bhaktivedanta book trust - Blog - ISKCON Desire Tree | IDT2024-03-29T12:34:44Zhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/bhaktivedanta+book+trustBBT-Africa Hosts Fascinating Lecture Exploring AI, Humanity, and Godhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/bbt-africa-hosts-fascinating-lecture-exploring-ai-humanity-and-go2023-08-30T11:50:00.000Z2023-08-30T11:50:00.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}12215605499,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="12215605499?profile=RESIZE_584x" width="500" /><br /> The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust Africa (BBT) hosted the 10th Annual Bhaktivedanta Swami Lecture, presented in honour of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), the founder of ISKCON and the BBT. His literary contribution continues to be appreciated by global audiences for his Vedic commentary on national priorities like education and leadership. The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOjrp8wnx0c">lecture</a> premiered today, August 30th, on YouTube.</p>
<p>This year’s Bhaktivedanta Swami Lecture focuses on AI, Humanity, and God. AI has become urgent and developing at an exponential rate. Some experts believe that by 2050, people may worship a super AI God. While AI surpasses human intelligence and has excelled in various sectors, it remains bereft of heartfelt emotions, the softness of compassion and love.</p>
<p>The keynote speaker is His Holiness Svayam Bhagavan Keshava Swami. Keshava Swami is a spiritual author and teacher who accepted vows of renunciation in 2022. He shares from a Vedic viewpoint the necessity of higher spiritual consciousness feeding machine super intelligence for the benefit of humanity. “While AI increases intelligence capacity, for humanity to remain at the epicentre it requires the awakening of the soul to utilise that higher spiritual intelligence for social upliftment through technology. Science makes things better, but spirituality makes people better.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/fascinating-bbt-africa-lecture-explores-ai-humanity-and-god/">https://iskconnews.org/fascinating-bbt-africa-lecture-explores-ai-humanity-and-god/</a></p></div>Unsung Heroes: Jagadisananda Das Serves Prabhupada’s Books for 45 Yearshttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupada-s-books-for-4-12022-07-05T14:45:03.000Z2022-07-05T14:45:03.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10622892891,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="10622892891?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Madhava Smullen</strong></p>
<p>What has kept the International Society for Krishna consciousness going for 54 years now, “systematically propagating spiritual knowledge to society at large” as Srila Prabhupada wrote when incorporating the movement in 1966?</p>
<p>Much has been down to the steady efforts of quietly dedicated devotees, doing their services day in and day out for decades – the pujaris, the teachers, the mothers, the cooks, the cleaners, the maintenance workers, the accountants, the book editors, the congregational preachers. It’s important to celebrate and appreciate these devotees who have given so much of their lives to Srila Prabhupada’s mission.</p>
<p>One of these dedicated soldiers of Prabhupada’s is Jagadisananda Das, who has facilitated the service of book distributors and worked in the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s (BBT) mail order department at ISKCON Los Angeles for an incredible forty-five years now.</p>
<p>Born in 1952 and growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jagadisananda lost his father, a World War II veteran, to cancer at two years old. With his mother suffering from mental illness and alcoholism, he was brought up by his grandparents.</p>
<p>“They were both born around the turn of the 20th century,” he recalls. “So it was like I wasn’t really growing up in the ‘60s – I didn’t take part in any of the counterculture stuff that was going on. I was a conservative and studious kind of person; I played in the band and did really well in school.”<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupadas-books-for-45-years/">https://iskconnews.org/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupadas-books-for-45-years/</a></p></div>“Book Changes Controversy” Coming to a Closehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/book-changes-controversy-coming-to-a-close2022-04-11T12:54:58.000Z2022-04-11T12:54:58.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10343319901,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="550" alt="10343319901?profile=RESIZE_584x" />On October 17, 2019, the BBT and GBC cooperatively appointed an Editorial Review Panel (ERP) to address devotees’ concerns about making changes to Çréla Prabhupäda’s books after his physical departure.</p>
<p>Formed with the mandate to review all proposed and previously published edits to Çréla Prabhupäda’s books in the English language, the ERP has now been convening for more than a year, and they are making progress in their review. The panel consists of devotee scholars and editors who were nominated and approved by both the GBC and BBT, including Bhakti Vijnana Goswami, Bhanu Swami, Kalachandji Dasa, Krishna Kshetra Swami, Krishnarupa Devi Dasi, Radhika Ramana Dasa, and Keshava Bharati Dasa Goswami.</p>
<p>The ERP’s first order of business was to compile a set of principles and guidelines by which they could effectively conduct their review. Some of these guidelines include being “conservative and cautious” about any editing done after Çréla Prabhupäda’s lifetime, not modifying his statements due to changing scientific or social views, but correcting “straightforward errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and phrasing for force and clarity,” and also rectifying “mistakes introduced into his books by a prior editor, proofreader, transcriber, typist, or designer.”</p>
<p>Inquisitive readers are invited to see the ERP’s full paper, <a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=95942">“Editorial Principles”.</a></p>
