Book excerpt: Universalist Radha-Krishnaism: The Way of Natural Devotion; A Practitioner's Handbook clearly and concisely reveals the esoteric meditative process of participating in Radha-Krishna's transcendental play. It includes historical and theological grounding along with instructions for the devotional yoga practice of creating an eternal, individual identity. Fully rewritten since the first edition, this edition offers seventy pages of new material that provides initiation and resources for the practice of amorous natural devotion. These teachings are addressed to western readers who need no prior knowledge of the subject to begin the path to full God-dess realization while increasing their enjoyment in this life and the next. REVIEW OF THE NEW EDITION "Steve Bohlert has dared to break the shackles of fundamentalism to deliver a much-needed re-visioning of an ancient religion of India, giving it new lifefor those of us in a multicultural 21st Century world. He has extracted the essence of Bengali Vaishnavism, and while staying true to its person-ality, has planted the seed back into the human body, so we may again receive the Original Blessing. I do not hesitate to call Steve Bohlert a prophet, not only as one gifted with spiritual insight, but also as one who foretells the future - of a path that must be something like he sees it or not be at all. That is, without such a re-birthing of Vaishnavism, its soul will never plant roots in the world at large. The orthodox will of course decry it and condemn him. 'The dogs may bark, but the caravan will pass.'" -- Daniel Cooper Clark, longtime Radha-Krishna devotee FROM FIRST EDITION REVIEWS "Many Westerners are attracted to diverse aspects of Hinduism and, in particular, devotion to Radha-Krishna, but soon find themselves alienated by two factors: an inescapable emphasis on 'Indian-ness' and the uncompromising literalism of the movement as it has come to the West. Steve Bohlert's approach to spirituality merges Western and Eastern thought by de-emphasizing cultural trappings and literalism, while maintaining a passionate emotional bond with the Supreme Being in this especially effective form of the Divine Couple, Radha-Krishna." -- Michael Valle, philosophy of religion teacher "Hundreds of years ago, Radha-Krishna, the archetypal goddess and god of love, were little-known outside of India, and worshiped only within the Hindu faith. Eighteenth and nineteenth century archaeologists and scholars made us aware of Hindu gods, but prior to the twentieth century, nobody in the West had any actual experience of Radha and Krishna. Even today, god and goddess remain concealed behind a brick wall of fundamentalism, which most of us from a Judeo-Christian background are powerless to navigate. On one hand, we may sense truth there, but until Bohlert's interpretation, there was no way to pierce the fundamentalist views and practices that keep these deities off limits." -- Nori Muster, author This book is sufficiently important that its wide dissemination amongst devotees is a desideratum. . . . old beliefs are given apparently radical new interpretations that widen their scope and potential for meaning. . . . Subal Steve Bohlert] has done a great service by introducing or naming the Vaishnava concept of deity as panentheism. . . . I favor r g nug natural devotion], as it seems does Subal, precisely because it . . . is about reforming the id-controlled ego into a love-permeated ego. . . . There is no doubt that Subal's is an important brick in the wall of religious discourse . . . His great contribution . . . is that he has gone out on a limb and attempted to make a coherent and systematic presentation of Radha-Krishna according to his vision. This means of course that he has set himself up for criticism, but that kind of courage is what is needed to push the discourse further. -- Jagadananda Das/Jan Brzezinski, Gaudiya Vaishnav scholar.