And most importantly, what is it all about?
Based on the cover "this book is a mini-dictionary of Gaudiya Vaisnavism"
Nanda-tanuja, do you have any other super powers we should know about? (Other than reading text at 3 pixels high in 72 dpi.)
But, back to the matter: Yes you are correct, it is a mini-dictionary of Gaudiya Vaisnavism. But there is so much more to it. (Now try reading rest of the text on the backcover!)
But you need not worry, we will tell you more when the time is right.
Stay tuned.
Dear friends,
the long wait is soon to be over. Just a few minor adjustments and we will let the printers careful hands take our new baby under their expert care.
It is with these words that we proudly announce our most recent project,
THE LITTLE BOOK OF BHAKTI-YOGA
What we have been working on (as Nanda-tanuja so expertly revealed) is a mini dictionary on key Gaudiya terminology. But there's more to it than just this. Every spread contains an illustration made by our very own Krishangi dasi. The contents in turn are written by Bhrigupada, who sparing no effort dove deeply in the sea of excisting vaisnava literature, churning out the essence for this beutiful 240 page book. It will be hardcovered and perfect bound.
We have attached the first letter as well as the start pages for you to get acquainted with. It is a pdf-file, and should open on any computer carrying Acrobat.
This is a book that is of use both to the neophyte, as well as the more advanced practitioner. And it serves splendidly as a gift, due to it's sweet nature. You will find no forceful conversion tactics employed in this small gem. Just a nice and at times funny presentation of our philosophy. Also the production values will be of the highest quality, as to make it even more suitable as a small representation of our tradition.
BUT...
There always is a but. As much as we know about philosophy (Bhrigupada), the art of illustration (Krishangi dasi) and layout (well, that would be me...) we have a serious shortcoming in one key area. Marketing has always been our great stumbling block.
It is here that you, dear reader, come in the picture. We need help. Thus our heartfelt request would be that everyone with the capability order at least one book. But to really help us a lot, we have been planning on offering larger quantities (10, 25, 50) to a reduced price, for everyone to spread in their community. You could either sell the books, or pass them on as gifts to those interested.
As you know, we are far from everything here in Finland (with the possible exception of Sweden). Thus any help you can extend us will be more than greatly appreciated. We have so few people over here that fit the bill of our target group. (That would be English-speaking, open-minded vaisnavas.)
As of this date I still cannot give exact prices, as we still await the final offer from our printer, and we still have to check the shipping fees. We will however strive to keep the price as reasonable as possible. (And for those interested: no, we are not making money on this, rather we probably will end up losing a whole lot, unless you come to aid us. Hint! Hint!)
I will return with a pricesheet, but for now I only ask yo to think about this. Anyone interested can contact me via Tattva-viveka.
Thank you for your attention. Now go read the book!
Your servant, Kamalaksa das
* * *
Note that the pdf that we are posting still is an unfinished product, thus we would rather not have it circulated outside the realm of Tattva-viveka.
* * *
Sorry, the board does apparently not allow pdf:s, but I have sent the file to Gauravani to try to work around the problem. Thank you for your patience!
Cool, I'll take a box of those!
Gauravani, thanks for fixing the file for us!
And Nanja-Tanuja, thanks! We'll start looking for the biggest box we can find!
After two very work filled days we are finally at the last leg of our strech. Bhrigu and I sat at the computer going through every single line of the book, checking for bad hyphenation and ugly lines, Krishangi at the light table inking her sketches.
Now we just have some last minute tune-ups and some scanning to take care of before we send our combined effort to the printer. Thus we have reached the end of our line at doing things we are good at.
Now comes the marketing part. At which we basically suck. (As I already mentioned in an earlier post...)
Fortunately, we are not left entirely alone in front of this daunting task. For instance Satyaraja has extended a helping hand in trying to convey the greatness of our little book:
"The Little Book of Bhakti Yoga is deliciously readable. Erudite and yet easy to understand, this is a work that will be of use for years to come. If I were to alphabetize the books in my library according to importance, this would be among the "a"s!
--Satyaraja Dasa (Steven J. Rosen), author and founding editor of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies
As they say, don't take my word for it, listen to the satisfied customers!
"Now comes the marketing part. At which we basically suck."
haha those are marketing oneliners the vaisnava way.
I'll try to help out with some marketing. Could you make a small jpg ad? smth like 325px width and 150px height?
I'm sure Radhadesh in Belgium would want to get some copies too. I'll also buy some copies of you when I'm over. You'll hear from me.
Hello,
we were already wondering were you were hiding...
Yes, any help is welcome, and we will start massproducing ads for anyone interested as soon as the file containing the book is out of our hands.
Would it be possible for you to deliver a box or so by hand to Radhadesh? (We are keen on saving any thing possible except on production, including postal fees)
See you soon. There is lots of work awaiting you here...
KMLX