Russian Preaching
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2021
Chapters
Opening prayers and invocation
Oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣunmīlitaṃ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam Nalatpisva antikam, Vandiham, śrī-guruṁ śrī-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn Guru.
śrī-rūpāṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sajīvaṁ sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ
śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādaṁ saha-gaṇa-lalitā- śrī-viśākhānvitāṁśca he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikākānta rādhākānta namo 'stu te
tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिне nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
So we'll try to explain something about uh Prabhupāda's Namaste, Sarah, Vouravani, Pratchary nirvice, asyatyadesalini. So we'll try to explain something about uh Prabhupada's Russian mission.
Its initial stages, gradual development, and present state of affairs. But to understand better uh the situation in Russia and how the preaching evolved and what was Russia or Soviet Union at that time?
When Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived in 1971, by the way, this year it will be fortieth anniversary of his arrival to Russia. Uh no, fiftieth, fiftieth anniversary of his arrival to Russia.
So it's very appropriate to speak this year about this. But before for you to understand, I will a little bit touch Russian history because some Some of you may not know the historical circumstances.
You probably know that in 1917, in the beginning of the 20th century, in Russia there was a communist revolution. And at that time, communists took the power over the whole Russian country and it was a very difficult transition because
Eradication of religion under Soviet communism
communists wanted to do everything from scratch. They basically eradicated the previous culture. And an essential part of any culture in any country is religion.
Russia was for many many for three centuries before Russia was a Christian country and there was quite a few Christian saints. It was very religious country for some time.
But by the time of the communist revolution, of course, religion was in decline, people were somewhat disillusioned in religion.
And communists took advantage of it and they actually purposefully wanted to completely erase religion from the memory of people. Lenin was the leader of communists who took over Russia and Lenin he was devout atheist
and he said that you know we will make all the people atheists here. Everyone.
And his successor, Stalin, a very cruel dictator, he actually said that by 1930 there will be not a single believer in the whole of Russia, in the whole of Soviet Union. Not a single believer.
So there was a very intense propaganda. They kind of gave up on old people, they said old this old people, anyway, they will die soon. But young people they shouldn't believe in God, they should not have this idea of God.
I remember very well, I was born in 1956, and from my kindergarten, from very early age, I was told there is no God. The brainwashing started with the children when they were four or three years old.
And it was an official very strongly imposed doctrine. There is no God. And there was a proof.
You perhaps know that the first spaceship was arranged by the Soviet Union, Gagarin went into space, and very strong proof of that is was there that Gagarin went to cosmos to the to the space and he didn't see God.
So therefore he's not there as if he was supposed to hang there and wait for Gagarin to come. Anyway, so that was that was the the story. So what happened next?
Actually, because people need to believe in something, so they made Lenin as some kind of pseudo God. They put his body in Samadhi.
There was the whole institution, some you know, probably around thousand people working so that his body would not deteriorate. They put him in a glass coffin and people would come and worship him.
And you know the slogan in the Soviet Union was that Lenin is eternal, he's still living, he's there in the coffin, you know. Don't worry, he's there.
And they were doing everything possible to make an impression that he's eternal, you know, they were putting all kinds of cosmetics on him, on his dead body, you know. The dead body was deteriorating anyway, but they were trying.
So there was anyway, you know, they they wanted to eradicate religion, but at the same
time they introduced pseudo-religion with pseudo-god, who is in the tomb there, in the Kremlin, and people, you know, I remember still in my childhood, and when Prabhupada actually went to Russia, it was still a very much of a custom.
People would stand in a queue for three, four, five hours just for one second of darshan of Lenin in the tomb. So religious they were. You know, they went to Lenin's Samadhi, so called Samadhi.
Just for one second of darshan, they were ready to spend four, sometimes five hours in a very cold weather, freezing cold, going into this tomb.
And they were only allowed to be there for one, you know, two, three seconds to see, oh, eternal Lenin is here. So, this is how crazy people can become.
They invent some God. Srila Prabhupada always jokes in this, you know, they they kind of appoint to God, you know, Ramakrishna is God, or whoever is God, you know, Lenin is God.
Survival of faith despite state propaganda
So, and then start worshiping, and of course, and the end result is frustration. So, what happened during Stalin, the successor of Lenin, he achieved he didn't achieve the goal.
By 1930s still there were believers and somehow rather miraculously, spontaneously, people, despite of all this propaganda, despite of all this brainwashing. And it was heavy propaganda.
It started in the it would start in the kindergarten. Then in the school, practically all the time we were told no God, no God, no God. Man is coming from the monkeys. That was the official concept.
You know, you are nothing but monkey without a tail. So that's the only difference. Besides that, there's not much difference. You know, if if you put a tail, you will be like monkey.
So and then uh in the uh in the colleges and universities it was even more heavy, because those people who were in the universities, they were supposed to be leaders of the country, so they were making sure that there is no theistic ideas in the minds of people.
Despite of all these endeavors, despite of all this saying, you know, still people would believe, still people would go to church.
But it was strictly imposed by the government that no young people were allowed into the church. You know, old people okay, but young people were not allowed.
When I was in university, it was around the time when Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Russia for you to have a taste of what Russia was like, you know, there was in my badge in the university, Moscow State University there were around 250 young men and women.
So among this 250, one dared to admit openly that he believes in God. Within two months he was expelled from the university. He was kicked out from the university mercilessly.
Just his only crime was that he said, you know, maybe he's there. Maybe God is there. So that was the country where Śrīla Prabhupāda came in 1970. Nobody was supposed to believe in God. Bible was completely prohibited.
You would not be able to buy Bible or to get Bible or whatever. It was unheard of. And Prabhupada, he always wanted to come to Russia.
His very strong desire was to come to Russia because he came to many countries but he didn't come to Russia and at that time you know was the actually pinnacle of the cold war Brezhnev was there was the ruler he was a good friend of Indira Gandhi Indira Gandhi would come and they were embrace each other and kiss each other.
