Book Review #100: Chanakya in Daily Life By Radhakrishnan Pillai

Title: Chanakya in Daily Life

Author: Radhakrishnan Pillai

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Life Lessons/Motivational/Non-Fiction

Pages: 272 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced Review Copy from Publishers

Life is all about doing the right things in the right way. As the old adage puts it out “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad”. There is a clear idea of what to learn and what not to learn from vast amount of sources. But, what if you find everything in a book that is combined as a one stop solution for all those life lessons? The book “Chanakya in Daily Life” by Radhakrishnan Pillai would fill that gap. This book is all about differentiating between what is right and how to tread that path.

The blurb at the back cover of the book says “Life is unpredictable and full of challenges. One wrong step and everything can come crashing down. In such a scenario, one often wishes for a roadmap of life, but how is that possible?”

This book is a clear roadmap for all your doubts and worries ranging from personal, professional and family life. Taking example of an Indian guru, Chanakya and his ever popular work Arthashastra, author has come up with a book that can be read every day and for lifetime too. The book is broadly and rightly classified in to three different sections. The first part deals with the individual life and lesson that can be learnt and adopted in one’s personal life. The second part of the book deals with the professional life that teaches what one must do in their professional life. The third and final part of the book teaches the importance of a family life. Each part holds its importance and is equally connected to the other two. One cannot have a sounding personal life, but lacking professional or family life satisfaction. It is interdependent on each other and this book explains the best way of handling all these things diligently and in a profound way.

In the first part of the book, the author discusses the personal life of an individual. The ideas ranges from waking up at a certain time every day, daily ritual, exercise for the body and the mind, relaxation, developing tastes in music, inculcating the habit of reading, having a hobby that could become a profession one day, sleep duration, breaking and planning the day into productive hours, imparting the knowledge of astrology and up to what extent one can believe in  astrology, practicing meditation, food habits, financial goals, creative hobby, finding a guru, having a personal philosophy, etc.. Each chapter holds a valid point and a direction in which one can master these habits. Each chapter is explained by keeping a reference of Chanakya’s Arthashastra.

In the second part of the book, author discusses the professional aspects of an individual. This part mainly focuses on how one should behave and adopt a disciplined professional life. Author has discussed topics ranging from going to the workplace, pondering over the day to day task, preparing for the day in advance, developing the interpersonal skills, handling the team member and co-workers that has different mindset and thinking capacity than yourself, training people, daily documentation of work, developing the contacts in a working place, how to give a recognition for your sub-ordinate, what one must follow while appointing a manager, what one should do in case of work related travel and how one can adopt these leisure hours to productivity, how to plan for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly review meetings, and finally how one should plan for their retirement in advance. These lessons for sure are relevant even today. As per Chanakya’s reference in Arthashastra, each and individual lesson explained in this chapter would make a king wise and assertive in the long run. So does a common man when he adapts a tiny bit from these sections in to his personal life.

The final part of the book deals with the family life and its importance for an individual and how it is connected to the personal and professional life. The author discusses various facets of one’s family life and how Chanakya has prophesied in this Arthashastra regarding a King’s family life and how it is still relevant in present world scenario. This chapter begins with the duties of the householder and what best one can offer to his family at his abilities. What is the purpose of marriage and how one should treat his spouse, what are the advantages and disadvantages of sex that can impact a family life of a person, how one should take care of his family and provide basic necessities for his dependents.  How to educate their children, what is the best way to bring up their children, the power of family prayer. What are the lessons one can learn for being a good parent, why imparting the concept of charity to children should be encouraged, and how to give personal individual space for each family members. This part ends on a chapter of how to feel gratitude for whatever things we have obtained in this life from their family.

Overall, this book is not a regular one time read it and forget it affair. This book can be read again and again. You can start in any chapter and it still makes profound sense. A book that can be considered as a package of life lessons in all three important aspects of a human life. I would encourage readers to buy this book. This is definitely a collectible stuff.

Few famous Chanakya’s quote that are used in this book:

-       Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

-       There is some self interest in every friendship. There is no friendship without self interest. This is bitter truth.

-       As soon as the fear approaches, attack and destroy it.

