Wise Love: Bhakti and the Search for the Soul of Consciousness, an innovative introductory book to the path of Bhakti for a modern Western audience, has been translated into Spanish as Amor Sabio, and is now available in paperback and Kindle editions.

Author Pranada Dasi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, first released Wise Love in March 2018. The book replaces common ISKCON vernacular with more accessible terms for philosophical concepts. “Wise Love” itself, for instance, refers to Bhakti, meaning love that is grounded in reason and philosophy. The essential theme of the book is love – how our current experience of love is unsatisfying, because we lack wise love, unconditional and grounded in a relationship with the Supreme Person.

After reading Wise Love in English, a devotee from Puerto Rico, who wishes to remain anonymous, was moved to translate it. “There’s no book like this,” he commented. “It fills such a need in our outreach work, giving people a comprehensive look at our philosophy and theology without dogma. It calls the reader to come to their own conclusions, but presents Bhakti in a way that makes so much sense to them that they feel they should look into it more.”

Wise Love presented a particular challenge even to the experienced translator; due to the unique way it expresses philosophical concepts, especially deep thought was required.

The book was also edited and finalized by Spanish BBT editor Partha Das, resulting in a high quality translation.

Amor Sabio is already highly anticipated by some Spanish-speaking readers. “I heard from one reader in Mexico who had read Wise Love in English, and said it inspired some of her most profound ‘aha!’ moments,” Pranada says. “She said she was very excited that it was coming out in Spanish, and that she planned on giving it as a gift to several people.”

Meanwhile Wise Love continues to make quite an impact in its original English edition. The book was a 2019 Montaigne Medal Winner, an award given “For the most thought-provoking books that illuminate, progress, or redirect thought.”

The Bhakti Center in New York City is currently running a fifteen-week course using Wise Love and the free eCourse that accompanies the book. Lavangalatika Dasi in Dallas, who is teaching the course for The Bhakti Center, says students are going deep into the book and deriving a lot from it.

In Washington D.C., devotees printed a bag inscribed with the words “Wise Love,” and would call people to their book tables by talking to them about Wise Love. They would then invite them to get Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is along with Wise Love.

(left) Wise Love bags created by ISKCON of DC, (right) Wise Love editions including the BBT and Spanish editions

In South Africa, Wise Love passed the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s rigorous five-person review board, and was thus allowed to carry the BBT logo and be printed by the BBT South Africa for distribution.

The book has been endorsed by esteemed Vaishnavas such as Giriraja Swami, Devamrita Swami, Hridayananda Das Goswami, Visakha Devi Dasi, and Kripamoya Das, who wrote that the book “Painstakingly and persuasively sets out the logical sequence of ideas leading to bhakti and does so in a language that is accessible and contemporary. It is a book for every intelligent newcomer to bhakti.”

Readers have also said that the book changed their lives. “I find it captivating, enthralling, and distinctly touching the core of my soul,” one reader said. “I will read and treasure this book till my last breath.”

Another commented that “Wise Love transformed me, it convinced me about the path of bhakti.”

With the Spanish edition now out, a Bulgarian edition of Wise Love is also now in the process of translation.

In the meantime, Pranada has completed her next book, “Bhakti Shakti: Goddess of Divine Love,” expected in January 2022, which will introduce her audience to Srimati Radharani and her unique position, and explain how she bestows divine love, our greatest necessity. 

“In this practical guide, through clear instruction, authentic Bhakti Vedanta teachings, and meditation and mantra practices, you’ll discover how you can invoke Radha’s divine feminine presence in your life and experience the unbounded joy of the self and your true nature free from limitation,” the upcoming book’s description reads.

Bhakti Shakti will be the second in a four-book series, which Pranada says “aims to gradually unfold the bhakti universe in a simple but authentic, pure way.”

She hopes that her work “opens the door for other devotees to write and express the realizations that they’re receiving through their connection in the heart and their sadhana.”

“I’m really looking forward to all the devotees who have something to contribute in the way of writing to develop our outreach through more books for mainstream, trade publications,” she says. “So that Bhakti reaches the world stage in a way that it has not yet, but deserves to be, and can be. In a way that is really positioned through the work of Bhaktivinode Thakur, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and my spiritual master A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to make the impact that they saw and that they worked to bring to the world.”

For more information on Amor Sabio (the Spanish edition of Wise Love) and where to buy it, please visit: https://www.pranadacomtois.com/books/amor-sabio/