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Out of all the religions I have seen or heard about, Sanatan Dharma didn’t believe in the idea of Conversion or religious supremacy. By this statement, I don’t want to mean that Hinduism is greater or superior to other faiths. Every religion has a substantial set of pros and cons but we are not going to discuss the general criticisms witnessed by multiple religions.
We will discuss the History of Hinduism and how it entered the chilly terrains of the Soviet Union (Russia) during the 1980s. In Russia, the “Hare Krishna” movement had brought a revolution which led to a tremendous change as Hinduism and Vedic religion started to grow among the Russian populace.
Today, Russia has dozens of Hindu temples across the subcontinent. How did this change happen? Generally, we Indians think that the efforts of the “Hare Krishna” movement which is a colloquial term for “ISCKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) “and the teachings of A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had led to the rise of Hinduism in Russia.
But in reality, it was a Sacred Book that surprisingly reformed a considerable proportion of the Russian masses. That holy book was one of the highly regarded texts of Hinduism. Most of the Hindus consider it as the words of God. It was none other than Shrimad Bhagavad Gita.
THE PERSECUTION OF HINDUS UNDER RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT (the 1980s-1990s)
During the backdrop of the 1980s, Russia was under the communist rule where the proliferation of any religion was strictly prohibited. Meanwhile, two Russian buddies named Sarkis Ohanjanyon and Gagik Buniatyan read the Bhagavad Gita (As it is) and was highly impressed by the spiritual message delivered by it.
Both Sarkis and Gagik were well aware of the ramifications if they start to propagate the divine book of Hindus. On the other hand publication of any religious scriptures was highly restricted in Russia during that time. They started to write pamphlets and distributed them among the Russian people. The Soviet law enforcers get to know about it and started misbehaving with the Russian devotees of Shri Krishna. Many Bhaktas (Devotees) were put behind the bars, even the pregnant ladies weren’t spared from the brutality of the Soviet cops.
Unfortunately, both Sarkis and Gagik were also arrested by the Russian police. Quite unsurprisingly both the buddies were physically and mentally tortured by the cops that can’t be narrated via words. But this unimaginable pain didn’t shatter their goal. Their only goal was to introduce the Ancient Sanatan Dharma in front of the Russian populace.
Due to international pressure, the Russian Government were advised to release the Krishna Bhaktas from Jail.
In 1988 Council of religious affairs had registered ‘Moscow for Krishna Consciousness’ as one of the official religions of Russia. This huge decision allowed the Russian Krishna devotees to legally practice as well as propagate the Sanatan Dharma across Russia.
After few years the Russian government agreed to provide land for the construction of a Vedic temple. This was big news for the Russian Hindu population but it didn’t last long as some organisations started to oppose the decision of the Russian Government especially the Bishop Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Due to the immense coercion on the Russian government by the church, a bill was passed that “Christianity is only pre-eminent religion of Russia”.
THE EARLY DAYS OF SANATAN DHARMA IN RUSSIA (the 1990s-2010s):
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| Hindus in Russia©World Hindu news |
By the 1990s almost 10,000 Russians had amalgamated with Hinduism. Meanwhile, the Vedic temple was on a verge of completion and the Knowledge of Sanatan Dharma was flourishing among the Russian populace.
But in the year 2004, an unforeseen decision was taken by the Soviet Government as they decided to take over the temple land where the construction of the Vedic temple was almost over. As usual, the Russian devotees pleaded for help from the Indian Government. This followed by an immense backlash as well as an international denunciation of the Russian government. Due to coercion, the government returned the land to the Devotees.
Everything was fine till 2011 when the Russian court took an imprudent move and banned the Bhagavad Gita. This time the Indian government didn’t act like a mere spectator. This unexpected decision led to massive criticism in the Indian parliament where for the first time both the ruling and the opposition blatantly backlash the unwise and injudicious decision of the Russian court.
Once again it attracted the international media attention which was followed by the complete uplifting of the ban imposed on Bhagavad Git by the court.
CONCLUSION:
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| Hindus in Russia©Huffpost |
WHAT DO WE UNDERSTAND FROM THIS STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE?
If your intentions and your goals are beneficial for human society nothing can stop you. That’s what I learned from this struggle for existence. It all started with the ambitions of two friends who initiated a huge movement that led to a tremendous reformation on the soil of Russia. The Russian devotees of Krishna strived for recognition of Sanatan Dharma within the Russian soil and their path was filled up with innumerable difficulties but they didn’t give up. They worked hard coz they believe in their goals. The devotees endured all sort of brutalities but they never surrendered coz they believed that their ambitions will profoundly influence Russian society.
This story is taken from a famous book named “The salted bread”.
JAI SHREE RAM
JAI SHREE KRISHNA
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