Hinduism in Russia

Introduction

Hinduism has been spread in Russia primarily due to the work of missionaries from the religious organization International Society for Krishna Consciousness from the West, Brahma Kumaris and by itinerant swamis from India. There is an active Tantra Sangha operating in Russia.

Hinduism in Ancient times

An Ancient Vishnu idol found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia.

The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.

Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons.

Dr Kozhevin believes that today's Staraya Maina, a town of eight thousand, was ten times more populated in the ancient times. It is from here that people started moving to the Don and Dneiper rivers around the time ancient Russy built the city of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine Ancient Vishnu Deity Found in Russia

Regions bearing Hindu names

• Durga
• Durga Pervaya
• Durgay-Aul
• Kama River
• Moksha
• Moksha (river)
• Mokshaley
• Mokshan
• Mokshenskoye
• Moksheyevo
• Mokshino
• Mokshinskaya
• Mokshinskiy
• Mokshitsa
• Mokshitsy
• Om River
• Siva
• Sivachi
• Sivachikan
• Sivagli
• Sivaglig
• Sivak
• Sivakchan
• Sivaki
• Sivaki Pervyye
• Sivakovka
• Sivakovo
• Sivalikha
• Yaksha, Komi Republic

Hindus in Russia

According to the Defend Russian Hindus campaign, there are 60,000 Hindus in Russia, over 10,000 of whom live in Moscow.

Hindus in Russia are being subjected to discrimination by a corpus made of the Russian Orthodox Church and the State.

Hindu Organisations in Russia

Hindu groups which have presence in Russia are ISKCON, Brahma Kumari, Ramakrishna Mission or Vedanda Society, Ananda Marga, the organizations associated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Sahaja Yoga, Shri Chinmaya Mission, Satya Sai Baba and Osho Rajneesh.

While ISKCON and Brahma Kumari appear to have a relatively strong following in Russia, the other organizations in the list have a marginal presence in this country.

As of December 2005, the Federal Registration Service recorded the number of registered Hindus groups as follows: Hindu-1, Krishna-78, Tantric-2, and Sikh-1 IRF 2006

ISKCON in Russia

As of December 2005, the Federal Registration Service of Russia has registered 78 Krishna communities IRF 2006

Iskcon Centres in Russia are as follows

Centre-1, ISKCON -Almetyevsk, Russia

Centre 2- ISKCON- Archangelsk, Russia

Centre 3- ISKCON- Astrahan, Russia

Centre 4- ISKCON- Berezniki, Russia

Centre 5- ISKCON- Cherkessk, Russia

Centre 6- New Ekacakra, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Centre 7- ISKCON, Essentuki, Russia

Centre 8- ISKCON, Habarovsk, Russia

Centre 9- ISKCON, Ijevsk, Russia

Centre 10- ISKCON, Irkutsk, Russia

Centre 11- ISKCON, Kazan, Russia

Centre 11- New Krishnaloka, Krasnodar, Russia

Centre 12- Gaura-Nitai Mandir, Moskva, Russia

Centre 12- ISKCON, Moskva-Begovaya, Russia

Centre 13- New Koladvipa, Murmansk, Russia

Centre 14- ISKCON, Nalchik, Russia

Centre 15- Local Get-together Program, National, Russia

Centre 16- ISKCON, Nijni Novgorod, Russia

Centre 17- ISKCON, Novorossiysk, Russia

Centre 18- ISKCON, Novosibirsk, Russia

Centre 19- ISKCON, Omsk, Russia

Centre 20- ISKCON, Penza, Russia

Centre 21- New Dandakaranya, Perm, Russia

Centre 22- ISKCON, Petrozavodsk, Russia

Centre 23- ISKCON,Protvino, Russia

Centre 24- ISKCON, Rostov, Russia

Centre 25- ISKCON, Petrograd, Russia

Centre 26- New Srivas Angam, Samara, Russia

Cemntre 27- ISKCON, Simbirsk, Russia

Centre 28- ISKCON, Sochi, Russsia

Centre 29- ISKCON, Stavropol, Russia

Centre 30- Prabhupada Desh, Tumen, Russia

Centre 31- ISKCON, Ulan-ude, Russia

Centre 32- ISKCON, Ulyanovsk, Russia

Centre 34- ISKCON, Vladimir, Russia

Centre 35- Gopal's, Vladivostok, Russia

Centre 36- ISKCON, Yaroslavl, Russia

Centre 37- ISKCON, Yujno-sahalinsk, Russia

Brahma Kumaris in Russia

Brahma Kumaris has 20 Centres in Russia. They are as follows

Centre 1- Main Centre- Regional Co-ordinating Office, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, 2 Gospitalnaya Ploschad, Build. No. 1, Moscow 111020

Centre 2- Main Centre- Centre Kumaris Brahma, 4 Severny Prospect, Build. No. 2, Saint-Petersburg, 194354

Centre 3- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 58 9th Gvardeiskaya diviziya street, Flat No.13, Istra Moscow Region, 143500

Centre 4- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 61 Leonova street, Flat No. 9, Kaliningrad 236000

Centre 5- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 17 Transportnaya street, Flat No. 14, Klin Moscow Region 141600

Centre 6- Centre Brahma Kumaris, Kolpino Leningrad Region

Centre 7- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 35 Prospect Andropova, Moscow 115487

Centre 8- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 15 Gorkogo street, Murom Vladimir Region 602200

Centre 9- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 9 Volzhskaya Naberezhnaya street, Flat No. 421, Nizhny Novgorod, 603159

