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Dharma means “inherent, unchanging nature”; sugar’s dharma is to be sweet, water is always wet, and fire’s dharma is to emit heat and light. Dharma also means our natural duty; beavers build dams, spiders build webs, and dogs bark. As humans, we have social, familial, religious, and civic duties. But our ultimate human dharma is to find life’s ultimate answers; who we are, why we’re here, and what we’re supposed to do.

Dharma, the Way of Transcendence is a compilation of lectures on human dharma that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gave during his 1972 tour of India. He says that every living being’s dharma is service—no one can exist for a moment without serving someone or something else, even if it’s only our mind and senses. But serving the Supreme Person is the one thing that can give the self genuine happiness.

Theories about the origin of life come and go like fashion trends. India’s Vedic tradition, however, has always remained consistent on this point; “life” is the natural condition of everything; there has always been and always will be life, manifesting in infinite varieties.

Life Comes From Life is a collection of conversations between Srila Prabhupada and his disciple Thoudam D. Singh, Ph.D., an organic chemist, in Los Angeles during the mid-1970’s.

Srila Prabhupada encouraged his students to use logic, reason, and scientific methods to discredit atheistic, materialistic propaganda, such as the notion that life comes from nothing. Why should we believe something can come from nothing, when all around us, every day, we see life coming from other life?

In this little jewel of a book, based on the Bhagavad-gita, Srila Prabhupada explains that the king of knowledge is knowledge of God, his creation, and ourselves — and the relationships between these. He explains that the way to attain this knowledge is through bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Lord, beginning with the chanting of the maha-mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
Raja-Vidya: The King of Knowledge is based on the Bhagavad-Gita’s pivotal ninth chapter, “The Most Confidential Knowledge.” There, Krishna—the Supreme Personality of Godhead—tells His friend Arjuna, “…because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence.”

King of Knowledge began as a series of collected lectures given on the original ninth chapter verses by Srila Prabhupada. He points out that not only Arjuna but anyone can understand the Bhagavad-gita—if we’re at least humble enough to accept theoretically that someone else (besides us) is the Supreme Person, and as such might have a thing or two to tell us. Once we understand that everything has its source in the Supreme Person, we know all we need to know.

Whereas material knowledge often leads to pride, spiritual knowledge culminates in humility and appreciation for the personal feature of the Absolute Truth, or Krishna, “the all-attractive one.” The greater we think we are, the less we’ll be attracted to Krishna; and the Bhagavad-gita won’t even make sense to us.

The King of Knowledge suggests practical ways to enhance our self-knowledge and understanding of the Supreme Person, and thus become free from the anxieties of this temporary, ever-changing world.