IN THIS ISSUE we commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Bhaktivedanta Archives, which safeguards and makes available many of the gifts left by Srila Prabhupada, most notably his recorded words. Thanks to the efforts of the Archives, and to modern technology, we've gained an invaluable asset for spiritual life: instant access to Prabhupada's teachings on any topic.
Included in the Archives collection are hundreds of recorded lectures, which BTG draws from to bring you the Founder's Lecture in each issue. This time we have Srila Prabhupada speaking in New York City, 1971, about the compassion of Krsna's devotees.
Compassion is also a theme in "Free for My Life's Work." An ex-prisoner tells how the compassionate workers of the ISKCON Prison Ministry brought light to his dark cell. That light is Krsna's teachings, and in "Seeing by Krsna's Light," Caitanya Carana Dasa explains how it is the only hope for our misled modern world.
Compassion often drives great thinkers to look for ways to organize society for everyone's benefit. In "Social Dharma in Plato, Gandhi, Bhaktivinoda, and Prabhupada," Satyaraja Dasa discusses the Vedic social system and shows that its natural divisions are based on one's qualities and work, not one's birth.
Hare Krsna.
(Nagaraja Dasa)
Our Purposes
• To help all people discern reality from illusion, spirit from matter, the eternal from the temporary.
• To expose the faults of materialism.
• To offer guidance in the Vedic techniques of spiritual life.
• To preserve and spread the Vedic culture.
• To celebrate the chanting of the holy names of God as taught by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
• To help every living being remember and serve Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead.