Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead

Who is God? How does he look? What is his name? These are questions that plagued me since I was a child. To answer this question I began a quest to read as many scriptures as humanly possible to answer this question. If only someone had told me it was as simple as reading one book. Luckily, it didn't take my search long before I came upon Srila Prabhupada's "Krishna" book. I was astounded by what I found. Unlike western religion, the Vedas of ancient India are replete with knowledge of God. This single book alone was able to answer all of my questions and doubts as to the personality of the Supreme Lord. If you are actually interested in discovering who is God, based on the worlds oldest and most authoritative scriptures, do yourself a favor and read this book.

It is a good book that summarizes Bhagavan Krishna's life. Another good book is Devi Vanamali's The Play of God, which is a recent publication of Bhagavan Krishna's life.

This book is the first truly accurate English rendition of the 10th Canto of the most elevated spiritual book of the Vedas, namely Srila Vyasadeva's Srimad Bhagavatam, or Bhagavat Purana. There is a lot of misinformation and ignorance about the true nature of spiritual knowledge found in the Vedas of India. The esoteric spiritual portions of the Vedas are not accessible by dry academic analysis, and Swami Bhaktivedanta brilliantly presents the realizations of actual God conscious transcendentalists, who have direct experience of the matters about which they speak. According to the Srimad Bhagavatam, Krishna is the Supreme Original Personality of Godhead and He appeared on this planet 5,000 years ago to display His eternal divine pastimes for the benefit of everyone. In this text, it is explained that God cannot be realized by speculation or empiric experimentation and evaluation. God reveals Himself to those who sincerely want to know about Him, and to make it even easier He appears personally on this planet from time to time. This book is the story of His appearance 5,000 years ago. This is not a book about Hinduism, which isn't really a religion per se. It is a non-sectarian look at some of the deepest philosophical concepts ever revealed to mankind.

Swami Prabhupada's book provides an enchanting glimpse of the activities of the cowherd god, Krishna, recorded in ancient Hindu writings. Recounting the stories of Krishna, from his birth through his encounters with various demonic forces to his establishment of a royal dynasty, this book is filled with distinctly Indian images of divine love. Here is emphasized the intimate and loving relationship that the human can establish with the divine. Prabhupada's text is quite readable and the narratives are supported by philosophical commentary, also accessible to the average reader. Anyone interested in gaining some understanding of the flavor of Hindu religion should read this book. Although not all sects adhere to the ideas presented here, this is a wonderful first book for the person questing for knowledge of Hindu religion.