Synopses & Reviews
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is known as the teacher who brought love of Krishna to the West. In the midst of the war-torn and drug-saturated 60s and 70s, Prabhupada unleashed a flood of robe-wearing, yoga-practicing, Krishna-chanting devotees onto the streets of America and forever changed Western perceptions of spirituality. The story of his life is one of faith, failure, sincerity, discipline, and ultimatelysuccess.
Written by noted biographer Joshua M. Greene, this dramatic, humorous, and enlightening account of the epic rags-to-riches story combines extensive scholarship with a broad range of primary sources to create a gripping portrait of the worlds leading exponent of Bhakti, or devotional Yoga.
Now known as one of the 20th centurys most charismatic spiritual leaders, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came to the United States when he was seventy years old. He landed in New York with mere pennies in his pocket and without any contacts in the country. He had only his love for Krishna to sustain him. Through sheer power of will and devotion he created one of the worlds largest international religious organizations, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), revitalized understanding of Vedic cosmology, karma, and dharma, popularized chanting (kirtan) on every continent of the world, and became the leader of a global spiritual movement.
The first time his tale has been told for the general public, Swami in a Strange Land will reveal why celebrities such as George Harrison, Allen Ginsberg and a coterie of rock artists incorporated Prabhupadas teachings into their lives, and millions more around the globe flocked to the call of Hare Krishna.”
Synopsis
Discover the man behind the movement in this intimate biography of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
In 1965, a seventy-year-old man--soon to be known as Prabhupada--set sail from India to America with a few books in his bag, pennies in his pockets, and a message of love in his heart. He landed in New York at the peak of the revolutionary counterculture movement of the '60s, and went on to spark a global spiritual renaissance that led to the creation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which has changed millions of lives.
Through the depiction of Prabhupada as both an enlightened luminary and a personable, funny, and conscientious individual, Swami in a Strange Land shows why cultural icons such as George Harrison and Allen Ginsberg incorporated Prabhupada's teachings into their lives, and why millions more around the globe embarked upon the path of bhakti yoga in his footsteps.
Carefully researched, skillfully crafted, and extraordinarily intimate, this narrative follows Prabhupada as he rises from an anonymous monk to a world-renowned spiritual leader. Set in locations as far ranging as remote Himalayan caves and the gilded corridors of Paris's City Hall, Swami in a Strange Land traces the rise of Eastern spirituality in the West--and in particular, the rise of yoga culture and vegetarianism and the concepts of karma and reincarnation.
A remarkable journey into the deepest dimensions of the human experience, Swami in a Strange Land shows how one man with a dream can change the world.