Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma by author Gurcharan Das, looks to pack in a lot. It's a scholarly work, but wears its scholarship lightly.
Gurcharan Das manages to write in a very user-friendly style discussing some of the bigger questions of the Mahabharat in an easy conversational tone. The author is the first to emphasise the Mahabharat is certainly no 'how-to' guide, but he is convinced of its relevance.
"The relevance is, whether you are looking at the Ambani brothers fight, or Amar Singh, whether you are looking at Ramalingam Raju, Satyam episode, or financial crisis on Wall Street, the Mahabharat throws insights because it's about our daily ordinary life," said Das.
The epic has insight to offer in today's social, political and corporate world as well includes the very high-profile gas wars between Mukesh and Anil Ambani.
"The Mahabharat is obsessed with dharma, and it was the right thing to undertake. And now when I read the paper, I seem to see everything through the lens of the Mahabharat," said Das.
"In the Ambani fight for example, there are insights from the Mahabharat. The envy, like Duryodhan's envy of the Pandavas, so is Anil Ambani's envy of Mukesh.
Mukesh's betrayal, is like Duryodhan also, is not giving Anil his due. You see everyone says it's corporate greed, and go with it. The Mahabharat makes you go deeper," Das added.
It certainly appears a trifle daunting but we could all do a lot worse than contemplating the difficulty of being good.
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