Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet architect of reform, is turning the Communist world upside-down. His glasnost, or openness, and now peristroika, or restructuring, are transforming much of Eastern Europe, and his historically unprecedented moves are providing the courage and vision to constructively fuel the fire of discontent with communism that is felt throughout the world. Is there a spiritual influence behind his reforms—a power greater than himself that is propelling human society in the direction of its spiritual destiny? Has this power, if it exists, manifested as glasnost and peristroika in Eastern Europe?

These may be questions that none of us can answer, but an inside look at spiritual life in the Eastern bloc may help us to arrive at an informed opinion. Although some countries are resisting peristroika, in those that have followed Gorbachev's lead, spiritual life has never flourished more since the inception of the first Socialist Republic.

A European man of medium stature and slender build known by his followers as Swami B. A. Narayana was to be our host throughout most of Eastern Europe. We met him at his flat in Vienna where he and a handful of devoted followers maintain a small ashram and  write, translate, and publish spiritual books for Russia and Eastern Europe. Russian, Hungarian, Rumanian, and Bulgarian, to name a few, are some of the many languages which have couched their spiritual message over the last fifteen years. Just how these books have miraculously appeared over the years on Communist soil, and how they have been circulated, is something Swami Narayana is less inclined to talk about. "Call it the will of God,"  he replies with a gleam in his eye to any such inquiries and artfully moves on to another topic, impelled by both genuine humility and an intriguing element of caution. Both his caution and humility rubbed off on us as we journeyed into unknown, and sometimes forbidden territories—in terms of what we were actually up to—and met what appeared to us to be some of the most sincere spiritual seekers on the planet.

Hungary was our point of entry into the lands behind the Iron Curtain. Gorbachev's reforms cannot be felt anywhere more than at the Hungarian border, where just before our arrival both the Hungarian military and civilians were engaged in dismantling the gnarly barbed wire that for decades had served to divide East and West, both symbolically and practically. I had thought to myself while contemplating our trip, "Just what is the Iron Curtain?" At the many borders we crossed that became clear. It's not just a figure of speech, but an actual fence—or in some instances, a wall—surrounded by several miles of mine fields, watchtowers, guards, and dogs.

Swami Narayana speaks fluent Hungarian, and his mission has developed in Hungary more than in any of the other Eastern European countries to date. A bit of a history buff, to the extent that he has been invited to several continents to speak on Eastern Europe's ancient connection with India, Swami Narayana told us of the Huna tribes of Indian origin who came to settle in Hungary. Sanskrit references, cultural similarities, and descriptions of mythic figures who appear in both Hungarian as well as Indian mythology, all proved to make a very convincing case for cultural and spiritual ties between these two countries. But at present we were entering a different land; one in which until only very recently, spiritual thought has been—to put it mildly—discouraged.

The recent political developments in Hungary are a result of Gorbachev's peristroika, but Swami Narayana feels that peristroika may well be a result of reforms that were first attempted in Hungary years ago which at the time Russia and the Communist world were not yet ready for. The short-lived 1956 Hungarian Revolution was inspired by many of the conceptions that now appear as peristroika. In fact, in Hungary today the spirit of reform is running a step ahead of the Russian pace and that of Eastern Europe, as is its spiritual evolution.

Arriving in Budapest, we were ushered to a large flat where Swami Tirtha, a disciple of Swami Narayana, and several others greeted us with warmth and curiosity. Swami Tirtha had arranged a speaking engagement for that evening, and in a short time the living room swelled with guests eager to hear the discourse of Swami Narayana. It was in this setting that we got firsthand experience of the keen interest in spirituality in Eastern Europe that Swami Narayana had told us about.

The presence of two Americans—a journalist and cameraman— made the session that much more intriguing for the guests, who ventured to ask about us. After Swami Narayana explained our intentions, he was quick to emphasize that "Spiritual knowledge should be broadcast throughout the world, but glamorous presentations of spiritual life can be misleading. Spiritual life is not a fad or fashion. It is not something to take up as a hobby, but a lifetime commitment." I could not help but feel Swami Narayana's advice was directed towards ourselves more than his Hungarian audience. Later this was confirmed when we came to know of the risks involved in pursuing a spiritual ideology in a Communist country. Although things were changing rapidly in Hungary, many of the people present had been involved with the Swami during times when, had they been discovered, they could have been subject to torture and even death. As we found out later, some of them had been.