<p>Guided by these principles, the ERP will consider each revision that has been made to Srila Prabhupada’s books and propose to either accept or remove the revision. All their recommendations will be made by consensus. Once the ERP’s work is complete, they will submit their suggestions to the BBT Editorial Board for review and implementation.</p>
<p>This should effectively put to rest the longstanding “book changes controversy,” which has unfortunately generated division and offensive discourse within ISKCON. The BBT apologizes for any lack of clarity which may have inadvertently contributed to this controversy.</p>
<p>Let’s put differences aside and work collaboratively and tirelessly to place a set of Çréla Prabhupäda’s books in every home in the world, and, more importantly, to deeply imbibe his teachings within our own hearts.<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/book-changes-controversy-coming-to-a-close/">https://iskconnews.org/book-changes-controversy-coming-to-a-close/</a></p></div>12th BBT Africa Conference Offers Inspiration, Strategies for Book Distributionhttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/12th-bbt-africa-conference-offers-inspiration-strategies-for-book2021-11-23T09:49:23.000Z2021-11-23T09:49:23.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><strong><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9836071486,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="550" alt="9836071486?profile=RESIZE_584x" />By Madhava Smullen</strong></p>
<p>About 170 book distributors, temple presidents, GBC members, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust staff and devotees in general viewed the 12th Annual BBT Africa Conference, held online and broadcast at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/BBTAfrica">https://www.youtube.com/c/BBTAfrica</a> on Saturday November 6th.</p>
<p>Speakers from Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Mauritius participated in the three-hour conference, which is a platform for an exchange of ideas and strategies on all matters of book distribution, publication, and innovation. Inspirational stories, successes and best practices from all over Africa are also shared.</p>
<p>The first Annual BBT Africa Conference was held in 2010, the year after the African division of the Global BBT was established with Jayadvaita Swami as the then Trustee. Pre-Covid, the conferences were held in person in community halls in different African countries, with at least 150 to 200 devotees attending each time. As well as ISKCON leaders, African politicians and thought leaders also spoke.<br /> <br /> <strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/12th-bbt-africa-conference-offers-inspiration-strategies-for-book-distribution,8086/">https://iskconnews.org/12th-bbt-africa-conference-offers-inspiration-strategies-for-book-distribution,8086/</a></p></div>Unsung Heroes: Jagadisananda Das Serves Prabhupada’s Books for 45 Yearshttps://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupada-s-books-for-45-2021-02-08T11:08:33.000Z2021-02-08T11:08:33.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8531430292,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="8531430292?profile=RESIZE_584x" /><strong>By Madhava Smullen</strong> <br /><br />What has kept the International Society for Krishna consciousness going for 54 years now, “systematically propagating spiritual knowledge to society at large” as Srila Prabhupada wrote when incorporating the movement in 1966?</p>
<p>Much has been down to the steady efforts of quietly dedicated devotees, doing their services day in and day out for decades – the pujaris, the teachers, the mothers, the cooks, the cleaners, the maintenance workers, the accountants, the book editors, the congregational preachers. It’s important to celebrate and appreciate these devotees who have given so much of their lives to Srila Prabhupada’s mission.</p>
<p>One of these dedicated soldiers of Prabhupada’s is Jagadisananda Das, who has facilitated the service of book distributors and worked in the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust’s (BBT) mail order department at ISKCON Los Angeles for an incredible forty-five years now.</p>
<p>Born in 1952 and growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jagadisananda lost his father, a World War II veteran, to cancer at two years old. With his mother suffering from mental illness and alcoholism, he was brought up by his grandparents.</p>
<p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://iskconnews.org/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupadas-books-for-45-years,7684/">https://iskconnews.org/unsung-heroes-jagadisananda-das-serves-prabhupadas-books-for-45-years,7684/</a></p></div>The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust happy to announce its new site!https://iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/the-bhaktivedanta-book-trust-happy-to-announce-its-new-site2020-01-18T09:15:13.000Z2020-01-18T09:15:13.000ZISKCON Desire Treehttps://iskcondesiretree.com/members/iskcon_desire_tree<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}3825238797,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="300" alt="3825238797?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></p>
<p>The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is very happy to announce the release of a new website, <strong><a href="http://www.bbt.info/">www.bbt.info</a></strong>, your ultimate guide for all things BBT. Visit this website to learn more about BBT, its mission, organization, and governance, the unique relationship between BBT and ISKCON, and more.</p>
<p>Other key highlights from this website:</p>
<p>1. BBT Global’s Financial Statements, as well as more information about BBT Grants.</p>
<p>2. BBT Affiliates with information about BBT Media—the reliable source for BBT ebooks and audiobooks; Bhaktivedanta Archives—Collections of Audio recordings, documents, publications and images of Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON activities primarily from 1965-77; BTG Magazine and Krishna.com</p>
<p>3. A ‘Srila Prabhupada said’ section with extensive instructions from Srila Prabhupada on various BBT related topics like “BBT only”, BBT money, BBT Structures and Publishing.</p>
<p><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.dandavats.com/?p=81758">http://www.dandavats.com/?p=81758</a></p></div>