CNN reports that in the Russian city of Tomsk, a court has postponed until Dec. 28 its decision on an attempt by the prosecutor to ban the Bhagavad Gita as an extremist book that sows social discord. The court in August appointed a 3-member academic panel to submit a report to it. The Indian ambassador to Russia has objected to the prosecutor's attack on one of Hinduism's most important texts. The Hindu American Foundation says that prosecutors have taken words from the Gita out of context. Alexander Kadakin, Russia's ambassador to India, said: "It is not the Russian government that started the case. These are some petty people in the far away though very beautiful city of Tomsk who did it. The government ... can only testify and reiterate the love and affection and highest esteem our nation has for Bhagavad Gita."
UPDATE: A Dec. 23 report from Interfax says that the Tomsk prosecutor is not going after the text of the Bhagavad Gita, but instead the Russian-language edition of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, and especially the accompanying commentary written in 1968 by the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
