The Gita controversy prompts me to revisit many inspiring moments in Russia's long rendezvous with Hinduism, in the pre-Soviet, Soviet and post-Soviet eras. It's necessary to do so because our leftist intellectuals, owing to their hatred for Hinduism, rarely mention this subject. The Gita was first brought to Astrakhan on the Volga by Indian merchants in 1615—nearly two centuries before it was translated in Europe. Peter the Great allowed them to build a Hindu temple and exempted them from all taxes. The best minds in Russia had a deep fascination for Hindu philosophy and eastern mysticism. This is best exemplified by two towering names in Russian art and literature—Leo Tolstoy and Nicholas Roerich. Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You and his A Letter to a Hindoo had a transformative impact on Gandhiji when he was in South Africa. Gandhiji sent a copy of his Hind Swaraj to the rishi in Russia, who deeply appreciated its message as having "the greatest importance, not only for India but for the whole humanity." Tolstoy had also read some works of Swami Vivekananda. Despite some differences on certain issues, which were largely due to the fact that all of Swamiji's works were not yet available in Russian, Tolstoy described him as one of the greatest thinkers in world history, one whose philosophy is "profound on God, soul, man, unity of religions". When a disciple of Swamiji sent him a book on the Gita, he wrote, "The metaphysical, religious idea of Krishna so well expounded in your book is the eternal and universal basis of all religions and all philosophical systems."
