Mysterious: How ISKCON got a foothold in Soviet Union?

[Kamikaze Pilot]

Mysterious: How ISKCON got a foothold in Soviet Union?

The popular story borders on fantasy or may actually be a figment of imagination. It narrates how Srila Prabhupada coincidentally met the right guy and how this guy single handedly introduced Hinduism to Soviet Union.

I don’t buy it. I think there was a bit of behind-the-scene work by Indian intelligence agencies. They must have identified the young man and indoctrinated him. India’s intelligence agencies must have done this to cement the relationship between India and Soviet Union. And there are instances where Russian authorities 'surprisingly' gave permission to build temple or do something publicly. The reality may be that they must have demanded some bribe and their demands may have been fulfilled.

Anyway below is the copy-paste lest they take down the website.

Checkmate: ISKCON's Victory in Russia

Back to Godhead March/April 2008

By Satyaraja Dasa

It was early evening on July 11, 1972. Chess enthusiasts filled a sports arena in Reykjavik, Iceland, while millions watched on TV and listened on the radio. In what was dubbed “the match of the century,” Bobby Fischer challenged Boris Spassky, the Russian world chess champion, for the title, knowing full well that emerging victorious would have implications in the Cold War world.

Just one year earlier, Srila Prabhupada had been strategizing to bring God into a godless Soviet Russia. If we think of Prabhupada's quest as a sort of chess match, it would have seemed that he had few pieces on the board, while the Soviets had the most powerful pieces and key squares blocked. But even one pawn or knight backed by the most powerful king and queen may sometimes checkmate castle fortresses and brilliant strategists. Thus, the story of Prabhupada's victory eclipses that of the World Chess Championship of 1972.

Srila Prabhupada had initially tried to come to the USSR as an official representative of India, writing a letter proclaiming his intent to the Ministry of Culture. But he was denied entrance without explanation. Finally, after several attempts, he was given a tourist visa that granted him a short stay, even if he was not allowed to lecture at Moscow University. The lecture had been one of his reasons for wanting to visit.

Still, Prabhupada's five days on Russian soil provided him ample opportunity to position himself well for the eventual checkmate his movement would play in Soviet Russia. His initial strategy emerged when, through his disciple and secretary Syamasundara Dasa, he met a young Russian seeker—Anatoly Pinyayev—who would soon become Ananta-shanti Dasa, his courageous, lone student in the Soviet Union. Another forward move was Prabhupada's talk with Professor G. G. Kotovsky, then head of the Indian and South Asian Studies Department of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. Prabhupada left a distinct impression on Professor Kotovsky, who got their conversation published in an important Russian periodical (“Vaishnavism” in Otkrytyi Forum 1, 1997, pp. 109–114). But it was Ananta-shanti who took Prabhupada's message to heart, single-handedly, vigorously, sharing what he had learned with hundreds of Soviet people, many who became devotees. After meeting the enthusiastic Russian, Prabhupada had remarked, “Just as you can judge whether rice is properly cooked by picking out one small grain, so you can know an entire nation by observing one of its handpicked youths.”

Next, in 1977 and 1979, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust received an invitation to the prestigious Moscow International Book Fair, acquainting Moscovites with Prabhupada’s books for the first time. The New York Times (July 31, 1983) noted the significance: “[The exhibit] drew curious Russians, the books spread, and Hare Krishna was on its way in Russia.”

But by 1980, under Brezhnev’s rule, several devotees were thrown into prison, initiating a tense and often traumatic relationship between ISKCON and the Soviet Union.

By the mid-1980s Yuri Andropov was in power, and he intensified the campaign already underway against the Hare Krishna movement. He saw devotees as representing all things religious and was determined to wipe them out. Because of Ananta-shanti’s contagious enthusiasm and the staggering results of the book fairs, Semyon Tsvigun, the deputy chief of the KGB under Andropov, said that three main threats to the Soviet Union were "pop music, Western culture, and Hare Krishna.”

