Petersburg: a little history

St Petersburg was established by the great Russian Tsar, Peter the Great. 

Peter the Great

He was determined to modernize and knew that Russia would never be an important power if it had no international reach. In those days that meant you needed a navy. So he went North and found an inhospitable piece of land on the Finnish Gulf, conquered it, and established Russia's first naval base: St. Petersburg.

Old St. Petersburg

Petersburg, with its western ambience became home to Russian elite and intelligentsia. It became known for its artists and poets like Alexander Pushkin...

Alexander Pushkin: Russia's greatest poet.

Fyodor Dostoevsky, brooding writer of dark existential novels

...Dostoevsky and others.

The city changed its name after the Russian revolution and became Leningrad. In the early years of the second world war, Hitler unleashed the most terrible siege ever known of a populated city: The Siege of Leningrad.

The terrible siege of St. Petersburg

The people of Leningrad held on against Hitler's armies, freezing cold, starvation and bombardment for 900 days, around two and a half years.  The cold war of the 50s and 60s followed the shooting war, but gradually things stabilized for the Soviet Union and Leningrad, and most of the city's population enjoyed relative prosperity. In 1991, after a city-wide referendum, the city of Leningrad returned to its original name - St. Petersburg.

Saint Petersbug today is a charming cosmopolitan city.

St. Petersburg Today

Since Petersburg has always been home for intellectuals, poets, and creative people,  it was only natural that Govinda Maharaja together with Avadhuta Maharaja and Vijaya Ramana would establish an important center here.

Govinda Maharaja with Vijaya Ramana, planning the construction.

Govinda Maharaja's vision would become the Veda Life center in Lahta, St. Petersburg: the next stop on my Journey to Surrender.

The Lahta temple in St. Petersburg, from a photo taken last week.

I never thought I'd be back so soon, but as of next week, I'm "Back in the USSR," as the Beatles used to say. So, Adios Mexico, привет, Petersburg.

I'm standing on a bridge in front of Pushkin's house. That's the River Neva at my back.