But you know no religion, no religion whatsoever was allowed at that time. And as it you probably heard, there was an iron curtain.
The country was behind the iron curtain, which means that nobody practically nobody would be able to leave the country and go to the West and very few people were allowed to go into the country, only for guided tours or for some diplomatic purposes or whatever. Some purposes were there, but it was very, very much restricted.
The traveling from Russia abroad and from abroad to Russia was very, very much difficult. Very difficult.
You know, sometimes people would have to wait the permission to leave the country for three, four, five years just to leave the country for a few days.
Because the fear of the authorities, Russian authorities at that time was that if people go, you know, the propaganda was Russia is the best country. But at the same time, there was hardly any food stuff there. Nothing was there.
But it's still it was the best country. So to keep this concept or illusion in the minds of people,
uh they uh would not allow people to go abroad because you know if they would go abroad they would see that there are some at least foodstuff in other countries. How is it the best country.
So the official doctrine was this is the best country. Everything else is just rotten and goes to hell. We are only going to heaven. The heaven will be here very soon.
Without God, of course, with Lenin as our appointed God on earth. So therefore they they had to do it and to impose this strict discipline. Now you know there were advantages of this.
People were humble, people were you know people were not into so much into consumerism.
Actually, there were very good things there in the Soviet Union. Sometimes I regret that it's not there, of course, without all these restrictions.
But people were really nice, and actually, people were spiritually thirsty.
This whole gigantic experiment, which was done by the Russian authorities by the communists, actually is the best proof that religion is a very intricate part of human nature.
Because for 75, oh, I don't know how. Yeah, yeah, probably 75, 74 years, there was no religion allowed. There was no notion of religion. There was such a heavy propaganda.
But as soon as the moment when, uh, everything became open, everyone became religious again. Didn't work.
You know, they they were they were stretching, stretching, stretching the rubber, and then they let it on, and the rubber went back to the natural stage. This is actually a very good proof that religion is natural.
People are believers. Whether you don't believe or believe, you believe. You may think you are an atheist. But deep inside your heart, you're a believer. I was, you know, brainwashed since my kindergarten.
Still, I was praying. I didn't know to whom I was praying, who is this, but still I was praying here. When it was tough time, I was praying, "Please help me." Who is there to help me? I didn't know.
The the the nature is there, this is the nature of the soul. Then the soul is a part and parcel of Krishna, the soul cannot be happy without God therefore uh in uh you know in in any shape or form religion must be there.
And even in atheistic Russia they made a pseudo religion to fill the vacuum. Because absolutely without religion people feel empty.
There is emptiness in the heart which they can only, you know, eradicate by drinking vodka. That's the only way you don't know vodka. So it's whiskey. Shut up.
So that's the way to feel the vacuum, the emptiness in the heart. And Prabhupada, he wanted very much. He had this idea, and many times he tried to get visa, but as I said, it was difficult to get, even as a tourist.
But of course, Prabhupada didn't want to come as a tourist, he didn't want to come for sightseeing. He didn't want just to entertain himself in Russia. You know, he didn't have any of such business in his mind.
Initial contact with Professor Katovsky
He wanted to preach. And he tried to get visa but unsuccessfully. Oh, I don't really know. Because tourist visa for foreigners was available. I don't know about Indians, but for Western people it was possible.
But Prabhupada of course didn't want to come with the just casual visit.
He wanted to preach and therefore somehow or other he got in touch with this Professor Katowski about whom you probably heard and Professor Katowski is a very interesting figure.
He is the grandson of one of the fathers of Soviet Union, of founding fathers of the Soviet Union. His grandfather was a great military hero during revolution time. There are still monuments to him.
So, this Professor Katowski probably was the worst person to speak about religion in the whole of Soviet Union, besides Brezhnev himself.
But somehow or other by Krishna's arrangement to emphasize Prabhupada's glory, how Prabhupada could use even Professor Katovsky in the service of Krishna.
Krishna arranged his contact with Professor Katovsky and started some letter exchange. You know, Prabhupada wrote something to Professor Katovsky. Professor Katowski was an indologist.
He was quite famous scholar, specialist in Indology in India. And Prabhupada wrote him something about some subject matter I don't know what.
Prabhupada initiated this exchange and Professor Katowski very politely wrote him back and Prabhupada wrote again, and Professor Katowski wrote him back.
And in the second or third letter, Professor Katowski casually mentioned to Prabhupada in case you happen to be to visit Moscow, please come. I would be happy to see you and converse with you, speak with you.
Prabhupada took this letter and said, I'm invited to Moscow. He was not really invited to Moscow. In case you happened to be there, it's not very you know open invitation if you happen to be there please come so
Professor Katofsky wanted to be polite, but Śrīla Prabhupāda used any opportunity, he said, you should just sneak there anytime.
So, you know, sometime before somebody said to Prabhupada, Prabhupada, there's a chance to go to Moscow. And it was winter time. And winter time in Moscow is very severe, right?
It can be minus minus 10 easily, minus 20, minus 30. I mean it's freezing cold. You know, Madhumati Pushkarini Nirma Krishna were there.
And they said that in Russia there are only two seasons: it's white winter and green winter. From the Indian standards, there are two ways to do two winters there.
It's like in Bangalore also, there are two seasons, you know, rainy season and something else.
So and some you know the the first chance for Prabhupada to go to Russia was in winter and somebody said Prabhupada there is a chance to go to Russia and there was at the same time, simultaneously there was another
invitation for Prabhupada to Hawaii uh during mango season. And Prabhupada immediately said, I'm going to Moscow.
And you know, devotees started saying, Prabhupada, don't go to Moscow, it's too cold and it's too miserable and it's it's communism. Go to Hawaii. Prabhupada said preaching in Moscow is sweeter than any mango in Hawaii.
