SANKIRTANA ASSOCIATION
26.03.2012
HISTORY
«In 1971 Shrila Prabhupada visited Moscow, while staying there for only 2-3 days, he planted the seed of bhakti in the heart of Ananta Shanti (Anatoly Pinyaev), who became Prabhupada’s disciple. The seed sprouted up to a wonderful tree that has blossomed and brought forth sweet fruits».
This is an official version of how ISKCON began in the former USSR. Of course it’s just an allegory, the result of unbridled imagination and fantasy of the modern historians of ISKCON. Now, using Prabhupada as a cover, his so called followers have built an insurmountable wall that serves for them as a sword and shield of their own ambitions, and for their fight with dissenters. So, what is the real history of Krishna Consciousness in the USSR?
Professor Kotovsky’s recollection of his meeting with Shrila Prabhupada:
«It was spring time. 1971. I’ve learned that the founder and leader of the Movement, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada made a request to Soviet Consulate in Calcutta about issuing him visa to travel to Moscow, where he was planning to visit the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. As our Institute was not prepared for this visit, the request for visa was declined. That’s why I was extremely surprised when on June 21, 1971 I received a call from the Indian Embassy and I was informed that Shrila Prabhupada is in Moscow where he arrived specifically to meet me. On my question who invited Prabhupada to Moscow, the caller, he introduced himself as staff member of the Indian Embassy, Narayan, replied: «Our Embassy». Also, the caller emphasized that Prabhupada will stay in Moscow only 2-3 days, and requests me to meet him as soon as possible. (Looking back I realize that he probably had a transit visa).
I was gripped by conflicting feelings. On the one hand, meeting with Shrila Prabhupada, unapproved by authorities, could cause me several problems, including being fired from my position, and other sanctions, such as ban on my trips abroad. On the other hand, I couldn’t refuse to meet the man how made this long trip just to meet me. I decided to take a risk — meet Shrila Prabhupada, secretly form my colleagues and the supervisors of the Institute of Eastern Studies. I scheduled the meeting next day, June 22».
It has to be noted that professor Kotovsky, although followed liberal point of view, or as he used to say himself, «ideas of political tolerance and ideological pluralism», was a hereditary communist, and always remained a convinced atheist.
«On June 22, 1971, in the morning, I was waiting for my guest in my little office of the Head of India and South Asia Department on the second floor of the building of the Institute of Eastern Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. It was located at Armenian Lane (now Center of Armenian Culture). I saw from the window that he enters the gates of the Institute followed by the group of young people in orange garments. I got out, met them and walked them to my office, followed by surprised looks of few staff members we met on our way from the lobby to the stairs.
As this meeting was very risky for me for the reasons listed above, I agreed with Shrila Prabhupada that there will be no records of our meeting….
It passed about ten years after my meeting with Shrila Prabhupada. One of the staff members of my Department of India, and South Asia, R. B. Rybakov, (currently working as a Director of the Institute of Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) who studied reformatory currents in Hinduism, brought from his trip to India small pamphlet with the text of my conversation with Parbhupada, although translated, very poorly, into Russian. I realized, that in the breach of our agreement with him, there was a tape record of our conversation. And this record became available to readers, and thus might be obtained by Soviet special service agencies. Sure enough, that’s what happened. After a short while the KGB agent came to the Institute to meet me. He showed me some print out of our conversation with Prabhupada. By this time, in our country, somehow there appeared some society of the followers of the Krishna Consciousness movement. And it was severely persecuted by the authorities. Naturally, in certain KGB departments, there appeared questions, if I am somehow a part of the spreading of this movement in the country. I have to admit that the KGB agent was quite intelligent man, and accepted, calmly and with trust, my story about meeting Prabhupada».
