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In a few hours the court case in Russia will resume with their feeble attempts to ban the greatest dialogue in history, the Bhagavad Gita. Through the media coverage millions have read about the Bhagavad Gita and worldwide the distribution of the Bhagavad Gita has taken on even greater meaning. Krishna is in control of everything and we pray to Krishna to protect the Russian yatra and the distribution of the Bhagavad Gita As-it-is. 

Of course no matter what the results the collective devotee community has full faith in Krishna. His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja asked that we restrain from worldwide protests. Hopefully tomorrow the results are for celebration and we can hit the street with more vigor distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. If not, we hope with the blessings of HH Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami and other senior leaders of ISKCON Russia we can hit the streets with hundreds of mrdangas, kartals, books and voices to use this as a catalyst to spread the timeless message of the Bhagavad-Gita on behalf of Srila Prabhupada and fulfill our duty in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's sankitan movement...

[The title of the article chosen by TOI created some wishful thinking for a moment but the contents are more reflective of the current status. Of course, there are now hundreds upon hundreds of articles about this case and thus we are selectively posting only a few since the devotee community at large is well aware of the case...]

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Moscow courts had dismissed Gita cases
Mona Mehta, TNN | Dec 28, 2011

Tomorrow at 12:30 hours IST, Tomsk court, Russia, is due to pass its verdict on banning the Bhagavad Gita. An "anti-cult" group affiliated to the Russian Orthodox Church, has called for a ban on the Gita terming it an 'extremist' text. And the verdict can have far reaching repercussions - either way.

An expert panel was constituted to examine if the text incites religious hatred and humiliation.

"Banning the Gita as an extremist piece of literature would mean banning the Russian chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness - one of the biggest Hindu organizations in Russia with a following of around 40,000, of which nearly 1,000 people visit the temple in Moscow every day," said Swami Bhakti Vigyan (nee Vadim Touneev), scientist by training and head of ISKCON, Russia, currently in Delhi.

This is not the first time that the Bhagavad Gita has been involved in a court case. "There were two others in a Moscow court, but Moscow being more cosmopolitan, these cases were dismissed. This one time, they have gone ahead and pressed charges and it has come to court for hearing in Tomsk," said Swami Bhakti Vigyan.

So what is so objectionable about the Bhagavad Gita - the text or commentary by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada? "Contrary to what the Russian government's spokesperson has to say, what the court is objecting to is not Prabhupada's commentary but the Bhagavad Gita itself," Swami says, who helped translate the text into Russian. "I have been involved with the translation of the Gita, especially its third edition, released in 2007. All I did was to make a few stylistic changes. The rest of the book remains the same as it was in 1984 when the Gita was first distributed in Russia. We have given out more than 10 million copies since," he adds.

A majority of the Russian population, 70 percent, would align themselves with the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, the religion prevalent in Russia before the Soviet rule, say experts, while 10 percent follow Islam. The rest are mostly atheists. "I do agree that there is a difference in the Christian and ISKCON conception of God, I understand the court has a problem with terms such as 'demons' for asuras and 'fools' for mudhas but Russians are philosophical by nature, with a high level of receptivity. They seek answers to what is the meaning of life after death and why we are born. Many Christians have told me that their understanding of the Biblehas become deeper after reading the Gita," said Swami Vigyan. "The contention is that we differ at a theological level, but a normal court is not the place to debate these differences. The core teachings of both Christianity and ISKCON are the same - love thy neighbour, love God," he added. 
 


Comments

Hanuman Das Petit
12/27/2011 11:56pm

O Lord Chaitanya threw the blessing of my Guru ,Gopal Krishna Goswami.Please watch over this court case and it's out come.
Please Lord enter the hearts of these people in wanting to stop ISKCON.ISKCON
is the anser for all humanity.
Your loving servant Hanuman das

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