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Showing posts from July, 2024

Book Review : The Original Vyasa Mahabharata - Deepak M R

  Mahabharata, one of the integral parts of Bharatavarsha, holds the most sacred place in the hearts and minds of the populace for time immemorial. Mahabharata is filled with vedantic and upanishadic wisdom throughout so much that, it is considered as the 5th veda (panchama veda), Mahabharata contains vivid descriptions related to every facet of the creation and perhaps, an instance and solution to every problem one encounters in their life. Numerous acharyas, authors of repute of the past and present have always presented nuanced anecdotes and interesting versions of Mahabharata. It would be fully fair to say that every new reading opens up a new layer or perspective that augments our understanding of the epic a little more. Deepak M R is a well known author who has written extensively on Mahabharata and related topics on various forums. This book is a concise or rather an abridged version of the original Mahabharata which spans across the original 18 chapters or parvas of the epi...

Book Review: The Power of Karma Yoga By Gopinath Chandra Das

  Detailed Review : https://thecommunemag.com/gopinath-chandra-das-bhagavad-gita/

Book Review : Rāmāyaṇaṁ - Vol. 1 - Dushyanth Sridhar

  Detailed Book Review is published on The Commune Conclusion The book had set very high expectations based on the high profile launch and the celebrity status of the author. The divergences could have been explained better with adequate and informative references. However, I find this book too underwhelming in many aspects and wouldn’t recommend the book, especially to first time readers.   If one is interested in the verses plus translation, Gita Press versions are the best. If one is interested in the critical edition of Ramayana, Bibek Debroy’s Ramayana set is very highly recommended. For abridged versions, C. Rajagopalachari and Kamala Subramaniam’s versions are recommended. Beyond these, there are multiple vernacular renditions that are very good and accurate w.r.t. original texts.   For a deeper understanding of various renditions of Ramayana, I would highly recommend Dr. V. Raghavan’s colossal works on Ramayana, especially the analytical t...

Book Review : Kavalu - S. L. Bhyrappa (Eng. Translation: Rashmi Terdal, Parameshwaran N)

  Detailed Review in The Commune