That was Prabhupada's taste for preaching. He actually, he was living. He was, you know, his preaching was his life. He was getting, you know, blessings of Krishna by preaching, and he knew that this is his mission.
So he wanted to come to Moscow for preaching, and he had some hope that Professor Katowski will arrange some programs with students.
Conversation between Prabhupada and Professor Katovsky
He actually knew that it was hopeless to speak with Professor Katofsky, but he he had some hope that something will be arranged for him to speak with the students. He came and he visited Professor Katowski.
Professor Katowski was formal, polite, but formal. And of course, he said there's no question of any student program for you. Śrīla Prabhupāda had some conversation which was secretly recorded by Shamasundar Prabhu.
Shamasundar Prabhu had a recorder with him and he secretly recorded this conversation. And when Professor Katofsky found out about it, he was furious. But of course, it was too late.
It was already printed in signs of self-realization and back to Godhead everywhere. So in this way Professor Katowski became very famous. Because that was the last thing which he wanted because it was dangerous for him.
You know, what I want to say is that if you practiced religion at that time in the labor camps, in the prisons, uh, labor camps, prisons were full of religious people.
If somebody would become a sincere believer, it was a very good chance that he would be put in prison. Ah, especially for preaching.
You know, there was a special article in the criminal court of the Soviet Union specifically for such cases. You know, basically, this article was saying if you
preach religion, you would be put in prison, but it was camouflaged. It was kind of you know the the the literally it was said that if you propagate some views which are harmful for Soviet people and for
their health, then there was a you know you will be detained for up to five or six years I think in prison.
So if people would start preaching, then, you know, actively they would they would be put in prison on the basis of this article because it would be very easily, you know, the case would be made that this is some harmful propaganda.
Which is not very good. So, and of course, devotees in the West they knew that Russia is a very atheistic country, and therefore Syamasundara Prabhu arranged a visa for Śrīla Prabhupāda in Bombay and who accompanied him?
There were only two people together with Prabhupada, Shamasundra Prabhu and Aravinda, his servant.
So, Syamasundara Prabhu strictly and when he was putting his things in a suitcase, he made sure that there was no religious picture, there was no religious books, there was nothing there.
And his young, naive, and very dedicated and devotional wife, Malati. She said, My husband is in māyā. And she secretly put a big Bhagavad-gītā into his suitcase.
She saw that the husband is in māyā and he forgot to take Bhagavad-gītā. How you can go somewhere without Bhagavad-gītā? You have to have Bhagavad-gītā.
So it was a big surprise for Shamasundar Prabhu, because on the border the customs would very thoroughly search through the all the things and belongings. And if there was something religious it would be confiscated immediately and you could be put in prison also for this crime of trying to sneak in the country something which is forbidden.
So Shamasunder Prabhu, he almost had a shock, he almost fainted when uh uh the custom officer opened his suitcase and the first thing which he saw was Bhagavad-gītā. He didn't know that Bhagavad-gītā was there.
He started shaking in his shoes. He didn't know what to expect. So this is actually Krishna's arrangement. This is how Malati was instrumental to bring first Bhagavad-gītā, Prabhupāda's Bhagavad-gītā into Russia.
So but she very lovingly put their few pictures of their young daughter Sarasvatī and the photos and pictures were there in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So this uh uh custom officer he opened uh this book and he wanted to see what is this book, what is it about, and of course he didn't know English so it was not so easy for him.
But still, you know, the pictures were there. But when he took the book and opened it, all the pictures of Sarasvatī fell down.
And he he felt little a uneasy and he felt a little ashamed and he started apologizing and he said, oh this is your little daughter, please forgive me.
He put all the pictures inside the book, closed the book and said, go. This is how the first Bhagavad-gītā went in Russia.
Professor Katovsky's visit to Moscow temple
And Prabhupāda didn't... Bhagavad-gītā, Prabhupāda very innocently went there. He was an old man, of course. So, yeah, Prabhupāda met with Professor Kotovsky. Prabhupāda was not very impressed by Professor Kotovsky.
And I believe Professor Kotovsky was not very impressed by Śrīla Prabhupāda. They were completely opposite people. But what happened later, you know.
Prabhupāda was trying to preach to him Krishna consciousness, to preach to him this concept of Krishna, Bhagavad-gītā, or whatever. Professor Kotovsky said, no, no, no.
This is not for me, this is not for my people, this is not for my country, this country, you know, people in this country don't believe in God. We will never accept all these religious ideas. And, you know, you know, that was it.
So many years later, in 1990s, in the beginning of the 90s, when we had the first temple in Moscow, Professor Kotovsky came to our temple. He was invited.
We invited him because we knew that he met with Prabhupāda and we happily welcomed him, we put some garland on him and we, you know, arranged some nice prasāda for him and he was sitting and he couldn't believe his eyes.
You know, everywhere there was people in dots with tilakas. You know, and at that time it was a peak of book distribution. Everyone was busy running here and there. And there were, you know, the whole temple was swarming. There were hundreds of devotees there.
And at one point, Professor Katofsky started crying. He really started crying, he said. He couldn't believe his eyes.
He said, When I spoke with Swamījī, I never thought that his mission will be successful in my country, but I was mistaken. So this is this is Prabhupāda's vision.
Prabhupāda, he knew that there is something special going on to be there. Therefore, he wanted so much to come to the Soviet Union and he finally came. And from external point of view, his visit was not very successful.
You know, he spoke with Professor Katofsky. He went for sightseeing because there was nothing to do. You know, he could sit in his hotel room and chant. Or, you know, I ultimately they went for sightseeing.
And Prabhupāda, they went to some little hill which looks over Moscow City. This is the place where Moscow University is there and you know I was not there at that time but it was just a couple of years.
If if I was there you know just a couple of years before I would I couldn't theoretically meet with Prabhupāda. So Prabhupāda, it was June 1971, 21st of June or something like this. 22nd of June, I believe. Yeah, 22nd.
