Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

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The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) is the world's largest publisher of books concerning Krishna and the philosophy, religion, and culture of the Vedic tradition of India. The BBT especially emphasizes the works of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. It was established in 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). The BBT is the publisher for his books and for books by other authors. It also publishes the magazine Back to Godhead in English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and other languages. The BBT is a nonprofit organization, independent of ISKCON and supplies books both to ISKCON and to the book trade in general.

[edit] Publishing range

BBT books range in complexity from brief, introductory volumes and study guides, summary studies, and short Sanskrit works all the way up to exhaustive multi-volume translations (with commentaries) of major Sanskrit and Bengali works. Its publications include original scriptural works, translated into more than 51 languages, and books that discuss and explain these traditional texts. The BBT also publishes audio cassettes, audio CDs, video materials, and multimedia presentations.

The BBT publishes the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Isopanishad, Narad Bhakti Sutra, and (from the Gaudiya devotional tradition) the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, and numerous other books. Its latest multi-volume publication is an English translation, with commentary, of Srila Sanatana Goswami's Brihad-bhagavatamrita.

The BBT publishes in all the major Eastern and Western European languages, in the major Indian languages, in the main languages of the former Soviet Union, and in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Singhalese, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages.

Apart from the BBT's work in publishing, it helps finance the development of the most important Gaudiya Vaishnava holy places like Vrindavan and Mayapur.

[edit] Structure

The BBT has five main publishing divisions: North European, North American, Western Pacific, Mediterranean and Indian. Every division is headed by a trustee, each responsible for publishing in the languages specific to that division (see: http://www.krishna.com/main.php?id=39). The trustees meet twice a year.