Introduction
xi
Kuntī's words—the simple and illuminating outpourings of the soul of a great and saintly woman devotee—reveal both the deepest transcendental emotions of the heart and the most profound philosophical and theological penetrations of the intellect. Her words are words of glorification impelled by a divine love steeped in wisdom:
O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else. ( Bhāg.  1.8.42)
Kuntī's spontaneous glorification of Lord Kṛṣṇa and her description of the spiritual path are immortalized in the  Mahābhārata  and the  Bhāgavata Purāṇa  ( Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ), and they have been recited, chanted, and sung by sages and philosophers for thousands of years.
As they appear in the First Canto of the  Bhāgavatam , Queen Kuntī's celebrated prayers consist of only twenty-six couplets (verses 18 through 43 of the Eighth Chapter), yet they are considered a philosophical, theological, and literary masterpiece. The present book ( Teachings of Queen Kuntī ) includes those inspired verses and illuminating commentary by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder- Ācārya  of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and the most renowned Vedic scholar and spiritual leader of our time. In addition to this commentary (originally written in 1962),  Teachings of Queen Kuntī  contains further explanations that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave more recently in an absorbing series of lectures. In those memorable talks, delivered in the spring of 1973 at ISKCON's Western world headquarters in Los Angeles, he analyzed the verses in significantly greater detail and shed even more light upon them.
This new Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publication, complete with eleven color prints of exquisite original oil paintings, will be a prized addition to the libraries of all those who seek a deeper understanding of life's mysteries. Written by a man of profound devotion and erudition, it will provide every reader with firm guidance along the universal path to genuine wisdom and spiritual enlightenment.
—The Publishers