Shattered dreams - a book review

Many a times we wonder, if age-old epics have relevance to our lives in today’s space age. Many dismiss them as myth, folk-lore and not relevant to today’s life.   Shattered dreams is a 387 book which breaks that thought and brings out gently Ramayana’s wisdom and  teaches how to handle  the various downturns  and pitfalls of our lives positively.

Ramayana – The game of life, Shattered dreams is second  in a series of book from Shubha vilas , the first being Ramayana –the game of life  titled Rise of the Sun prince ( my review here) . 

This book deals with the attempt of Dasharatha to bequeath his throne to his son Crown prince  Rama and so preparations are on for the Coronation.  How the coronation gets thwarted through   the story of kaikeyi’s boons , the banishment of Rama into exile,  the steadfastness of Rama in the face of his people’s shattered dreams, the beautiful  12 year old husband-wife  relationship dynamics of Rama and sita, the misunderstood Bharata  who goes to Chitrakoot to convince his brother Rama to rule form the narration of the book which itself is retold from Valmiki’s Ramayana, Kamba Ramayana, Ramcharit Manas and with folk tales thrown in from Lokapramana.

While I have read many books on Ramayana and have even watched the TV series, what made the read interesting was the unknown details of the great anti-hero Ravana.  The first few pages deals with the  birth of Ravana , his acquiring the pushpaka vimana and his international conquests.  Then it was  heart tugging to read the  love  of a royal father, Dasharatha when he is snatched the coronation rights and is forced to send his loving prince to exile. 

In between, I found certain chapters very preachy and too philosophical but the book turned dramatic with the meeting of Bharata and Lord Rama at Chitrakoot.  Rama offers his footwear to adorn the imperial throne and gifts him a set of five management mantras which form the base of vision based leadership leading to Rama Rajya.

The book finally ends with the exiled trio of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana moving ahead of chitrakoot down south towards Dandakaranya  with a visit to Sage  Atri’s hermitage.

There are interesting little folk tales embedded which makes it a fascinating read and also there are footnotes on each page which correlates the Ramayana situation on that page to our modern life.  While these footnotes help you to reflect and ponder at the same time, it  breaks the continuity of the story.  Some of the footnotes were  simple yet  profound like

 “when you focus on things that you have gained, you become grateful, when you focus on things that you have lost, you become hateful.”

Overall, a very interesting book that connects the human struggles and  power strategies of the world’s revered epic to modern day struggles.

Written in simple English, it may be a worthy read for people who love reading self-help motivational books and mythology.

 About the Author

Shubha Vilas, a spiritual seeker and a motivational speaker, holds a degree in engineering and law with specialization in Patent Law. His leadership seminars are popular with top-level management in corporate houses. He also helps individuals deal with modern-life situations by applying the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and other dharmic traditions.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

My wish list

Progress in science and technology is conquering nature  and who else, but we humans are responsible for vanquishing nature by misusing and  overpowering it with our wasteful and materialstic lifestyle . We can’t do much about the damage that we have already done but we can control the damages by changing our lifestyle to a sustainable  one by backtracking from consumerism and materialism. One of the benefits of such lifestyle apart from reviving nature is,  it improves our quality of life and well being, after all isn’t that why we all rush daily to earn money,  to live a quality life. We can do this  by leading a healthy life just the way our ancestors lived harmoniously with nature.

It is on my wishlist that….

1)   I live in a place with natural surroundings  and practice organic sustainable farming using absolutely no chemicals and live harmoniously with nature and impress my surroundings to practice such farming. 

2)  With the surplus organic produce, I would like to start a small eatery which promotes and  serves healthy locavore food and just like pizzas, burgers, coke and cola  invading every little corner of india, I would promote healthy foods like   Idli, dosa, paratha, herbal juices  and other millet based Indian foods open their kiosks all around the world. 

3)    Also, I wish to open a holistic learning center for children especially where there is no structured syllabi , competition, exams  and the children learn through exploring and gain knowledge just like this favorite and my oft quoted  poem of William Martin.

“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

William Martin

With my present  commitments it is not possible for me to do all the above three now in fullfledged manner ( I am practicing at a small level though) , but it is on my wishlist and have putoff for future, but given a chance would definitely do right now.

“This post is a part of the #SecondChance activity at BlogAdda in association with MaxLife Insurance”.