She said to me: "Kirsan, do you want seeds?" I sat down next to her. She was not just an ordinary watchwoman - she worked for MGIMO. Thus, she was literate and she constantly read all the latest press. She especially liked the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. Then Aunt Masha said: "You know Japanese language. Mitsubishi announces the recruitment of specialists who know the Japanese language". I was completely stunned. For me Japan meant Sharp tape recorder, Toyota and Sony!
It was August 1989. I immediately called them and we agreed. The next day, I passed the tests in both English and Japanese. A week later, I got a call and was told that I had been invited to work as the Company's manager in Groholsky Lane. It's funny that, after many years, the Japanese ambassador invited me for breakfast at the same address where my former office was located. I remembered that the Japanese consulate was in front of TASS. They built a new building there, where I earned my first million. I got a small salary - 300 dollars. But I had 0.6 percent commission on each car sold.
I offered to sell German cars, and we became the official first dealers of Audi and Volkswagen. In November 1989, the first MOT service of foreign cars was opened under my management. A year later I became the first official dealer for the sale of Hyundai in the USSR. Speaking about the president of Hyundai who promoted me in 1990, I must mention that I advised him to go into politics in 1995. And he became Mayor of Seoul, the leader of the Democratic Party, and was elected President of South Korea in 2009.
By the way, I earned my second million due to him. Literally, I became a millionaire and justified the prophecy of Aunt Masha after three months of work. I sold a lot of cars. The president of the corporation asked me how I wanted to receive my salary. I was a graduate of MGIMO, so I did not have a bank account. And I asked: "Can you get a million cash?" He agreed. This foreign company was selling cars to diplomatic and trade missions and was very widely deployed in the USSR thanks to me. Later, I was invited to the office. They gave me a big and fat briefcase. I opened it and saw ten packs of one hundred thousand dollars. They asked: "Will you recount?" I refused.
I am grateful to the fate that I experienced it all at an early age. At the age of 27, I became the youngest deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Russian parliament. At the age of 30 I became the youngest president of Kalmykia and at the age of 33 I became the youngest president of an international organization. Thus, I was the only representative of the USSR heading an international organization. The fact that I received everything at the earliest age allowed me to be comfortable with many things later.
Peace comes only after you penetrate the energy and matter. You start to control this energy. The same happens in Buddhism. Well, you can have one million, two million or three, etc... It's normal. So is the power. Why did I take my resignation easily? It’s because I've already experienced everything. I met with the Pope and we became friends. And with the Dalai Lama, Saddam Hussein, Bobby Fisher, and Baba Vanga. I met with Muammar Gaddafi.
- Real politicians view their country as a work of art. Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung. They see their people as the paint and their countries as a canvas. Is your ‘billion of chess players’ some kind of new art project?
It takes nine months to give birth to a child. And I gave birth to a temple within eight and a half months. I decided to build a temple in downtown in a place of a dilapidated plant. The mayor of the city and the prime minister came to me and asked about disposal of a pile of concrete. And then I had a vision of something beautiful in this place. I saw the main and largest Buddhist Temple of Europe built on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov Street. When Galina Starovoytova came to see me in 1993, she supported me in the elections. She was killed later. When I was elected, we met at the supper and she said: "Well, Kirsan, you should not work that hard. Well, you worked for a week and there is already the street named after you. I understand that the East is a delicate matter. But you cannot go on like this."
I laughed and said: "Galina Vasilyevna, it's not after me they called it. This street existed before the war."
My assistant brought a book about the heroes of the Civil War from the library. This street was named after my grandfather's older brother. He was the commissar of the Second Cavalry Army. In 1914, he worked as a teacher in the gymnasium, and he was sent to the front. There, he launched an activity against the imperialist war. He was sentenced to be shot. He fled and organized a Bolshevik revolutionary circle. In 1919, when they liberated the village of Velikoknyazheskaya, he, as a Don Cossack, did not agree with the executions of the local Cossacks. Later, when he saw how the Soviet power killed half of the population, he could not stand it. He openly opposed the Red Terror. According to one version, he was shot. As per another, he shot himself. He could not support such power. But Voroshilov and Budyonov recognized him as a Hero of the Civil War. The collective farm was named in his honour, and his monument stands in the Rostov region. That’s what a man he was.
- Any leader with a clear position, who has faith and love like the Dalai Lama, Gaddafi, Hugo Chavez and Castro becomes automatically an outcast and is opposed by the rest of the world. All charismatic politicians are marginalized and all the obnoxious prosper.
Yes, you are absolutely right. It was the obnoxious leaders that ordered to bomb Gadhafi, and the same people would not allow the Dalai Lama to visit our country. Can you imagine what is happening?
- This is complete madness when a holy man cannot visit our country. They want to kill one of the most honest politicians. They consider you as an otherworldly person for honestly speaking about your dreams and fantasies. Same happens with Mel Gibson. What goes on in this world?
Changes are needed. BBC interviewed me about the financial crisis. I said that this was the tip of the iceberg. The main thing is that the crisis is not economic one but ideological. It is crisis of Human Civilization. The world is polluted. We produce and consume everything. Destroying both ourselves and nature. We have no time to communicate with each other. Earlier, Christ walked among us and preached. And now there is no one. The modern world has no place for spirituality. And the more a person lives, the more he wants to live, and the less he has to live. He does not think about this. Everyone forgot what the Buddha said about rebirth and reincarnation. And there is a degradation of mind. Thought is material, and therefore we have come to the line, beyond which there is a void. We must transform ourselves.
No party, neither nationalistic nor socialist, did not justify itself. There is degradation of both liberal and communist ideas. Mankind, as a living organism, now seems to have tried everything. And what's next and where?
Presidents of all countries sit at the UN. What prevents them from stopping financing wars in 2012 and declaring a moratorium on military spending? If all agreed, then we will have trillions of dollars for education from 1 of January. If this money is spent on medicine, we will conquer cancer and diabetes.
Money is the energy of the material world. Where can one get money? All of them are invested in the destruction of mankind. They must be used for Salvation. That's all. Is it simple enough?
-Simple and clear. But it's not what politicians think...
My goal is a billion people playing chess. I am sure that out of that billion some will become members of parliament, deputies, mayors and presidents. I know that this will lessen the likelihood of making wrong decisions.
Chess is a multi-faceted game. It was invented five thousand years ago, and it was played by world rulers and strategists. Now anyone can play it even in the poorest part of the world. Chess is like the battle of two armies, while it is the most peaceful game. Moreover, it unites people who do not even speak the same language. That's why everyone plays chess, and I play chess with different people in various places of the world. Newspapers and media do not write about it unless a man known in the whole world plays chess. However, some say that I should not play chess with just anybody - it's politics, etc...But if a particular game attracted the attention of the whole world to chess and FIDE, it means that it promotes our activity. And that means that I will continue to play chess everywhere and with everyone, because my goal is to promote the widespread of this ancient game. By doing this I serve the cause of peace and promote the mutual understanding between peoples.
Summer of 2011