I had been toying with reading The Difficulty of being good-On the Subtle art of Dharma by Gurcharan Das. I know it is a mouthful and for brevity sakes I’m going to shorten it To be good or to Be Bad by G.D. Please do not mistake it for our friendly bard’s lost manuscript or a Clint Eastwood western my heathen friends!!
Enough with the wisecracks.
One of the first qs, I was asked was I going on a loony trip and the second one was that G.d. theories are academic and one should read Rajneesh. Well I am not a Looney tune character however much I associate with them and I’d like to venture out on my own coz’ Rajneesh is well Rajneesh….Need I say more…
This is one of the path-breaking books which tries to sort out the meaning of life, the interpretations are all up to us. This mystery which unravels and unfolds itself. It baffles, mystifies, de-mystifies but is governed by the basest of vices at all steps which tempt us at every nook. Mahabharata is the greatest human theme which it plays upon and tries to decipher the good and evil at every step, the choice being with us. If the Gods could win a war with tact and deceit, you would all say who are we, the lesser mortals? To not succumb to the temptations which have plagued Earth since the Genesis?
The beauty lies in not justifying the act but in understanding the subtle drama which is an underlying current played out by the author at every juncture. His is a personal response and so is mine. I am at the first step trying to understand Envy which is the foundation for all life. This emotion which consumes and consummates Duryodhana and sets the path of destruction for the entire clan of Kshatriyas and also draws the Gods to take sides makes it difficult to be just good or just bad... It’s never that easy. We all have shades of grey in us. Think about it.
I certainly would like to know, if making the choice is as easy as it is made out to be
