Every word Srila Prabhupada wrote, as he wrote it. The complete original editions in structured, searchable, open-source markdown — freely available to the world.
Around 2010, we performed a complete export from the original edition VedaBase — the software that had faithfully preserved Srila Prabhupada's books in their pre-1978 form. The raw export was messy: encoding artifacts, broken formatting, inconsistent structure. But the words were there, exactly as Prabhupada wrote them.
We've been cleaning up these files ever since. Fifteen years of meticulous work: fixing character encoding, restoring Sanskrit diacritical marks, structuring each verse with its Devanagari, transliteration, synonyms, translation, and purport. Verifying against physical copies of the original print editions. Cross-referencing with the Bhaktivedanta Archives to ensure accuracy.
The goal was always the same: perfect digital files of the original books — useful for print, for websites, for building apps, and for anything else devotees might need. Files that anyone could open, read, and build upon without proprietary software or special permissions.
Full export from the original edition VedaBase. Raw text files with encoding issues and broken formatting.
Years of cleanup: character encoding, diacritical restoration, structural formatting. Verified against physical originals and the Bhaktivedanta Archives.
Adopted Obsidian as our editing platform. The vault structure with wiki links and embeds made it possible to cross-reference the entire library for the first time.
Began using AI tools for large-scale organization: building the unified scripture index (980 entries), enriching wiki articles with source references, cleaning thousands of lecture transcripts.
Published to Obsidian Publish as prabhupada.io. Open-sourced the complete archive on GitHub. Started building the VaniReader desktop app.
21,000+ pages live. 6,800 letters added. 3,800 spoken word transcripts with audio sync. 200+ curated wiki articles. The archive is the most comprehensive open-source collection of Prabhupada's teachings in the world.
Planning: OCR verification against original print scans, AI-assisted translation into 80+ languages, a faithful VedaBase reader app, and a simple web reader anyone can host.
Along the way, the project grew beyond just the books. Seeing what was possible in Obsidian — the cross-references, the interconnected knowledge — we envisioned recreating the beloved VedaBase experience as a modern application. We started building wiki articles that weave Prabhupada's teachings into thematic compilations. We used AI tools not to replace the sacred words, but to help organize, index, and make them more accessible.
We've worked alongside the Bhaktivedanta Archives to ensure accuracy, sharing back everything we've made. This isn't a private project — it belongs to everyone. Every file is on GitHub, every change is tracked, and every devotee on the planet is welcome to use, share, and build upon this work.
This is Srila Prabhupada's gift to the world. We're just making sure it reaches everyone.
18 chapters, ~700 verses. Original 1972 Macmillan edition. Complete Devanagari, transliteration, synonyms, translation, and purport for every verse.
Cantos 1 through 10.13 (Prabhupada's own translations). 30 original volumes, ~12,000 pages, ~18,000 verses. The "ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic literature."
3 divisions (Adi, Madhya, Antya), 17 original volumes, ~7,200 pages. The life and teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Krishna Book, Nectar of Devotion, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Sri Isopanisad, Nectar of Instruction, Science of Self-Realization, Easy Journey to Other Planets, and many more.
3,800 lecture transcripts synced with audio (1966-1977). 6,800 letters of correspondence. Morning walks, room conversations, interviews, initiations.
We preserve and present the original books of Srila Prabhupada exactly as they were published during his presence. Not a single word, comma, or punctuation mark has been changed. Post-1978 unauthorized editorial revisions are not included.
The archive serves as a permanent, verifiable reference. Every file is tracked in git — every change is visible, attributable, and reversible. The sacred words remain as they were blessed by His Divine Grace.
Every verse is a plain text file. No proprietary formats, no databases, no special software required. Here's what a single verse looks like — Bhagavad-gita 2.13, one of the most important verses in Vedic literature:
Markdown is the simplest possible text format — readable by humans and machines alike. No proprietary software, no vendor lock-in, no databases to maintain. A file written today will be readable in 100 years by any text editor. For sacred texts meant to last forever, this is the only responsible choice.
Open the files in any text editor, note-taking app, or knowledge management tool. The archive was built in Obsidian — a free app that renders the markdown beautifully, follows the cross-references between verses, and lets you search across all 21,000 pages instantly. But any editor works: VS Code, Notion, iA Writer, even Notepad.
Convert markdown to beautifully typeset PDFs for printing, or EPUB for e-readers (Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo). The structured format means automated tools can produce print-ready books — complete with Devanagari verses, transliteration, synonyms, translation, and purport in the proper layout. One command, any chapter or the complete book.
The structured markdown is a perfect data source for developers. Build a verse-of-the-day widget, a mobile reading app, a temple kiosk, a study tool with cross-references, or an AI-powered question-answering system. The YAML frontmatter provides metadata (title, references, navigation) that apps can parse programmatically. That's how prabhupada.io and VaniReader are built — directly from these files.
Browse the full archive with search, cross-references, and embedded audio at prabhupada.io.
prabhupada.io →Get the complete source in markdown. Fork, contribute, build your own apps.
VaniReader — native desktop app with offline access, split view, audiobook sync.
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