Such pronouncements, and the sentiments that fueled them, led to intense persecution of Hare Krishna devotees.

ISKCON Knights in Russia

And so, with ISKCON declared one of the great threats to the Soviet nation, an ongoing battle ensued. But this was no Fischer versus Spassky—two equal adversaries pitted against each other. This was a war conducted by a totalitarian state against a relatively small number of Krishna devotees. Consequently, dozens of ISKCON’s new Soviet faithful were thrown into prisons, labor camps, and psychiatric hospitals, suffering vicious mistreatment at the hands of police and political yes-men. Several devotees died in prison, clinging tightly to their faith while being tortured in various ways.

Harikesha Swami, then ISKCON's governing body commissioner for the Soviet Union, would not stand for such horrors. A driving force for reform, he made the tragedy a worldwide concern. Kirtiraja Dasa had been ISKCON's regional secretary for the Soviet Union since 1979. He began an international campaign of news releases and demonstrations to pressure Soviet authorities to release the imprisoned devotees and stop the persecution of the Hare Krishna movement. To carry out this work, he founded the Committee to Free Soviet Hare Krishnas. Supportive voices were heard at the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavik, at the United Nations, and in international newspapers. At the November 1986 meeting in Vienna of the Commission of Security and Cooperation in Europe, the international organization that monitors compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki accords, Hare Krishna members again called attention to the plight of imprisoned Soviet devotees.

The situation culminated later that year when Sri Prahlada Dasa, then a pre-teen devotee from an ISKCON school in Australia, joined in Kirtiraja’s efforts. He and “The Krishna Kids” recorded an album on the international EMI label, one of the world’s largest record companies. The album included the song “Free the Soviet Krishnas,” a plea to Gorbachev that was also released as a single. Prahlada appeared frequently on television and radio to promote the album and share his concern for the devotees in Russia. Eventually the devotees were freed, marking a new beginning for religion in the former Soviet Union.

Pawns, Fake-Outs, and Half Victories

On a beautiful spring day in 1988, the Council for Religious Affairs officially registered the Moscow Society for Krishna Consciousness, concluding, or so it seemed, a longstanding feud between the devotees and the State. (It was the first religious society registered in the Soviet Union since World War II.) Now devotees could chant in public and practice their religion freely. That same year, over 1,600 new religious communities, most of them Russian Orthodox, were registered.

Something was clearly brewing, and many experts attributed the change, in large measure, to the devotees. Only two years later, responding to ISKCON's requests, Moscow authorities allotted a dilapidated two-story building to be used as a temple. After the devotees renovated the property, they opened the first ISKCON temple in the history of Russia and the U.S.S.R., a temple frequented by large numbers of Hindus as well.

Moreover, in 1991, ISKCON applied for a plot of land to build an authentic Vedic temple and cultural center in Moscow, a huge project. Surprisingly, the application was approved, and devotees began looking for a suitable location. It seemed the government was willing to give the Russian devotees whatever they wanted.

But it didn’t last. Water seeks its own level, and Russian authorities soon succumbed to the same religious prejudices they had known in the past. The Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church made an official statement calling the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita the product of a “false religion.” And they called all other religions a threat to the unity of national consciousness and cultural identity.

In 1997 a bill passed by the Russian parliament (Duma) recognized the Russian Orthodox Church as the sole, preeminent religion of the Russian Federation, with an addendum acknowledging only three other “traditional” Russian faiths: Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. Other religions would not have the same legal status or any support for their missionary work.

But the devotees, again, would not be intimidated. The ISKCON temple had become the only place of worship for over ten thousand Indians. Throughout the ’90s, Krishna consciousness in Russia began to flourish, resulting in 97 registered communities, 22 monasteries, and 250 home groups.

As the new millennium dawned, the prime minister of India, A. B. Vajpayee, learned about ISKCON’s work from Russian administrators. Despite the gracious approval of Vajpayee, the government of Moscow decided to renovate the area surrounding ISKCON’s longstanding temple, threatening the devotees’ practice of Krishna consciousness once again.

