Śrī Krishna Prem and the Gītā’s Yoga

Abstract

Gerald T. Carney’s "Śrī Krishna Prem and the Gītā’s Yoga" explores the remarkable spiritual journey and philosophical contributions of Śrī Krishna Prem (born Ronald Nixon), an Englishman-turned-Vaiṣṇava mystic who blended Western intellectualism with Indian devotionalism. Carney traces Krishna Prem’s path from Cambridge-educated theosophist to renunciate and Gauḍīya-influenced yogi living in Vrindavan. The article centers on Krishna Prem’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gītā, particularly his integration of karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, and bhakti-yoga into a unified path of spiritual transformation. Unlike many Western interpreters who emphasized the Gītā’s philosophical abstraction, Krishna Prem insisted on its practical mysticism and the necessity of divine grace, interior discipline, and sustained inner purification. Carney also considers how Krishna Prem’s writings sought to correct Western misreadings of the Gītā as merely ethical or allegorical, instead highlighting its esoteric realism and experiential depth. The article positions Krishna Prem as a rare figure who lived the Gītā not just as scripture but as sādhanā, fusing East and West in a quest for the Absolute.