My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik

Name of the book : My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik

Stars : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Genre : Mythology, Spirituality, Philosophy

The path of my GITA!

---

Review :

Born and brought up in a Hindu family, I’d heard a lot about the ‘Bhagvad Gita’ and somehow I got the courage to pick it up and read it. In my childhood mom and my grand-parents used to narrate short stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata to my younger brother and I which always fascinated me! As an adult, reading Gita at least once was in my ‘book-et list’ (see what I did there? subtle no?)

Devdutt Pattanaik’s My Gita is not a translation of the Gita but instead is a paraphrasing of the same. At the start of this book, the author makes it clear that this is his perspective of what Gita is and that to me as a reader, made a lot of sense. He says in the book that “The Gita we overhear is essentially that which is narrated by a man with no authority (Sanjaya) to a man with no sight but full authority (Dhritarashtra)” which makes it obvious that there is a difference between what is told (gyan) and what is heard (vi-gyan).

Devdutt Pattanaik also very beautifully explains how Hinduism has changed with time as time has progressed. From the Vedas to Upanishads to Puranas to Ramayana, Mahabharata to today’s society, My Gita very successfully deciphers the meaning hidden in Gita’s verses and makes it very easy to understand for everyone. Though the original verses were written in Sanskrit which is a highly coded language, the author has not used all the versus from the Gita but has paraphrased them into various themes and 18 chapters throughout the book. This book takes a divine course among its chapters as he talks about karma yoga, bhakti yoga and gyan yoga.

This book also time and again drafts a comparison of Hinduism with other religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Greek mythology, Abrahamic religions etc. and highlights the difference of the opinions and some similarities in them. Gita is nothing but a book that helps the people who have accepted the ‘society life’ over the ‘hermit’ life and helps us in having inner and outer peace in life.

As someone, who had tried to read the English translation of the Bhagvad Gita, and was kind of taken aback by the words such as yagnya, yoga, paramatma, atma etc. I remember not being able to relate with the text and closing the book forever (at least that’s what I thought!). Devdutt Patanaik’s My Gita has helped me apprehend Gita better. I did read the Iskon translated Bhagvad Gita after this and loved it.

If you are someone who is looking for a translated version of the Bhagvad Gita, this book is not for you. But I would recommend this book to everyone as this book consists the gist, essence and message of the Bhagvad Gita.

---

About the author :

Dr Devdutt Pattanaik (born December 11, 1970) is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist and author whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, mythology, and also management. He has written a number of books related to Hindu mythology, including Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology, a novel, The Pregnant King, and Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata (2010).

He is the Chief Belief Officer of Future Group, one of India’s largest retailers, bringing the wisdom of Indian mythology into Indian business, specifically in human resource management. He also writes a column for the newspaper MIDDAY.

Make sure to subscribe to my channel and follow me on Instagram to know more about my TBRs, favourite books etc. (https://www.instagram.com/booketlistindia/)

Have a great day ahead! Take care 🙂

---

P.S. If you read this book please share your reviews about the same! Let me know did you feel as divine and spiritual as I did?