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The Difficulty Of Being Good : On The Subtle Art Of Dharma (2009)

by Gurcharan Das(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0670083496 (ISBN13: 9780670083497)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Penguin Books India

review 1: When one thinks of Great Writings on/from India, one thinks of some landmark books. Gurcharan Das's 'The Difficulty of Being Good' is not always an instinctive choice on the list. My suggestion is that this should change. Combining insights from the many ethical schools of Western Philosophy - from the Greeks to the Medieval Catholic Saints to the more Modern Utilitarians and Immanuel Kant - yet keeping the Mahabharata and its concerns on morality right at the center of the book, Gurcharan Das has achieved a rare feat - he has managed to present a multitude of complex, ethical deliberations in an extremely accessible manner to the reader.The book makes a delightful reading at many levels - first, it enlightens one on the many tales within the Indian Epic and examines them ... morefrom an ethical dimension. At another level, Das struggles with his own ethical dilemmas along with the characters of the Mahabharata - an exercise many of us who share such struggles can relate to with ease. Lastly, the book tries to link the world and questions from the times of the Mahabharata to the contemporary times and makes us re-look at them from a newer perspective. This reading of the Epic is remarkably similar to the Great Indian text in a profound way, and that is, it raises more questions than it answers and while Das does endeavour to look for some definite answers, it is ultimately left to the reader to decide. Thus, as the author emphasizes the subtlety of Dharma in his arguments the book reinforces the subtlety by leaving one with a lot more food for thought by the time one puts it down.
review 2: Unlike many biased and simplistic renditions of the Mahabharata, the Difficulty of Being Good is a refreshing examination of the moral and ethical issues dealt with in the epic with commendable poise. This book, as the author says, is an account of his quest for understanding “dharma” through one of the greatest literary works known to mankind – the Mahabharata. Though the chapter on envy stands out as superficial and even childish at a point, the rest of the book is engaging and thought provoking. He plods through the thicket of the epic and ponders over its offerings to discover that “Mahabharata is an allegory of elusiveness of dharma; dharma is subtle” The path to this discovery is filled with deep contemplations on our everyday activities and meaning of life and an attempt at understanding human behavior transcending time and place less

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