And so it was that, in 2004, the Moscow government took back the building and destroyed it according to city renovation plans, depriving thousands of devotees of their place of worship.

Seeking support, ISKCON asked prominent Indian politicians to help. By this time, Vajpayee, the former prime minister, had been following the events in Russia for several years. He met with devotees on numerous occasions, both in India and in Moscow, to map out the best way to resolve their dilemma.

In January 2004, after many years of struggle, the mayor of Moscow finally signed an order proclaiming that land would be given for a new ISKCON temple—in a prominent Moscow location and free of charge, no doubt at the behest of important Indian politicians. The land was on the main road from the Kremlin to the international airport, about a ten-minute drive from the heart of Moscow. The devotees happily relocated to a temporary building on their newly acquired land and were prepared to develop their new temple complex.

It didn’t take long, however, for the Russian Orthodox Church, along with Muslim and Jewish authorities, to speak out against the construction, opining that the entire Krishna religion was against Russian tradition. Protestors rallied in Pushkin Square, in the center of the capital, brandishing icons, flags, and banners with warnings like "Krishna Followers Are Brainwashed” and “Friends, Defend Your Faith. We Oppose the Expansion of Sects. Beware!"

The protests offended the nearly 100,000 followers of Lord Krishna spread across the country. In response, Russia’s Indian community, led by Sanjit Kumar Jha, president of the Association of Indians in Russia, retaliated, and a vehement back-and-forth surfaced yet again. Though the devotees knew that Krishna would ultimately emerge victorious, it now looked like the odds were against them. As sure as Spassky landed some strategic moves in the early rounds of the Fischer-Spassky match, the Kremlin now seemed to be getting the upper hand. In October 2005, the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, suddenly reversed the order for ISKCON’s land, and the temple was demolished.

Conveniently, the office of the city executive attorney found legal discrepancies in the wording of the Moscow government’s original order and decided to revise it. The revision was merely a form of subterfuge so that they could gradually cancel it altogether. In short, the devotees now had no home and no outlet for their practice or their preaching.

That being the case, they were inundated with journalists and reporters from major newspapers, radio shows, and TV networks, including the main Russian TV-news program, “Vremyachko.” His Holiness Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, president of ISKCON Russia, was interviewed, as were prominent members of the Indian community, who made their outrage clear. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad stepped in, agreeing to mount a “Defend Russian Hindus” campaign. Dignitaries from India and Russia came forward, until their voices were heard loud and clear.

Endgame

The Moscow mayor finally allocated land to ISKCON, despite objections by the Orthodox Church, which threatened to renew its protests against the construction. But the die was cast, and overturning the mayor's decisions seems highly unlikely. Devotees played a winning move.

The significance of a final and abiding land allocation should be clearly understood. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism, along with the Russian Orthodox Church, are Russia’s traditional religions, deemed part of Russia's heritage. But the Hare Krishna religion—Vaishnavism, and even its Hindu relatives—is not part of that exclusive group, which makes the land grant a coup of historic proportions. Land was not awarded to Catholic and Protestant sects; the only Christian sect to get land was the Russian Orthodox Church. Only ISKCON and the other three accepted religions received land.

An important voice influencing the mayor's decision was that of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who had come to Russia for the Delhi Culture Fest and to renew diplomatic relations. She was incensed by the entire temple debacle and insisted that the situation be corrected at once.

Earlier, the issue had been raised at various diplomatic meetings, with Russian President Vladimir Putin assuring Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh that he would look into the matter. Apparently, he did.

K. Raghunath, India's ambassador to Russia, made the following comment in a speech aired nationwide:

I would also like to speak a few words in address to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). We are close to this organization. ISKCON attained a wonderful success in spreading the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita and implementing it in everyday life. Besides this, ISKCON works hard to preserve and protect the unparalleled culture of India. ISKCON also deserves glorification for strengthening the friendly bond between Russia and India.

The campaign to build the new temple, known as “Temple of the Heart,” is receiving support from patrons around the world.

