Prabhupāda knew that the Oriental people were very fond of hearing descriptions of nature and that the time of the autumn season is particularly auspicious to them. Presenting spiritual philosophy by examples from nature would be best for their understanding. For each seasonal phenomenon, a parallel teaching could be given. For example, the dark cloudy evening of the rainy autumn season when no stars are visible is compared to the present materialistic, godless civilization when the bright stars of the Bhāgawata's wisdom (the devotees and scriptures) are temporarily obscured. Altogether Śrīla Prabhupāda composed 48 commentaries to go along with the verses of the chapter.
Śrīla Prabhupāda's plan was that the organizers of the conference should find a qualified Oriental artist to illustrate each verse, and he also wrote directions from which the artist could design each painting. He hoped that the paintings and their accompanying explanations would make an impressive display for visitors to the conference. If possible he wished that a book might also be published containing the illustrations and the texts.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, Śrīla Prabhupāda was unable to attend the conference and the whole project of "Light of the Bhāgawata" was postponed. In fact, at the time of Śrīla Prabhupāda's disappearance the "Light of the Bhāgawata" still remained unpublished, and the illustrations not yet painted. Only recently has "Light of the Bhāgawata" been published in English and Chinese.
The color illustrations were done by the renowned artist Madame Yun-sheng Li, whose mature creative talent and sensitive brushwork alone could properly complement
viii