I really liked this one a lot better than Elevation to Krsna Consciousness. And I wanted to give this book a higher rating.. I am just still daydreaming about a linear, explicatory book for a true beginner, someone uninitiated in the odd terminology of ISKCON material:

What on earth is a 'pastime' supposed to be? Just the things Krishna did? Actions? Occurrences/events of his life?
What does being the 'Supreme Personality of Godhead' convey in reality? And what is 'Godhead' (as opposed to 'the Godhead')?
And for all of the above questions... who cares? Is there any kind of ethical point to take from all of this? Who can understand such things?

Devotion and service to Krishna are all well and good to extol, but I have yet to glean the core driving message of the concepts of this movement because of how obtuse and even unhelpful the material can be. And I'm following a semi-official recommended reading order!

The next in order (I think I inserted it here myself) involves conversation between Prabhupada and two very famous entry-level beginners from a little UK musical outfit. I hope by the time of that review I'll have understood at least as well as Lennon and hopefully as well or better than Harrison. ( )

Picked up this in a St. Louis Airport. I'm a fan of religions, and I love reading about them, and I love the truths and life patterns they contain.

This particular book was like reading Awake! or the Watchtower Jehovah Witnesses and other evangelical protestant liberature. Why are things so? Because Krsna says they are so. The world is rank and full of anxiety. Here are solutions to it. Why do the work? Because Krsna says so, right in this line, right there. And it all comes down to very specific devotions to Krsna.

Which, to its credit, can probably be found in this book, and nowhere in it do I see any explicit statements that one must depend on the authority of the organization providing the book, which is nice, because it reminds an empowering literature given its central claim.

This works for some people (in any faith or belief system they adopt), and if it does them well, that's awesome! But it's not my thing, I prefer something less prescriptive and less focused on specific acts.

Possibly because I'm not looking for something to explain everything away for me, I find the overall cosmology being expressed hard to follow because it's not laid out as explanation and clarification, but as justification via text and an overwhelming barrage of foreign words demanding you read them on their terms, that one can eventually piece together via the glossary. It's possible that if this was organized in a less polemic way, an an actual explanation of the concepts rather than just claim-quote couplets strung alone, it would be reasonable? The confrontational tone the book takes suggests not, however.


If you are looking for a polemic argument ritual-heavy practice steeped in Hinduism and a life model where those rituals will reveal deep truths (in a mystical way), self understanding, and free the pure aspect of you from the impure, this book mostly seems to induce shame. I guess if you need to be motivated by the need to seem enlightened. There are much more practical and actually positive books, like [b: Chant and Be Happy|436059|Chant and Be Happy The Power of Mantra Meditation|A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1346975408s/436059.jpg|424969], and if one wants to find the cosmology hopefully there are books more designed for explanation and clarification out there. ( )