-       Once you start working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

-       Learn from the mistake of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all by yourselves.

My Rating:

5/5

Note: This book was given to me by the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #55: Jalapatha By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is a short book with full of wisdom and full of philosophical thoughts. This book “Jalapatha” by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa has created a much debatable platform of the subjects like birth, marriage and procreation. The protagonists from this novel are a mere representation of the current society. The thought that runs in these minds is way beyond imagination and it gives us the right amount of information to ponder over and makes us to churn for answers. Jalapatha can be translated to English as “Water Falls”.

As a philosophical buff, I adored this book very much. Though this book might not be one of the popular novels of SLB sir, but, it doesn’t mean that, it lacks the USP of SLB. It has everything that one is looking out through a philosophical mind. This book mainly explores the idea of marriage, explores the idea of having kids and also explores the idea of creating an art that stands on a platform of morals. After all, who doesn’t like to debate about the right time to having kids or when will be the right time to get married? 

These are considered to be taboo among the conservative orthodox Indians. For them, these kinds of debates or discussions must confine to the 4 walls of their bedroom.

The protagonist of this novel is a freelance artist named Sripati. He had his own set of ideologies about life and its oddities. He was living with his wife who is a graduate. They were living in a small town like area in Bombay. They both had a son who was going to school. They often wondered about their respective lives. Sripati always used to wonder, whether his wife should work to support his family or she should stick to take care of the household chores and help in bringing up their son in the right way. They often used to discuss about extending their family with one more child, but, with an instant, their idea itself seems very dirty and ambiguous. Sripati had a colleague where he used to submit his art works. She was attracted towards Sripati and often expressed her interest in him. Initially Sirpati was not so interested to go for this extra marital affair. But, later, he gets attracted towards this lady and he begins to go her house every alternate days.

In another track of the novel, the neighbor family of Sripati, a doctor by the name Nadagowda living with his wife. He is more of a scientist than a doctor; he was specialized in animal science. This doctor had a special notion and belief within himself that, whoever is bound to have children whether its humans or animals, will have to adhere to the best of breeds. He used to explain in his own terms that, only a strong male and female must have sex in order to conceive children. If anyone of them is weak or their ancestral background seems to be weak, they must abandon having kids, because, this will get resulted in the birth of weak children. This is the reason that the doctor had never indulged in sexual intercourse with his wife. He believed that, his diabetic background will result in a child that is prone to diabetic diseases. He discussed this topic with Sripati on various occasions. Having a weird feeling towards this thought, Sripati used to ignore him.

During one fortunate or unfortunate incident, Sripati decides to break the vow of celibacy with his wife and invites her to have sex with him. This resulted in Mrs. Sripati to become pregnant for the 2^nd time. During this time, both Sripati and his wife decide to visit a water falls and there they encounter something which is beyond the explanation for both of them. They thought their act of having one more kid is not only a noble cause but it’s a natural phenomenon. They both visits the same water falls on numerous occasions. Sripati decides to draw an epic piece of art that captures the pregnancy of his wife every month. He draws a piece of art that not only makes them both happy but also made them realize the secret of birth. Sripati dedicated this painting to his wife and said that they must not get feared for having another child. This philosophical dialogue exchange between both of them is a treat to read from the book.

In another track of the novel, the doctor who was living next to Sripati’s house will commit suicide. The cause of the suicide is never known. But, this doctor leaves his personal diary with notes about his thoughts of marriage and birth. Sripati reads this script from start to end and feels awe for the doctor who just died. The doctor’s wife will also commit suicide by jumping off from train. This has deeply moved both Sripati and his wife. They decided to cease their city life and heads back to their ancestral village. There Sripati will face the hardships like never before. He even starts to sell his belongings to make the ends meet. Having no money to treat his newborn daughter from a rare fever resulted in the death of his daughter.

Deeply disturbed by all these events, Sripati decides to head back to his former job as an artist. But, what he realizes by witnessing the events in his life is beyond the imagination. After reading the novel, I was left with numerous questions than answers. Is sex and marriage are both linked together? Or is it altogether a separate decision of the husband and the wife? Is having kids is the only aim of a successful marriage?  

I recommend this novel to everyone.

My Rating:

5/5