Mahabharata
by C. Rajagopalachari
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Book Summary Information
Author: C. RajagopalachariEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-01-01
ISBN: 8172763689
Number of pages: 483
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan/Mumbai/India
Book Reviews of Mahabharata
Book Review: A work of Art
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a truely amazing work, however - I would not recommend it to any westerner who does not have at least some backgound in sanskrit and/or the deeper study of yoga (in other words - more than the poses). There are numerous pseudo-names for many of the main characters - and there are no shortage of characters. Many of these have names that are many letters long, and a number of them are very similar in spelling to other characters - for instance Krishna alone is referred to by at least ten different names, only some of which are footnoted. Thus even with a background in yoga & Sanskrit - for me - all of this was extremely difficult to get my arms around at first, but by the time I got about 50 or so pages into it the names became more familiar - and from then on - it became one of those books that was difficult to put down. For anyone wanting to take on the deeper lessons of this masterpiece - I would suggest obtaining a copy of Paramhansa Yogananda's translations of the Bhagavad Gita. He has published two versions a short and sweet paperback of 123 pages and a 1000+ page, two volume much more profound version. The short version leads one through the cast of characters and gives the underling meaning of each entity - for instance the blind King Dhritarashtra - actually represents the blind, or undiscerning mind. When one takes the time to view and understand the characters - as Yogananda does so well - the understanding of the deeper meaning of this great work begins to unfold - and the book takes on a life of its own. Yogananda's larger two volume translation of the Gita is a bit long, but if one only reads the introduction, the Mahabharata and its deeper messages become much easier to follow. The Gita intro also has a family tree showing most of the main characters - as well as what they represent in the story - this was a huge help for me - and I found myself constantly referring back to this reference during the reading. What many people do not know, is that this book was the underlying theme of the book "Bagger Vance", which was popular about 10 years ago (the book more so than the movie), in addition some of its themes can also be found in popular present days books such as Harry Potter, although some of those similarities may be coincidental.
To any person aspiring to understand the deeper levels of yoga, and the Vedas, this book is a must, it's more of a study than a read - but well worth the effort. I looked at several of the available translations - they range from 150 pages to over 1000, I found this one to be the nice compromise as far as level of detail - yet not so long as to be burdensome.
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