Stories and Messages From Srimad Bhagwat

I grew up reading about the adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, Daniel Boon and the Jessie James. Their lives, the land upon which they lived, the language they used and the ideals they embodied left an indelible mark on my mind, or what the Indian Yoga school might call a sacskara. I wish to thank Dr. Brindaban Bihari Das for making this collection of stories from the Bhagavata Puraga, which will surely help to open the amazing stories of ancient Indian literature and poetry to children, young adults and parents.

Since my late teens it has been the life of Vyasa and his son Uuka, the lives of pious kings such as Parikcit, Prahlada, Prahlada, and Bali, the lives of sages such as Maitreya and Narada, and the lives Gods such as Rama, Varaha, K[cGa and Balarama that have inspired me. Therefore, when I first met Dr. Brindavan Bihari Das of the Nimbarka sampradaya, or tradition, I was delighted to hear that he was working on a compilation of stories from the Bhagavata PuraGa, a great Sanskrit work containing some of Hinduism's most beloved tales and rich theologies. The Bhagavata surely stands out as a text that managed to captivate the hearts of its hearers with fantastic lore, and yet also integrate that into a unified theological system. It attempts to show that the diverse range of ways that God is characterized in Vedic, Upanisadic and Tantric literature is unified under a single, non-dual reality known as Bhagavan, Brahman and Pararnatma, which the Bhagavata collectively refers to as Krishna and Vishnu. In other words, there is a unity in diversity. Once again I wish to thank Dr. Brindaban Bihari Das for this retelling of stories, and encourage the readers to take this opportunity to drink wonderful tales of the Bheigavata.

**Contents and Sample Pages**