Fall 2006 witnessed a new dawn for ISKCON Russia: More than six thousand people, mostly Indians, came to the still unfinished but beautiful temple to celebrate Janmashtami, the anniversary of Lord Krishna's advent in this world. In attendance were the ambassadors of Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius and the Director of the J. Nehru Cultural Center. One year later, also on Janmashtami, ISKCON signed a contract to proceed with architectural plans for the new temple. That day they also secured the governmental approvals and permits needed to start building.

Though some intrigue lingered, with special interest groups trying to thwart the work, nothing could stop the devotees now. They had important political leaders on their side, and the public had become fully aware of the situation. Any attempt to stop the project would become prominent in the news. Because of the determined efforts of the devotees, the Indian government, and other international entities, ISKCON Russia is now on solid ground.

“It was all Krishna's arrangement,” says Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, one of ISKCON's governing body commissioners in Moscow (with Niranjana Swami and Gopala Krishna Goswami). “Through all the political machinations and the difficult times, we ended up with the best possible temple grounds. It's much better land than we had before, and quite reminiscent of Vrindavana, where Krishna came to earth five thousand years ago. It's a bit away from the center of the city, and it's in the midst of beautiful rivers, rolling mountains, and a gorgeous forest area. Krishna knew what He was doing. Hundreds of thousands of people will come here to learn mantra meditation and the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.”

Even in 2003, while going through more trying times, the devotees knew considerable success: Almost 6,000 people visited the temple that year, and an additional 14,500 schoolchildren observed temple services as part of mandatory classroom experience. Devotees chanted regularly on Moscow streets, distributed prasadam widely, and put over 160,000 books into Russian hands.

Naturally, with the new temple things have only increased. The Indian congregation numbers around 15,000 people, many of them students at colleges and other institutions of higher learning. Many native Moscovites have become full-time devotees or attend ISKCON's temple services and festivals throughout the year. Prabhupada's books now appear in ten of Russia's offical languages, and more than eleven million copies of his Bhagavad-gita As It Is, in Russian translation, have been distributed.

The Vedic Cultural Center

All that being said, the new temple is clearly the most significant trophy in ISKCON Russia's battle for religious freedom. As currently planned, it will be a Vedic Cultural Center with the following features:

1. Vedic temple
2. Veda-expo multimedia hall
3. Educational and cultural center
4. Library of Vedic classics
5. Social services center
6. Healthcare center
7. Conference hall
8. Restaurant of Vedic cuisine
9. Winter garden

Prominent ISKCON devotees from around the world have visited the fledgling Moscow temple, considered its leaders’ vision for the future, and come away deeply impressed. They could not help but acknowledge its potential and its worldwide ramifications.

Said Bhakti Tirtha Swami (1950–2005) soon before he left this world: “We are noticing that the Russian devotees are some of the most enthusiastic devotees in the world. So many devotees are being made, so much preaching opportunity, so many people are coming forth. Therefore, we need something very grand, very wonderful, to accommodate all of these people. . . . History will show how the devotees in CIS, and Russia in particular, were empowered to establish this most grand and glorious, famous and fabulous, temple.”

“We are excited," he continued. "We want to encourage as many people as possible to support this effort—because it is an effort not just for CIS, or for Russia, but . . . it is something for the whole world, something Srila Prabhupada himself very much wanted. He was so concerned about preaching throughout the world, and in his last days he expressed a special concern about the preaching in the communist countries.”

Radhanatha Swami, too, was recently outspoken about the far-reaching potential of the project in Russia: “I sincerely believe that building this temple in Moscow is one of the most important projects in the history of the Hare Krishna movement.”

“Srila Prabhupada personally went to Moscow in the early 1970s,” says Radhanatha Swami, “and although it was behind the Iron Curtain, where atheism and communism were prominent, Srila Prabhupada saw immense potential in the people of Russia to accept the doctrine of pure, unalloyed love for Sri Krishna. And so he wrote that if the devotees sincerely worked together . . . this temple would be built. And he stated emphatically that it would be a great triumph.”

