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

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 debatein 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.


Published by : Penguin Books India
Published : 15-Aug-2009
Imprint : Allen Lane
ISBN : 9780670083497
Edition : Hardback
Format : Royal
Extent : 488
Classification : Non Fiction


About the author
Gurcharan Das is a columnist for the Times of India and other newspapers, and is the author of three plays (including the renowned "Larins Sahib") and a novel.

He graduated from Harvard College in Philosophy and Politics and attended Harvard Business School. A former CEO of Procter & Gamble India, he is currently a venture capitalist and a consultant to industry and government leaders. He lives with his wife in New Delhi