In Essence: Evolve Your Vision. Change Your World.

by A.C. Bhaktivedanta

This book is for seekers. Although we've been trying to understand our world since the beginning of time, and philosophers, theologians, and scientists have tried to interpret the world for us, we still want to know what we're doing here and whether life has meaning and purpose. Drawing on questions like these and others asked by the many people he spoke to over the years, in this book His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada responds with logic and wit from an ancient treasure house of Vedic wisdom – speaking to questions on yoga, meditation, the mind, and karma, and exploring the self, the universe, and the source of existence. Includes a how-to guide on how to practice bhakti-yoga.

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 27, 2018

About the author

His Divine Grace Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (अभय चरणारविन्द भक्तिवेदान्त स्वामी प्रभुपाद)was born as Abhay Charan De on 1 September 1896 in Calcutta, India.

He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent devotional scholar and the founder of sixty-four branches of Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes), liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge in the Western world. Srila Prabhupada became his student, and eleven years later (1933) at Allahabad, he became his formally initiated disciple.

At their first meeting, in 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura requested Srila Prabhupada to broadcast Vedic knowledge through the English language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita and in 1944, without assistance, started an English fortnightly magazine.

In the last ten years of his life, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe twelve times on lecture tours that have took him to six continents. In spite of such a vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhupada continued to write prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.

Reviews

[Nityananda Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic primer into the world of Bhakti

This book presents a fantastic primer into the world and philosophy of Bhakti. Well organized it helps. The reader travel through different levels of death and realization of eastern philosophy and its practical application.

[Harry Laban ♫︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Krishna Consciousness: what a wild ride.

Although the institute is maybe a cult that exploits fundamental Vedic philosophy into a watered-down form to exploit others, this book isn't bad. It's not good, but it's not manipulative. I don't feel urged to don some red robes, shave my head and start chanting Hare Krishna on the street. Not yet, at least.

It tackles a lot of generic Vedic topics - yoga, god, the self, the soul, meditation, chants, The Bhagavad Gita, etc. It's structured in that annoying unknown-narrator's question followed by some fancy guy's answer format. So if you want a book identical in structure that's much more fulfilling, is written by a much more trusted person that tackles the same themes and - most importantly - won't conduce to you joining an isolating and secretive cult (potentially), I can recommend Be As You Are by Sri Ramana Maharshi.

But, suppose you don't have a copy of Be As You Are to hand. How does this book deal with those themes?

Well, alright. Again, most ISCKON books don't seem like they present themselves as unmaintainable as the movement itself is. Bhaktivedanta does the usual meandering around the question that sort of answers it but very hazily. Unlike with the SRM book, I don't feel any more enlightened after finishing this one. If anything, I feel even less able to rationalise some looming monotheistic God, regardless of its God/Allah/Brahman/Krishna/Yhwh manifestation.

And THAT'S the fatal flaw of this book being reasonable. It assumes that everybody does, or can, believe in one ultimate God. In ISCKON, it's manifested as Krishna, and AC Bhaktivedanta can hardly spare the name from any sentence he responds with. But as enough census studies and general societal secularisation has proven, that's hardly the case anymore.

I'm pretty sure it's very generic, so if you're looking for an explanation of a specific theme, this one also isn't for you. It browses over a lot of themes that could be explored deeply very lightly. Although I suppose there are more books by Bhaktivedanta that explore specific themes as well.

One pro I will give the book is that it explains these concepts very well to the Westerner. It doesn't overload its answers with untranslatable Sanskrit terminology and opts for familiar words and tenuous metaphors instead. So, good for Bhaktivedanta, I guess. But it doesn't do a good job introducing these to the lay, godless Westerner as it automatically assumes... Y'know... This world isn't godless. For anyone who wants to explore some similar concepts without that drastic assumption, could I suggest The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh?

ISCKON does to Hinduism what LDS does to Christianity: like, it makes a lot more sense just to start practicing the older one. It's not nearly as destructive, has had over 2000 years to find their footing and is a little more established. If you wanna worship Krishna and co? There's probably a Hinduism for you. Prefer Jesus? Why not try Christianity? It makes a lot more sense to just try the older versions of these religions instead.

Okay, Harry, you may say, sure, Hinduism seems great, but George Harrison and John Lennon weren't affiliated with it, and they seemed just fine practicing Krishna Conscience.

And yep, it's a good point well made. And it's true, GH was undoubtedly the best Beatle, and My Sweet Lord is a cracking song that might as well be the ISCKON anthem. But we can't let our two music idols dictate our spiritual lives. And there's every chance that as those two guys were members of an institute bigger than any religion at the time, ISCKON probably tried to present itself as a little less cult-like to them.

But to be fair, the book does leaps to present the institute as pretty friendly, although opinions are split online. Maybe I'll try some Hare Krishna meditation someday, and see how much I become smited by Buddhist karma afterwards.

In conclusion, I'd say, assess yourself before reading it. If you're in any spiritual doubt and think you could be at all convinced to reason with ISCKON, then steer clear. If, like me, you're dead-set that you can't rationalise a one overarching God or all already pretty comfortable in some juxtaposing viewpoint, then, I still wouldn't recommend it (unless you're really interest in ISCKON; but a few points (especially the idolisation of Bhaktivedanta (which I suppose is no different to any other historical religious reformer, but I don't know, I guess it seems weird that it's so modern)) is just a little bizarre). Maybe spend the time you could be reading this making a head start on something more substantial like Les Miserables or something. If you want more pure Vedic thought, just read the original Hindu scriptures. But if you've somehow read every book in the universe and have all the time in the universe and get this one for free (like me), then I suppose you could occupy yourself with this one.

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent little read. Pretty standard ISKON 'donation' book given to me by a devotee in a city centre somewhere. If you've read this kind of thing before it's generally more of the same. However, I always like to read them anyway because they're easy to engage with and digest.

[Gus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up. Feels pretty patronising