Bhakti Caru Swami also spoke eloquently about the significance of the devotees’ work in the former Soviet Union: “Who could have imagined that Krishna consciousness would spread in Russia? But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that the Krishna consciousness movement would spread to every town and village of the world, and He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—so His prediction will never go in vain.”

Concludes Bhakti Vijnana Goswami: “The establishment of this temple in Russia is huge—historically, symbolically, emotionally, and spiritually. The temple will also be huge in size, accommodating thousands of devotees, visitors, and seekers. We are already seeing this on a practical level, and its impact is second only to temples in India. In the long run, its influence will be felt all over the world, not only in Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union. It will have huge meaning for ISKCON and beyond ISKCON, all over the world.”

Boris Spassky lost his world championship chess match with Bobby Fischer. Though Russian chess pros had held the title for more than forty years, this was the first time a Soviet player would enter the match as an underdog. In chess, superior strategy always wins in the end, but in life, it’s always best to be on the side of the righteous. As the Bhagavad-gita tells us in its concluding verse, “Wherever there is Krishna, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality.” Nearly every Moscovite now benefits from Prabhupada's books and the holy name of Krishna, which is a winning move. And though Red Square is still the most famous city square in Moscow, the Temple of the Heart will soon have everyone in check.

http://btg.krishna.com/checkmate-iskcons-victory-russia

 

[Kamikaze Pilot]

SOVIET SAYS HARE KRISHNA CLOAKS HIDE C.I.A. DAGGERS

By SERGE SCHMEMANN, Special to the New York Times
Published: July 31, 1983

MOSCOW, July 30— Although no sightings have been reported yet of saffron-robed youths chanting rapturously in Soviet streets, the Hare Krishna movement seems to have made sufficient inroads into the Soviet Union to alarm the authorities.

A major Soviet daily reported last year on the break-up of a Krishna chapter in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and conviction of its leader for ''parasitism.''

The paper treated the movement as a kind of misguided idealism imported from the West that was deplorable because it lured people away from socially useful lives.

The warning apparently went unheeded, because Nedelya, the weekend supplement of Izvestia, has issued a far more alarmed and threatening report on doings of the sect.

The journal reported the trial of leaders of a Krishna group in Moscow. Although the date, sentences and charges were not specified, the authors of the article, Vadim Kassis and Leonid Kolosov, described the Krishna organization in the Soviet Union as a deliberate American ''diversion'' whose victims became mentally warped and whose American leader was nothing less than an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Soviet opposition to a new manifestation of religion is hardly surprising, and the attempt to brand the newly imported sect as somehow subversive recalled similar assaults on Christian denominations introduced from the West like the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Pentecostals. American Woman Expelled

Only recently, a young American woman working as a governess for American diplomats in Moscow was expelled after she was caught at an ''illegal gathering'' of Jehovah's Witnesses outside the capital. The Soviet press subsequently accused her of having a ''link'' to the C.I.A.

But the attack on the Krishna sect stood out from the usual flow of anti-religious propaganda because the spread of the movement had been virtually unnoticed by Westerners here. One possible explanation for the official concern gleaned from the press reports was that the movement seemed to have taken root among the Soviet equivalent of a middle class -the better educated, urbanized, privileged youths, while earlier Christian sects had traditionally found followers among less-educated rural people.

The Krishna members identified in the Soviet articles included engineers, technicians, a budding athlete and others with higher education. This young intelligentsia has shown increasing fascination in recent years with a whole range of ideas outside Soviet ideology, from exotic Eastern philosophies to extrasensory perception or faith healing, without reports of heavy resistance from the state. Anxieties in the Kremlin

But the Hare Krishna movement appears to set off elemental anxieties in the Kremlin. After harrowing accounts of young people destroyed by the movement, Nedelya said:

''This, then, is the 'International Society for Krishna Consciousness,' a pseudo-Hindu mystic-religious sect, having a distinct anti-Communist character. The Krishna 'movement' calls for an escape from reality, since all existence is only illusion. Thus, a person need not be interested in the fruit of his work, he must abandon socially useful activities, he has no fatherland, no family, no close ones, only an all-embracing love for god.''

