“Soviet Russia faced three major threats — pop music, Western culture, and the Hare Krishna movement,” remarked Semyon Tsvigun, the deputy chief of the KGB, the USSR’s feared spy agency. In the 1980s, many Iskcon followers were imprisoned for chanting “Hare Krishna.” Iskcon, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was founded by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the US and encountered significant challenges in the Soviet Union, including the deaths of some devotees. Despite this, the Hare Krishna movement has made significant progress and is now integrated into society.
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How Iskcon entered Russia
Srila Prabhupada, the founder of Iskcon, sought to visit the USSR as an “official representative” of India and even wrote to the Ministry of Culture about it, as noted by Iskcon’s magazine Back to Godhead. However, his entry was denied without explanation. After several attempts, he finally obtained a tourist visa for a brief stay but was not permitted to lecture at Moscow University. Despite these restrictions, Prabhupada left a lasting impact and the Iskcon movement began in here after his meeting with Anatoly Pinyayev.
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Ussr sends iskcon devotees to prison, Some die
Iskcon would begin to rise in popularity in the 1970s. In 1977 and 1979, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust received an invitation from the Moscow International Book Fair. Several Moscovites felt a liking to Prabhupada’s books, reported the New York Times. “To draw in visitors,” the newspaper quoted one of the devotees saying,”we offered Indian sweets that other devotees and I prepared. We played Hare Krishna music. Bright-colored books with eye-catching pictures of mythical beings lined the shelves. Fairgoers were invited to fill out order blanks, and the money, anywhere from 5 to 30 rubles, had to be put down at once”, reported NYT.
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