In the West, spiritual life is easily adopted, at least externally, at no real cost; only money in some instances. But in Eastern Europe there is not much chance of falling prey to a trendy version of spiritual glamor, at least as long as it remains separated from the watered-down worst of the West. Swami Narayana was in no way taken in by the relative freedom across the border. Only recently has Swami Narayana's mission been recognized by the Hungarian government, and for the first time he is free to publish and practice his faith in Hungary. His inner core of disciples are very active at universities and cultural centers, yet their new-found freedoms are practiced with a tinge of apprehension. Their memories of the recent past are all too fresh, and it is with near-disbelief that they carry on, almost with a "too good to be true" attitude. After all, only one year ago the Communist Youth Organization, consisting of members worldwide, while meeting in Budapest concluded that the two most formidable enemies to communism at the time were rock 'n' roll and Indian philosophy.

Giridhari, one of Swami Narayana's first disciples who now lives with his wife and child in Budapest, recalled his beginning days of spiritual interest. These were times when peristroika was unmentionable. "I received a book published by Swami Narayana in 1978 from a friend. He had copied the book in his own handwriting. Keeping that copy for himself, he asked me to read it, copy it, and pass it on. The subject matter in the book was such that one could only discuss it, expressing interest, with someone you could trust implicitly. You see, in the Communist world it is very difficult to trust anyone, because every third person is working for the party. Most persons do so by force of circumstances rather than voluntarily. They may have broken a law, however small, and been threatened that unless they regularly reported on their acquaintances, they would be severely punished. In Hungary, in the past, this was quite common.

"Although I devoured the book, I could not find the people who published it for six months. They were always holding secret meetings and moving from flat to flat. They never stayed in any one location for more than a week." When he finally met Swami Narayana he became an active member, and sometime later, after another member became a landowner, he moved to the country, from where he conducted secret meetings and operated a business to support his activities. This one-acre farm soon became the target of a raid by the Hungarian police, resulting in Giridhari's arrest and imprisonment for several months.

Swami Narayana related how Giridhari was later released and the police informed him, "You can worship God or Hitler, we don't care, but don't try to spread your ideology." But later the police who were sent to regularly check up on the farm expressed a change of heart. Several of them even removed their high boots before entering the house, and told the residents to tell everyone that the police had given them a hard time, although they had not. When this occurred, courage was renewed, and the spiritual aspirants continued with their missionary zeal.

Swami Narayana related how on another occasion the police appeared to be  positively influenced by his mission's movements. "Once, the whereabouts of one of our meetings was discovered by the police. The host of the meeting place was then approached by them. They insisted that he either give them a lead as to how to find our group or face jail. Although he pleaded with them, insisting that he didn't know how to get in touch with us, the police didn't believe him. Finally he said, 'If you step on the foot of all of the people on the bus, those persons who do not complain are the Swami's followers.' Literally stunned by the reply, they left him alone. They must have stopped to think, 'Are these the type of people we want to do away with?' Instances such as these, few and far between as they were, gave us the strength to carry on."

When I asked Swami Narayana about his extraordinary enthusiasm for communicating spiritual ideas, he replied to the point: "It is a common misconception that genuine transcendentalists do not canvass. Compassion is synonymous with real spiritual life, and real compassion is the distribution of transcendental knowledge. To make this knowledge available to others is the natural overflow of transcendental experience. Of course, it is not a question of convincing someone; rather, making the opportunity available."

Several others are also actively teaching yoga and opening vegetarian restaurants and "reform food stores." Forty-one-year-old Kovacs Karoly has been teaching yoga as a sport club president for several years in Budapest under the inspiration of his master Swami. The Swami's first hatha yoga book published with government permission sold 50,000 copies in three days. Although it dealt exclusively with hatha yoga, divorced from the spiritual ideology that is foundational to the yoga system, Kovacs saw it as a step in the right direction. Now he boasts of 5,000 students and has plans to print another book unveiling yoga's higher purpose and the yogic world view.

In Peces we met with Istvan Demeter, who operates the only vegetarian restaurant in all of Hungary. Istvan is a Seventh-Day Adventist who broke away from the mainstream fundamentalist church establishment, one that was tolerated by the government because of their willingness to conform with the government policy condemning attempts to win new members. Now he freely operates the Vitamin Restaurant, a private business, catering to the student community and the elderly with a spirit of spiritual plurality.