Accompanying the article was a photograph of Krishna members in full regalia on a Western street, with a caption terming them ''mindless.''

The Krishna sect was founded in the United States in 1966 by an Indian ascetic, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, calling on adherents to turn all their worldly possessions over to the society and to accept whatever duties are assigned by their guru.

The shaven-headed youths in flowing robes with whitish smears on their foreheads, chanting and beating out rhythms on drums, have become a familiar sight on New York streets. Two months ago, the daughter of Walter Reuther, the late labor leader, and the greatgrandson of Henry Ford opened a Detroit mansion as a showpiece of the movement. 2 Accused of Recruiting

Nedelya, however, did not dwell much on the Western manifestations of the sect, focusing instead on the Moscow chapter headed by Vladimir Kritsky, 32 years old, and Sergei Kurkin, 19, the defendants at the trial, who were accused of recruiting new members and disseminating the Krishna teachings.

A woman, identified only as Yelena P., was described as a promising athlete when she fell in with the defendants in 1979. ''Suddenly something happened to the girl,'' Nedelya said. ''It was as if she had been transformed. She disappeared from home, became rude, hysterical. She developed a barely concealed hatred for her parents. 'You're meat eaters,' she told them, 'and when you die you'll turn into pigs.' ''

The woman dropped out of her institute and when her mother became terminally ill she displayed only disdain. ''Thus the life of a once cheerful, kind, life-loving girl was destroyed. And not her's alone. The fact is that the Krishnaists cannot return to their former, normal life without psychiatric treatment. Why? Because the fundamental ''re-education'' in the sect is the state of ecstasy, which in conjunction with fasting and exhausting prayer leads to destruction of the human personality.'' U.S. 'Special Services' Accused

Luring people to such an anti-social stance, Nedelya said, was obviously the work of American ''special services.'' The agent in this case, the magazine asserted, was Robert Campagnola, described as one of the original 11 disciples of the guru of the Krishna sect.

The Nedelya account opened with a scene of Mr. Campagnola stretched out on a couch in Moscow and having his feet ceremonially washed by a Soviet follower, a medical technician named Sergei Mitrofanov.

But he was more than the emissary of the religion, Nedelya declared: ''After a closer and longer familiarity with the 'blessed tourist' Robert Campagnola, there emerged highly curious 'elements' from his biography. It turned out that Mr. Campagnola is a longtime agent of the C.I.A., specializing in ideological diversions.''

The goal, the journal said, is to ''control public opinion, to study the political orientation of this or that part of the population, to cause divisions in progressive movements, to gather information under the cover of 'missionary' work.''

The article on the Krishna sect last year gave a considerably less pernicious account of the spread of the movement to the Soviet Union. It reported that the sect arrived via the International Book Fair in Moscow in 1979, when the Krishna movement's publishing arm, the Bhatkivendanta Book Trust of Los Angeles, was permitted an exhibit. It drew curious Russians, the books spread, and Hare Krishna was on its way in Russia.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/31/world/soviet-says-hare-krishna-cloaks-hide-cia-daggers.html

A History of Hare Krishna in Russia

[Posted March 5, 2006]

PLANTING THE SEED OF KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE RUSSIAN SOIL
During the eleven years of his preaching in the West, Srila Prabhupada [Founder Acarya for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON] traveled around the world fourteen times. Among other countries he also visited Soviet Russia which at that time was behind the Iron Curtain. The four days visit of Srila Prabhupada to Moscow in 1971 miraculously brought many changes to that country of atheism. During his visit he discussed philosophy with Professor Kotovsky, a Soviet scholar of Hinduism, but most significantly met with one young, educated Russian boy who later became his first and only initiated disciple from the Soviet Union, Ananda Shanti. This Russian boy single-handedly started preaching the eternal message of Bhagavad-Gita, and in this way the teachings of Srila Prabhupada became known to the hundreds and thousands of Soviet people, so much so that in the beginning of the 1980's the KGB declared ISKCON one of the greatest threats to the Soviet nation. In this way, the war was declared—the war of the totalitarian state against the handful of first devotees of Krishna in Soviet Russia.

