HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Across five centuries and half the globe comes this compact guidebook of essential spiritual teachings.
How to choose a guru, how to practice yoga, even where to live. You?ll find it all in this invaluable work originally written in Sanskrit by Srila Rupa Goswami, the greatest spiritual genius of medieval India.
Now translated and explained by Srila Prabhupada, ?The Nectar of Instruction? is the key to enlightenment for all seekers on the path of spiritual perfection.
“Instruction” is not always “nectar;” especially when it includes pointed suggestions on how we should improve our character. It’s easier on the ego to learn ballroom dancing or how to improve our golf swing. But for the rare person looking to make progress in spiritual understanding, Nectar of Instruction is one of the most important guides available, as essential to the spiritual path as guardrails and yellow lines are to any driver.

Nectar of Instruction is a translation and commentary on Rupa Goswami’s Upadeshamrita; eleven verses on the most basic and essential principles of spiritual practice; how should an aspiring transcendentalist interact with the rest of society? What should be his work ethic? Whose company should he seek, and whose company should he avoid? Where should he live? How can one know if he’s making any spiritual progress at all? What, really, is the ultimate goal of life?

Srila Prabhupada intended Nectar of Instruction as a practical handbook for the common man, and mandatory reading for his students. In a letter to one disciple, he said,

“The Nectar of Instruction has come out very nice. It is very important and must be immediately read by all devotees. In the near future we shall introduce the Bhakti-sastri examination for second initiation and this shall be one of the required books of study. Anyone who reads it will immediately understand what Krishna Consciousness is. Some minister in Bombay recently asked me how to create morality amongst the students, because the students are all vagabonds. If this book is introduced for study in the schools and colleges it will give a clear idea of what morality actually is. It is a most important book.”

Contains the original Sanskrit text, roman transliterations, synonyms, translations, and elaborate purports.

Sri Brahma Samhita- Prayers Of Lord Brahma Lord Brahma Saw Krishna Directly And Composed A Prayer Based On His Realizations–A Striking Prayer By One Who Has Seen The Truth. Krishna Revealed His Own Form To Brahma, Along With His Spiritual Planets, His Devotees And Their Relationships With Him. Overwhelmed By This Transcendental Revelation, Brahma Spoke These Words Glorifying Krishna And What He Saw. Brahma’s Awe And Love Permeates The Text And Gives An Overview Of The Workings Of The Cosmic Creation. Follow Brahma’s Vision And Understanding To The Feet Of Krishna And See Him Face-To-Face Yourself.
Sri Brahma-samhita is a collection (samhita) of prayers spoken by Brahma at the beginning of material creation, after the Supreme Person Krishna gave Brahma a divine vision of the spiritual world. Brahma, in his amazement, speaks volumes of divinely inspired praise before beginning his work of creation. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu acquired the Fifth Chapter of the Brahma-samhita from the Adi-keshava temple in South India. This commentary of Sri Brahma-samhita was written by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur—the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada—who spread Krishna consciousness all over India during the early twentieth century

Srila Prabhupada has the following to say about the Brahma-samhita (from his purport to Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 239-240):

“The Brahma-samhita is a very important scripture. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu acquired the Fifth Chapter from the Adi-keshava temple. In that Fifth Chapter, the philosophical conclusion of achintya-bhedabheda-tattva (simultaneous oneness and difference) is presented.

The chapter also presents methods of devotional service, the eighteen-syllable Vedic hymn, discourses on the soul, the Supersoul and fruitive activity, an explanation of Kama-gayatri, kama-bija and the original Maha-Vishnu, and a detailed description of the spiritual world, specifically Goloka Vrindavana.

The Brahma-samhita also explains the demigod Ganesha, Garbhodakashayi Vishnu, the origin of the Gayatri mantra, the form of Govinda and His transcendental position and abode, the living entities, the highest goal, the goddess Durga, the meaning of austerity, the five gross elements, love of Godhead, impersonal Brahman, the initiation of Lord Brahma, and the vision of transcendental love enabling one to see the Lord. The steps of devotional service are also explained.

The mind, yoga-nidra, the goddess of fortune, devotional service in spontaneous ecstasy, incarnations beginning with Lord Ramachandra, Deities, the conditioned soul and its duties, the truth about Lord Vishnu, prayers, Vedic hymns, Lord Siva, the Vedic literature, personalism and impersonalism, good behavior, and many other subjects are also discussed. There is also a description of the sun and the universal form of the Lord. All these subjects are conclusively explained in a nutshell in the Brahma-samhita.”

Perfect Questions Perfect Answers In 1972, Bob Cohen, A Science Teacher In The Peace Corps, Began A Search For Spiritual Enlightenment That Took Him The Length And Breadth Of India. Here Is The Transcript Of His Life-Transforming Meetings With Srila Prabhupada In The Holy Village Of Mayapur, India, The Birthplace Of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, A True Account. A Series Of Meetings With Srila Prabhupada Transforms The Life Of Bob Cohen The Peace Corps Worker In India. There In A Small Bamboo House In The Holy Land Of Mayapur, He Finds Himself At The Feet Of One Of India’s Greatest Saintly Teachers, A Teacher Who Seems To Tell Him Everything He Ever Wanted To Know.
True accounts of people seeking real happiness, spiritual realization, & liberation. Like, Bob Cohen, a young American Peace Corps worker halfway around the world, searches for meaning enters an ancient village in the midst of West Bengal, where in a small bamboo hut, he finds a teacher who tells him everything he longed for. Cohen says “God, spiritual life–those were such vague terms to me before I met Srila Prabhupada. I have always been interested in religion, but before I met the Krsna conscious devotees, somehow I did not have the proper perspective needed to inquire fruitfully about spiritual life. The existence of a Creator is only common sense–but who is God? Who am I? My Hebrew School and the Oriental philosophy could never get satisfying answers to my questions. I first heard the Hare Krsna mantra in Greenwich Village, New York, in late 1968. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”.

Here Srila Prabhupada discusses the step-by-step process of reviving our original peaceful and happy condition, Krsna consciousness. He writes, “If we want to participate in the unlimited happiness, knowledge and eternal life which constitute our actual heritage in the spiritual world, we should not waste this life by working hard for sense gratification. We should accept a life devoted to the cultivation of Krsna consciousness, and then we will get unlimited happiness and unlimited pleasure. This is the sum and substance of the Krsna consciousness movement.”