals and arranging open conversations with them, we can counsel them to correct their mindset. By reminding them about the aforementioned facts in the proper way, God willing, we can expect a positive attitudinal change in them. Further, we can develop them by teaching adequate meditation and prayers. We should educate them in such a way that when they leave prison, they are morally strong enough to face the immoral environment outside. We should train them in such a way that they will become volunteers in spreading peace, love and justice in the country.

Conclusion

By implementing this project, we can achieve the real purpose of establishing police stations and prisons. They are supposed to produce reformed citizens out of prisoners. Just frightening, punishing and torturing the criminals will only create feelings of everlasting vengeance in them against the people affected by their crimes. If implemented, the prisons will no longer be a place which converts small criminals into bigger criminals, and no more the starting point of crime-networking and plotting as is found today.

Suggestions

1.       To implement the proposal, House of Peace can offer a practical demonstration before the concerned authorities, supply a team of counselors, and train those who volunteer to become such counselors.

2.       This project will not be carried out under the banner of any religion. There need not be any apprehension that this will lead to any religious conversions. Our objective is simply the conversion of sinning souls to purified ones, and this by reminding them about certain realities about themselves, irrespective of their religious affiliation.