Sree Krishna, the Lord of Love (Illustrated) In 1902, when the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness was only six years old, Bābā Premānand Bhārati came to the U.S. on a very similar mission: to teach how to achieve love of God by chanting His names. He established the Krishna Samaj in New York, opened a temple in Los Angeles, and wrote and published this book. From the Preface I beg to present this my humble work to the English reader. It is the history of the Universe from its birth to its dissolution. I have explained the science of creation, its making and its mechanism. In doing so I have drawn my information from the recorded facts in the Sacred Books of the Root-Race of mankind. Some facts and explanations are herein furnished for the first time in any modern language. This book embodies true Hinduism. If read with an open mind, it will serve the reader with illumination and solve many a riddle of life, untie many a tangle of thought. I have spoken throughout from out of the depths of the ages. I have thought absolutely in Sanscrit and expressed myself in English, an imperfect medium for expressing Sanscrit ideas. My object has been to impress my readers with the substance of Hindoo thought in all its purity. This will afford all soul-hungry readers with enough healthy food and drink. The first part of the book contains the food, the Kernel of the Soul-cocoanut; the second part, its Sweet Milk. The third part is from Krishna Himself. It is the purest Nectar of Spiritual Love. Let the reader open his heart to it, and I am sure it will fill it with ecstasy. The soulful reader will thrill with the joyous vibrations of every sentence of the Messages and Revelations. The belief that our life begins with the birth of this physical body and ends with its death is the worst superstition, because it is the worst obstacle in the way of our soul's unfoldment. This life has sprung from Eternity; it draws its breath in Eternity, and is finally absorbed by Eternity which is Absolute Love. To know that we, human beings, were never blessed with greater powers than we possess in this age is the saddest of mistakes. To believe that we were once as great and powerful as divine beings and that we can recover that greatness and those powers, is to believe in the actual potentialities of the human mind. This life can be made one long ecstatic song; this life can, if we take the trouble to make it, be made the source of joy to ourselves as well as to all around us forever and ever; it can even attain to the Essence of Godhood, from which it has sprung, by developing uninterrupted God-Consciousness. We all are idolators. Some of us worship idols of Divinity, others worship idols of Matter. Some of us worship the Spirit through suggestive signs and symbols, others worship Flesh, mere forms of animated flesh. Since our mind wants idols for worship, just as our body wants food for sustenance, let us all worship idols of Spirit in Form. Through its concrete Form-Centre we can enter into the Abstract Spirit of Love—Love which is our one object and goal in life. This Love is Krishna and the universe and we, its parts, are the materialized manifestation of that Love.