The Subtle Art of Dharma

 

The Subtle Art of Dharma

Blog 1 – 03/07/2021

 

 

What man of mettle will have the patience when he sees his rivals prosper and himself decline?

 

This is the opening line of my latest read, which turned out to be a splendid and insightful book by Gurcharan Das

 


 

The book is an insight into the moral and ethical behavior of each character of the Mahabharata. The way they behave, why they behave as they do, and why is it important for the ruler of the society to ensure his subjects and himself adhere to “Dharma”. It addresses the most important and crucial question that befalls people, especially in these current pandemic times, “why”. Why me? Why should one be good? Why should I stand in line for vaccines when others can use “jacks”? Why should I not envy my neighbor, my brother or Mr. Mukesh Ambani? Why is it so hard to be selfless? Why should I follow my “dharma”? What is my “dharma”? What end result will it do me, if I follow the so called “restrictions” set out by society? A man steeped in Chinese culture would ask, why should I celebrate my success with a feeling of guilt? Why and how does the behavior of a single individual impact society? Why should one follow a moral diktat of, say, not lying or cheating? Especially when one is denied personal gain?

 

When does it become morally correct to fight for one’s rights? When is it justified to use violence in protection or achieving one’s right? Who decides what is one’s right? Is a king justified in killing his brother to step on the throne? Is the second generation of a business family right in breaking the business and splitting up? Is an open marriage justified? Should husbands and wife be bound to each other for their life, especially when the bond is “sanctioned” by God? Is divorce justified in all cases? When would separation be justified, and when would it be incorrect?

 

These are all questions for which, every person would have a different answer. Where should one look for answers? Who, if at all anybody, does have a right answer? Is there even an answer? These are some of the countless questions which have confronted human beings for eternity. The author tries to locate the answers of a few of these questions in the Mahabharata, the greatest epic and the longest poem in History. The Mahabharata is truly a mirror which forces us the reflect upon our behavior, why we behave as we do, and what we should do, in order to attain higher goals. Is there even something as a “higher goal”? There are some questions for which the Pandavas (our heroes of this epic) do not get any answers till the end, which are then left open to interpretation. Consider these age old questions, answered through the prism of modern life, by borrowing various interpretations from different authors, philosophers and contemporary theorists, economists and political scientists.

 

The author then tries to relate how the emotion expressed by each character is already within each of us, both the good sides and the bad sides. It is the compared with the business and the political world, and how the emotion/question has influenced Indian public life for centuries.

 

We shall start on the journey to understand the epic, through the lens of the author, and try to make sense of why we do what we do through a series of blog posts – one for each of the characters considered in the book. I shall consider this endeavor to have succeeded if the reader decides to start the book, if influenced by this blog!

 

Stay tuned!


गौतम पाटणकर 


Comments

  1. Rima Tripathy3 July 2021 at 12:14

    Thank you so much for sharing all this wonderful info about the book.It is so appreciated...

    ReplyDelete

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