Preface

We offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness who has delivered the Light of the Bhāgawata to the whole world. We are pleased to present for his pleasure on the occasion of the 497th anniversary of the appearance of Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, the first publication of his sublime work “Light of the Bhāgawata”

Of all His Divine Grace's writings, this work is perhaps the most unique. It was written in Vrindavan in 1961 in response to an invitation to attend a world conference, the Congress for Cultivating the Human Spirit, held in Japan. As most of the participants to the Conference were from the Orient, Śrīla Prabhupāda considered deeply how he could best present the timeless teachings of the Śrīmad Bhāgawatam suitable to the Oriental people. The original Bhāgawatam was written over 5,000 years ago as an extremely large book composed of 18,000 verses. Participants to the conference would not have the time to hear it all. He therefore chose one chapter from the original version for presentation.

The chapter he selected is a description of the autumn season in Vrindavan, the place of Lord Krishna’s appearance. Śrīla Prabhupāda knew that the Oriental people were very fond of hearing descriptions of nature and that the time of the autumn season is particularly auspicious to them. Presenting spiritual philosophy by examples from nature would be best for their understanding. For each seasonal phenomenon, a parallel teaching could be given. For example, the dark cloudy evening of the rainy autumn season when no stars are visible is compared to the present materialistic, godless civilization when the bright stars of the Bhāgawata's wisdom (the devotees and scriptures) are temporarily obscured. Altogether Śrīla Prabhupāda composed 48 commentaries to go along with the verses of the chapter.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's plan was that the organizers of the conference should find a qualified Oriental artist to illustrate each verse, and he also wrote directions from which the artist could design each painting. He hoped that the paintings and their accompanying explanations would make an impressive display for visitors to the conference. If possible he wished that a book might also be published containing the illustrations and the texts.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, Śrīla Prabhupāda was unable to attend the conference and the whole project of “Light of the Bhāgawata” was postponed. In fact, at the time of Śrīla Prabhupāda's disappearance the "Light of the Bhāgawata" still remained unpublished, and the illustrations not yet painted.

The task of completing this great project was therefore left in the hands of the Bhaktivedanta book trust, the publishing house dedicated to keeping all of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books in print. Particularly the work was assigned to the Hong Kong branch of the book trust since Śrīla Prabhupāda had meant the book especially for the Oriental people. After much searching it was our good fortune to secure the help of the renowned artist Madame Yun-sheng Li, whose mature creative talent and sensitive brushwork alone could properly complement Prabhupāda's beautiful descriptions of the autumn season. Thus the beautifully effulgent “Light of the Bhāgawata” may now shine upon the world.

The book has been divided into two sections to accommodate the tastes of different Chinese readers. Those who prefer to gaze with poetic imagination will appreciate the first section which contains the beautiful colour reproductions of Madame Li's work, 48 paintings completed in less than a year's time, meticulous in their detail despite an advanced age and sometimes failing eyesight. Undoubtedly this collection presents the culmination of a long distinguished career as one of the great artists of modern China. Her Gongbi style of painting together which will Prabhupāda's poetic descriptions which appear alongside make for a unique blending of the worlds two oldest cultural traditions — India and China.

Those readers who wish to go more deeply into the philosophy of the “Light of the Bhāgawata” may turn to the black and white section of the book. There they will find the complete commentaries written by Śrīla Prabhupāda along with small miniature reproductions of the paintings to help identify the painting being described.

This accompanying booklet has been produced especially for our English readers, hoping that it will satisfy them until a proper English edition is brought out. The publishers wish to acknowledge the grateful thanks to Srīman Harivilas das Adhikary and his company's Spiritual Sky of Paris France, for the munificent donation which has made the publication of the Chinese edition and the accompanying booklet possible. Hare Krishna.

Gour Purnima, 1983 Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

Hong Kong