GUNTUR: Koteswara Rao, Ramaraju and Rajyam they all came to Guntur District Jail as remand prisoners on charges of committing some grave/minor crimes, but they made a sincere effort to change their mindset.

Guntur District Jail, one of the best maintained in the State, put onestep ahead on Tuesday to transform the mindset of 310 inmates.Was it a success? Yes to a great extent... Thanks to Pyramid Spiritual Society of India, visible change among the remand prisoners and convicts is voluntary conversion of about 100 of them from non-vegetarians to vegetarians.

On October 10 when `Swasa meeda dhyasa' programme began on the District Jail premises, there were 10 to 14 pure vegetarians, but at the end of 50 days of meditation course 106 of them had voluntarily taken to vegetarianism, jail superintendent Nageswara Rao told The Hindu .

"I cannot boast of anything else, but this programme has effectively brought many of the inmates closer to vegetarianism and this helps in promoting non-violence in their thoughts, which might help them lead a normal useful life once they go out," he observed. There were several yoga and meditation classes organised for periods ranging between one week and one month, but they did not have any impact , he opined. "Now we have four or five masters in this method of meditation, who can continue the good work done by the Pyramid teachers Lakshmi, Vali and Madhu Prasad."

Visible change

Ramaraju, an accused in a murder case from Bhimavaram was in the Army earlier and court marshalled for injuring an officer. After serving two-year term there he came to his village and again allegedly indulged in violence. "I am a short-tempered person and never had control over my actions, but this programme has helped me control my emotions and think twice before I took any action," said Ramaraju. Koteswara Rao, accused of several major thefts, also finds himself a changed person after undergoing meditation programme.

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