India helped win Gita case: Iskcon

On Wednesday, a court in the Siberian city of Tomsk dismissed a plea to declare the Bhagwad Gita edited by Swami Prabhupada, the founder of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon), as ‘extremist’ literature that incited violence against other religions.

For Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, the head of Iskcon’s Moscow unit, the case portended dangerous consequences for a movement that had survived even the communist Soviet Union. A relatively small group, but conspicuous in Russia’s cities because of the attire worn by its members, Iskcon now faced the prospect of being declared an extremist group. 

Goswami, who is in Mumbai for the inauguration of a bust of Yuri Gagarin — the first man in space — at the Nehru Science Centre, said when trial began in June, he felt that the case had to be won at the local level. “If you lose at the local level, nobody will care about the Supreme Court,” he said.

He met Russian politicians for help and later, the Indian foreign ministry. “We approached friends who could help. They said that even if we lose at the local level, the case will not hold in a higher court,” said Goswami.

Though Iskcon tried to use its influence to get the case closed, the prosecutors were adamant in pursuing it. Iskcon, Moscow, initially wanted to go about the case quietly. It helped when Indian Parliament and the media picked up the case, said Goswami.

While the Tomsk court did not find “Bhagwad Gita as it is” extremist, there is a possibility that the case may move to a higher court though Goswami feels that this is doubtful. “The hearing at the local court revealed that it did not have good ground,” he said.

Iskcon has around 80 branches in Russia with around 30,000-40,000 members. Goswami, whose scientist parents were atheist, was a student of molecular biology in Moscow when he first read the Bhagwad Gita more than 30 years ago.

“The Gita was god-centric, but it was rational. I found in Bhagwad Gita answers to my questions,” he signed off.