When Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote these essays, he was a family man playing the part of an insignificant devotee in the Gauḍīya Maṭha, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness society founded by his spiritual master, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Yet despite the humble position Śrīla Prabhupāda was taking at the time, his writings mark him unmistakably as a pure devotee. Anyone with an open mind and a gracious heart will see from his writings that Śrīla Prabhupāda was a self-realized soul all along.
Like his spiritual master, Śrīla Prabhupāda strictly followed the teachings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in his presentation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Those teachings are summarized in the phrase vairāgya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga (CC Madhya 6.254), which means "renunciation through the wisdom that comes from practicing devotional service." This line from a famous verse by Śrīla Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, one of Lord Caitanya's intimate disciples, has inspired the title of the present book, Renunciation Through Wisdom.
What is this wisdom which produces renunciation? It is one of the fruits of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. When one experiences the nectar of devotional service and becomes steeped in the knowledge of the Vedic literature, one naturally becomes averse to sense gratification and attains freedom from material bondage. Lord Kṛṣṇa spoke the essence of Vedic wisdom in the Bhagavad-gītā. As the Gītā-māhātmya, "the Glory of the Bhagavad-gītā" says in this poetic analogy:
the cowherd boy Kṛṣṇa milked the cow of the Upaniṣads (the philosophical essence of the Vedas) for the sake of the calf Arjuna, and the milk that came forth is the Bhagavad-gītā. Saintly persons seriously concerned about their spiritual welfare will drink and relish that wondrous nectarean milk.
In Renunciation Through Wisdom, Śrīla Prabhupāda has simplified the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā for our understanding. If we drink this nectar, very soon the brilliant sunshine of transcendental knowledge will dispel the darkness of ignorance caused by our unwanted material desires, and then love for Kṛṣṇa will dawn in our hearts.
Transcendental knowledge is eternal; it never becomes dated or outmoded but is always relevant, in all times and places. Therefore, Renunciation Through Wisdom though written forty or more years ago in the context of modern Indian history, can enlighten anyone, in any part of the world. Actually, this wisdom is for everyone, for all time.