me and I loved them. But due to pressures of life my father drank a lot and my
mother ended up joining him drinking at the weekends. By the time I was 17,
I couldn’t stay in the house at the weekend so I spent the weekends drinking in
friend’s houses. It wasn’t long before I got into trouble with the law. I got three
months detention for smashing some things up in a pub. The detention
centre was tough: no talking to other inmates, army glasshouse training, marching,
working hard and running a mile at six in the morning. The Government closed it
just after I left because of suicides. When I got out I hitched around the UK and
ended up in London. I got a job in Debenhams in the cafeteria. While
working there myself and some friends went out drinking and one friend
smashed an off-licence glass door and stole some booze. The cops arrived and
after a short scuffle with them I was arrested and given six months in jail.
When I was released I was arrested at the gate of the prison in England and
flown to Scotland. Next, I arrived in Scotland and was put jail to await trial. I
spent one month in jail then was found not guilty. So, I went back to London and
was living in squats and hanging out in the West End. There’s a Krishna temple
in Soho there, so a lot of young people used to go there and sing and dance and
get a big feast of delicious vegetarian food. This was my life saver! I should have
stayed in the Krishna temple because before long I was back in Brixton prison
for a smash and grab and assault. After ten weeks in Brixton I was found not
guilty and released. After that both my parents died. They were both only 52
years old each so I was heartbroken and had drifted away from friends. I ended
up homeless, because I used to go and stay with my parents when I got fed up
getting into trouble. I was trying to stay out of trouble but due to bad company I ended up in trouble again. I ended up banged up abroad! Luckily the jail in
Switzerland wasn’t too bad, although due to bad behaviour I ended up in solitary
confinement. I was in a real bad way in jail in Switzerland. I seemed to have lost
all sanity and wasn’t using my intelligence. I felt ghostly haunted, some how or
another I started chanting some mantras I’d learned at the West End Krishna
temple. It seemed Krishna (a name for God) had listened to my calls for help, my
lawyer came to visit me just after I’d been chanting, and told me he could get me
out. I was flown back to London and went to stay in a squat where there was
heroin and was offered some money to beat someone up for robbing someone
who lived in the squat. I declined the offer and travelled back to Scotland, where
I got a job in a garden centre. Next, I went to stay at the Krishna temple at the
weekend and worked on the land. I moved into the Krishna temple and then
got married and moved into a house on the Krishna Eco Farm property. I haven’t been in trouble with the law for 25 years now. I’m grateful to my family and
friends who have shown me love over the years. I’m also thankful to the
Government for giving me the opportunity to train as a gardener for four years
at a horticultural therapy project run by the Scottish association for mental
health. I’m thankful to the devotees of the Krishna movement who have given me
the chance to pay my debt back to society. I’m thankful to God (Krishna!) for
giving me a second chance. I now spend my time teaching people ‘bhakti yoga’ in
the garden at the Krishna Eco Far. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of love: I teach people
how to grow flowers fruit and veg with love. I’ve recently written my first book
called Gardening the Bhakti Yoga Way. If anyone would like to get in contact with
me my email is in the book, I’m more than happy to help, no matter what the
problem is. Hare Krishna!
Written by Brian Bhakti McCulloch
