It is the BBT's mission to disseminate knowledge of the Krishna conscious philosophy, and the religion and culture of Vedic India and the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.

To accomplish this mission the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is committed to

• upholding and propagating in as many languages as possible the legacy of the BBT's founder-acharya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in the form of his books and teachings
• publishing the works of Srila Prabhupada's faithful followers where they comment on and explain Srila Prabhupada's books or in other ways propagate Vaishnava culture and philosophy in his mood
• serving those who produce and distribute Srila Prabhupada's books
• creating and maintaining efficient book publishing methods and providing education in these methods
• improving the translations of Srila Prabhupada's books by offering workshops in translation theory and technique

"In order to change this materialistic society and prevent it from gliding to hell, first thing is to educate the [people]. All decent men want to give service to humanity; the only thing is that they do not have information really what is that service. Hospitals, feeding the poor, the Red Cross ... these are service to the bodies only, not to the man. Service to humanity means jnana. By giving people knowledge, jnana, that is the highest service to humanity. So we are performing the actual welfare work of society by informing everyone through our literatures who is God, who they are, and what is their relationship. In this way everyone who hears our message gets the opportunity to fulfill his actual position as a human entity and become delivered from the clutches of maya."
(Letter to Rameshvara Dasa, 9 January 1973)