Centre 10- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 8 Kostycheva street, Flat No. 43, Novosibirsk, 630054

Centre 11- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 165 Bolshevistskaya street, Flat No. 90, Perm, 614068

Centre 12- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 7 Frolova street, Flat No. 64, Petrozavodsk 185026

Centre 13- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 40 Zheleznodorozhnaya street, Flat No. 21, Pushkin Leningrad Region 196608

Centre 14- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 11 Reki Sestry Emb., Flat No. 78, Sestroretsk Leningrad Region 197701

Centre 15- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 4 Zhukovskogo street, Flat No. 92, Shchelkovo-3 Moscow Region 141103

Centre 16- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 12 Navaginskaya street, Flat No. 106, Sochi 354000

Centre 17- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 15 Nekrasovsky pereulok, Flat No. 14, Vologda 160014

Centre 18- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 21 Serova street, Flat No. 130, Yekaterinburg 620144

Centre 19- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 6 Michurina street, Zhukovsky Moscow Region 140184

Centre 20- Centre Brahma Kumaris, 26/19, Tciolkovskogo Emb, Flat No. 27, Zhukovsky-2 Moscow Region 140186

Other Hindu Groups

Ramakrishna Mission or Vedanta Society has a Centre in Russia. Address- Obschestvo Ramakrishni Center Vedanti, Ulitsa Krasnogo Mayaka, Dom-8 Kr2 Kv74, Moscow 113519, Russia.

Even Ramakrishna Mission faced problem in getting registered in Russia.

Ananda Marga has Centre in Barnaul, Siberia, Russia

Russian Tantra Sangha

Tantra Sangha has fifteen Spiritual Communities and Satsang groups with 250 Members in Moscow and other towns.

As of December 2005, the Federal Registration Service of Russia has registered only two Tantra Sangha branches IRF 2006

The first registered branch is at Moscow

The Second Tantra Sangha branch at Nizhniy Novgorod was officially recognized on December 7, 1993

Tantra Sangha perform Vedic fire ceremonies under the open sky near rivers and forests according to orthodox Vedic Hindu rites adjusted for the Russian situation.

Tantra Sangha has a small temple in Moscow devoted to Shakti and Siva Linga worship and a Meditation hall. Tantra Sangha performs Kirtan on Daily Basis.

Controversy over construction of a Hindu temple in Moscow

A large centre is being built in Moscow, which was initially opposed by the Orthodox Church. In 2003 the authorities asked devotees to vacate their temple in exchange for a piece of land on which they could build a bigger temple[1]. This was followed immediately by mass protests orchestrated by the Russian Orthodox Church which did not want land given to a temple that was "converting Russian Christians to a Hindu way of life". Hindus were victimised, threatened, bullied, beaten and subject to violence. A misinformation campaign was launched against Hindus by the Orthodox Church [2]. Finally, on November 2005, the Mayor of Russia cancelled the land order and took away the piece of land given for the construction of the Hindu temple. Russia also has a history of passing laws that discriminate against minority faith communities.

Hindus all over the world have expressed outrage and anger after a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Nikon called the Hindu God, Lord Krishna an ‘evil demon’ around the time of Indian Prime Minister’s state visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Putin.

In a letter to the Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, wired by Interfax news agency on November 30, Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Nikon called Lord Krishna “an evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God”, and “a livid lascivious youth”.

The Archbishop further requested the Mayor to ban construction of a proposed Hindu temple in Moscow saying it would otherwise become “an idolatrous disgrace erected for the glory of wicked and malicious ‘god’ Krishna”.

“Construction of the temple to Krishna offends our religious feelings and insults the thousand-year religious culture of Russia,” Interfax quoted Archbishop Nikon as saying.

On January 14th 2006, The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone handed over letters expressing concern about the harassment of Russian Hindus by the Moscow Government and the Russian Orthodox Church to the visiting Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov in London, even as British Parliamentarians led by Ashok Kumar MP, Lord Dholakia and Baroness Flather got ready to host the launch of the Defend Russian Hindus campaign at the House of Commons on 18th January of the same year. British Parliamentarians and members of the Hindu, Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities will adopt a resolution at the Defend Russian Hindus launch at the House of Commons, urging the Moscow Government to stop harassment of minority religions in Russia. Parliamentarians from all three parties will later hand a copy of this resolution to the Russian Ambassador in London [3].

At the same time, the construction of the Sikh temple and cultural centre in Moscow did not involve any controversy. Dr. Igor Kotin from Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of Russian Academy of Sciences commented that the hostility towards the Krishna temple issue has not been directed towards the traditional Vedic culture, but rather towards its Western interpretation by ISKCON [4].

See Also

• List of Hindu temples all over the world

External links

• World Hindus furious as Russian Archbishop calls Lord Krishna an ‘evil demon’
• Actual Letter to Moscow Mayor from Bigotted Russian Archbishop calling the Hindu God Lord Krishna a Satan or Demon and forbidding the construction of the Hindu Temple in Moscow, Russia
• Russian Swami Finds Forefather's Faith in Sanatana Dharma
• Row over the Moscow temple
• Ancient Vishnu idol found in Russian town
• Petition to Govt. of Russia, USA , India and UNO to safeguard the rights of Hindus in Russia and their right to build a place of worship / Temple.
• Russian church blacklists eight India-based organizations by Arun Mohanty
• Ananda Marga in Russia
• Letters to Editors- Tantra Sangha recognized in russia on December 7, 1993
• Russian Spirit Includes Hindus