It's actually also very interesting. It's a very interesting coincidence. If there is coincidence in in this universe.
But 22nd of June, this is the date which is known to at least it used to be known to every Russian citizen. Because the 22nd of June was the day when Nazis Germany attacked Russia.
When the Second World War, not Second World War started before, but Russia was involved. The Germans entered Russian or encroached Russian borders on the 22nd of June. And it so happened that Prabhupāda also came on the 22nd of June.
I remember Marač was giving lecture and he said Napoleon wanted to take over Russia, he failed. Hitler wanted to take over Russia, he failed.
So the Prabhupada came to Russia and he conquered Russia. So he came on the same exact same day. Of course, it was not pre-planned, but uh still it's it's a peculiar detail of the whole thing.
Krishna wanted to show how to you know to if you want to conquer something you have to conquer their hearts. And Prabhupada he came not with this military campaign
but he came to conquer over the hearts of people by love. By Krishna's love.
Prediction of mass chanting in Moscow
He was the messenger of love and he came and he was actually successful. So when he was in this guided tour and he was over He was looking in the country in the Moscow city from
the top of the hill, and Śyāmasundara Prabhu he said, at that time he said, there will be time when there will be tens of thousands of people together chanting the holy name.
That was the prediction in 1971, which was absolutely unbelievable at that time. In 1992, yeah, in 1992, there was a big concert arranged by devotees with with forget his name, Boy George.
With Boy George, Boy George was a part of this concert. He was somewhat close to the devotees.
And there were 30,000 people attending this concert and chanting together Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, so it was only you know, twenty twenty-one year later, when Prabhupada's prediction was fulfilled.
He said specifically. And also at that time during this visit in Moscow, Prabhupada said he saw that you know the whole country was actually under the fear. There was a lot of military policemen were there.
Prabhupada liked Moscow in one sense because he said it's a very clean city. And Moscow was really clean at that time. It's not like this now. It's still quite clean, but not that much.
But at that time it was really clean and Prabhupada liked it very much. Every morning in Moscow there were special machines with water and some special equipment to clean all the streets.
It was really clean city with a lot of you know greenery and everything.
But still, there was a lot of military around in the city, and Prabhupada said you cannot really keep people under the fear all the time. He said, you know, in 20 years this country will be finished. That was Prabhupada's prediction. In 1991, according to Prabhupada's prediction the country was finished so
you know that was the that's the power satya sankalpa whatever pure devotee wants Krishna fulfills.
And you perhaps read about this, you know, Syamasundar Prabhu was standing in a queue in a shop to buy some rice or whatever, some food stuff, whatever little was available at that time.
And there was somebody standing behind him. And this somebody who was standing behind him started whispering in his ear, uh do you know something about yoga? You want to tell me something about yoga?
Syama Sundra Prabhu became ecstatic. He thought, oh, this is Krishna's God sent, you know, opportunity. I will go to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And he took the everything, he took the number and he said, yes, yes, yes, yes, definitely definitely my my teacher is there he's a great yoga teacher he will explain
everything to you and he came to Prabhupāda back to hotel and said Prabhupāda, somebody wants to know about yoga. Prabhupāda said, this is secret police, don't go to him. If you go to him, you will be arrested.
Prabhupāda saw through immediately. But then there was another occasion when Syamasundar Prabhu again he was walking in the street of Moscow and he was walking in a dhoti, which was unheard of.
You know, especially white-skinned person in a very exotic dress.
And at that time in Russia, there was very valuable, few you know because there was very little things that things, especially Western things were not available.
So there were something which was very valuable, and there were a category of people, a class of people who would earn their living by meeting with the foreigners and asking foreigners or buying from
the foreigners some you know some valuable goods from the West and then reselling them you know two-three times more expensive to Russian people.
So there was there was a category of people who would make living like this. They would hunt, uh, you know, they they would know English. Uh at that time hardly anyone knew English.
These people would know a little English at least. And they would ask do you have uh like uh uh mm Beatles uh how you call this uh records yeah do you have Beatles records.
Beatles records were really, I mean, if you had original Beatles records, you could make a fortune for this record. Or blue jeans. Blue jeans was also a very valuable commodity.
You know, so Shemasundar Prabhu was walking on the street in one of the central streets near Kremlin, and one young man approached him, and this
young man was together with an Indian and this young man asked him, do you have blue jeans? He said, no, I don't, I have my daughter, I don't have blue jeans. Do you have Beatles records?
He said, no, I don't have Beatles records. But I have my guru. Oh, you have Guru, that's interesting. So at least something, you know.
No Beatles records, no blue jeans, but at least Guru is there, so maybe there is something. So this is how Prabhupada met with Ananta Śānti.
Ananta Śānti initially wanted, you know, something which which he thought was valuable, and he got something much more valuable. Śyāmasundara Prabhupāda brought this young man, and together with Śyāma, to Śrīla Prabhupāda
and this young man very inquisitively listened to Srila Prabhupada. He happened to know English, which was really rare. Again, I mean to meet somebody on the street
there who was not a KGB agent who knew English, and he who had an interest, who knew quite nice English, because he could understand and relate to everything to Śrīla Prabhupāda. It's practically.
It was practically impossible.
Receptivity of Russian people to spirituality
Practically impossible. But Krishna made this arrangement, and Prabhupada was, you know, was, Śyāmasundara Prabhu said that he never heard Prabhupada speaking so strongly as he was speaking to this young Russian person.
He said, I heard Prabhupada on many, many occasions, in many temples, he was speaking always, but that was probably the best of Prabhupada. Because Prabhupada wanted to put all his heart into this young person's heart.
Everything which was there, which he knew, which he wanted to give, with such a conviction and such strong desire.
So, and therefore this young man, he was like a sponge. He was, he was absorbing everything in a very, in a very, you know, amazing way.