THE YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The KGB started massive persecution campaigns against the first followers of ISKCON. For their belief, around hundred of the first Russian devotees were thrown into prisons, labor camps and psychiatric hospitals. They underwent tremendous sufferings and tortures, but kept their strong, unflinching faith in Lord Krishna and His words in Bhagavad-Gita.

One of them, Sarkis Ohanjanyan was only 21 when he was put in prison. His only "guilt" was that he believed in God, chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and refused to eat meat. One and a half years later he died in the winter of 1986 in a labor camp out of malnutrition and tuberculosis. Before departure he was chanting on the beads made from the prison bread, and had applied tilaka on his body with the toothpaste.

Olga Kiselyova was put in prison in 1983 when she was pregnant. Her "crime" was that she helped in translating the Bhagavad-Gita into the Russian language. After undergoing tortures and long, arduous interrogations she delivered a baby girl Marika in prison who died only two months later.

Amala Bhakta Das, father of 5, was sentenced for 5 years of labor camps, and was only released on the personal plea from Nancy Reagan.

These are only a few stories among many. Early devotees in Russia sacrificed their health, freedom and sometimes even life for the preaching and for the service to Srila Prabhupada.

Hare Krishna devotees around the world started a campaign of protest against religious persecution in the USSR. As a result, in 1988 all Soviet Hare Krishna devotees were released by Mr. M. Gorbachev and the new era of religious freedom in Russia had begun.

THE FIRST KRISHNA TEMPLE IN MOSCOW
The beginning of the 90's was the start of the new Russia, and also the start of a new chapter. The Moscow government gave devotees a ruined building unsuitable for inhabitation and commercial usage on rent. In a short time, laboring with love for Lord Krishna, devotees turned that building into the first Hindu temple in Russia. The Moscow Temple became the centre of the spiritual life for the Krishna community of Indian and Russian devotees. Festivals, services, and educational programs were held daily at that temple. Thus the seed of Krishna bhakti planted by Srila Prabhupada sprouted in Russian soil. For fourteen years this building served as a temple, the place where thousands of Russian people received and nurtured faith in God.

However, in 2004 the Moscow government took the building back and destroyed it according to the plan of reconstruction of the city district. Surrounded by growling bulldozers of the "Donstroi" construction giant, it may soon become the very first Hindu temple in the West ever destroyed by authorities. Now again the thousands of the followers of Hinduism in Russia were deprived of a place of worship. Hundreds of churches, cathedrals, mosques, synagogues are there, but not a single temple in the city of ten million people. Seeking the help and support devotees requested different prominent Indian politicians for help. Mr. Atal Bihar Vajpayee, former prime minister of India met with devotees on numerous occasions both in India and Moscow and assured devotees that he will try to convince his Russian colleagues to help ISKCON in Russia.

THE CULTURE OF COMPASSION
GROZNY, Chechnya, 1995 - Since the beginning of the Russian counterinsurgency campaign into this breakaway republic, that began on Dec. 11, 1995, Food for Life volunteers served 850,000 bowls of hot porridge, freshly baked bread and tea to the local residents. Risking their lives, devotees in Russia went on humanitarian missions to the war zones, like Chechnya and Abkhazia. Again and again they proved that the faith in God and His saving grace was more important to them than bodily comforts, and selfish pursuits. Devotees helped literally hundreds of thousands of Russians, Chechens, Georgians, Armenians, children and adults, victims of war giving them free food. But even more important, devotees of Krishna gave these deprived people a hope for better future, spiritual solace, and moral support. Often arrested by the conflicting parties, robbed and threatened, devotees still continued to distribute the sacred food to the needy people. One devotee was also killed while trying to help others. "Hare Krishna Food For Life" was the only Russia-based non-governmental charity organization, working in the war zone.

