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Joshua M. Greene teaches Hinduism at Hofstra University. The author of several children’s books of stories from India, including Kaliya, Serpent King and Krishna and the Mystery of the Stolen Calves, his latest book, The Littlest Giant: The Story of Vamana, was released on March 18, 2014.
1. Tell us a little about your background as a storyteller, a student, and now a teacher.
I was raised by my mom, who had been an actress, so I’m sure that was an early influence. In the '60s, my career path was journalism, and when I met my spiritual teacher Prabhupada in 1970, he encouraged me to publish children’s books. I took that as a life’s mission.
2. When did you start writing stories for children and what inspired you do so?
During my first trip to India, in 1971, I did not speak a word of Hindi or Braj—the local language in Krishna’s village Vrindavan. But I met an old man who told stories by using a Pichwai painting, a series of images on a five-foot-square silk cloth. Imagine a graphic novel laid out on a single sheet. What I didn’t understand in words came clear in those images. Ever since, I have taught using lots of visuals and graphics.
3. How long have you been teaching bhakti yoga, and how would you describe your practice?
Prabhupada encouraged his students to teach from the beginning of their devotional life. Whatever we learned each day, he wanted us to pass on to others. But how well you teach depends on how well you listen. So I guess I would describe my practice as listening, giving others full attention, and servicing them without expectation of return. Bhakti is highly personal in that way.
4. You’ve written an impressive number of both adult, including Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison and Gita Wisdom: An Introduction to India’s Essential Yoga Text, and children’s books. What have you found rewarding about both experiences?
My adult books are mostly biographies of people who followed a path to enlightenment. Some paths are darker than others, for example the Holocaust survivors in Witness: Voices from the Holocaust or the Alabama lawyer who prosecuted Hitler’s henchmen in Justice at Dachau. Other paths are filled with light, such as Mr. Harrison’s. What turns me on is finding out what makes people go past their limits to do things they never thought themselves capable of doing.
5. Do you believe books can help shape a child’s character? In what way?
I don’t think so. Shaping a child’s character is the privilege of sensitive care-givers. Books can assist as tools of informed, loving child-rearing. What a book can do is to be a child’s best friend when grown-ups can’t.
6. You’ve adapted a number of stories from ancient Indian texts into children’s books. How do make otherwise esoteric subjects accessible and relevant to children today?
We need to examine our own reactions to “ancient” stories. If we judge these stories to be myths, fictions, something “long ago and far away,” then I doubt we can make them relevant. On the other hand, if we respect the stories and their characters as real people, and if we go deep inside the stories to find the kernel of truth which transcends time, then maybe we can tell that story in a meaningful way to young people today.
7. What’s on the horizon for you?
A biography of my teacher Prabhupada, more books for children, and greater attention to my own devotional practice.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
New Year, New Digs
Update your address book: Mandala Publishing and Earth Aware Editions can now be found at 800 A Street, San Rafael, CA 94901. We’re still adjusting to our new office space, but there is one thing we can all agree on: Spring cleaning came early this year. We’re growing fast—fast enough that we’ve outgrown our offices at 10 Paul Drive. The move is a work in progress that requires constant adaptation, a process we’re all familiar with from the care and attention we lavish on each of our
books.
If you take a jaunt through our new digs, you’ll overhear warehouse managers stoked about rolling shelves similar to those you’d find in a large library, voices excitedly pointing out skylights above, and most importantly, collaborations happening left and right as editorial, production, design, marketing, and sales settle into their new spaces. Excitement extends into every corner of our office.
So, while we unpack the boxes we frantically taped shut, take advantage of our high spirits and snag 30% off ALL our titles at www.mandalaeartheditions.com from 2/8/14 to 2/14/14 with the Promo Code: 2014DIGS
Thursday, March 28, 2013
2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Award Finalists Announced
ForeWord Reviews has announced the 2012 Book of the Year Awards list of finalists. Representing more than 700 publishers, the finalists were selected from 1,300 entries in 62 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its finest.
The following two titles from Earth Aware Editions and Mandala Publishing are finalists for the 2012 Book of the Year Awards:
By God's Grace (Mandala Publishing), Mind & Spirit category
By Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Preface: Rabbi David Rosen,
Foreword: His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Dalai Lama
Hardcover, Price: $50.00
Elaborately illustrated, the book traces his journey from childhood in the jungles of India to the company of world leaders, from Himalayan villages to the podiums of the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and other venues of global change. His projects are unprecedented, including a cleanup of the 1,560-mile-long Ganges River and a six-million-word encyclopedia of Hinduism.
American-born author Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Ph.D., moved to India in 1996. She was officially ordained by Pujya Swamiji into the tradition of sanyas and lives at Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh, where she serves Pujya Swamiji's humanitarian projects, teaches meditation, gives discourses, and counsels individuals and families. She lives in Rishikesh, India.
A Day in the World (Earth Aware Editions), Photography category
By Jeppe Wikström, Foreword: Richard Branson, Introduction: Desmond Tutu
Hardcover, Price: $50.00
Professionals and amateur shutterbugs alike are featured in this beautiful edition, the most comprehensive photographic documentation of daily life ever made.
