Short and simple but gives a good introduction of the Krishna consciousness movement and the benefits of chanting. The interview with John Lennon, george Harrison and Swami Prabhupada help give context to how and why chanting spread across the world ( )

Not bad, but still assumes the reader knows too much. It is frustrating not to have a one-stop shop for the explication of the ISKCON concepts. I have my suspicions that I'll find it in The Science of Self-Realization, which regrettably is still 11 books away in the 'Recommended Reading Order' for beginners that I am following.

On we go! ( )

I found this to be a really good book explaining the Hare Krsna to Western Audiences.

It starts with a really succint explaination of the religion's crux, which is that the way to achieve enlightenment, or happiness, or spiritual satisfaction, etc.. is to perform devotional chants to Krsna, and through that all good things will follow. This central claim is explained in a really clear way.

It then goes into a couple of interviews with George Harrison from the Beatles, in which through an interview (a self-serving one by the org, admittedly) George discusses his personal relationship to the founder, to the religion itself, and how he works it into his life. There are many ways to analysis this if one is interested in the way westerners of the 60s engaged with India as far as orientalism and general cultural absorption/exporting goes, but the interviews were pretty good about being a tale by someone who adopted something and was generally finding it satisfying.

Afterwards there are more practical entries on how to chant, a much friendlier (and less in-depth) primer on cosmology and framework and terminology than the book [b: The Matchless Gift|1159680|Krisna Consciousness The Matchless Gift|A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1181503993s/1159680.jpg|1147285], and then some claimed histories and morality tales. They are ultimately religious texts that assume you've already bought into the framework, but they seem like positive ones which will enable you to work within that framework, as a beginner.

A thing I appreciate about this text over [b: The Matchless Gift|1159680|Krisna Consciousness The Matchless Gift|A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1181503993s/1159680.jpg|1147285] is that it actually gave a clear decent explanation for how the enlightenment/absolute truth/etc... cannot come via pure rational exporation because those are finite attempts to describe the infinite/inefrfable, and that the devotional chants and mindspace and conduit that opens up is necessary. From a religious framework, this is reasonable, and much nicer than the "world is rank, here's a bunch of foreign terminology and proof via authority of said authority's claims" confrontational and outsider-attacking areforementioned book.

So far, if one wanted a book making the case for Krishna Consciousness, I'd recommend this one, it seems a nice balance of testimonial, primer, and some contextualizing literature (although as always, this is in no way an academic source and be mindful when an org writes an book about itself (no differently then when Vatican Cardinals write explanations of Catholic concepts ... it'll be educational but there's a presupposed narrative) ( )