Publications

Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” We are excited about making deep wisdom accessible and digestible, through life-changing literature that conveys timeless principles to the modern mind.

Gita Life Over the passage of time, our friends, family, society and the media paint the perfect picture of 'success, and we subsequently shape our lives in determined pursuance of it. At a certain point, however, we begin to doubt whether that 'per
How do we navigate this world, which sometimes seems so alien? How do we find our purpose and satisfy our innermost yearning? How can we live joyful lives and discover the happiness and security we so much seek? How do we deal with the emotions, expe
Tattva 2: Old Words Open New Worlds [tuht-tvah]: a principle or truth that underpins our experience of universal reality The Vedas are the oldest body of spiritual literature known to humankind. There, tucked away in mystical Sanskrit sutras, are
Gita3: A Contemporary Guide to the Timeless Teachings of the Bhagavad-gita Gita3 takes you on a scenic journey through the spiritual landscape of the Bhagavad-Gita… three times! Prepare yourself for powerful philosophy and insightful psychology, mad
Loving Life, Embracing Death: Story of the Smiling Monk How many people can say they love life? How many jump out of bed, inspired and enthused, on a mission that has captured their imagination? How many people are so driven that no amount of comp
CC Compact Throughout cosmic history, Krishna periodically descends to Earth and reveals knowledge of the eternal reality. He re-establishes genuine spirituality and teaches the practical means to develop God consciousness. In 1486, Krishna appeared
The Playground of God Are you coming? It’s a magical and mystical land… Traditionally the place of saints and sages… Even today you’ll meet yogis and ascetics there… Every year, thousands go there to inspire their hearts… It’s a ‘tirtha’ – a bridge
IQ EQ SQ IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests are famous for assessing logical, mathematical and linguistic skills. We all wish we were in that top bracket of Mensa elite who have an IQ in excess of 140 – unfortunately only 0.5% of the population make i
Tattva In today’s fast-paced materialistic climate, our vision, understanding and interaction with the world can be on a very superficial level. Despite this all-pervading influence, many philosophers, theologians, scientists and great thinkers have
Bhakti Life We may read a lot of spiritual knowledge, but sometimes the practical application can be ambiguous and unclear. What practices should I perform on a daily basis? How can I change my lifestyle to support my spirituality? When challenges a

Interested in selling / distributing
His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami’s books?

We are grateful for your contribution in helping spread wisdom that breathes.

On this page, you will find the official direct rates and purchase information for His Holiness’ books.
All of His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami’s books are managed by Wisdom That Breathes, a UK-registered charity and not-for-profit initiative.

How do we determine book prices?

1) Which books are you buying?

Different books have different sizes, print qualities, production and design costs, and other expenses. Even similar looking books can have very different cost dynamics!

2) How many books are you buying?

Like any other enterprise, we also benefit (or lose) due to economies of scale. A larger order means that we save costs in production, storage, shipping and handling - which we could then pass on to you.

3) Where was the stock of your book printed, and where are you buying from?

Different countries have different costs of printing. For some books (like Gita3), we print both in the UK and in India. You may be able to access different rates depending on the country of origin. Shipping costs and taxes / duties also depend on country of origin. We also consider your purchasing power - so if you are in a high income country, we charge you accordingly to be able to pass on cost savings to customers in lower income countries.

4) What are you buying the books for?

We categorise purchases into two types:

  1. Purchases for Education (You Pay), meaning that you are taking the books to distribute for spiritual education, at no cost to the end consumer (or an optional donation). Examples include book distribution (sankirtana), gifting to share spiritual wisdom, complimentary inclusion in a free educational course, etc. For this type of purchase, we provide the lowest possible “near-cost” price to support your spiritual endeavours

  2. Purchases for Sale (End Customer Pays), meaning that you are taking the books to conduct sales for revenue (distribution / wholesale / retail) or as a purchased add-on to a course/event, i.e. at a cost to the end consumer. This kind of purchase is priced slightly higher so that we can also gain a fair share of the profits you make from your sales. As a non-profit dedicated exclusively to supporting His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami, we need to ensure we make sufficient returns on our investments so that we can be sustainable and re-invest the little revenue share we get into producing and printing more books

Examples:

  • Sale: Any wholesaler/distributor/shop, even if it is a temple-associated non-profit or gift shop, gets the standardised wholesale cost: since you are selling books to an end customer with a revenue component

  • Education: An approved friendly project (such as a temple education group), when it uses the books for free (or optional donation-based) distribution, gets access to our near-cost prices, as our humble attempt to extend our support for their spiritual endeavours

  • Further example: if a temple makes a purchase for distribution during a book marathon, or for sharing during its events (on a donation-basis), then it may get access to "Education" costs. However, if the same temple were to list the books on its official web-store for sale at a fixed retail price, the "Sale" costs would apply

Frequently Asked Questions on Pricing

Why do you have different prices for different use-cases?
Answer: We’re a charity ourselves, so to keep the books in-print (and bring more books back in print) and pay the bills, we cannot always offer this lowest price to everyone. If we gave books to everyone at cost, we would have no means to support our mission to spread wisdom that breathes to more people by ourselves. Moreover, with up to 70% discount on the maximum retail prices, our sale / distribution prices are already much better than the industry standard of 40%-60% discount

How do you verify what the books are actually being used for?
Answer: We don’t! We transparently share our entire pricing table with everyone, and hope that buyers will act in good faith when they self-select what purpose they are purchasing books for. Of course someone could easily cheat the system and get the lowest education price, while actually selling the books for revenue - but we trust that our buyers won’t. If everyone did this, we would lose our capacity to be able offer to the education price to anyone - a lose-lose situation!

That’s fair enough, but I just can’t afford your books!
Answer: We appreciate that the prices may not be affordable for everyone, everywhere in the world. We humbly ask that you appreciate how we also cannot afford to sell the books for any cheaper than quoted here, and seek your support in getting the books in the hands of more people and generating greater customer demand, so that we can print in even larger quantities to drive costs down. In select cases in the past, we have also helped arrange sponsorships / grants / donations to support purchases in areas which need the most help (for example, helping subsidise the cost of 200 imported books in Kenya, and providing in-kind grants for distribution to schools, hospitals, and care homes). If you require support to share the books, please reach out to us and we will try our best to help you, based on your level of financial need

But I used to get the books for cheaper before - what changed?
Answer: Until 2023, there was no management for His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami’s books. This meant that on occasions, the word ‘cost’ was taken quite literally and books were provided at the literal printing price, not accounting for various other expenses including design, registry, compliance, storage, handling, shipping, taxes, payment processing, services, etc. As such, it is likely that what you thought was ‘cost’ price was much lower than our actual total costs, resulting in a considerable loss, which (if it continued in the same manner) would have rendered our service unsustainable. From 2023, we have embarked on a journey to change this for the better, and introduced end-to-end management by a dedicated team under Wisdom That Breathes Foundation, to be able to do justice to amplifying the wisdom in His Holiness’ books, while also being fair custodians to the charity’s funds and resources. When you pay a fair price, we are able to invest not only in more printing and knowledge share, but also support initiatives like our free web-books programme, and support those who with the most need, through our need-based book grants

Support us

Wisdom That Breathes Foundation is committed to helping His Holiness S.B. Keshava Swami in his mission to bring the ancient insights of the scriptures into the modern context - “wisdom that breathes”! If you feel inclined, we welcome any voluntary donations that help us keep this important work going. Thanks for considering!