Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
Encyclopedia
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
and the philosophy, religion, and culture of the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in India in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gauḍa region with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu"...
tradition of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It was established in 1972 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...
, founder-acharya
Acharya
In Indian religions and society, an acharya is a guide or instructor in religious matters; founder, or leader of a sect; or a highly learned man or a title affixed to the names of learned men...
of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
(ISKCON). The BBT is the publisher for his books and for books by other authors. It also publishes the magazine Back to Godhead
Back to Godhead
Back to Godhead, also known as BTG, is the main magazine of the Hare Krishna Movement. It was originally published by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and later by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami and Jayadvaita Swami.-External links:**...
in English, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
, Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, and other languages. The BBT is a nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, independent of ISKCON, and supplies books both to ISKCON and to the book trade in general.
Publishing range
BBT books range in complexity from brief, introductory volumes and study guides, summary studies, biographical material and short Sanskrit works all the way up to exhaustive multi-volume translations (with commentaries) of major Sanskrit and Bengali works. Its publications include original scriptural works, translated into more than 80 languages, and books that discuss and explain these traditional texts. The BBT also publishes audio books, audio CDs, video materials, and multimedia presentations.The BBT publishes the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita As It Is
Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is is a translation and commentary of the Bhagavad Gita by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness...
, Srimad-Bhagavatam
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
, Isopanishad
Isha Upanishad
The Isha Upanishad is one of the shortest of the Upanishads, consisting of 17 or 18 verses in total; like other core texts of the vedanta, it is considered revealed scripture by diverse traditions within Hinduism...
, Narada Bhakti Sutra, and (from the Gaudiya devotional tradition) the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita
Chaitanya Charitamrita
The Chaitanya Charitamrita is one of the primary biographies detailing the life and teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu , a Vaisnava saint and founder of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya. It was written by Krishna Das Kaviraja , primarily in the Bengali language, but also including a great number of...
, and numerous other books. Its latest multi-volume publication is an English translation, with commentary, of Sanatana Goswami
Sanatana Goswami
Sanatana Goswami was a principal disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sanatana wrote a number of important works in the bhakti tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and was the seniormost of the influential Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, among whom was his brother Rupa Goswami.-Birth and early years:Sanatana,...
's Brihad Bhagavatamrita.
The BBT publishes in all the major Eastern and Western European languages, in the major Indian languages, in the main languages of the former Soviet Union, and in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Singhalese, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages.
Apart from the BBT's work in publishing, it helps finance the construction and renovation of Krishna temples—for example, in the most important Gaudiya Vaishnava holy places like Vrindavan
Vrindavan
Vrindavan also known as Vraj is a town in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India...
and Mayapur
Mayapur
Mayapur is located on the banks of the Ganges river, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi, near Navadvip, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata...
.
Structure
The BBT has six main publishing divisions: North European, North American, Western Pacific, Mediterranean, African, and Indian. Every division is headed by a trustee, each responsible for publishing in the languages specific to that division. The trustees meet twice a year.External links
- Krishna.com (a large, wide-ranging BBT-sponsored site, "all about Krishna")
- The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (the BBT corporate site)
- BBT Sweden
- Friends of the BBT
- Online BBT's books in English and other languages