Leo Tolstoy…. everyone knows this great classical writer 📖📚 However, what is less known is that at the end of his life, he studied a lot of books on Vedic tradition and Hinduism 🕉 and contributed to the spread of this knowledge in Russia.
His famous public quotes about Sri Krishna:
🚩"If there were no Krishna, there would be no concept of God."
🚩"The metaphysical religious idea of Krishna is the eternal and universal basis of all true philosophical systems and all religions."
🚩"I firmly believe in the basic principle of the Bhagavad-Gita, always try to remember it and be guided by it in my actions, as well as to speak about it to those who ask my opinion, and reflect it in my writings."
🚩"The whole teaching and life of Krishna is only love. Krishna accepts nothing but love, acts only with love, breathes only with it, and speaks only with it."
🚩"I appreciate my interaction with Indian religious people... With great interest and benefit to my spiritual life, I read all the brahmin religious books I met."
In 1994 he published a story "Karma"
And at 1907, Tolstoy received the book "Sri Krishna: The Lord of Love" by the Indian sanyasi monk Baba Premananda Bharati of the Sri Chaitanya sampradaya. After reading it, Tolstoy highly appreciated it and was inspired by the idea of translating and publishing it in Russian Empire. Some quotes were included in his literary collection " A Calendar of Wisdom ".
By 1909, Tolstoy, together with Nikolayev S. D., had translated and written a preface and additional explanations. The proofs of the seal were ready on June 23, 1910. However, for a number of reasons, including Tolstoy's death and imperial censorship the book was not printed.
Today you can easily get this book.