Volume 7 - Prabhupada

(continued from front flap)Madhya-lila (the middle period), thelongest of the three, is a detailed narration ofSri Caitanya's extensive and eventful travelsthroughout India as a renounced mendicant,teacher, philosopher, spiritual preceptor andmystic. Finally, Antya-lila (the final period)concerns the last eighteen years of CaitanyaMahaprabhu's manifest presence, spent insemiseclusion in Jagannatha Puri, Orissa.During these final years, Sri Caitanya drifteddeeper and deeper into trances of spiritualecstasy unparalleled in all of religious andliterary history, Eastern or Western., Krt:adasa Kaviraja GosvamT, the author ofSri Caitanya-caritamrta, was a great saint anda confidential disciple and student ofRaghunatha dasa GosvamT, the renownedascetic saint who was one of the most intimatedisciples of Sri Caitanya. He commencedwork on the text while in his latenineties and in failing health, as he vividlydescribes in the text itself: "I have now becometoo old and disturbed in invalidity.While writing, my hands tremble. I cannotremember anything, nor can I see or hearproperly. Still I write, and this is a greatwonder." That he nevertheless completed,under such debilitating conditions, thegreatest literary gem of medieval India issurely one of the wonders of literary history.The English translation and commentary isthe work of His Divine Grace A. C. BhaktivedantaSwami Prabhupada, the world'smost distinguished scholar and teacher ofIndian religious and philosophical thought.He himself is a disciplic descendant of SrTCaitanya, and his intimate familiarity withthe precepts of Caitanya Mahaprabhu eminentlyqualifies him to present this importantclassic to the English-speaking world.The ease and clarity with which he expoundsupon Sri Caitanya's precepts lureseven a reader totally unfamiliar with Indianreligious tradition into a genuine understandingand appreciation of this profoundand monumental work.The entire text, with commentary, presentedin seventeen lavishly illustratedvolumes by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust,represents a contribution of major importanceto the intellectual, cultural andspiritual life of contemporary man.