The
important Question before the Indian Government is: Could India Afford
to ignore & remain indifferent to the plight of devotees &
Hindu's in Moscow, disrespect to Lord Krishna and victimization,
harassment and cheating with Hare Krishna (ISKCON) devotees? And could
all civilized nation afford to keep mum on the religious discrimination
in Russia of the minorities including Jews, Muslims, Buddhist and
Hindus?
18th June 2004 and 15th
September 2013 will go as a black day in the history of Russia, when
the right to worship was deceitfully and forcefully taken away from the
Hare Krishna devotees and their only place of worship was evicted and
demolished.
It's
hard to believe that religious persecution of minorities is happening
in Modern Russia- a European country. It’s a blot in the 21st
Century and no country can afford that. Although many people in the
Russian Government are very sympathetic about the plight of the Hare
Krishna devotees in Moscow. But the hatred of few has torn apart the
beautiful world of Hare Krishna community in Moscow.
Hare
Krishna’s or ISKCON devotees are loved and adored around the former
Soviet Union as peace loving and dedicated souls. The ISKCON devotees
while serving food to the needy people during civil war in the different
parts of former Soviet Union has lost their lives in the line of duty.
They are the most peace loving and gentle people one can have around.
It’s really gives pain that the peace of such a gentle community has
been destroyed by the hatred of few. Now it’s up to the
Russian government to protect the right of these peace loving Hare
Krishna devotees by returning their promised land for the temple.
THE HARE KRISHNA WORLD TORN APART BY HATRED OF FEW
 |
| Orthodox Church protesting against Krishna Temple in Moscow |
On
November 30, 2006 Archbishop Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Church wired
a letter to the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, urging the ban of a
construction of a proposed Hindu temple in Moscow and calling Hindu God,
Krishna, “An EVIL DEMON”, the personified power of hell opposing God”,
and “a livid lascivious youth.” Unfortunately it appears that the local
Russian administration heard Archbishop Nikon and cancelled the land
allotment to the Hare Krishna’s which was agreed upon by the Moscow
Mayor and promised to the Delhi Chief minister Sheila Dikshit during her
visit to Moscow for the "Days of Delhi in Moscow" from 28 May 1 June
2006.
India–Russia
relations in the field of culture & religion are historical. The
Bhagavad Gita was first translated into Russian in the year 1788.
Prominent Russian painter and philosopher Nicholas Roerich was
influenced by the philosophy of Rama Krishna and Vivekananda, the poetry
of Rabindranath Tagore and the Bhagavad Gita. He spent his last life in
Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. The 130th birth anniversary of Nicholas
Roerich and 100th birth anniversary of Svetoslav Roerich were celebrated
in India in October 2004. Notable Russian Indologists like Eugene
Chelyshev and Gury Marchuk were awarded the Sahitya Akademy Fellowship
by the Government of India. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) the mystic literary voice of Russia, was also a herald of Indian thought. He was a mystic who started Russia's first vegetarian society.
After the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, his followers were persecuted
and all vegetarian communities were closed. Tolstoy, a late-comer, was
also deeply influenced by Indian religious thought. He was greatly
influenced by the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tamil Tirukkural
and the modern Indian spiritual literature of his time. In a letter to
Gandhi in 1909, he quoted from the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the
Tamil Kural, and Vivekananda. Tolstoy is only one of the many Western
writers and thinkers to find much of illumination within Hinduism's
pages. Raj Kapoor is loved by practically all Russians. Indian films are
liked by millions of Russians.
Even
in the contemporary Indo-Russian relationship, Days of Russian Culture
were held in India in November 2003, in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. "Days
of Indian Culture" in Russia were organized from September to October
2005 in Russia. Chief Minister of National Capital Territory of Delhi,
Shrimati Sheila Dikshit led a delegation for participating in the event
"Days of Delhi in Moscow" from 28 May 1 June 2006. The "Year of Russia
in India" was held in 2008. It was followed by the "Year of India in
Russia" in 2009. There is a Hindi Department, in theUniversity of Moscow
along with five Chairs relating to Indology in Moscow, Saint
Petersburg, Kazan and Vladivostok.
At
the end of the day, it’s going to take a lot more than diplomacy,
political interactions and even trade to bring the people of Russia and
India closer. For relations between the two great countries to reach
that level where the two-way traffic between them quadruples, a strong
and dedicated effort is a must to build soft power. It becomes a lot
easier to bring the people closer together in the Internet age. Those
who want to build Indian soft power in Russia or the other way round,
need to look no further for inspiration than the late-Raj Kapoor who did
more for the relationship between the countries than the best of
leaders or the greatest of diplomats.
Russia
and India has been friends for decades but the hatred of few people is
straining the century’s old relationship. How can we hope for a cordial
relationship when the very foundation of Indian culture-Krishna &
Bhagavad Gita is attacked by few fanatic envious people? Russian &
Indian Government should seriously contemplate that unless the culture
of respect to each other’s culture, values and tradition is given, there
is no hope for the heart’s of the people to connect with each other.
India is right in demanding such treatment towards Indian culture and
values. India for centuries has welcomed all religion to come and
flourish in its land. Even in Vrindavan there is a big Orthodox Church,
although there are no local followers. Hare Krishna (ISKCON) had its
temple in Moscow since 1991, which now Krishna devotees’ feel that the
temple was demolished by trickery and they were made to vacate the
temple by falsely promising new land for the temple in lieu of the
demolished temple. The land was also allotted. But due to protest by few
fanatics, the land allotment was cancelled for the temple. But upon the
interference of the Indian government, again one land was given on the
outskirts of Moscow. But again the Russian government cancelled this
allotment as well as threw the devotees out on street from the previous
land on 15 September 2013. Now these 20,000 monks and Sannyasis have no
place to live and continue their worship. There are more than 100,000
Krishna devotees in Russia. It’s great injustice done to them. Please
join this campaign and let us request Russian government to give back
the land to the Hare Krishna devotee's for the only Sri SRi Radha
Krishna Temple in Moscow...
Please give a missed call to 080-30636341 to STOP supporting demolition
of Moscow-Krishna temple. Overseas supporters, please dial
91-80-30636341
The call cuts automatically after 2 rings. (TODAY is deadline for support)
