To the author's page "Scholarly about India. View from Ukraine"
Abstract
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Ukraine
faces different kinds of challenges – practical as well as spiritual – since
the war in Donbas had been started. The practical challenge deals with taking
care of fellows believers from war areas. The spiritual concerns what the
community stand for in the conflict. The response on the first one was the
foundation of “Ukrainian Vaishnava Refugee Fund” which provides
temporal shelter for the refugees and makes the premises in Vaishnava retreat
centers ready for the cold season. Concerning the second challenge – ISKCON
claims principal and conscious detachment from the war. One could not expect
different positions from this religious organization taking to account its
theological particularities of the religion. Firstly, Vaishnavism claims a
strong division on material and spiritual (transcendental) worlds so that
worldly deals including wars treated less important and valuable. Secondly, the
Hindu imagination on time implies that Earth is facing the period of
degradation (kali yuga) when wars are inevitable and no one can
influence it, so there is no point in active participation in them. Thirdly,
Vaishnavism does not think about its position on war as on the detachment
rather it claims the different type of participation which derives from the
understanding of its mission in any conflict which differs from missions of
other religious organizations. The mission of ISKCON in the war not to take one
or another side but transform the quality of ignorance (tama-guna) into
the quality of goodness (sattva-guna) which is reached by
transcendental, not worldly methods. Therefore, any ISKCON charity project does
not deals with the help one or another side of the conflict directly but strive
to be universal and provide help irrespective to war affairs. As a result of
this position only two ways of charity was possible for the Krishnaites in a
wartime – the project “Food for life. Donbas” and taking care of abandoned cows
in the conflict zone.
However, the individual position of devotee could differ from
organization’s one. Usually it depends on his or her personal experience or
background, especially before coming to Krishna’s consciousness. There are
devotees who follow pro-Ukrainian position as well as those who follow
pro-Russian, thus Vaishnavas’ attitude to the conflict reflects, in general,
the Ukrainian population attitude to it on particular territories. It does not
mean that devotees on the Ukrainian territories are all pro-Ukrainian and those
who are on the uncontrolled territories are all pro-Russian. Both positions
exist on the both sides from the frontline. But because of curtain reasons one
or another position is louder on one side from the frontline and almost silent
on another.
It could be concluded that Vaishnavas accepted the spiritual challenge
successfully on both collective and individual level. As field work has shown
ISKCON avoided inner conflicts and schism on the political ground. Furthermore,
Ukrainian Vaishnavas have not lost the connection with their fellow believers
on the uncontrolled territories. Moreover, they also have not lost the good
relationships and connections with Russian fellow believers. Though the
intensity of such contacts decreased drastically it is more due to technical
reasons connecting with the difficulties on the borders. Regarding ISKCON yatras
on the uncontrolled territories of Donbas and in Crimea they are facing
difficulties with selflegalization due to strict religious laws.
