some reviews of Srila Prabhupada's books (2)

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Ever since 1893, when Swami Vivekananda proclaimed monism and tolerance to

the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago, nonspecialists in America

have pictured Hinduism as an easy-going phantasmagoria of smiling faces

disappearing like dewdrops into the shining sea. The Nectar of Devotion

should bring them up sharp. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada, whose shorn, orange-clad disciples have brought the inseparable

twins of bhajana and bakshish to the streets of America, has no doubt that

such impersonalism is nothing less than rascaldom. With all the books on

Vedanta and bland neo-transcendentalism that are at present available to the

English-speaking public, it is good to have on the popular market such an

uncompromising statement of an opposing view from the pen of one who is as

firmly rooted in a disciplic tradition, guru-parampara, as Bhaktivedanta

Swami.

 

Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Indian classic par excellence on bhakti-yoga,

attributed to Vyasa, is one of the most important and influential

religio-philosophical works within the Vedic tradition. Thanks to the

devoted and scholarly endeavors of Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,

the entire work of twelve cantos will be available in a superb English

edition for the benefit of the English-reading peoples. In his impeccable

style the author presents each verse in original Sanskrit, followed by roman

transliteration, English equivalents, translation, and elaborate commentary.

The lucid and cogent exegesis brings into relief the theory and practice of

Bhagavata philosophy in relation to contemporary man and his problems of

life. I have read the first volume containing First Canto, Part One, Chapter

1-7, with pleasure and profit. A brief account of the life of Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu included in this volume illustrates the central theme of the

entire text, the loving service of God. A glossary and index to Sanskrit

verses and a general index have been added for the convenience of scholars.

This monumental work is immensely valuable alike to historians of religion,

linguistic scholars, cultural anthropologists, pious devotees, as well as to

the general reader interested in spiritual matters. I recommend it highly to

every student of Indian philosophy, culture, and religion.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Morning Walk -- March 13, 1976, Mayapur