The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma

Das, Gurcharan

ISBN 10: 0670083496 / ISBN 13: 9780670083497

Published by Penguin/Allen Lane, New Delhi, 2009

About this Item

8vo(9"tall)brown cloth. First Edition, 3rd printing stated, 2009. Near Fine in a Very Good dust jacket with a wrinkle to lower right corner front. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE TITLE PAGE. RARE THUS. Seller Inventory # 12316

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle ...

Publisher: Penguin/Allen Lane, New Delhi

Publication Date: 2009

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In his new book, Gurcharan Das turns to the Mahabharata in order to answer the question, 'why be good?', and discovers that the epic's world of moral haziness and uncertainty is closer to our experience as ordinary human beings than the narrow and rigid positions that define most debate in this fundamentalist age of moral certainty.

The Mahabharata is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma-in essence, doing the right thing. When a hero falters, the action stops and everyone weighs in with a different and often contradictory take on dharma. The epic's characters are flawed, but their incoherent experiences throw light on our familiar dilemmas.

Gurcharan Das's best-selling book India Unbound examined the classical aim of artha, material well being. This, his first book in seven years, dwells on the goal of dharma, moral well being. It addresses the central problem of how to live our lives in an examined way-holding a mirror up to us and
forcing us to confront the many ways in which we deceive ourselves and others. What emerges is a doctrine of dharma that we can apply to our business decisions, political strategies and interpersonal relationships-in effect, to life itself.

About the Author:

Gurcharan Das is the author of the much-acclaimed India Unbound. He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India before he took early retirement to become a full-time writer. He writes a regular column for six Indian newspapers, including the Times of India, and occasionally for Newsweek, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs.