Brilliant As The Sun
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- Five thousand years ago in India many saints and sages gathered
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- on the banks of the sacred river Ganges.
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- They came from throughout the world to witness the last seven days
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- in the life of the great devotee, King Pariksit.
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- The King had renounced his fabulous wealth
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- to dedicate his few remaining days to spiritual enlightenment.
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- At that meeting Sukadeva Goswami, the most exalted sage in the assembly
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- narrated the pastimes and teachings of Lord Sri Krishna,
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- the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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- He discussed all aspects of knowledge from the creation of the material universe
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- to the culture of spiritual life and held the King and sages in rapt attention.
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- His teachings, known as the Bhagavata Purana or Srimad-Bhagavatam
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- were transcribed in the ancient Sanskrit language
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- and their glories are thus explained in the Bhagavata itself.
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- This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the sun and has arisen just after the departure of
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- Lord Krishna to His own abode accompanied by religion and knowledge, etc.
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- Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of this age of Kali
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- shall get light from this Purana.
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- Through the ages these teachings about Lord Sri Krishna were transmitted intact
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- from spiritual master to disciple.
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- Sripada Madhvacharya
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- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
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- The Goswamis of Vrindavana
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- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura
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- Sri Gaurakisora dasa Babaji
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- And, in the early 20th century, Srila Bhaktsiddhanta Saraswaiti Thakura
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- who ordered his disciples to preach Krishna consciousness around the world.
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- He especially desired to distribute Krishna conscious literature in the Western countries.
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- His disciple, His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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- took this order as his very life.
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- In 1966 he founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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- for worldwide preaching.
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- Then for worldwide publishing he established the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
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- Srila Prabhupada himself is the author of all of the books.
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- He has been acclaimed as the world’s most distinguished scholar and teacher
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- of Vedic philosophy and culture.
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- While translating each Sanskrit verse he refers to books of commentary
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- by previous spiritual masters and then gives a thorough explanation of the text.
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- Srila Visvananta Chakravati Thakura gives in this connection a description
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- of the difference of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and ordinary living being.
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- So this is…
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- This has been described in the previous verse.
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- The purport is that Supreme Lord, He is omnipotent, omniscient. He knows everything.
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- But the living being does not know actually what is the position
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- of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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- That is the difference between the Supreme Personality of Godhead
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- and ordinary living being.
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- Now we will follow one verse as it journeys from translation by Srila Prabhupada
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- through the process of book publication to its distribution around the world.
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- This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the Sun. And it has arisen
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- just after the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode, accompanied by religion,
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- knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness of ignorance
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- in this age of Kali shall get light from this Purana.
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- Navadvipa dasa please report to graphic design. Navadvipa dasa.
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- Damodar Prabhu please pick up on line 40.
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- Srimad-Bhagavatam, we require one hundred thousand copies.
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- But on this reprint we’d like two hundred and fifty thousand.
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- Prabhu this package just arrived by air freight from India.
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- Jaya. This is the latest translation of Srimad-Bhagavatam by our spiritual master.
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- Prabhu take this manuscript to the Sanskrit department
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- and tell them it’s first priority. And put a mark against Srila Prabhupada’s name.
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- From the production manager the manuscript goes to the Sanskrit department.
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- Here we see that the ancient script has been rendered into Roman letters.
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- The editor is adding diacritical marks as a guide to pronunciation.
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- This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the Sun comma
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- and it has arisen just after the departure of Lord Krishna to cap-H His own abode comma
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- accompanied by religion comma knowledge comma etc.period…
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- The English editor now checks the manuscript for proper punctuation , grammar
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- and spelling. He dictates the corrected text onto a tape.
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- This recording is then transcribed.
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- In the composing room devotees retype the text on computerized machines
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- that transfer each typed letter into an electronic code.
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- The codes are recorded on magnetic tape. Any language can be composed in this way.
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- The tape, with its coded information, is now fed into an electronic computer.
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- The coded impulses from the tape are stored in the computers memory bank..
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- Then the computer activates a phototypesetter. The typesetter converts the stored codes
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- into light sensitive impressions on photographic paper.
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- When the paper is developed in a processor the resulting image looks
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- exactly as it will appear in the finished book.
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- The typesetting machine can run off more than two thousand characters per minute.
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- At this rate the entire Srimad-Bhagavatam as Sukadeva Goswami first spoke it
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- could be reproduced in twenty-four hours.
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- The layout man cuts the photographic paper to page size and mounts it on art-board.
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- Next the page is photographed on a reproduction camera.
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- The retoucher removes any blemishes from the negative.
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- Before the book is printed blueprints are made of all the negatives
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- and the blueprints are carefully proof-read.
