We are happy to announce the release of the much awaited book, the

Uddhava-gita, for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada and the assemble

Vaisnavas.

That the Uddhava-gita, which is really an essential companion to

the Bhagavad-gita, has been largely overlooked is certainly a

great mystery. Lord Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita on the

battlefield of Kuruksetra when His friend Arjuna refused to execute his

duty, fearing the death of many family members. The same Lord Krishna

also spoke the Uddhava-gita to another dear and intimate

devotee, Sri Uddhava, teaching him to renounce worldly attachments to take to the path of complete dedication to God.

In essence, the messages of both texts are similar, but the

Uddhava-gita goes a little bit further in the science of God.

Lord Krishna instructed Arjuna at the end of Bhagavad-gita to

abandon all varieties of religion, to simply surrender to Him and to

execute His will only. Arjuna did just as the Lord had instructed.

At the end of His manifest pastimes on earth 5,000 years ago, the

demigods headed by Lord Brahma approached Lord Krishna and submitted to

Him that the purpose for which the demigods had prayed for His descent

into this world was now fulfilled. They prayed to the Lord to return to

His eternal abode in the spiritual world, since the purpose of His

appearance had been executed.

The Lord approved the request of the demigods, but there was one more

duty that needed to be performed: the withdrawal of the Yadu dynasty

from the face of the earth. Should the Yadu dynasty have been left

behind after Him, the Yadus would have felt unbearable separation from

Him, and thus would have subsequently created another burden for the

Earth. Under the pretext of some curses by great sages, there was

fratricidal war among the Yadu members, and the dynasty was withdrawn

from the Earth.

After this the Lord sat in a secluded place preparing to leave the

planet. Uddhava approached the Lord, feeling great separation, and

prayed that the Lord might take him with Him, but the Lord had

something else in mind for Uddhava. He wanted Uddhava to deliver His

final teachings to the sages in the Himalayas, who will in turn benefit

humanity. Just as Uddhava was earlier deputed by the Lord to take a

message to the inhabitants of Vrindavan, the Lord was again sending

Uddhava to take His ultimate teachings to the sages of Badarikashram.

Uddhava thus posed several questions, and the Lord answered with sound

logic and philosophy.

The instructions in the Uddhava-gita bear many similarities to

the Bhagavad-gita; however, there is more practical analysis of

how to execute the ideas briefly explained in the Bhagavad-gita.

Lord Krishna elaborately explained the path of self-realisation,

various yoga and mystic perfections, real religion, the modes of

material nature and their influences, analytical understading of

material nature, the process of philosophical inquiry and the ultimate

path of bhakti, which is the process of total dedication to God.

In one sense, Uddhava-gita is the ultimate companion to

Bhagavad-gita, as what was briefly taught in the

Bhagavad-gita was now elaborately explained by the same speaker,

Lord Krishna, in the Uddhava-gita.

While the Bhagavad-gita is part of the Mahabharata, the

Uddhava-gita occurs in the Bhagavata Purana; both epics

were composed by Srila Vyasadeva to highlight the glory of Lord

Krishna’s descents into the world. There are countless translations and

editions of Bhagavad-gita, and the numbers are increasing

regularly. The most potent edition of Bhagavad-gita is the

edition presented by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada, the founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna

Consciousness. Srila Prabhupada presented Bhagavad-gita As It Is

and opened the eyes of this darkened world to the personality of Lord

Krishna, which had previously been hidden by unscrupulous and

impersonal commentaries.

It is our great fortune that we are presenting the Uddhava-gita

for the first time to the world. Though the Uddhava-gita is

drawn from the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, which had

already being published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, this edition

is special. Lord Krishna’s final teaching is fully elaborated upon with

the commentaries of two great Vaisnava spiritual masters, Srila

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

Thakura, the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada. Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati also made a summary of each chapter, thus

making the book easily understandable. The commentaries of Srila

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and the purports of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

Sarasvati Thakura are presented sequentially on each verse of the book.

This book, Uddhava-gita, with the commentaries of Srila

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

Thakura, is complete with the original Sanskrit verses, roman

transliterations, English translations and full commentaries. Including

a glossary of terms and a full index, the book is 820 pages, 9″x7″

(229mm x 188mm), hardback. It’s now available in India, and it will

soon be available in Europe through Bhaktivedanta Library Services and in

North America through Krishna

Culture.

You can write me at isvara99@gmail.com for

bulk-purchase details or visit our website, www.touchstonemedia.com