Queen Kunti, a tragic and heroic figure, emerges from an explosive era in the history of ancient India. Her teachings are simple and illuminating outpourings revealing the deepest transcendental emotions of the heart and the deepest philosophical and theological penetrations of the intellect.

Kunti is a major figure in the history of the ancient world. The wife of world emperor Pandu and mother of the warrior Arjuna—to whom Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita—she appears again and again in historical epics such as the Mahabharata and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Like other enlightened leaders of her time, her worldview was informed by a thorough understanding of Vedic wisdom literature. Thus she understood that Sri Krishna—Who happened to be her nephew—was none other than the Absolute Truth in person, appearing on earth to establish righteous rule over the planet.

At the conclusion of the devastating battle of Kurukshetra, Queen Kunti approaches Krishna as He prepares to depart for his home city of Dwaraka. Kunti's spontaneous glorification of Krishna and her description of the spiritual path appear in the First Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada wrote his translation and commentary on the First Canto in 1962—before coming to the West—but in a series of lectures given in the spring of 1973 in Los Angeles, he analyzed Queen Kunti's prayers in significantly greater detail and shed even more light upon them.

If truth be told from the dawn of creation it has been the female energy which from all life springs, is sustained, and propels us on in our timeless evolutionary journey to self. The powerful positive Shakti of the feminine energy invigorates, inspires, and enhances the finer propensities of life and reveals the subtle secrets of existence via its indivisible healing continence.

Radha Krsna Dasa

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