A longstanding friend of Swami Narayana, Dr. Jozsef Tamasi, now the leading advocate of naturopathic approaches to health care in Hungary and the president of the Hungarian Naturopathic Scientists Association, brought us up-to-date with the status of alternative health care behind the Iron Curtain. For the past 30 years it has been entirely discouraged, but in recent years that has changed drastically. Dr. Tamasi is now involved in creating a curriculum for all medical students to include education in the fields of naturopathic healing with government funding. He has been given the task of defining natural medicine for the state. "Folk medicine" is being reexamined and herbal formulas are being taken very seriously. The leading alternative therapies in the country today are herbal formulas and acupuncture, and the Association will soon publish three books on ayurveda, yoga therapy, and aromatherapy. Considering that many of these approaches to health care are based on a metaphysical world view, it is staggering to think what a dramatic effect this will have on the country. According to Dr. Tamasi, it is now accepted amongst medical practitioners in Hungary that chronic disease cannot be dealt with effectively through a biomedical approach; naturopathic approaches are being looked to for the solutions to such diseases.

Dr. Tamasi is also in charge of developing an eco-village outside of Budapest where 200 acres will be used for organic farming, alternative health care workshops will be operative, and all religions will be represented. It will be an experimental community that views the Earth as a living entity.

According to the doctor, outside of Hungary alternative health care is also flourishing, and this is so even in those countries where there is a strong resistance to peristroika. Czechoslovakia, for example, where Gorbachev's reforms are opposed, leads Eastern Europe in the acceptance of yoga therapy. Yoga therapy is offered in every hospital and it is considered as valid an approach to health care as is physical therapy. In Russia, previously yoga was tolerated, whereas now it is encouraged. Russia also leads the Communist countries in the practice of iridology.

But this brings us to the other half of Eastern Europe: Hungary is only one country, and the climate for spiritual life is not the same throughout the Eastern bloc. Poland, Bulgaria, and of course the Soviet Union are going in the same direction, but the next country we visited was one that offers a sharp contrast from progressive Hungary. Rumania and Hungary serve as the best example of the split in Eastern Europe over peristroika. Even Swami Narayana wouldn't enter Rumania. Here we were on our own—bent on firsthand experience, equipped with a list of names and addresses—and all the food we could carry, we passed through the Hungarian border, entering deeper into lands seldom visited by anyone from the West.

Rumania has nothing good to say about peristroika, at least not from the president's palace. Cousesco, who had led the Communist party of Rumania since 1965, is the closest thing to a Fascist one can find in the Communist world. Religion is not high on his list of freedoms, few of which are to be found here at all. We had heard stories of Hungary's past, but whatever doubts we may have had that such tales of Communist intimidation had been exaggerated were eradicated in Rumania. When we crossed the border we were asked, "Do you have any heroin, hashish, bibles, or guns?" all in the same breath. Here people live in terror, especially the  thousands of Germans and Hungarians still trapped within the Rumanian boundaries.

The mountainous region within Rumania that borders Hungary is known as Transylvania. The beautiful countryside, with its rolling green foothills and towering mountains in the distance, was comforting. It is a beautiful land, one rich in potential for agriculture. As we wound our way down the main highway, the equivalent of a small bumpy country road in America's Midwest, typical "old country" people dotted the fields tilling the soil. They appeared as they did in the large photos that once decorated JFK Airport's international arrivals terminal, commemorating the mass immigration to the U.S. after World War II—men wearing hats and women wearing babushkas, unchanged by time. Gypsies in covered wagons moved with a mystique along the same roadside, waving to us as we passed. Christian churches built long ago, still standing now in varying degrees of disrepair but beautiful nonetheless, stood as ornaments decorating these outlands, reminding us of Transylvania's past, when ironically, as a principality of Hungary with its own government, this land was the first to champion religious freedom. Transylvania seemed filled with content, but it was only on the surface, and only to the extent that the people were distanced from the long arm of the "law."

Transylvania is populated principally by Hungarians. At one time it was part of Hungary, but since the Second World War it was annexed to Rumania. Most striking was the fact that although we were within a regime of terror as documented in the popular Red Horizon, we were among some of the most friendly people one could hope to meet. Without a guide we relied heavily upon roadside advice and Lonely Planet's Eastern Europe on a Shoestring by David Stanley. Here is a book one could not do without on a trip such as this. If we had any bible in our possession, practically speaking this was it.

