Teachings of

THE TRAGIC and heroic figure of Queen Kunti
emerges from an explosive era in the history of
ancient India. As the wife of King Pandu and the
mother of five illustrious sons (the Pandavas), she
was a central figure in a complex political drama
that fifty centuries ago culminated in the devas-
tating Kuruksetra War.

At the conclusion of the war, Queen Kunti
approaches Lord Krsna as He prepares to depart
from the scene of battle. Although Kunti is Lord
Krsna’s aunt (He incarnated as her brother
Vasudeva’s son), she perfectly understands His
exalted and divine identity as the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead. She knows full well that He
descended from His abode in the spiritual world
to rid the earth of demoniac military forces and
reestablish peace and righteousness. Thus the
prayers she offers Him on this occasion are not
the conventional pious solicitations. Rather, they
are philosophical reflections, devotional illumina-
tions, even mystical exultations. As such they
have been recorded and immortalized in the
Srimad-Bhagavatam, India’s greatest philosophical
and spiritual classic.

Queen Kunti’s prayers—the simple and il-
luminating 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 penetra-
tions of the intellect. Her words have been
recited, chanted, and sung by sages and philoso-
phers in India for thousands of years.

Teachings of Queen Kunti consists of Kunti’s
celebrated prayers as recorded in the Srimad-
Bhagavatam together with illuminating commen-
tary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupida—Founder-Acdrya of the In-
ternational Society for Krishna Consciousness,
the most renowned Vedic scholar and religious
leader of our time and author of more than sev-
enty volumes of translation and commentary on
‘India’s ancient Vedic literature.

(continued on back flap)
