Bhaktivedanta Book Trust


The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is the world's largest publisher of books concerning Krishna and the philosophy, religion, and culture of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of India. It was established in 1972 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The BBT is the publisher for his books and for books by other authors. It also publishes the magazine Back to Godhead in English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Italian, Hungarian, and other languages. The BBT is a nonprofit organization, independent of ISKCON, and supplies books both to ISKCON and to the book trade in general.

Publishing range

BBT books range in complexity from brief, introductory volumes and study guides, summary studies, biographical material and short Sanskrit works all the way up to exhaustive multi-volume translations of major Sanskrit and Bengali works. Its publications include original scriptural works, translated into more than 80 languages, and books that discuss and explain these traditional texts. The BBT also publishes audio books, audio CDs, video materials, and multimedia presentations.
The BBT publishes the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Isopanishad, Narada Bhakti Sutra, and the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, and numerous other books. Its latest multi-volume publication is an English translation, with commentary, of Sanatana Goswami's Brihad Bhagavatamrita.
The BBT publishes in all the major Eastern and Western European languages, in the major Indian languages, in the main languages of the former Soviet Union, and in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Singhalese, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages.
Apart from the BBT's work in publishing, it helps finance the construction and renovation of Krishna temples—for example, in the most important Gaudiya Vaishnava holy places like Vrindavan and Mayapur.

Structure

The BBT has six main publishing divisions: North European, North American, Western Pacific, Mediterranean, African, and Indian. Every division is headed by a trustee, each responsible for publishing in the languages specific to that division. The trustees meet twice a year.