Book Review [127] : The Difficulty Of Being Good

What is here is found else where.
What is not here is nowhere. (Mahabharat I.56.34-35)

No story has inspired more souls than Mahabharat, no story has solved more dilemmas than Mahabharat and no story has more enriched the culture of mankind than Mahabharat. I am a big fan of Mahabharat and have heard almost every incident of Mahabharat innumerable times but it has never bored me. It is eternal and quintessential fresh. 

'The Difficulty of Being Good' is a 'modern' take on Mahabharat's characters by  Gurucharan Das. He raises the very old but very pertinent question that why the Pandavas had to suffer so much atrocities and adversities despite of being good. The eldest Pandava Yudhisthira never did any wrong and always supported and forgave the Kauravas and was even ready to give up his just claim on the throne of Indraprastha for just 5 villages but what price he (and other Pandavas) had to pay for their exemplary goodness. They had to fight a reluctant but bloody war and had to kill their kins and teachers and had to see their kins getting killed in the battlefield. 

Gurucharan Das does not even venture to solve this dilemma, he simply says that one has to be pragmatic like Krishna and should not go to the extremes of Duryodhana (the evil extreme) and Yudhisthira (the virtuous one) as Dharma is too subtle. 

To be frank this book has confused me a lot and i don't understand what message Mr. Das is trying to deliver. In the end he says that Yudhisthira is the real Hero of Mahabharat as he did not lose his goodness in his adversities and in his halcyon days. But he was good only when he stuck to his 'Dharma' and he suffered badly for doing that. He started having good time only when he turned pragmatic or a bit 'opportunist' like when he took part in the plans to neutralize Bheeshma and Dronacharya. 

His dealing of the character of Karna is pretty good and he really brought some fresh insights.

According to me the greatest thing this great epic can teach is that if your aim is just and true that it justifies pragmatic or slightly deviant ways to achieve it. 

Recommended (7/10)