Books... Books... Books...
Nothing much happened in my life during last week. It followed the monotonous rituals of reaching office, doing some work, getting back home, reading some books and getting back to bed. I was surprised that time flew so fast.
Back at home, it was Radio Mirchi or Suryan FM along with the books I had brought from home to kill time. I had brought along “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramhansa Yogananda and “Effective Executive” by Peter F Drucker.
I started reading “Effective Executive”, but could not go beyond the first 20 pages. Somehow I cannot sustain the interest; I could not read more than that. I have never been able to read such books; books about motivation, self-confidence, etc. Dad had spent a lot of money and got me the books, but I just could not sustain interest, shall get back to the book after a few weeks.
After “Effective Executive”, I tried “Autobiography of a Yogi”. It followed the life of Paramhansa Yogananda, from his childhood to attainment of salvation as sage. He is a renowned yogi and master of yoga. The reason I was not able to sustain interest in this book is since Swami Yogananda talks of a blind faith in his guru, Swami Yuktheshwar and Lahiri Mahasaya.
I have never believed in a person to be the ultimate guru – to follow him, to worship him or to listen to a discourse. I have never been able to believe in someone like Sai Baba or Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar or Matha Amritanandamayi or anyone for that matter. So I got bored of reading “Autobiography of a Yogi” too.
Yesterday I had been to Higginbotham, and got two books from there. “Day of the Jackal” by Fredrick Forsyth and “Mahabharata” by C. Rajagopalachari.
Started reading Mahabharata, and before I knew anything I had already read around 60 pages. I bought the book since I had read in many places that this edition by C. Rajagopalachari was a must read, since it told Mahabharata, the second largest epic in the world in the most simplest of language, easy for everyone to understand.
I had watched every episode of Mahabharata aired on Doordarshan during the 90’s. The one hour serial was such a craze amongst the masses, that everyone watched the serial, without missing even a single episode. In addition to the serial, I had read various comics of Mahabharata, printed by Amar Chitra Katha. So Mahabharata was not new to me, but the interest levels generated by this book has surely got me hooked.
Mahabharata is the second largest epic poem in the world, after “Tibetan Epic of King Gesar”. It was composed by sage Veda Vyasa. The epic was so large, that he wanted someone to note it as he would recite the poems. He appeased Lord Ganapathy, and asked him to pen down the epic.
Ganapathy agreed, but on one condition. He said that once he starts writing, he would not stop, which meant that Vyas had to recite the entire epic in one sitting. Though Vyas was startled on hearing this, he thought about of a way to counter it.
He agreed to Ganapathy’s condition, but laid his own condition, that Ganapathy would understand every verse that Vyas would recite.
During the course of recitation, Vyas purposely composed complex verses, which Ganapathy could not understand, which gave him ample time to rest as well as think of verses which were to follow.
posted by Arun R @ 8:07 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
I never got to see Mahabaratha on Sundays as we went to church. I missed lot of good shows like Ramayana, Mahabarath, Chandralekha and there used to be a stone boy or something.
But in school they taught us Ramayana and Mahabaratha as reading for pleasure kind of things.
@ Thanu:
Stone Boy used to be one of my favourite serials, though it had just a few episodes, I loved it a lot.
The day the last episode was to be aired, there was a powercut in my locality, so I missed the last episode.
Those verses are called "Mahabaratha Kuttu"..they recur every 100 quadralets. There are 10,000 of quads in MB and so, there are 100 kuttus...they are very interesting to read...some of them would be totally incoherent..to understand them, one had to reassemble the words and change the entire sequencing..it is said that, there was time for Vyasa only to quench his thrist and breathe smoothly...Vinayaga was too fast to understand the verses that, Vyasa was forced not even to inhale for 100 quads and then take a deep breathe n quench his thirst with a drop of water!..
Interesting reads they are..if you want the entire Mahabaratha, you can go in for "Mahabaratham Paesughirathu" by Cho.Ramaswamy. It is in Tamil...dont know whether there is an english version of it...This contains not just the MB, but also the branch stories of it..a voluminous but a thoroughly interesting read.
Aah ! Doordarshan days. I used to eagerly wait for Mahabarata
@ Krish:
Thanks for the info. If its tamil, then it would be of no use to me!!!
@ OMR:
Good Old Times..... these days I watch Doordarshan only when cricket matches are telecasted on it!!!!
I did not watch Mahabharatha much as it was too complicated for me at that time but followed the entire Ramayan series. Even recently, I was watching the Sankshipt Ramayan on Star Utsav.
Hi Arun,
You started with "........It followed the monotonous rituals of reaching office, doing some work,......"
(some only???)
Hope your boss don't read your blog! ROFL
@ Danesh:
I think u r talking abt the "Ramayan" which was aired in some other channel other than DD. The one which was aired in DD, during the late 80's by Ramanand Sagar was good.
@ Sreejith:
It depends on how u comprehend 'some'. Accepted that one of the meaning is dangerous if my boss sees it, but what I wanted to convey was my frustrations due to my monotonous life, which I think is conveyed.
Re: Arun
Sure it is conveyed. I was seeing the lighter side of it. :-)
@ Sreejith:
Ok... I thought I was conveying something else... :) :)
Arun, thanks for dropping by and jotting your comments.
I have seen many people reading "Autobiography of a Yogi", but I have never brought myself to getting one and reading it. What many of the new-age gurus say make sense, because they demystify ageold truisms found in epics, and make it relevant to present-day contexts. I must now buy and read "Mahabharata" by C. Rajagopalachari, after reading what you have written. Currently reading Hillary Clinton's autobiography.
@ Pradeep:
I do not mind sanyasis as long as they are also working towards social cause. Like Amrutanandamayi and Sai Baba of Puttaparthy building hospitals, schools and colleges.
I cannot approve of someone telling me how to lead my life, how to do this, that.
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