The pandemic of drug addiction in Goa especially among the youth is causing personal as well societal damage! Father Joe Pereira a renowned senior Iyengar yoga teacher, Diocesan priest, a member of The New York Academy of Sciences and Padma Shri awardee who has worked very closely with Mother Teresa; was the guest on The Navhind Times talk show, ‘Talk from the Heart’. The show aired on the Goa 365 channel on January 28.
Inspired by both Mother Teresa and B.K.S. Iyengar, Father Joe established the Kripa Foundation Iyengar Yoga, a recovery programme for the chemically dependent in 1981. “With Mother’s inspiration and even assistance I began Kripa. It was with the three inmates of her home Asha Daan and a few others on the streets that I began Kripa in the annex of the Church of Mount. Carmel’s, where I was appointed the new pastor,” he recalled. Since then the foundation has grown exponentially over the years and forms a vital links to providing social stability through various multifunction facilities and also has association in other international locations in Europe, Canada and the USA. The foundation has today reached 44 countries and based on the Iyengar yoga traditions of meditation, pranayama and alignment has helped people of all ages and from all walks of life. Kripa also is the largest NGO affiliated to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Thousands have passed through the Kripa Rehabilitation programme throughout the country in the last four decades and as Fr Joe informed, “The curse of addiction is deep and widespread and the numbers as well as the intensity of addiction are increasing.” The holistic 12 step programme at Kripa has been designed for the care, support and rehabilitation of those affected by not just chemical dependency but also HIV & AIDS. “Our aim is Whole Person Recovery– bringing about change in their lifestyle and developing their whole person and so leading to substantial and mature recovery from active addiction,” he explained.
Understanding addicts is not easy and that Fr. Joe stressed, is the biggest problem. An addict, he explained, has become an addict due to the failure of love. “As Martin Buber, the Jewish existentialist explained, we are made for love and love is an I/thou relationship and when that is not held, all those who are disappointed in that create an I-It relationship. The IT being the chemical of choice, alcohol, drugs, pornography, sex, gambling, shopping, internet, etcetera; the market for self-gratification has exploded all over the world but in Goa to gigantic proportions.“
Citing Carl Gustav Jung’s definition, he explained how addiction is the fight between good and evil and God and Satan. “The beauty of the Goan culture is that even though the forces of evil exist, the forces of good are coming out of their suffering and pain and helping those who are in need of healing from their addictions,” he said.
To help people get a better understanding of addiction, he has made videos/DVDs such as Living with AIDS Through Yoga and Meditation and Yoga for the Practice of Christian Meditation, as well as audio CDs such as Wholeness and Holiness. He firmly believes that our youngsters are falling prey to the wrong notion that self-gratification and entertainment are linked to mind-altering drugs. “Goa is the land of Shantadurga and St. Francis Xavier, of spirituality but unfortunately it has become a land of drugs,” he said and added, “However hope is not lost and this terrible state of affairs can be reversed because the thirst for God is still very much present.“
