Freedom, sweeping Russia in the wake of perestroika and perceived by some of its citizens as permissiveness, gave impetus to the emergence of a number of religious and occult sects, some of which were totalitarian in nature and posed a threat to society. The founder and leader of one of them was a resident of Novosibirsk, Konstantin Dmitrievich Rudnev, also known among his admirers under the pseudonyms Altai Kogan Bogomudr, Sri Jnan Avatar Muni, Big Shaman of Altai and the absolutely thieves-clicher clique - Roll. Let us take a little time for this very extraordinary personality.
First insight
Konstantin Rudnev was born (and in his own words, "was sent to the world") on August 4, 1967 in Novosibirsk. After graduating from high school, and then engineering college, the future "messiah" (as he dubbed himself without undue modesty) went to serve in the army. It was there that "divine insight" descended upon him. Wanting to share this joy with others, Private Rudnev turned to the command with a proposal to transform the part where he served into a monastery, modeled on the world-famous Shaolin.
Having forgotten the drill and changing the tarpaulin boots to light black slippers (as in those films that he watched from the video), the soldiers would begin to learn the secrets of kung fu under the guidance of wise mentor officers dressed in orange "porridge" - a traditional outfit of Buddhist monks .
Further, Konstantin argued that by adding to this yoga and in-depth meditation, it is quite possible to achieve heavenly harmony, in which the military unit will shine like the sky-high country of Shambhala. Then the unauthorized absence of soldiers, the total drunkenness of ensigns, as well as the theft of state property by both of them will forever be a thing of the past.
Unrecognized Genius
Despite the fact that Konstantin Rudnev, having submitted a report, presented his idea in a strictly statutory form, she did not meet with understanding among senior officials, and soon the newly appeared messiah ended up in the Samara Psychiatric Clinic. There, for three years he tried to educate his roommates and medical staff. He was listened to, and the most “valuable” statements were even recorded in the medical history.
It is not known how long his forced retreat would have continued, but the end of perestroika that began in the country put an end to it. In those years, on her waves many sails surfaced from the bottom of the personality, among which there were many applicants for spiritual leadership.
The beginning of a big scam
Leaving Samara's "vale of sorrow" in 1989, Konstantin Rudnev returned to his native Novosibirsk. There, he very soon found a like-minded person in the person of a local resident Elena Zakharova, with whom he established the health company “Caravan”. It was with her that the creation of Konstantin Rudnev's “Ashram of Shambhala” began - a religious-mystical organization, which, by the definition of law enforcement agencies, carried the signs of a totalitarian sect, very similar to the infamous “Aum Shinrike”.
However, the debut of his activity was somewhat different. In a community with his new girlfriend, Konstantin Rudnev took up entrepreneurial activity, mainly aimed at acquiring initial capital. To this end, they held paid seminars at which gullible audiences were treated with various dubious methods of treating diseases, passing them off as secret Tibetan knowledge.
In addition, the yoga clubs they created, the teachings of Shambhala, the removal of spoilage, the “healing Reiki” (an element of oriental medicine) and the absolutely mysterious astral karate brought them good income. It is not known whether they promised their clients “materialization of spirits and distribution of elephants”, but otherwise this couple, of course, put Ostap Bender himself in the belt.
The Coming of the Messiah
Since the entrepreneurial attempts of Konstantin Rudnev often ended in scandals, it was necessary to take operational measures and hastily change the name of the company, and, accordingly, the advertising banners. However, soon everything changed radically thanks to the idea that came to his head. No, it is not for nothing that Samara psychiatrists fought over its contents for three years.
Discarding unnecessary modesty, the home-grown healer and connoisseur of Tibetan medicine publicly declared that he was no less than a “prophet,” “a new messiah,” “an alien from the planet Sirius,” and at the same time an “embryo left by an alien UFO.” It was with this news that he dumbfounded his future followers.
