Plans for future publications on this website. Where we are and where are we going
New on where we are and where are we going, future publications and so on. Both short-term and long terms plans and goals.
Today, this website completes six months of existence. Before that, I was maintaining a WordPress page and publishing something on Facebook and YouTube, but since we came to this new platform, everything started working much better. In this post, I wanted to share some of the plans for future publications.
Before the covid pandemic, my main service was book distribution. I even wrote a book on this topic during this time (https://www.ccdas.net/p/gettingthemercy), which is available on the My books session. Different circumstances forced me to resign from this service, but in the end, I see it was probably just Krsna moving me to a different sphere.
Book distribution started in our movement from the desire of Srila Prabhupada to have his books widely studied. He wrote books giving the pure interpretation of the scriptures, according to the teachings coming all the way from Krsna Himself through the system of paramparā, and he wanted these books to be widely studied, so people could benefit. More than half a billion of Prabhupada's books have already been distributed, and the work is still going on.
The strength of the system of paramparā is that even an imperfect person who comes to the system can transmit perfect knowledge by just repeating the conclusions and explanations received from the previous links of the chain. To a certain extent, the purity of the knowledge doesn't depend on the qualification of the speaker, since as long as the words are not changed, even a drunkard can speak perfect knowledge.
Over time, however, a challenge appeared. As it is unavoidable, devotees got in contact with other books and philosophical views that are often at odds with the conclusions given by Prabhupada. This is not something undesirable, since we can't isolate ourselves from the world, but it presents a change since most of these lines are older and often more well-established. For hundreds of years, they had scholars producing scholarly literature, which can easily seduce a neophyte without a good philosophical grounding.
Prabhupada's books bring the deepest philosophical conclusions, and they are thus accepted as such by many renowned scholars. However, because Prabhupada had the concern of writing books that would be accessible to the masses, he wrote his books in simple language, which frequently led the pseudo-intellectuals and shallow mental speculators to consider that he was just speaking the ABCD, and this false propaganda ends up confusing many sincere seekers. In this scenario, properly understanding Prabhupada’s books becomes essential.
The main goal of this project is to gradually produce scholarly books with explanations and commentaries on the scriptures based on the conclusions given by Srila Prabhupada, as well as study guides of Prabhupada's books. In this way, the idea is to offer a deep study of the scriptures in line with the line of Prabhupada, so interested seekers can find everything they need in one place, avoiding the onslaught of mental speculation around.
Currently, we have courses going on the Srimad Bhagavatam (we are finishing the 4th canto) and another on Vedanta philosophy, where we are covering the Upaniṣads and the Vedanta-sutra. You can follow the update on the main page, or find the modules that are already completed in the courses section, or, if you would like to join the lessons live, you can join the Telegram group.
In the books session, we have already:
- The Intriguing Vedic Universe (a preliminary study of Vedic cosmology)
- SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila (an in-depth explanation of the teachings of Lord Kapila in the 3rd canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, that although one of the most difficult parts, is the key to understanding much of the conclusions of the text)
- The Taittirīya Upaniṣad: An in-depth study, based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada (the first of a series with in-depth commentaries on the 11 main Upaniṣads, based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada)
I’m currently publishing a study guide on the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, which will be published as a series of three books, covering chapters 1 to 6, 7 to 12, and 13 to 18. For now, we have the first two chapters of the first book:
The Song of God: An in-depth study of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is (Volume 1 - Chapters 1 to 6)
Apart from this study guide on the Gītā, there are three other books I'm working on and will be published soon:
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad and The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad (the second and third in the series of in-depth studies of the Upanisads, based on the teachings of Srila Prabhupada)
A study of The Govinda Bhāṣya of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, enriched with the purports of Srila Prabhupada (the first volume, with the first quarter of the book).
These three projects are already in an advanced stage and will be published in the following months.
All these books are part of a long-term project to offer studies of the main books, so you can have a platform of books and courses on the main Vaishnava books, and study everything in line with the conclusions of Srila Prabhupada, without having to mix with other lines.
For the long term (next several years), the idea is to offer the following books and corresponding courses:
- The Song of God: An in-depth study of the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is (3 volumes)
- The Govinda Bhāṣya of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa on the Vedanta-sutra, enriched with the purports of Srila Prabhupada (4 volumes)
- Commentaries on the 11 main Upanisads - Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Muṇḍaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya, Brhad-aranyaka and Svetasvatara (11 volumes)
Books based on the Srimad Bhagavatam:
- SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila (already published)
- Vedic Cosmology, an in-depth Study (study of the topics on creation and cosmology spread over the Srimad Bhagavatam)
- The "fall" of the Jīva according to the Srimad Bhagavatam (how the Bhagavatam explains the "fall" of the jīva)
- The History of the Universe according to the Srimad Bhagavatam (how the Bhagavatam explains the history of the universe and parallels with modern science)
- Time, Space, and History according to the Vedas (bridge book offering a scientific view of the universe according to the Vedas)
- The Uddhava-gītā (and in-depth study of the teachings of Krsna to Uddhava in the 11th canto)
- An in-depth study of the Srimad Bhagavatam and purports of Srila Prabhupada, covering all 12 cantos (12 volumes)
Other books for a more distant future:
- Studies of the Jaiva Dharma of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thākura, the Brhad Bhāgavatāmṛta, Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta, and other important books from our previous acaryas.
If you plan to stay around, we can gradually study all these books together and develop a mature understanding of the sastras and the legacy of Srila Prabhupada.
Also, I wanted to thank all who are donating or have become paid subscribers, this is a great support.
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What do you think? Use the comments, don’t be shy:
I really look forward to read the books you're planning to publish. I am very grateful for all the effort that you're putting in to serve Srila Prabhupada, whether it's through book distribution in person or through apps like Substack.
I look forward to reading your friendly and insightful articles everyday and i sincerely hope that Nityanand Prabhu may shower His causeless mercy on you. ❤️
Grateful for the work you are doing