Black Lotus: The Spiritual Journey of an Urban Mystic

Radio Interview with Steven Rosen

On Sunday 8th July 2007 the author of "Black Lotus", Steven Rosen, was interviewed on 90.1 FM KPFT Houston (www.kpft.org) for their "Self Determination" show. During the show Steven Rosen was interviewed by the hosts about HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami and "Black Lotus", and took phone-in questions. The show was very well received by both the hosts and the people who called in.

You may download the entire interview here: (For PC users, please right-click to save. For Mac users, single-click and drag to desktop.) Steven Rosen Interview MP3

East West Books, Window Display

"It was one of the great pleasures of my life to see Bhakti Tirtha Swami's smiling face gracing Fifth Avenue at 14th Street, one of the busiest intersections in Manhattan. The books were in the storefront window for more than a week, leading up until the day of my book-signing." -- Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa), Author

Book signing at East West Books, New York - Feb. 28th, 2007

The book-signing at East-West Books in New York went extremely well, with people asking questions for nearly an hour-and-a-half. Many books were sold and autographed (and the manager of the store told me that the book sold well the entire day, hours before I arrived at 7PM). This is largely because of our beautiful storefront visibility, through which passersby on Fifth Avenue are "blessed by the best," seeing Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja's smiling face in the elegant window display.

I began my book-signing by describing my own spiritual journey and how it led me to write this book about such an important spiritual personality. I then read a summary of the book. After this, it became clear that the audience was fascinated by Maharaja's life and teachings, and they asked numerous questions about his methods and lifestyle.

And then something interesting happened. The audience wanted to know about his teacher. "Who gave him this profound wisdom and inspired in him such a passion for God?" This enabled me to explain Srila Prabhupada and his mission.

"There is a lesson here for ritviks," I thought to myself. Ritviks often criticize projects such as Black Lotus in the following way: "Why are you focusing on someone like Bhakti Tirtha Swami when you should be glorifying Srila Prabhupada?" What such people don't realize, however, is that by glorifying personalities like Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja, we ARE glorifying Srila Prabhupada. Part of Prabhupada's greatness is that he is able to create exalted devotees like Maharaja. Otherwise, Prabhupada would be impotent. Indeed, this is the unspoken implication of ritvik philosophy: If no one but Prabhupada is worthy of glorification, then Prabhupada himself didn't accomplish his end, which was to make others into great devotees. Thus, Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja's very existence is glorification of Srila Prabhupada!

I saw this firsthand as my audience shifted their interest from Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja to his guru. They became intrigued with the person who so inspired the subject of my book. Their interest in Srila Prabhupada was enhanced by their appreciation of Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja, and vice versa.

By the end of the questions and answers session, everyone took at least one book (some took two or three to give out as gifts), and everyone seemed enlivened. Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja ki jai!

Yours, in the service of Srila Prabhupada, Satyaraja Dasa