Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krishna conscious novel (adult level reading), based on Bhagavatam (5th canto, chapters 13 and 14), Caitanya Caritamrita (Madhya lila, chapters 19 & 20), and Raghunatha dasa Goswami’s Sri Manah Sika. Topics to enliven senior devotees; language and presentation for the general public. If you want to place quantity orders, please message me.
Your servant,
Urmila devi dasi
Urmila’s Essence Seekers is a masterful account of a journey—both inward and outward. We can identify with the characters and events, which foster in us detachment from the mundane and eagerness for the Divine. The book takes models from ancient sources and casts them in a contemporary—or timeless—setting. And it presents complex concepts in simple language and offers practical advice on how to negotiate the internal and external, and the apparently material and the spiritual, realms. It is said that when the beak of a parrot (suka) touches a ripe fruit, the fruit becomes even sweeter. In a similar way, Urmila had made the subject matter of this book extremely relishable. And her book may also inspire readers to delve into her sources—Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta—and thus enhance and accelerate their own journeys toward the Supreme.
—Giriraj Swami, author of Many Moons and Watering the Seed
Urmila Edith Best invites us on a brisk spiritual journey with Avid and his friends, an inner trek that brings us through a wide-spectrum doxography of the most enduring eastern “schools of thought.” To comprehend these differing life-perspectives, Avid finds himself enrolling in actual school courses, in Acumen City’s veritable university of spiritual paths and practices, each more bracing and vision-expanding than the last. All the while, Avid’s persistent seeker’s resolve empowers him to dodge all threats of diversion, ennui, and failure, with each step affirming in increasing clarity the truth of a higher reality opening within himself. As a trans-representation of India’s classical sacred works of “connection” (yoga), Best deftly guides us into their rich and profound reaches coursing through the depths of human fulfillment, thoroughly beyond all self-imposed limits and limitations of conventional life.
– Krishna Kshetra Swami (Dr. Kenneth Valpey), Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
In her groundbreaking new book, Essence Seekers, Urmila tells a profound and adventurous story of a quest for life’s meaning, often engaging the classic technique of allegorical dialogue. Through a timeless narration, she directly speaks to our time, not an easy thing to do. This book will be a valuable companion to those who seek true wisdom in our troubled age.
–HD Goswami (Dr. Howard Resnick), visiting lecturer at GTU in Berkeley, University of Florida, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford; author of Quest for Justice, and A Comprehensive Guide to Bhagavad-gita
Essence Seekers is a very good allegorical tale, full of deep meaning and beautiful descriptive passages. I could relate to the many twists, temptations, and turns of Avid’s journey. So many get lost, but he was able to remember and take full advantage of his teacher’s instructions along the way. I enjoyed the read and found the characters intriguing and memorable.
–Alfred Ford, philanthropist, great-grandson of Henry Ford
Urmila Edith Best artfully weds timeless metaphors, allegories, and analogies to create the uniquely edifying fable, Essence Seekers. Be enriched and enlivened by this strangely familiar exploration of the world we inhabit, and discover how to progress spiritually despite this world’s countless challenges. –Visakha Dasi
Author, “Five Years, Eleven Months and a Lifetime of Unexpected Love,”
Writer and Co-director, “Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement, and the Swami who started it all.”
Presenting spiritual journeys through fables is a respected tradition. However, far less traveled is the road of presenting through fables in English the many options for inner growth given in the ancient Vedic tradition. Urmila Edith Best guides us along this road expertly, making abstruse concepts accessible through an engaging narrative that reflects ordinary human struggles and extraordinary supra-human aspirations. By dextrously illustrating through incidents many of the metaphors given in time-honored spiritual texts, she brings their message to life, cautioning us about the many pitfalls on the spiritual path while also cushioning our journey through deepened self-understanding.
–Chaitanya Charan, author of over twenty books on spiritual topics
Told through the most brilliant allegories and enchantingly beautiful imagery, Essence Seekers is a masterful offering of simply delectable spiritual nectar and timeless wisdom. Anyone who is a genuine seeker of life’s highest truths will find Best’s account of an avid soul’s journey towards deep meaning and authenticity to be personally relatable and eternally profound. As someone who is seeking to make a difference in the world in a spirit of servant leadership, I will certainly always treasure this book as a guiding compass towards my own spiritual enlightenment and that of those who I aspire to serve.
Mpho MacChambers, Social Activist and Changemaker, Founder and Executive Director of Kula Education.
Such an enjoyable read, Urmila Edith Best’s Essence Seekers took me on a delightful adventure into another time, another life—one filled with discovery and purpose. I expect this book will leave a lasting impact on any teenager or adult who embarks on a journey through its pages, and ponders the deep philosophical teachings creatively woven into the story.
—Kosa Ely, author of The Peaceable Forest, The Prince and the Polestar, and The Jaguar’s Story
Essence Seekers is a fun and ingenious way to become acquainted with the world’s spiritual marketplace. Urmila’s storytelling is thought-provoking. Her cast of characters will take you through a cornucopia of genuine spiritual experience from a host of different disciplines. Explore and learn and spare yourself from the common pitfalls of a spiritual journey.
– Pranada Comtois, author of Wise-Love: Bhakti and the Search for the Soul of Consciousness