Srimad Bhagavatam is an incomparable treasure house of Krishna's pastimes, and by studying Srimad Bhagavatam our children can gain spiritual knowledge, language and reasoning skills, and most importantly, devotion for Lord Krishna. This guide provides children, parents, and teachers with a delightful way to study Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavatam, chapter by chapter. After you have read and discussed the translations with your children, you can turn to this guide for a chapter summary, key themes, analogies, and character descriptions. There are many fun and educational activities for each chapter, including word searches, language puzzles, art projects and songs. The activities accomodate a range of different learning styles, with the aim of cultivating in our children a lifelong love for reading Srimad Bhagavatam.
Forty years ago I dreamed of teaching Gurukula students with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam serving as the central text. Toward realizing that goal, I had compiled the Bhāgavatam into its essential stories, for I trusted Śrīla Prabhupāda ’s words that such study would truly educate and prepare my students on every level for a satisfying and worthwhile life.
But Kṛṣṇa had a more wonderful plan. The opportunity to fulfill Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire – like a fragrant lotus in the form of this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers – has been carefully placed into the open hands of Mātājī Aruddhā Devī Dāsī and her team of parents and educators. May the fortunate children who take advantage of their love-laden offering gain a taste for this sweet, potent literature. May those children continue throughout their lives to taste and distribute to others that which they have relished in their childhood and youth. May the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam safeguard their rapid journey to the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And may Śrīla Prabhupāda bless those who have sought to fulfill his desire by compiling this offering and placing it into his lotus hands.
Gratefully,
– Bhurijana dasa
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers, to our reading and from all reports, is an unsurpassed resource for teachers of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, both in families and in schools.
– Hanumatpreśaka Swami (Prof. H.H. Robinson)
From my reading of Aruddhā Devī Dāsī’s book on studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is evident that she is fulfilling Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire that our children get the best Kṛṣṇa conscious education. As Śrīla Prabhupāda said in a lecture on SB 1.5.13 given in New Vrindaban in 1969: “When one can understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in true perspective, then he’s to be understood that he has finished his all educational advancement. Avadhi. Avadhi means ‘this is the limit of education.’ Vidyā-bhāgavatāvadhi.”
This book gives the highest knowledge in an interesting way so that children may access the Bhāgavatam on many levels, including higher-level thinking and application to their lives, as well as artistic, dramatic and journalistic approaches. I recommend this book for all parents who want to give their children a higher taste for reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
– Narāyaṇī Devī Dāsī
As I travel around United States, I get to personally witness how much devotee families have benefitted from HG Aruddhā Devī Dāsī and her homeschooling methods, which are completely based on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books and his teachings. I am an ardent supporter of her and the models of education which she develops and promotes through her books and various home schooling seminars.
It’s very pleasing to note that she and her team has come up with a second project, Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam: A Comprehensive Guide for Young Readers. The series’ main objective is to provide children with a Bhāgavatam-centered education, with lots of activities created by parents and teachers that are geared toward different learning styles, while meeting devotional, cognitive and language objectives of a growing child in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This innovative and systematic compilation of various activities in book form is a great resource for any homeschooling parents who want their children go deeper in the messages of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.
– Romapāda Swami
