In a world driven by uncertainty, unhappiness and strife, COVID-19 has come as a sharp warning to humanity to introspect and heal. With values on the decline and humans seeming to have lost empathy, one feels a need to recharge and reconnect.
Responding to this disconnect, writer and Hindi poet Surekha Kothari thought of using dharma as a tool. “Two years ago, I attended a lecture by my guru. He inspired me to write this book,” says Surekha.
A Hindustani classical vocalist as well as Bharatanatyam and Manipuri dancer, c, simplifies the steps to dharma, offering ways and means to adapt and adopt, clean and simplify lives. “Dharma has always been important to me, and I saw the human, social and environmental deterioration around us as being due to the lack of dharma. Dharmic energy makes people conducive to benevolence from the universe,” she says.
Dharma is not used as a synonym for religion, but as something beyond it, and a as a concept that can be universally applied by people the world over. The author offers four simple steps, four tenets or ways of living, drawn from her own life and learnings. According to the book, these four major pillars are satya (truth), tapa (austerity), shauch (cleanliness) and daya (compassion), and each can help people move towards a dharmic way of life, the book says.
The book outlines each tenet clearly, making it accessible to the contemporary reader, even including pointers on how they can be practically adapted in daily living.
With an introduction by N. Ravi, Publisher, The Hindu Group of Newspapers, and a foreword by writer Ashwin Sanghi, the book is to be launched virtually on November 19. You can register at tiny.cc/DharmaByDesign; webinar ID: 86265821111. Copies of the book are available on Flipkart and Amazon websites.