Staying overnight with people is forbidden. Although meeting with them is permitted, those with whom one meets are potentially targets of intimidation and interrogation. We had several names and addresses of persons interested in spiritual life which we were given by Atilla Erdody, an ex-Rumanian citizen who escaped to West Germany in 1984. These persons proved to be quite spirited and some insisted that we spend the night with them, extending hospitality at great personal risk.

Atilla had been involved in studying Indian philosophy and practicing a form of devotional yoga for some time before he had to flee the country for his life. One day in Bucharest, Atilla, whose father was an old, one-time Hungarian aristocrat, was approached by a Hungarian man visiting the country. After exchanging words and "feeling one another out," the Hungarian man asked him if he was interested in Indian philosophy. Atilla's eyes lit up, and taking a chance, he affirmed his curiosity and was handed a small book. This book both changed his life and endangered it as well.

Atilla related how his acquaintance, who later became his teacher, regularly risked his life distributing spiritual books. "Once we traveled to a small town together, and my teacher had many books that he had hidden within the door panels of his car. We stopped, and many people surrounded our car. This is quite common. People are very curious, and in groups they are less fearful to approach tourists. They usually ask for chewing gum, toothpaste, soap, cigarettes and food, all of which are hard to come by in Rumania. We told them we only had spiritual books, and before we could finish the sentence we were literally covered with money, and open outstretched hands reached within the car, taking books. As we were handing them out a policeman was spotted biking up the hill. when the people saw him they fled. Even half invalid old men and women ran at an astounding speed to avoid his untimely arrival. We quickly took off in the opposite direction. One year later we came to the same place in a different car, and no sooner had we stopped than a woman came up to the car, recognized me, and asked, 'Have you got any more spiritual books?' I felt that they had been waiting the whole year for more information."

When Atilla's father found out about his son's spiritual interest, which became apparent externally in his change of diet from that of a carnivore to that of a vegetarian, he wanted to turn him in to the government. He feared that his son's activities would be found out and that he himself would be imprisoned. In order to take the heat off, Atilla sculptured and painted some synthetic chicken bones at a highschool art workshop and placed them within his vegetable soup from time to time. Although this helped for a while, eventually the secret police came to know of his participation in the dissemination of spiritual literature, and he came to know through his father that the secret police planned to kill him. The authorities, however, wanted to wait until "the goose got fat," or until they first found out Atilla's contacts. But before they could act, with the help of his teacher he was able to escape from Rumania—no easy task when the border guards have orders to shoot to kill. He left behind several spiritual comrades, some of whom are now dead due to similar unsuccessful attempts. We were able to meet some who did not try to escape, having remained undiscovered by the police.

In Brassow we met Laszlo Csiki, a retired professor of economics who has been a vegetarian for over 30 years. He has a burning interest in Indian philosophy, and he waited nine years to receive, with tears in his eyes, a smuggled Hungarian Bhagavad Gita which he meditates upon daily.

In Cluj we met one of Atilla's friends who is a Christian minister. He belongs to a government-recognized church, but conducts himself secretly in ways that violate government guidelines relating to religions. In Rumania there are a few recognized religions, all of which existed here before communism. One difference between Hungary and Rumania is that in Rumania there are no new churches, what to speak of new religions. A religious sentiment is tolerated, but those who participate are assured of never getting good jobs.

We asked the reverend about his view on fundamentalist Christianity, which his sect's representation epitomizes in the West. He replied that fundamentalism will never flourish in Eastern Europe, and that Billy Graham's visit was viewed as consumerism and show business.

Standing along side of Rumania in opposition to peristroika is Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Albania ,and East Germany. In Albania there are no churches whatsoever: those that were built decades ago have all been torn down. Albania prides itself in being the only official atheistic country in the world. We did not cross the Albanian border, as Americans are not allowed there, and we passed through Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia only in transit. Of all these countries, it appears that Rumania and Albania have the best chances of continuing resistance to peristroika, though try as it may, it seems unlikely that Rumania will be successful in creating a pact with these other nations against Gorbachev. Of the two sides, there is no doubt that Gorbachev's is winning.

We were reunited with Swami Narayana at the Bulgarian border. He was a welcome sight as was the border. Bulgaria has only very recently followed the example of Hungary, and for the first time in the history of the Communist regime, all Bulgarians are free to acquire passports to travel within Eastern Europe; as of October of '89 they will be permitted to travel to the West as well. We met many persons interested in yoga, meditation, and various New Age ideologies. Here too we heard accounts of times just previous, but at present everyone was encouraged by the reforms that were underway. A few years ago  Swami Vishnudevananda visited here and lectured with official permission, and we met a few of his disciples, as well as followers of Tarah Singh. Swami Narayana held programs every night for three days and every darshan was well attended.