Creation of the Shambhala Ashram sect
If he had announced this in the old "stagnant" times, he would undoubtedly have again found himself in a psychiatric clinic, from which he had been so imprudently released. But times have changed, and with the light hand of the “father of perestroika” everyone got the opportunity for self-realization, no matter what bizarre forms it takes.
Around the newly-minted prophet a very large society quickly gathered, consisting of people with a wide variety of inclinations. Someone broke away from reality, mired in mysticism, someone, having read science fiction, longed for meetings with an unearthly mind, and someone simply joined in the hope of snatching something in this mass craziness.
Thus was born and, like a rash on a sick body, a sect of Konstantin Rudnev spread throughout Russia. By the way, let us explain the meaning of the words that made up its name - “Shambhala Ashram”. The first is taken from Sanskrit and translated as "the abode of the wise", the second is the name of a mythical country located in Tibet, the entrance to which is open only to a narrow circle of initiates.
Ideas borrowed from the Nazis
What did the self-proclaimed messiah teach his followers and where did he draw his “secret knowledge” from? As law enforcement officials noted, giving an assessment of the activities of the sect of Konstantin Rudnev, the doctrine preached by him is nothing but a chaotic mixture composed of fragments of various mystical and pseudophilosophical teachings, ancient pagan cultures, shamanism and esotericism.
A special danger was given to her by propaganda of the so-called racial hygiene, in the framework of which, under the guise of true patriotism, there were calls for the suppression or complete destruction of ethnically inferior peoples. Mankind has already experienced this nightmare, but, unfortunately, it turned out to be very tenacious.
The ideological justification for all these crazy ideas was found by sect members in Konstantin Rudnev’s autobiographical book, The Way of the Fool, which should have looked like the new Mein Kampf in their eyes. By the way, publishing it, the author, just in case, hid his name, using two pseudonyms: the grandiloquent - Sotilian Sekorisky and somewhat profitable - Roll.
The ideologist of undisguised bestiality
What could the sectarians of Konstantin Rudnev learn from the book that he proposed as a life guide? As it turned out, nothing but calls for the most undisguised bestiality. Without a shadow of embarrassment, the author, in obscene and deliberately scandalous form, mocks such universal human values as family, having children and raising children, studying, working, etc. In return, he offers his followers promiscuous sexual relations with random partners, which he calls in the Indian manner "Tantra practice."
The fundamental principle of life of each member of the sect is unquestioning obedience to the leader, that is, to himself. For this, according to experts, Rudnev used a variety of methods of mental violence, as a result of which he was able to take control of the will of the sectarians under his full control. Among them, illegal activities such as collective drug use and gang rape were widely practiced.
The scope of the criminal activity of the sect
It is hard to believe how widespread this madness reached before he was put to an end by law enforcement agencies. It is known, for example, that in 1999 the number of adherents of the sect exceeded 10 thousand people, and its branches were scattered throughout Russia. The leadership of the Shambhala Ashram, led by Rudnev, received huge incomes from 28 correspondence schools, whose students paid money in the hope of joining the secret knowledge promised to them.
In addition, paid seminars were held by envoys of the sect throughout the country, gathering thousands of audiences at the stadiums. The sectarians themselves, who underwent severe psychological treatment and lost the ability to adequately assess reality, implicitly gave the fraudsters both themselves and their property. As a result, the self-proclaimed guru controlled millions of dollars uncontrollably.
A logical, albeit belated, result
It was possible to end this chaos only after a criminal case was instituted in 1999 against the main organizer of the Novosibirsk totalitarian sect. During the investigation, it was established that in the organization created by Rudnev, extortion, sexual violence, corruption of minors, the use and distribution of drugs, sadistic orgies, and even such perversions as intercourse with animals constantly took place.
It would seem that the outcome of the case is predetermined, but the story of Konstantin Rudnev did not end there. At first, he went on the run and hid from justice for the next five years. But even after the fraudster was in the hands of the police, the investigation was delayed for various reasons and, as a result, lasted until 2011. Only after that the self-proclaimed messiah appeared before the court and, according to the verdict, was sent to 11 years in a maximum security colony.