And later Prabhupada said that, you know, the cook, when he wants to know whether the rice is ready or not, the pot of rice is ready, he takes one grain of rice
and he sees, if one grain of rice is ready, then the whole pot is ready. And he said, I see by this man that this whole country is ready to take Krishna consciousness. That was Prabhupada's judgment.
He saw the reaction of this one man, and he was right, because, as I said, when Russia became open, then very quickly people who were thirsty for some spiritual things, they started taking Krishna consciousness, Christianity, so many other things.
And at that time, you know, there was a Hare Krishna explosion, as Suvarna Gorhari said. But that was later, that was in the nineteen nineties when when the country opened. Or yeah, end of the 80s, 1990s.
But before that, before the country was open, there was another chapter of Krishna consciousness movement in Russia, very sad chapter.
This young person, Anatoly his name, Anatoli Tinyev was his name, he became Ananta Śānti, Prabhupāda gave him initiation by mail. And he became in regular contact with devotees.
Prabhupāda, at that time, what Prabhupāda did, he told all his leaders to go to India via Russia via Moscow. You could make a stop in Moscow airport or sometimes you know spend a day or two in Moscow.
So the devotees would secretly, frequently visit Moscow after Prabhupāda's visit. And they were, you know, maintaining contacts with Ananta Śānti.
Ananta Śānti was meeting with them secretly, and of course very soon it was known to the secret police, to KGB at that time.
And he was watched, but nevertheless, he would get some, you know, Tulasī beads or whatever, and he started preaching.
Impact of Moscow International Book Fair
And the next very significant step was in 77, when, or even 76, no, I think 77 was the first time.
When Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja for the first time came to Moscow with Bhaktivedanta Book Trust for the Moscow book fair. every year there was a big international book fair in Moscow and different publishing houses would come to Moscow and head their stalls there. give their exhibition. And sometimes converse with them.
So Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja in 1977, when Prabhupāda was still there, in May of 77, for the first time he came to Moscow with uh Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and with the uh with the books of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and they had a big stall and it was very successful.
There were hundreds of people coming because the you know the books were so special. They were so bright and a lot of pictures and everything. But unfortunately people didn't have money to buy.
And Gopal Krishna Maharaj was kind of puzzled whether he should give books or he should get money or whatever. He got some rubles, but rubles were useless, you know, you couldn't really change rubles for dollars or for any currency.
It's also like Prabhupāda, we always say that Prabhupāda came to America with what forty rupees or what seven seven dollars or something like this.
But you know the forty rupees was not seven dollars, forty rupees was zero dollars because you couldn't exchange this forty rupees for the homes. You know, you couldn't use this 40 rupees.
Somebody still has this 40 rupees, which Prabhupāda brought with him to America. So anyway, what happened actually? This book fair, the roommate of mine,
he visited this book fair and he got a book and he got acquainted with the devotees and this is how I became a devotee ultimately. So this is how it happened.
I was staying in Moscow State University at that time and he first became a devotee, he first became vegetarian and started chanting and then somehow or rather he evolved me and here I am 40 years later talking about this.
So, but what happened because of the books, because of preaching of Ananta Shanti, because of all these people who were devotees who were coming, and actually
Prabhupada also what he did he sent Mandakini Devi his disciple from France to Russia and he said to Mandakini Devi, You go to Moscow and you marry Anantashanti.
Because if you had a foreign wife, that was the only way to get out of the country. And Prabhupāda he m he at least had a plan or he saw that it's dangerous.
But you know Anantashanti himself he asked Prabhupāda is it possible for me to get a foreign wife and Prabhupada said no problem, we have many girls. But this is amazing, this Mandakini Devi.
She's coming now regularly to Russia and preaching all over Russia.
And she's really an amazing person, and you know, without even thinking twice, she went to you know Prabhupāda said you go to Moscow and marry somebody from Russia and she went to Moscow and married somebody from Russia.
Of course, it didn't really work, but nevertheless, it's a very you know good illustration of how first disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda were completely 100% sold out to him, completely dedicated.
They were ready to do anything and everything for him. That's this devotion to guru which is glorified in Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. So because of this, the devotees started coming new and new and new devotees.
It was very easily actually. It was really easy to make devotees at that time in Russia. It was not difficult at all. You know people were thirsty for something spiritual.
If you would tell them something they would be very easily involved. Especially kirtans. You know, Russian devotees they still love kirtans.
Niranījana Mahārāja when he first came to Russia and it was not only Nīrañjana Mahārāja's experience. Indradyumna Mahārāja was also one of the first preachers.
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, of course, was probably after Śrīla Prabhupāda. Of course Hamsa Dūta went there, so many leaders went there. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja was one of the first ones.
But they all had experience, you know, when the first programs when when Russia became open, little open, you know, there were still programs in the apartments.
And you know there was a little apartment, maybe one room apartment, just one room, not even one bedroom, one room apartment.
Rapid growth of underground gatherings
And there were 50-60 people jammed into this into this one room. And they would sit for three, four, five hours completely jammed listening for the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.
Every preacher who is who was there at that time he still remembers that it was just something unbelievable.
Here, if you know in any temple when you come, please finish your class at nine o'clock sharp, not one minute more. Especially in the West, it's very strictly imposed. In Russia, they would speak two, three hours.
People were completely in a in a very stuffy room where there was no air to breathe. They were still sitting and listening, because they wanted to know.
They wanted to know what is it all about, this life and God and everything else. So, what I mean to say, even before it was open, Krishna consciousness started spreading like wildfire.
You know, I remember those days, you know, you would speak a little bit with somebody, and somebody would become really inspired. Really? God is there? Tell me something more. How can I know? What shall I do?
It was really interesting. And I was doing my at that time, I mean I graduated from Moscow State University, I was doing my postgraduate studies, was doing my PhD degree. And you know at that time I started chanting.
So the KGB which is secret police, the intelligence, not intelligence, secret police, the police started really worried about this strange exotic movement which is spreading like wildfire. Later in I think it was in. Yeah. In the mid-80s when Russia was still quite closed.
