Ramayana - The Game of Life (Shattered Dreams)

From the book blurb

Shattered Dreams is the sequel to the national bestseller, Rise of the Sun Prince, in the new spiritual and motivational series Ramayana - The Game of Life.

Twelve joyful years have passed in Ayodhya since the wedding of Rama and Sita at the end of Book 1.

Now, in Shattered Dreams, Shubha Vilas narrates the riveting drama of Rama’s exile. Through tales of Rama’s unwavering and enigmatic persona, the book teaches us how to handle reversals positively; through Bharata’s actions, it teaches us to handle temptation; and through Sita’s courage, to explore beyond our comfort zone. This complicated family drama provides deep insights on how human relationships work and how they fail.

With Valmiki’s Ramayana as its guiding light, Shattered Dreams deftly entwines poetic beauty from the Kamba Ramayana and Ramacharitramanas, as well as folk philosophy from the Loka Pramana tales, to demonstrate how the ancient epic holds immediate relevance to modern life. Experience the ancient saga of the Ramayana like never before.

Author

Shubha Vilas, a spiritual seeker and a motivational speaker, holds a degree in engineering and law with specialization in Patent Law. His leadership seminars are popular with top-level management in corporate houses. He also helps individuals deal with modern-life situations by applying the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and other dharmic traditions

What I think

This is the second book in the Ramayana series penned by Shubha Vilas. Like Valmiki Ramayana which is divided into six parts, this series consists of six books and this one talks about Ayodhya Kanda which extensively narrates old King Dasaratha’s desire to crown Lord Sri Rama, Kaikayi’s crooked wish and the exile that follows. It also talks about Sita’s determination, Lakshmana’s loyalty and Bharatha’s worship alongside Lord Sri Rama’s obedience.

The book’s title fits aptly – The (crooked/uncontrollable) Games of life. The cover page portrays disturbance and mental turbulence. The book blurb crisply conveys what can be expected from the book.

The language used is simple and narrative is lucid. The author has tried his best to maintain the poetic charm that the great epic has while also trying to make it sound as trivial as possible.

What I really liked is the little passages elaborating the takeaways from each major instances in the story. It wisely elaborates the relevance of the same in day-to-day life. These passages remind us that Ramayana is not just a story with religious connections. It emphasizes that Ramayana is a way of life and it teaches the essence of life – what is good and bad – through stories!

But...

The numberings against certain words and the related foot notes, as I had mentioned during the review of earlier book as well, is a sure turn off. It hinders the flow and makes it look more like a reference book than actual-real story!

Should you read it?

You would have heard Ramayana. But, this certainly adds wider perspective. It also lets you understand life and importance of relationships.

Don’t miss it!

Rating

3.5/5

Thank you

I heartily thank the author for contacting me and giving away the book for review. It is a pride and gleeful moment to any blogger!