The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

From the flaps:

In the Science of Self-realization, we discover the oldest and most essential of all sciences—the one that modern scientist are most in the dark about. As His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada tells an interviewer from London Broadcasting Company, “People are in ignorance; they are living in a fool’s paradise, thinking that when their body is finished, everything is finished.… Our first concern is to tell you that you are not this body, that the body is your covering—your shirt and coat—and that within the body you are living …”

Throughout this book Srila Prabhupada explains how you can go beyond limited, short-lived enjoyment and experience the unlimited and lasting pleasure of the inner self. You’ll find sensible and authentic answers on everything from practicing yoga and meditation to solving personal and political problems to reaching the highest awareness.

Thousands of years ago, the great sage Vyasadeva put the science of self-realization into written form—the Vedic literatures (in fact, veda means “knowledge”). Through the centuries major acharyas, or self-realized teachers, have followed in succession from Vyasadeva, and Srila Prabhupada is the most recent.

So here we have the main difference between Srila Prabhupada and today’s assortment of self-styled yogis and swamis: “The different,” he says, “is that we are following the original literature, and they are manufacturing their own literature. When there is some question on spiritual matters, you must consult the original literature, not some literature issued by a bogus man.”

In all the interviews, lectures, essays, and letters chosen for this special book, Srila Prabhupada quotes freely and often from the original Vedic literature. He transmits in modern English the same timeless science that other great self-realized teacher have spoken for millennia. This knowledge opens up the secrets of the self within us, the world around us, and the Supreme Self within and without. Srila Prabhupada speaks with startling clarity and power: he proves just how relevant the science of self-realization is to our modern world and our own lives.

Practically everything in this book first appears in Back to Godhead, the bi-monthly magazine that Srila Prabhupada started single-handedly in 1944. Among the thirty-six selections, we hear Srila Prabhupada’s moving poem upon his arrival in America, his exchange with a noted cardiologist on “soul research,” his telling remarks to the London Times on real and false gurus, his dialogue with a German Benedictine monk on Krishna and Christ, his insights on superconsciousness and the law of karma, his conversation with a leading Russian scholar on spiritual communism, and his intimate talk with his disciples on the sham of modern science.

Read the selections in order, if you like or start with the ones that first catch your interest. The Science of Self-Realization will bring you challenge, inspiration, and enlightenment.

From the back cover:

In this book you will discover the timeless science that great teachers have spoken for millennia. The Science of Self-realization opens up the secrets of the self within, nature of the universe, and the Supreme Self within and without.

Here the world’s most distinguished teacher of the science of self-realization talks about meditating and practicing yoga in the modern age, gaining liberation from the law of karma, achieving superconsciousness, and much more.

In all the interviews, lectures, essays, and letters chosen for this special book, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada speaks with startling clarity and power. He proves just how relevant the science of self-realization is to today’s world and you own life.