In the mid of the 80s, there was an article published in one of the central magazines in Russia, and this article was written by the head of the KGB at that time. And he was analyzing the political situation in Russia.
And he said there are three main threats coming to Russia for our system, for our country, for our communism, three main threats coming from the West. One is rock music.
I don't remember what was the second one, but the third one was Hare Krishna, so it was the threat for the whole whole system. So the reaction was of course very vehement because they
were really worried about this that they didn't know what to do how to deal with it.
KGB persecution and arrests of devotees
The only way they knew how to deal with it is just to put everyone in prison and to stop it and somehow or other to just really stop it.
So in 1977 there was this book fair which actually gave very strong push to the development of Hare Krishna movement in Russia. And we know that in 1977 Prabhupada passed away from this world.
A few times, I think three times Gopal Krishna Maharaj would come with the book fair before the police found out what it is all about and stopped this whole thing.
But it was too late because there were so many books already there.
Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from this Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, because Bhaktivedanta Book Trust was an official member of this whole book fair and so many devotees were there and in 78 in
77 it happened in 78, uh, in, uh, Moscow, in the headquarters of KGB of the Secret Police, they formed a special department to fight with Hare Krishna.
Special secret police department to you know to stop this Hare Krishna movement.
And in seventy-nine already in seventy-nine no, it was in eighty, in eight sometime in eighty or maybe eighty one. Anyway, uh, they started, uh, some, uh, court cases against the devotees.
They put first two devotees, then then more devotees, more devotees, and ultimately in different parts of the of Russia.
And at that time, but uh unfortunately for them, uh at that time already Krishna consciousness was practically everywhere all over Soviet Union. It just spread like like coronavirus.
Because people were so eager to to get something spiritual and you know so many people started chanting Hare Krishna, uh they were having this kirtans and everything. So from
eighty one I think or eighty, they started putting people uh devotees in prison uh and all together they put to prisons and labor camps uh uh more than sixty devotees a,round 60 devotees.
Which was probably I don't know, you know, I don't know how many it was probably good percentage of the serious devotee population. Practically all they were initiated by the time, of course,
by Harikesh Maharaj Prabhupada's successor at the time for Russia, he was the zono charya for Russia. And he actually did a lot.
He and uh uh North European BBT uh they were spending a lot of money uh North European VPT was under him so they were spending
for this Russian program a lot a lot of money to actually maintain this program and this preaching. They were helping a lot.
So all these devotees, and you know, Kirtiraj Prabhup, Prabhupada's disciple, he was in charge of this problem. He was a glorious fighter. I will tell mm something about him a little later.
Of course there's no time, but I can go a little more.
So So uh it was a very difficult time and I still remember this time because I started, you know mm I started chanting around that time, around 1980, when I started chanting.
And I remember whenever I would meet with a devotee, it was you know uh we always were we we were half Krishna consciousness uh Krishna conscious another half KGB conscious. You know this split personality syndrome.
You know, we were trying to think about Krishna, but we were also thinking about KGB because they were watching us and you know, and we we talk half of the time we talk about Krishna, and half of the time we talked about KGB, what KGB did.
You know, because they were, you know, encroaching people's homes, confiscating all the literatures, every now and then, doing some search and sometimes you know detained people for two, three days.
And uh, you know, they were putting people, as I said, started, started court cases.
Suffering and martyrdom of Soviet devotees
There was a wave of court cases. And it was, you know, Russian prisons
are probably, I don't know, I've never been to Indian prisons, but I think they're at least as bad as Indian prisons, if not worse. And it was really difficult.
Some people were put in, some devotees were put in psychiatric hospitals and were put heavy psychotropic drugs, you know, and including Ananta Shanti.
Anantashanti was put and detained in psychiatric hospitals for a few years, and because of the so-called treatment, it affected him severely, unfortunately. But there were people who even died in labor camp.
And the most glorious one was Śachīsuta, you read his story in salted bread book. He was a book distributor from Armenia and he was very young. He was 21 at that time. He was put in prison in a labor camp.
And you know, if you are put in prison in a labor camp, you cannot say I'm a vegetarian, please give me a vegetarian diet. Forget it. So he could only eat some bread with salt. It was nothing else.
For a couple of years he was only eating this bread, and sometimes he would even share this bread with somebody else because people were starving.
And at the end he died out of malnutrition and starvation in the labor camp. It was also very cold at that time. And you know, when you don't eat, you're very sensitive to cold.
So what he did, he the people who were there with him were really amazed by watching him. This is the miracle which Prabhupāda created. How he could, you know, they didn't, they have never met with Prabhupāda.
They have never met with, you know, they met with maybe with Anantashānti or maybe not even with Anantashānti because Anantashānti was also put in prison.
They met with some maybe young devotees from there, they maybe read some of Prabhupāda's books at that time in Russian. But the faith was so strong.
He would not eat anything which would even touch meat there, even though he was starving. He was completely, you know, his body was deteriorating and
ultimately he said to his cellmate, not even cellmate, because it was a labor camp. They had to heavy work during the day without any practically any nourishment. So he said, I I will die. I'll probably die.
And what he did, he wanted to die as a devotee. And of course, there was no tilak at that time. So what he did, he took a toothpaste. And he put tilak with the toothpaste on his body, in the twelve parts of his body.
And he put some, you know, beads, a new japa-mala or whatever over his, you know, as a devotee and something. And in this way he died. Because he wanted to maintain this his identity as a devotee. And he was ready to die.
But not to deviate from the faith. It's very difficult for us even to imagine. Here everything is free and you know if you want to practice you practice, but nobody wants to practice.
But there you know people were you know they were under a huge threat and they were practicing and they were dying for the faith. So he was the one.
International campaign for Soviet Hare Krishnas
Another one was Premavati, she was put in prison, she was a girl or a young uh woman at that time and uh uh you know a baby girl was born to her I think it was in prison when or maybe the baby girl was just born, and still she was put in prison. And this baby girl, after two months, died in prison.