SAKHALIN, Russia 1995 - An earthquake measuring 7.2 flattened this small city in the far eastern peninsula of Russia. The following day, Food for Life volunteers were flown in by helicopter by the Russian Emergency Ministry, to provide hot food to survivors and rescue teams who worked around the clock to find bodies.

TSUNAMI RELIEF, SRI LANKA, India 2004 - The strongest earthquake in 40 years set off a string of killer Tsunami waves that utterly devastated the coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and other nearby islands, killing nearly 200,000 people.

Devotees from Russia were quick to respond again, providing relief support and hot vegetarian meals to needy people who suffered in the disaster. In Sri Lanka alone more than 10,000 meals were provided daily, along with medical care, clothing, and shelter for orphaned children at the ISKCON orphanage.

MAYOR FINALLY GIVES US LAND
After many years of struggle, the Mayor of Moscow on 21st January 2004 finally signed the order to give the land for the construction of a new temple in a very prominent location in Moscow. The land is located on the boulevard which goes straight from Kremlin to the International Airport in about 10 minute drive from the heart of Moscow. Measuring 1,05 hectare, it would cost at least 10 to 15 million US dollars and the government gave this land free. The devotees moved into a temporary temple building on the land. As till date, they still have no water, no sewage etc.

Plans to construct a Hare Krishna temple here however, sparked off a controversy in Russia where the Orthodox Church dominates and many regard Krishna followers as dangerous sectarians.

In January 2004, Orthodox, Muslim and Jewish religious authorities in Moscow spoke out against construction, saying it is against Russian tradition. The protestors had rallied in Pushkin Square in the centre of the capital, brandishing icons, flags and banners reading "Friends, Defend Your Faith", "We Oppose the Expansion of Sects" and "Beware! Krishna followers go in for brainwashing".

There are at least 100,000 followers of Lord Krishna spread across the country. Russia's Indian community led by Sanjit Kumar Jha, President of the Association of Indians in Russia supports the project since numerous Hindu believers were forced since so many years to pray in a little room with a 200-person capacity, housed in a building that was eventually demolished by the Russian government.

MAYOR CHANGES HIS MIND!!!
On 7 October 2005, the Mayor of Moscow Yuriy Luzhkov suddenly cancelled the order issued by the Moscow Government one and a half years ago according to which ISKCON Moscow was given a plot of land for construction of a new temple in replacement for the old temple building that was demolished. The office of the City Executive Attorney found some legal discrepancies in the wording of the original order by Moscow Government and suggested to revise it and issue a new, correct one. Instead, now on that basis the Mayor cancelled the order altogether. This was done without any explanation or consultation with ISKCON. His recent document has two parts in it. The first one cancelled the previous order. And according to the second one we have no right to stay on this territory any more. This means, that we are now thrown out on the streets.

On Wednesday 19th October 2005, the Iskcon centre in Moscow was visited by the journalists from the main Russian TV-news program "Vremyachko". They took interviews from HH Bhaktivijnana Goswami Maharaja, President of ISKCON, Russia and some other Indians. They broadcasted it the same evening. The interviews were not distorted and left a good impression on people in general. On their own part the TV commented that from their sources of information the land is already sold to some big investor. There are also some rumors that the mayor's wife is involved or probably the Mayor is under pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church.

As a result ISKCON is now preparing to file a legal case. We are also preparing to launch an international campaign of protest. The VHP have agreed that they will become part of a "Defend Russian Hindus" campaign. In the UK, members of VHP will be on the committee of the campaign and in India, Ashok Singhal has agreed to lead a mass campaign. Yesteryear leading actress Hema Malini has also voiced her concern and willingness to approach the Indian Prime Minister for his help. The Hindujas have also come forward to voice their concern.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Contact Yashomatinandana das
Development Director, ISKCON Moscow

yasomati@mail.ru Tel: +7-926-527-1486

http://hansadutta.com/ART_WSP/Russian-history.html