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- Meanwhile, during this entire operation, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust artists
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- illustrate verses and purports from pages of the Bhagavatam.
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- They begin with pencil sketches portraying the scenes exactly as they are written.
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- These sketches are sent to Srila Prabhupada for approval and then traced on canvas.
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- With great care and devotion oils are applied.
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- The artists have to work quickly to keep pace with modern book production techniques.
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- This painting, for instance, took only two weeks to complete.
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- For reproduction the finished painting is photographed with a special studio camera.
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- A reading on a color analyzer assures that the colors are correctly balanced on the final print.
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- The devotee technician programs a computer processor which automatically develops the print.
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- Next the picture goes to the layout department where it is scaled to the proper size.
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- The book is now ready to print.
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- At this point page proofs are checked for accurate color reproduction.
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- After being printed the books are stored at the BBT warehouse in Los Angeles.
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- From there they are shipped throughout the world.
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- Devotees load thousands of books into special air containers to jet-freight
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- rush orders within twenty-four hours.
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- The narrations concerning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna,
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- are the oldest writings known to man. Over generations they have influenced civilizations
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- in both the East and the West. Now, under Srila Prabhupada’s guidance,
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- the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust has become the world’s largest publisher and distributor
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- of these spiritual classics.
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- In English language editions alone the book trust has sold thirty million magazines
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- and ten million books.
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- It’s greatest undertaking is the continuing publication of the sixty-volume
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- Srimad-Bhagavatam, the essence of all spiritual and material knowledge.
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- The ultimate source of everything that be is explained rationally and authoratively
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- in the beautiful Bhagavatam therefore it is the transcendental science meant for the
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- re-spiritualization of the entire human society.
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- Another publication of major importance is the seventeen volume
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- Sri Caitanya-caritamrta. The original Bengali verses translated and explained by
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- Srila Prabhupada describe the life and teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
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- The Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna Himself appeared
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- as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to deliver the easiest and most sublime process
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- for self-realization in this age.
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- These books offer original Sanskrit and Bengali texts, Roman transliterations,
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- word-for-word English synonyms, concise translations and readable purports
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- by Srila Prabhupada.
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- They also feature detailed glossaries, general indexes and verse indexes,
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- pronunciation guides and original full-color paintings and photographs.
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- Also published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust are a number of shorter works
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- in cloth and paper editions.
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- In 1944 Srila Prabhupada started publishing “Back to Godhead” magazine in India.
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- Now his disciples are continuing this work in many other countries.
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- The English language edition has a monthly circulation of one million copies
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- making it the West’s most popular periodical on Vedic philosophy and culture.
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- His Divine Grace is the spiritual master of a world-wide movement
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- and his books have thus been translated into fifteen major languages
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- including Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Swedish, Dutch,
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- Portuguese, Polish, Swahili, Gujarati, Hindi and Bengali.
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- Bhagavad-gita As It Is is the Western world’s best selling and most widely used
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- edition of India’s greatest religious classic.
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- Nearly one million copies of the English edition have been sold.
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- Srila Prabhupada’s books are studied in universities and colleges throughout the world.
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- In America alone ninety percent of the colleges have already ordered these books
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- for their students, professors and libraries.
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- Harvard, Yale and Oxford lead the list of prestigious schools
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- that have placed standing orders for all seventeen volumes of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
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- and the entire sixty volume set of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
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- Throughout the world scholars glorify Srila Prabhupada’s writings.
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- Dr. J. Bruce Long of Cornell University praised Srila Prabhupada’s works as,
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- “A cause for celebration.”
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- And Dr. Daniel H. H. Ingles of Harvard said,
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- “I am most happy to have these handsomely printed volumes.”
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- Dr. Garry Gelade of Oxford University wrote,
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- “This is a work to be treasured. The spirit of its message shines brightly from the pages.”
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- Devotees at the temples of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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- study their spiritual masters books daily.
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- They have dedicated their lives to presenting the teachings of Krishna consciousness
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- to the entire human society.
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- Hare Krishna Sir. May I have a moment of your time? –Yea. Sure.
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- I’m from the Krishna temple and on the request of my spiritual master,
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- His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
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- we’re making these ancient books on transcendental knowledge
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- available to the people here in the West.
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- This is the history of the life and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
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- Lord Sri Krishna.
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- I’ll show you one verse which is very good, it gives a basic idea of the book.
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- It says, “This Bhagavata Purana is as brilliant as the Sun and it has arisen
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- just after the departure of Lord Krishna to His own abode accompanied by religion,
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- knowledge, etc. Persons who have lost their vision due to the dense darkness in this age
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- of Kali shall get light from this Purana.
New York City - Bg. 4.13
Melbourne, 1974 - Introduction to Srimad-Bhagavatam - Part 1 - (DVD 9)