It is shocking to conscience of a civilized human being to hear that Russia is inching towards banning Gita, the sacred text of Hindus and its eternal civilization. And the Hindus believe that these are revelations made by god himself, which influenced the likes of Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and many others, current British PM mentioned he has a copy this text in his office. Reason for ban is understandably the violence which Gita propagates. Many allege that the Russian orthodoxy church is working overnight on this endeavor, and truth is yet to come to light. Its pity to see the bankruptcy of intellectual ability of the few who seek a ban. When compared to Catholic Church the Russian Orthodox Church is less fanatic, not known why it intends to do this.
Coming back to the original contention on which the ban is sought, the violence it propagates. This will be the first such claim ever made since the big bang. Approx. 25% of Russian population belong to other religious traditions which includes hindus, Buddhists, muslims and others etc., Mahatma Gandhi is a product of Gita which he admitted and preaches non-violence which he learnt from Gita. Is there a problem with the interpreters who did not apply their mind? Probably Dr.Frank Morales (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) shall assist. Gita neither professes Jihad nor guides to crusade and kill if someone resisted to convert to Christianity. There are many atrocities committed in the name of Christianity/Bible and Islam/Koran and none by Gita. Currently let me focus on the atrocities in the name of Bible as it happens in a Christian majority country. Please see Acharya’s site - http://www.truthbeknown.com/victims.htm for list of atrocities committed in the name of Christianity.
What Gita seeks is the truth and guides the mortals to salvation. God shows the way of action, ultimate reality, knowledge, renunciation, realization of the supreme self. Interpreters possibly reading this out of contest. When the brutal invaders of the recently originated religions occupied India their main aim was to distort and destroy this country culturally and at the end they could not. For the past 1000 years Islam and Christianity is trying to turn this country in to either Christian majority or Muslim majority like southern Sudan and Iran/Iraq. The strength to resist the distortion was gained through texts like Gita. And the people attracted towards Gita were not indoctrinated or given money or other benefits to change their allegiance. If the accepting levels are increasing it means people saw the truth and the church should not fear. Under the communist regime the church was in doldrums and it is only due to the religious freedom given by the successive governments it could survive. Imagine India banning Koran citing that it propagates terrorism, I really don’t think so that will solve a problem.
Riddled with many structural, institutional and political problems the priority for Russia should not be banning books. It’s hard to agree the argument that Russia has independent judiciary.GOI must impress up on Russia that what it intends to set is a bad and dangerous precedent. When Medvedev was talking about taking forward Perestroika (restructuring) initiated by Gorbachev we thought Russia is on the right path. Disturbing fact is that nobody in the ruling tandem has the will to stand up and say that it is against the cannons of religious freedom and is an intolerant behavior. Gita should not be treated like Mein Kampf. An all time friend of ours should understand the sensitivity of the situation at hand and shall intervene. The ban has at least made the cultural Marxists, missionaries and Jihadists happy and is a reason for their celebration, but not a good news for the majority.
The hope is that good sense will prevail in those who are pushing for ban. If banned it means Russia has become a Stalinist state again and its a step towards becoming a failed and rogue state.
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