Unfortunately we could not get visas to enter The Soviet Union. The procedure involved took more time than we had. But news about Russia was not difficult to get and the spiritual grapevine in Eastern Europe is very reliable.

Moscow earlier this year released 35 Krishna devotees from "hospitals" and allowed them to fly to India for a pilgrimage. Now they have become a recognized society with a vegetarian restaurant in Lenningrad. It was in Bulgaria that we saw a recent translation of the tenth canto of the Bhagavat Purana in Russian, which is said to be selling well there.

Reflections

Adversity may be our best friend. Those good times which lead us to continue to believe that we can find ultimate fulfillment in relation to things that are temporary are very deluding.  Adversity on the other hand, from the absolute perspective, comes as a favorable wind reminding us of the bottom line of material existence. Eastern Europe's hardships have served  as negative inspiration for many, and these adversities have given them the chance to grow and become strong.

Swami Narayan was always careful to advise his followers not to attempt to run from their problems. He encouraged them to face them with a spiritual solution that could ultimately not be suppressed by any amount of material intimidation, anymore that the soul can die. The spiritual urge in all that is animate can never be extinguished. It will come out, and as it does our real and happy life will be known to us.

Relative freedoms available in the West are important, but only as much as they do not distract us from life's ultimate goal. When I asked Swami Narayana about whether it was not more important to first free people from political oppression, feed them  and solve their material problems, and only then offer them spiritual knowledge, as is often thought, he referred to the West for what should have been an obvious answer. "In the West everyone is fed, and the have freedoms that are unimaginable here, but are the people anymore spiritual? They have freedom and material prosperity, but are they now concientiously pursuing spiritual life?"

In the West alternative thought is hardly the subject of positive mainstream media coverage. Many people are convinced about the world view they have lived by for so many years even though it is proving to be one that has backfired in many ways. This is perhaps most apparent in the area of environmental concerns. But in Eastern Europe the climate is ripe for reevaluation at the highest levels of government. When Swami Narayana published his magazine with permission in Hungary it received objective reviews in all the major newspapers. Such is the case for all similar types of publications. Swami Narayana feels that today in many Eastern European countries the governments are more favorably disposed, and tolerant towards Eastern spiritual philosophy than many so called free states of the West. When he came to the West, in America, he was shocked to find that the media was not giving neutral unbiased coverage to the movements of alternative thought.          

We prepared to leave Eastern Europe with the overwhelming impression that it was the most fertile field upon which to sew spiritual seeds on Earth today. Virtually starved for decades from spiritual foodstuffs, here lie generations of undernourished souls. Eastern Europe offers a challenge to those in the West bearing the banner of good tidings and spiritual news. Here your books, tapes and techniques will be consumed almost as fast as you can produce them, but the eager audience may not be able to afford them. These are poor countries that are rich with spiritual interest. There may not be much profit it, but we can all profit from forgetting about "What's in it for me?" So here is a chance to test both your technique and the spirit behind it—spiritual outreach to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

The world may very well be led in spiritual thinking by the Soviet Union and its offspring in the near future. These are countries are on the verge of taking the world in another direction, a better one. It is the spirit of these people from which we can learn the perhaps the greatest lesson. In the words of Swami Narayana, "Their is a spiritual power behind the bloodless revolution of the Soviet Union, and if it is allowed to flourish it will affect the entire world. I believe that disarmament would never have been possible if Gorbachev had not initiated his perestroika. He is taking the first step and the West will be forced to follow. Poland and Russia in particular could lead the world in the future, Poland because of its staunch adherence to their spiritual ideal of Catholicism during all these years of oppression. Their faith has sustained the whole country, and this experience has given them more strength. If they are given the opportunity to increase their spiritual knowledge they will take advantage of it and will not become distracted by everything else that comes along with political reform. They will not misuse their new freedoms. And it was the Soviet Union who started the revolution in 1917 and now this revolution of the '80's. I have always thought in all of my years in Eastern Europe that the only ones who can stop communism's negative affects are the Russian people. They started it and only they can finish it. And now it seems that that has come true. Others tried, the Polish and the Hungarians, but they were unsuccessful, but when Gorbachev initiated his reforms then everyone else, or most of them followed."

Source: "Clarion Call" 1989