The Harmonist: Sri Sajjana Toshani (Eight Volumes)

Details : 

Author : Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Vaishnava Book Trust 
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8900 g
Binding : Hardcover

About the book 

Seventy-eight years after the last issue of The Harmonist – the legendary academic magazine produced by ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada’s guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati – all its issues have been lovingly restored in a new eight-volume set dubbed “The Harmonist As It Is.”
The Harmonist first appeared in Bengali under the name “Sajjana Toshani” in 1879, published by Bhaktisiddhanta’s father, the Vaishnava saint Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura.
After Bhaktivinode passed away, his son Srila Bhaktisiddhanta began his preaching mission, the Shri Gaudiya Math, and established a printing press. In 1927, he launched an English version of Sajjana Toshani entitled The Harmonist.
The magazine, which ran until he passed away in 1936, included new articles by Bhaktisiddhanta as well as Bhaktivinode Thakura’s original articles translated into English.
Over the years, these precious magazines became dilapidated and very rare. But thirty years ago, Argentinian Prabhupada disciple Sadhudas Anudas began rigorously collecting issues of The Harmonist from the Gaudiya Math’s main branch in Bagh Bazar, Kolkata.
Sadhudas photographed each of the 5,000 pages of the magazine, many of which were so old they were practically unreadable. He then carefully cleaned all the spots and broken texts on the negatives, bringing each page to new life.
“It was an artisan labor that would have been impossible in the Western world due to its prohibitive cost,” says Isvara Das, who is distributing the work through his company Touchstone Media.
Sadhudas compiled all the issues into eight volumes, and also created a separate index booklet to facilitate easy reference. The index divides the philosophical topics discussed in the magazine into different categories such as jiva-tattva, guru-tattva, Krishna-tattva, rasa-tattva, the history of the Vedic and Gaudiya Vaishnava traditions, Vaishnava Literature, comparative religion, Vaishnava behaviors and etiquettes, historical events, articles on social, economical and political issues, and divine poetry.