Book Review: Arya Dharma by Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu
Title: Arya Dharma The Nobel Dharma
Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu
Genre: Non fiction
Pages: 610
I was really intrigued by the title and decided to take up this 600 plus page book (which is incredibly tough in my scenario) However the topics are so interesting that I finished reading quite soon.
I particularly liked this book as it took me back to my Yoga course days. I have done my Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga science and Naturopathy and we have been taught in detail about Upnishads, Patanjal Yoga Sutra, Sufism, Vedas, etc etc apart from Yoga. People think Yoga means only asana but it should be propagated that Asana is just one of the limbs of Ashtanga Yoga (eight limbed yoga) What I loved about this book was that the writer is very progressive yet is deep rooted in the ancient principles of our country. Nowhere he had mentioned India in his book; it has always been 'Bharat'.
The book starts with the meaning of the title Árya Dharma ie Nobel dharma. He highly condemns the Western world especially FUKUS (France, United Kingdom and United States of America) and has continued that throughout his book. According to him, this union has destroyed the world and would continue doing so. He calls the businessmen 'Pimps of Wall Street'who have dictated the foolish policies to the rest of the world. He starts with how men has created religion and caste system. No one is born a Brahman or higher caste, all are born Shudras. This has been mentioned in Manusmriti. It's our karma which decides what caste we are. This is the basis of Varnashram dharma.
He elaborates Ram Rajya and Arthshastra and Neetishastra by Kautilya.
He then talks about the various stages of life: Brahmacharya, Grihastha,Vanprastha and Sanyasa. I loved the story of Satyakama in Chandogya Upnishad where his guna and karma decided his caste and not his birth.
He proceeds on to say that men has created rifts by creating religions and heirarchies. There were no blue collar or white collar jobs in the ancient times. Even Lord Krishna had been a cattle herder. Maharana Pratap and Akbar were secular rulers. The solution for Ram Mandir is that Ayodhya should be declared as humanity's healing centre.
He comes to the eight limbs of Yoga, Sufism, Sanatan Dharma and that how tolerance is a virtue.
He throws light on the secret to happiness and then elaborates law in detail. He covers various departments of law like taxes, banking, contracts, civil issues, inheritance and succession, black money and tax dodging, corruption, theft and terrorism, etc. The last chapter of law deals with medicine and I was really interested in knowing his views of my profession. He has highly condemned modern medicine and has given importance to Ayurveda.
The book is a labour of extensive research, knowledge and logic. One would really gain a lot after reading this book.
8 comments
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing review about this book. I read somewhere that the contents of the book are not the usual one. It is a 600+ page which needs detailed study. Will definitely going to read this book. Thanks for the recommendation.
ReplyDelete600+ is really difficult for me to read.
ReplyDeleteBut as u said, this book is of research, knowledge and logic, so it should be read by all.
The article does justice to what this seems to be and you have managed to gather such a great synopsis of this..thanks for sharing a window to this masterpiece
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about this book with us. I think this is a must read if possible. I will definitely try to read this one.
ReplyDeleteI thi k you proved Ait right today that a book is not judged by its cover or by its page numbers. Also, yoga and Dharma are such topics that can keep us intrigued at times
ReplyDeleteI think you proved it right today that a book is not judged by its cover or by its page numbers. Also, yoga and Dharma are such topics that can keep us intrigued at times
ReplyDeleteWow I love this detailed book review. I have great connection with yoga. I am gonna read this one.
ReplyDelete