Including tribal areas and urban sprawl, intimate portraits and riotous events, the book was the brainchild of the movement Aday.org (a branch of the foundation Expressions of Humankind), a unique project that celebrates
the power of photography to encourage cultural understanding. The foundation's council includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Richard Branson, and a host of other luminaries and advocates. Author Jeppe Wikström
is one of Scandinavia's best-known and most-published photographers, with some 20 book titles to his credit.
Wikström is one of the founders of the nonprofit Expressions of Humankind, which works to promote human understanding through photography, and created the A Day in the World project.
ForeWord’s Book of the Year Awards program was created to highlight the year’s most distinguished books from independent publishers. Award winners are chosen by librarians and booksellers who are on the front lines, working every day with patrons and customers.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
eBooks available from Mandala Publishing and Earth Aware Editions
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Lions, and Tigers, and Ocelots - Oh My!
Fierce Beauty is a celebration of tigers, leopards, lions, ocelots, and other wild cats that inhabit The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS), a wildlife preserve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The institute's fifty acres are home to more than one hundred rare animals, from ligers (a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress) that stretch nearly twelve feet long to cheetahs capable of running seventy miles per hour, safeguarding them from the poachers, habitat destruction, and population fragmentation that threaten their existence.
Despite their place atop the food chain, big cats teeter on the brink of extinction. Where more than 100,000 tigers lived in Asia at the start of the twentieth century, fewer than 4,000 exist today.
Featuring exclusive new portraits from preeminent nature photographers Tim Flach and Barry Bland, Fierce Beauty provides readers with an intimate, unobstructed encounter with the beauty, power and grace of nature's big cat masterpieces.
The text includes contributions form such distinguished conservationists as zoologist Jim Fowler; David Barron, founder of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation; and Stephen J. O'Brien, Chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute, among others.
Together, these fascinating and complementary perspectives form a compelling case in support of the critical service rendered by private wildlife facilities in caring for and preserving nature's many endangered big cats.
Preserving the World of Wild Cats
by Bhagavan "Doc" Antle
Photography by Tim Flach and Barry Bland
Foreword by Robert Duvall
Hardcover | 246 pages | $50.00
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Help save the Yamuna River
About the Yamuna
The Yamuna flows through many of India’s most significant attractions, including the capital New Delhi, with a population of almost fourteen million; Vrindavan, an international pilgrimage site visited by tens of millions annually; and the Taj Mahal, a World Heritage site and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Over fifty million people rely on the Yamuna for their daily needs, using the water for religious observances, agricultural needs, and bathing, washing, and cooking. In addition to benefiting the human population, the Yamuna has supported a vast ecosystem of wildlife, such as fish, turtles, crocodiles, river dolphins, and aquatic plants.
Aside from agricultural, ecological, and domestic uses, the Yamuna River has long been regarded as a cultural icon and defining symbol of India. Ancient scriptures, traditional and contemporary art, music, festivals, and even the Indian National Anthem, demonstrate the reverence in which the river is held.
Basic Facts
- The Yamuna River is the largest tributary of the Ganges River, with a catchment area (345,848 sq km / 133,533 sq m) that constitutes 40 percent of the total Ganga River Basin.
- The river is 1,376 km (855 miles) long and passes through seven Indian states.
- The Yamuna is water source for 57 million people.
- 97 percent of the river’s water is directed away from the riverbed not far from its source. The balance dries up within a few kilometers. None of the original river water flows beyond that point north of Delhi.
- Whatever little water reaches New Delhi does so through various canals entering the riverbed. A Central Pollution Control Board of India report in 2006 stated that there is “almost no fresh water in the river” beyond New Delhi. The report declared that for 580 km (360 m) south of Delhi, the river is “critically polluted.” A subsequent report in 2009 states that, “There is no doubt that the river is a cesspool for Delhi’s waste.”
- The levels of pollution in the water flowing through and out of Delhi are so high that even bathing in the water is dangerous. The water from the river is also replenishing groundwater in the area, resulting in highly polluted well water, which threatens the health of millions of people.
- Many accounts of severe illness and death have been attributed to the toxic state of the river’s water quality downstream of New Delhi.
You can help by joining the Yamuna Network's efforts. Follow them on Facebook and learn more at their website, www.yamunanetwork.com.
The Yamuna Network is a nonprofit coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals whose sole purpose is to stop Yamuna River's waters from being diverted and prevent industrial and municipal waste from entering her waters, restoring the river to her past glory.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
By God's Grace
Practical wisdom, a connection to the divine, and global action - these are the traits of Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati that have made him one of India's most renowned and beloved spirutal teachers.By God's Grace celebrates his lifetime of devotional service to humanity, the environment, and the Supreme.
The book traces Pujya Swami's journey from childhood in the jungles of India to the company of world leaders, from Himalayan villages to the podiums of the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and other venues of global change.
His projects are unprecedented, including a cleanup of the 1,560-mile long Ganges River and a six-million-word encyclopedia of Hinduism. Swamiji's teachings are profoundly simple, frequently wrapped in humor, and applicable to all.
The prodigal variety of stories ranges from evocations at the mountainous summit of the world, from cacophonous urban battlefields to silent forest retreats - an impassioned life, a one-man civilization drawn in bold strokes and bright colors. Here is a journey of the enlightened life to be cherished again and again.
By God's Grace
Hardcover | $50.00
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