Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Please SAVE the only KRISHNA temple in RUSSIA

What Communist Soviet Union could not do to stop the Hare Krishna movement from winning the hearts of the hardcore communist’s and Indians living in Moscow from practicing their own religion even after so many persecutions of the Hare Krishna devotees, it seems that few people in the current city administration is trying their luck by twice demolishing the Hare Krishna Temple in Moscow and by taking back the land allotted for the temple construction under the pressure of few fanatic people. It seems the local administration do not care and respect the agreement signed and assurances given to the Indian Minister's, Chief Minister's, Member of Parliaments, India businessmen’s, Vice President of India, diplomat's & other important people.
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)

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