A Shower of Divine Compassion, a book of Srila Prabhupada’s poetry, was released by BBT India in March this year on the auspicious occasion of Gaura Purnima.

The book features eight poems written between 1930 and 1965. “Prabhupada usually wrote in English, even before coming to the West in 1965, because his spiritual master ordered him to preach in English,” says Dasaratha Suta Dasa, who spent twelve years of his life, from 1996 to 2008, translating and polishing this anthology. “So it is significant that with the exceptions of the homage beginning Adore, Adore Ye All in English and the Pranama Sloka for Sri Kesava Maharaja in Sanskrit, the rest of the poems were written in Prabhupada’s native Bengali. From this we can surmise that the poems were outpourings of his heart.”

Vrindavane Bhajana, a lengthy work Srila Prabhupada wrote while alone in Vrindavana, contains his musings over the ephemeral nature of this world, the unique relationship between Krishna and Arjuna, and other topics, and takes up the bulk of the book. Also featured in the book is Viraha-Ashtastaka, an epic about the preaching mission of Lord Chaitanya. Several poems include extensive comments that Srila Prabhupada himself made on them during his later years in the West.

A Shower of Divine Compassion is hardbound with 200 pages, and includes beautiful watercolor paintings of Srila Prabhupada by Anuradha Dasi. It is available from the Mumbai branch of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust and from Krishna.com.