Theos-Talk Archives (January 1996 Message tl00056)

Having recently complained about the dearth of information
available in English about the rebirth of Theosophy in Russia
I have been inspired to make a New Year's resolution to learn
Russian and make a research trip before my Cayce book comes
out. Partly that's due to Cayce's insistence that Russia will
produce some kind of spiritual leadership for the world at the end of the
decade. For that reason I'd like to write a brief survey of
the religious/occult scene there to include in the book. Then
there's the related interest of Theosophy's rebirth in Russia
and the independent groups being born there. So some
questions for you linguists and scholars out there as well as
for Theosophists who may know something of current events in
Russia:
1 How long can I realistically expect it to take to bring my
Russian up to speed to do basic research e.g. read a newspaper
and use a library? This for someone literate in French and
Spanish. It took about a year of steady effort to get my
Spanish to the level of proficiency I have in mind but I don't
know if Russian is twice as hard or three times etc.
2 Any suggestions about the ease of networking with scholars
in Russian history and religion? Contacts?
3 Any general reports on conditions there for "new" religions
from Baha'is Theosophists anyone?

Basically at this point I'm just soliciting helpful suggestions
from anyone on any aspect of doing research in Russia and/or in
Russian sources.