And at that time, the Russian program headed by Kirti Raj Prabhu and Harikesh Maharaj at that time, you know, they started a very strong campaign all over the world to make it known.
Kirti Raj Prabhu did everything possible and impossible to—he met with the heads of states, with the presidents, with the Queen of England, and to everyone he was telling, Look, what is going on in the Soviet Union. Innocent people who are vegetarians, who are not harming other people,
who are, you know, just believing in God, they are put in prison and they die there. He started a huge campaign, Free Soviet Hare Krishna.
There were demonstrations, devotees would go out in front of the embassies in all the capitals of the world on appointed days, and they would demonstrate Free Soviet Hare Krishna, Free Soviet Hare Krishna in front of Soviet embassies.
And you know it was a big campaign, amazing campaign. You missed it. But at that time it was the talk of the whole ISKCON.
And Prahlada, the famous kīrtanīyā singer, at that time he was young, he was maybe 9 or 10 years old. And he recorded there was a recording recording of uh song.
I don't know if it was him or somebody else who wrote the poetry, and he sang a song: Mr. Gorbachev, Free My Friends, Free My Friends, Mr. Gorbachev, Free Hare Krishna. And there was a Hare Krishna there.
And in Australia they did it, and there was a big press conference and it was really big event at that time. And then they somehow or other they went to the Prime Minister of Australia.
And the Prime Minister of Australia, and they gave him this record. Well, a little boy is in a very angelic voice, is singing this song. Mr. Gorbachev, please free my friends.
And they say that this Prime Minister of Australia, he started crying when he heard this song. And he personally called Gorbachev and he started pleading to him. Please, please, please do something about this.
And that was the first one. And then Ronald Reagan he spoke with Gorbachev. And of course, at that time it was already Gorbachev, and the country would become a little more free.
And this is how this whole chapter more or less ended. But nevertheless, it was a very tragic and difficult difficult chapter. Difficult time when devotees were suffering.
But at the same time, nobody even thought of giving Hari, giving up Hare Krishna. And everyone still would preach.
Despite all these threats, despite of all these dangers, devotees would continue preaching, you know, as if nothing would happen.
Uh, and uh, the more pressure was there coming from the government, the more devotees would preach. And the movement was still spreading.
And actually, some say that, you know, like when Kaṁsa was oppressing Yādavas before the advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa, then Nārada Muni went to him and said, you know, do it more.
Why did Nārada Muni say this to him? Because he wanted to finish the guy quicker. He knew that the more atrocities he would do, the quicker he will be ended. He will be finished.
So this is what happened actually with the Soviet Union. There is definitely Hare Krishna contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union.
In an indirect way, because these people were so foolishly persecuting the innocent devotees. You know, my friend, who was also put in prison, the friend who made me a devotee. He's living in America now.
He told me a very funny story. When he was When the case against him started, and the court case against him started, the secret police they arranged for some fake or false witness.
They spoke with one lady and they probably bribed her, gave her some money, and said, You please come to the court case and you say that you know that these people they were preaching to your daughter and your daughter became crazy or something like this.
They were trying to make a case against him, against my friend and few other devotees who were living together with him. So this lady came to the court as a witness.
She was invited by the by the officials, and they said, We have a very strong witness against these people. And she started making a story.
Yeah, these people came and they were preaching and actually she made up the whole story.
She said they were telling me that you should you know sacrifice your daughter, we will make a sacrifice of your daughter or something like this. She was making heavy stories.
And the judge is sitting there, listening to this and then thinking, you know, what is happening? And it's a heavy, you know, it's a heavy situation because it's such a heavy accusation.
So and they were preaching about God and she was saying, and the lawyer, which was there with devotees, was a very smart lady. She stood up and she said, Your Majesty, can I ask this witness a question?
So she said, Yes, please ask the question. So she asked very innocently, which God did they speak about?
And because at that time nobody knew about Krishna, they only knew that there's only one God, Jesus Christ, she said, Jesus Christ, of course. The whole thing failed.
They arranged but they didn't arrange properly. They didn't inform you about which God they should speak. So this is just some little taste.
But uh it didn't really of course didn't uh didn't hinder that they still put my friend in prison, despite all these false things.
Perestroika and the nineties movement explosion
So yeah, and then Gorbachev came in power and he started freeing the country a little bit, a little bit. Perestroika was there, and you know, few devotees were released.
But most of the devotees they stayed in prison three, four years, and it was very difficult, really difficult. Some of them told me after that that we didn't know how, you know, whether we will survive or not.
Every day we were counting. And you know it it was luckily just practically only Satchis and this little girl and you know somebody else in uh psychiatric hospital also was died, he died.
And yeah, when the country was free, then the new chapter started and uh and uh in the beginning of 90s there was a huge explosion as I said there was this Boy George concert where 330,000 people were chanting together
in Moscow and uh there was a huge book distribution. I mean uh amazing book distribution. The country was so poor at the time, people were poor, and there was no cash. So people would not get salaries.
They they couldn't get salaries because there was no cash. There was huge economic crisis. So the devotees, book distributors, Sankirtan devotees,
they would come to a factory, huge factory, with you know a couple of thousand people working in the factory. And all these people they don't get salary.
So they would go to the bookkeeping office of this factory and he said
they would say, you know, we have these books, uh, you know, you don't have to pay us cash, you can you know transfer money on our bank account, we can take uh this money from you.
Uh why don't you give to all your workers uh these books, the set of books to all your workers?
And sometimes they will distribute, you know, within a couple of hours, uh, you know, two thousand or one thousand sets of Prabhupada's books. Wholesale.
Because you know people they couldn't get money, at least they could get Prabhupada's books. That's that was that was a good deal. You know, they would not get anything, but uh at least they could get something.
