If not for anything else, Devdutt Pattanaik, can surely be credited for reviving and revitalising the ancient Indian mythology and bringing it closer to young India, which majority is under 35 years.
For the uninitiated, he is an author of 41 books and over 1000 columns, with bestsellers such as My Gita, Jaya, Sita, Business Sutra and the 7 Secret Series. His TV shows include Business Sutra on CNBC-TV18 and Devlok on Epic TV. He regularly writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership.
On his latest book, he says, “Mythology has many lessons on planning investments. From Lord Ganesha’s weapon “Ankush” to Lord Vishnu’s snake and hawk, there’s lot that can be learnt about planning long-term and short-term investments.”
“Lakshmi is worshipped as the goddess of wealth. Her arrival is considered auspicious, while her departure is bad and inauspicious. In temples, gods are bedecked with jewels; during festivals, our houses are decorated with flowers, lamps and lakshmi’s footprints. Clearly, she is a much-desired goddess. Yet, some friends and relatives, even gurus, tell us not to be money-minded, or that it is wrong to equate Lakshmi with money because Lakshmi is spiritual and money is material. Why this mockery of money? Why are we driving Lakshmi out of India instead of inviting her lovingly into our lives?”, he adds.
This line of thought what led to his latest book – How to Become Rich: 12 Lessons I Learnt from Vedic and Puranic Stories. It is a simple retelling of the stories of Lakshmi found in the vedas and puranas. He touches upon the economic concepts of rotation of money, and the role hunger plays in sustaining businesses.
Notably, in his other works, Pattanaik, distinguishes between mythological fiction and mythology. “Mythological fiction is very popular as it is fantasy rooted in familiar traditional tales. Mythology itself is about figuring out world views of cultures, essentially how people think in a particular cultural ethos. Most writers I know focus on mythological fiction. Study of mythology still remains rather academic,” he has explained to IANS in an earlier interview.
(For all of Pattanaik’s work, please visit www.devdutt.com)
-TIN Bureau