Half
of the year has gone and I have read 6 books till now which was my so called
aim for this entire year. I am so happy that I was able to accomplish it sooner
than my expectation.
Also
I am thinking about recording my feelings and response about the books along
with reading them. And I can turn my notes into a new blog….
To
start with the recent one I have read ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ by Amish
Tripathi .
It
is a fictional story based upon Indian mythological stories of Lord Shiva which
is the central character of this trilogy.
First
of all it is a very well narrated story. All the facts and figures are depicted
in nice and crisp way without any melodrama. It is subtle not loud. All the
characters are placed beautifully, one can recognize them instantly.
Of
all the characters I liked the central character the most i.e Shiva. He is strong,
intelligent, leader yet vulnerable. Talking about mythological characters yet
making them believable is just so mesmerizing.
Story
is about a typical fight between right and wrong which gets twisted towards the
end when Shiva gets really confused as to who was right and who was wrong. He experiences
an interesting revelation after having a conversation with Pandit ji at Ramjanambhoomi Temple of Ayodhya. All
the places and characters are of historical significance.
The
reason that I liked the book is that I am a big Shiva fan. I am a believer yet
I am not into idol worship. I believe in humanity, I respect and acknowledge the Divine part of the human beings. I believe
in Ram, Sita, Hanuman, Shiv, Krishna and other mythological characters. But I
also realize that they were real human being with rare Divine qualities. By Divine
qualities I don’t mean any super powers. I mean the best of human qualities.
The central character in this book is one such human being with superior
qualities. Shiva is a great leader, fighter, friend, lover, dancer. He is
compassionate, practical, witty, sensitive, free from any arrogance. He makes
friends, falls in love, gets hurt, feel angry. Very much believable.
May
be few people find it awkward reading about their worship God as a human being.
It depends upon individual perceptions. I won’t comment about that. But I found
it very fascinating to read a mythological story told in a realistic manner. It
was very brave for an attempt as we Indians are very sensitive and narrow minded
when it comes to our religious feelings. Writer throughout made sure not to
offend anybody. The only part which I found unnecessary was the word picture drawn
about every building, temple, area of the 2 cities mentioned. May be because I
was least interested in knowing about the magnificence of the architecture back
then as compared to the characters depicted. I found the thought process of
Shiva very remarkable. His ability to understand the situation present and thus
the action required in it. The way he handled every situation he was put into, willingly
or not, was commendable and something to learn from. We usually loose our cool
as soon as we face an unfamiliar or unexpected situation. May be that is the
difference between ordinary and Divinity. But that doesn’t mean we cannot
attain Divinity ourselves. It is a kind of eye-opener that most of us are yet
to discover. We have been living in a culture where the Divine is separated from human. We are taught
that God is somewhere out there in the sky, in temple, in idols. We are taught
to look upon everything except within us. Unless we respect humanity we can
never experience Divinity. The day we experience Divinity we will be able to
feel God in every form. God is not separate from us. How can it be, we are a
part of it. Like every wave is a part of the ocean whether it realizes or not.
The day it realizes this, duality ends. There is no fear, no complains, no
sorrow. Our ignorance is reason for all our sorrows. The day veil gets lifted
there will be total and absolute liberation.
Until
then we can very well continue to enjoy the mirage..
