Author: Gurcharan Das
ISBN: 9780143418092
ISBN13: 9780143418092
Edition language: English
Literary awards: None
My Rating: 5/5
Why be good when being bad is considered to be cool?
Why does always bad things happen to good people?
In a society where people get away by doing bad things, why should people still believe in Non-Violence and Dharma?
Is a "bad person" never good? Does not the "good" sometimes become bad?
Ultimately what is good and bad?
The above questions might have passed through your mind at least once in your lifetime. Thus, what does being good mean? Why be good? It is at this juncture that this book tries to find meaning to the word Dharma by dissecting the characters in Mahabharata one by one and discussing their behaviour patterns. While reading the book, one might often wonder whether a person can be called inherently good or bad? Isn't there a Raavan hiding in each of the righteous Ramas of the world. Or, to put it in the modern version wasn't a part of Voldemort there in Harry Potter himself.
I have never found it so hard to write a review for a book that I absolutely loved. I fear that my review however times edited would not do justice to it. The theme of this book is so close to my heart that after reading the summary given at the back of this book, I just could not hide my happiness in finding a book that talks about some queries that I have had all along my life till now.
For an introvert like me who can easily be outsmarted by others and to have to smile at the same person (cursing myself for my lack of ability to express myself) the theme of this book is relevant in my day-to-day life. The question of "why be good?" has occurred to me many a times in life.
From my experiences in life so far, I have learnt that a person can never be categorized as good or bad. It is difficult to draw a straight line between good karma and bad karma. The matter is subtle: delicately complex. This has been beautifully discussed in this book through various chapters disseminating each character of The Mahabharatha and also including political/corporate figures from everyday news in some places.
Still my favorite chapter is The Krishna's Guile with the tagline "It is the way it is". All through the Gita, "The Krishna" preaches about being righteous but during the Kurukshetra War he makes the Pandavas win by trickery. Duryodhana questions this approach while dying and Krishna replies with a simple "somethings are the way it is". This is my favorite because it helps in finding peace with many situations in life when we fail to find logic in what has happened.
I loved this book and I am sure that this is going to be one of my bibles (books I love and would read, re-read, re-re-read..... and by heart and treasure in life). I would recommend this book to anyone anytime as its relevant in all ages.
I have never found it so hard to write a review for a book that I absolutely loved. I fear that my review however times edited would not do justice to it. The theme of this book is so close to my heart that after reading the summary given at the back of this book, I just could not hide my happiness in finding a book that talks about some queries that I have had all along my life till now.
For an introvert like me who can easily be outsmarted by others and to have to smile at the same person (cursing myself for my lack of ability to express myself) the theme of this book is relevant in my day-to-day life. The question of "why be good?" has occurred to me many a times in life.
From my experiences in life so far, I have learnt that a person can never be categorized as good or bad. It is difficult to draw a straight line between good karma and bad karma. The matter is subtle: delicately complex. This has been beautifully discussed in this book through various chapters disseminating each character of The Mahabharatha and also including political/corporate figures from everyday news in some places.
Still my favorite chapter is The Krishna's Guile with the tagline "It is the way it is". All through the Gita, "The Krishna" preaches about being righteous but during the Kurukshetra War he makes the Pandavas win by trickery. Duryodhana questions this approach while dying and Krishna replies with a simple "somethings are the way it is". This is my favorite because it helps in finding peace with many situations in life when we fail to find logic in what has happened.
I loved this book and I am sure that this is going to be one of my bibles (books I love and would read, re-read, re-re-read..... and by heart and treasure in life). I would recommend this book to anyone anytime as its relevant in all ages.
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