Publishing Gadadhar Pran's books
Due to financial constraints, Gadadhar has not been publishing his books in the traditional manner. This has been a big problem for him and the devotees who are thirsty for more insight and inspiration in rāgānugā bhakti. Until these books are published and distributed widely, these devotees will be held back in their progress.
Up to the present day, Gadadhar has been making his books available to interested sādhakas through photocopied versions, but as you can imagine, this is labor heavy, more troublesome and expensive than normal printing. Also we currently have no publishing expertise for e-books, etc., but even the free distribution of books on the internet is time-consuming and does not make it easier for him to continue this seva.
So we are looking for generous donors to help bring these books on rāgānugā bhakti by a longtime practicing sādhaka, which are a unique and invaluable contribution to the genre in the English language, to a wider audience of serious seekers.
As Mahaprabhu's Krishna Consciousness movement spreads throughout the world, it is only natural that some serious devotees will desire to know more about the intimate sadhana taught by Bhaktivinoda Thakur and the predecessor acharyas all the way back to Rupa Goswami, and which is indeed the final step of his unprecedented gift to humankind.
While many so-called devotees have been consecrating their lives to proving that the earth is flat or hollow, Gadadhar has been making a serious study of Gaura and Krishna lila with advanced practitioners in Radha Kund and elsewhere, and enriching many old texts with the insights derived from his own sadhana.
Frankly, there is nothing else like it in the English language anywhere.
So if you have been appreciating the articles and excerpts that have been published on line here, please think about sending some money and we will make them available to you, and if you can give something extra so that they can be made more easily available to others also, please do so.
Here are the titles that have so far been written or published in one form or another:
In Bengali:
(1) Nandishwar Chandrika (Siddha Krishnadas Baba)
(2) Gaurangera Madhuryamaya Lila (GP}
In English (original books and translations)
(1) Why did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Come (Part I and II) A discourse on rāgānugā bhakti sādhana.
(2) Nabadwip Vraja Madhuri (Ashtakala Gaura Lila and Krishna Lila)
(3) Dhyana Chandra's Paddhati.
(4) Prema Bhakti Chandrika (Narottam Das)
(5) Govinda Lilamrita with extensive commentary.
(6) Vishnupriya Trilogy (three volumes)
(7) Rasaraj Gauranga
(8) Dhamali by Lochan
(9) Gita Govinda (Jayadeva)
(10) Sri Sri Gauranga Pratyanga Varanakhya Stava Raja of Advaita Acharya (two parts): An examination of Gauranga's Nadiya Kishor worship in comparative study with the Rupanuga process of Vrindavan.
(11) Sri Sri Gauranga Pratyanga Varanakhya Stava Raja of Advaita Acharya (abridged version for daily recital)
(12) Kanta bhava bhakti sadhana directed to Sri Krishna. Part I, Part II.
(13) Another side of Thakur Bhaktivinoda, Chapters 1 to 4 on this blog.
(14) Sri Gauranga's Main Activity, Part I, Part II.
These books are of different sizes and no price list is available at the present time.
In the present circumstances, the best way to go about it is to come personally or send someone to Mayapur to xerox them and take them back. Sending them by mail or courier costs a small fortune, especially the photocopied versions.
One can send money by Western Union (etc.).
Rai Kishori Dasi
c/o Gadai Gauranga Kunj
Sri Mayapur Ghat
Nadia, W.B., India
For further information, contact Gadadhar Pran at gadadhar_das000@yahoo.co.in
Comments
Yes - it would be great for the books to be made more readily available to the Gaudiya Vaisnava community.
Have you considered scanning the books and using Optical Character Recognition software (OCR) to convert the scanned images to digitised documents?
I am assuming that most of your books are in hardcopy only without there being an original softcopy available from the work being typed in on computer. Also I am assuming that you would be happy to have the works available freely in softcopy form on the internet or by email on a donation paying basis.
Essentially the process is that the book has to be scanned in to computer using a flat-bed scanner. From there OCR is used to convert the scanned images into digitised content i.e. in the same format that Another Side of Bhaktivinoda Thakur is made available on this website. The book is then reassembled from the digitised content, including graphics, and converted to PDF format. This process saves having to re-type the whole book all over again but does require review to correct any OCR character recognition errors. Also I am not sure how the OCR would handle diacritics in the Sanskrit - this may depend on the individual OCR software in use.
You (or those willing to help) would need to have access to a scanner and set about the one-off task of scanning in the books. Simple OCR software (that is capable of recognising characters down to 200 dots per inch resolution) is freely available on the internet.
Taz