And I uh really at at that time it was it was easy. The book distribution was so easy at that time. I remember I was in Marathon, you know, and uh people would come.
I I would stand with some little table with the books, and somebody would come and I would start preaching to him. And this uh person uh oftentimes they would say, shut up, I I know you don't have to tell me.
I want to take these books anyway so this is how it happened. Yeah, and yeah, then there were so many other things, but I I guess for the beginning it's enough. Maybe some later we'll talk something else. Okay?
Because I'm already talking long ago.
Internal challenges and purification of followers
If you have time then quite late. Yeah, what happened after that it's it's interesting the whole history, you know, the historical lessons are very interesting.
This initial enthusiasm was there, and there was a lot of devotees, there was this a lot of explosion. And you know in in Moscow and St. Petersburg the temples were opened and everything. But then it's not that easy.
You know, the some internal problems came and devotees started losing enthusiasm also. You know, this it's uh it's still material world. It's Russia, but it's still a material world.
But you know, so far to the moment, I think it was at least Uh twenty-five, if not more, million books were distributed in the whole of Russia.
So it means that uh every uh tenth person has a book or you know 10% of the population or maybe even more. So it's probably in every other family there is a book of probability. And there was actually a radio station.
And in the beginning of the 1990s there was a special Hare Krishna radio station, Krishna Loka. There was the radio, Krishna Loka. And it was one of the most popular radio stations in Moscow.
Around one million people would listen to the programs of the station every day. One million people. It was a really good radio station.
Unfortunately we couldn't maintain it because it was a very expensive affair so we uh we couldn't continue with this program but it uh lasted for how many years? For five years. Yeah.
Five or four years because this radio station was very popular. Yeah, but then there was crisis in in Moscow. It was a very difficult time.
The Harikesa Maharaja, he changed something in his mind and it was very difficult also. But many devotees and I I was thinking about it why did it happen?
Uh when Prabhupada came, of course, everything was so glorious and uh you know his vision and his uh prophecies they were fulfilled and everything. But then why this crisis all of a sudden?
You know, there were thousands of devotees at that time in Moscow, and all of a sudden, you know, this happened, and you know, there were just a few devotees, not a few, but you know, probably half of the devotees left in 1998.
It was a very severe crisis. And I was thinking why it is. And then I came to a very important conclusion that
even though there were so many people attracted to Krishna consciousness movement, when the movement became so big and so influential in one sort of way, you know there was a lot of social pressure.
When the movement becomes big, there is some social pressure. And there were a lot of people who were kind of devotees externally, but they were not really devotional internally.
And this is what may happen also in India, you know, when the movement grows and grows and grows and grows at one point, you know, it kind of, you know, it's uh it's uh it's like fashionable to become a devotee.
Everyone around me a devotee, you know, why not to become a devotee? It's a good group, it's a good social uh uh gathering arrangement
uh and um uh you know I I could physically even physically feel that because of so many people who were not really who were losing their internal connection with Krishna but still maintaining their external appearance as a devotee, the whole atmosphere became spoiled and it was difficult.
So Krishna did a brilliant arrangement. He just just by one stroke he said, you're free. Please turn on your brain. Turn on your intelligence. You turned off your intelligence.
You are devotee not because you really believe it in uh within your heart, but because everyone else is there and because you're just blindly following.
What happens and and that's a big danger, you know, when when the movement or spiritual organization becomes popular or big, then there is a lot of blind followers. And these blind followers, it's a big burden.
It's a big burden for Krishna too. So Krishna said, no more blind followers. I don't want blind followers.
Please blind followers either become you know again Candra and decide or go away and do something else. I don't need blind followers.
So that's also a very significant part of the whole history of Russian preaching of Śrīla Prabhupāda's mission.
Global impact of Russian Krishna consciousness
And you know, since that time, of course, you know, many many years passed and the movement spread even more, it became stronger after that.
And so many Russian people are joining, Krishna consciousness is gone all over the world. Actually, in America, in England, in Europe, everywhere,
even in Japan, Russian people joining ISKCON. It's less in German ISKCON, there is less native Germans than living in Germany Russians. It's mostly Russians and Indians and few Germans are there.
Even in Japan there is a lot you know in Japan there's not so many Russians living, but somehow or other even in Japan they uh they managed to join ISKCON. Uh it's it's the vision of Prabhupada.
He he knew that somehow or rather this is this Krishna consciousness movement by some arrangement it's it's very conducive or it's very coherent, harmonious with the Russian psyche or Russian you know understanding.
So people are joining still. We have now big preachers who have also millions of followers and so many people join. But that's entirely different story. So let's keep this katha as it is now. That's enough.
So that was a little historical explanation of what happened in Russia. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! Thank you. Thank you very much, Mataji. For your example, for your [unintelligible]. Yeah.
So it was wonderful to hear this whole story. Happened, but the details many of us they don't know and it was very much present here on this topic.
Somehow in India Krishna consciousness is so easily available. You walk a few meters with Krishna temple, [unintelligible]. There were few medical students and medical workers who were working in Russia,
Māyāpurī Krishna is one of them, Madhumatī-Pārvatī was also there. And there were quite a few medical students from India who became devotees in Russia.
And one of them said, "I became a devotee in Russia, I went back to India," and he says, "There is no Krishna consciousness in India, only in Russia." Krishna. So that was his understanding. I don't know.
I don't agree with this, but that's I'm quoting him. Yeah, sometimes we become complacent. So carry we keep seeing Krishna temples, Krishna here, Krishna's name. So still giving the reason that you can't do it.
Yeah, actually one very important lesson is that we should not be complacent, we should not be we should really appreciate what we have: the gift of Krishna consciousness. It's a rare gift.
And people who are deprived of this gift, they appreciate it very much. So please also try to appreciate the opportunities which you have.
Deities, temples, devotees association, everything is prasāda, everything is freely available. You're very lucky. Thank you very much, Alex. Thank you. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda-ki-jaya.