VP Book Review

Apart from other fiction novels, the seven secret of the goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik is one of the latest book from him and I was happily ...

Apart from other fiction novels, the seven secret of the goddess by Devdutt Pattanaik is one of the latest book from him and I was happily surprised to find it filled with various pictures, on every left page, along with the various explanations, stories and mythologies on the right page. Language is quite simple, and easy to read.
 

Devdutt, author of many other mythological books, has written mythological stories in a new prospective, very different from ancient scriptures and has well researched knowledge about different ancient books of not only Hindu religion but also of others.

In Author’s Note on reality and representation or the blurb, where author talks about the male and female domination, show us what this book is about:

Lakshmi massages Vishnu’s feet. Is this male domination? Kali stands on Shiva’s chest. Is this female domination? Shiva is half a woman. Is this gender quality? Why then is Shakti never half a man? Taken literally, stories, symbols and rituals of Hindu mythology have much to say about gender relationships. Taken symbolically, they reveal many more things about humanity and nature. Which is the correct reading? Who Knows?

Basically this book is divided in seven chapters, each one starting with seven different goddess Gaia, Kali, Gauri, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, and Vitthai.

In the first chapter:

Devdutt starts off with the Goddess Gaia or the earth-mother from the Greek mythology and further explains that she was the primal female deity. Then he sets example of various other mythologies and tribes like The Inuit Tribes of artic region, Indian mythologies, Egyptian Mythologies to show the importance of female deities over male and their importance in that time. Also he explains simultaneously the progress of society and impact of it on the female domination. Initially cultures was female- dominated, where female were free to choose a bridegroom, in the ceremony called SWAYAM-VARA.

He also explains ancient meaning of VIRGIN and WHORE terms, quite different from modern definition.

Every woman was a virgin, who are ready to bear a child, and whore, who was free to go to any man. These definition in ancient times reflects the attitude of society at that time and now change in definition indicates, the shift from older time when women were free to later time when woman were bound to men. Similarly he has explained other ancient stories in complete different prospective, which you can never find in other books.

Author mainly express his strong opinion about gender equality through various examples and explanations.

 Then he tells the shift of social attitude from matriarchy to patriarchy over the time and its impact on the females.

2^nd Chapter: Kali’s Secret:

Authors explains the story of Kaali and one thing which amused me very much that is Europeans were terrified from image of Kaali, her nakedness, violence. Later she became object of devotion and love and new musical genre called Shyama sangeet was created.

3^rd Chapter: Gauri’s Secret:

This chapter tells the story of Gauri, wife of shiva and his second wife Parvati and their sons Ganesh and Skanda. A lot of detail and stories related to Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva is also given and their explanation are worth reading. The question, why Brahma is not worshipped in any Hindu temple is explained.

4th Chapter: Durga’s Secret:

This chapter tells the interesting story of Devi Kanya-Kumari, who was about to marry Shiva.

It also tells the fact that Parvati didn’t give birth to either of Ganesh or Sakandh.

Then story and other facts about Goddess Durga, like she is called Handi-Mukhi in Bengal, and Gram-Devi, Devi Shitla, Sita, Draupadi is also interesting to read.

5^th Chapter: Lakshmi’s Secret:

This chapter tells story that Laxmi was daughter/sister of Asura and they simply wants her back, and Indra is a thief from their point of view. He relates the conflict between Devas and asuras to the conflicts between Capitalist and socialist. Then chapter progresses in telling stories of various other forms of Goddess Laxmi.

6^th Chapter: Saraswati’s Secret:

 This chapter explains symmetry between male triad (Shiva, Vishnu,Brahm) and female triad (Kali, Lakshmi and Saraswati), Why Saraswati is often paired with Brahma, because creator needs knowledge, maintainer needs wealth and destroyer needs power.

Saraswati is independent goddess, originated from Rig Samhita, enables us to understand and appreciate the nature, knowledge, literature and music, holds a book in one hand and Vina in another. Her vahan Goose or hannsa can separate milk from mixture of milk(Truth) and water(False). She is associated with white color, or purity, while chapma flowers, white dress, white autumn moon and white transparent crystal beads.  Then her trace to Buddhist Goddess Tara, who transformed the Buddhist religion. Then author talks about the quarrel between wealth and knowledge, and tells the basic idea behind it, that is desire to dominate.

 

7^thChapter: Vitthai’s secret:                                                                                                   

 It tells about the feminine form of lord Krishna enshrined in Pandharpur, and story of Meenakshi Devi of Madurai, warrior princes with three breast, and half-woman form of Shiva. Devi Vitthai questions: why should there be a race that someone has to win?

Overall if you are looking for an interesting read about Indian Mythology, answers of various questions, secrets of gender bias/ dominance, links between Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism then you can go for it.

Overall I would rate 3.5 on a scale of 5.

Who is Dr. Devdutt Patanaik:

Devdutt Pattanaik, a medical doctor by profession, who has spent 15 years in the healthcare industry, with companies such as Apollo Health Street and Sanofi Aventis, before joining Ernst & Young as Business Advisor is also unusually but it’s true, is a renowned author, mythologist, and leadership consultant, whose work focuses on deriving management insights from mythology to reveal a very Indian approach to modern business. He has authored over 30 books, many of them best-sellers like Myth = Mithya, Business Sutra, The Pregnant King, and Jaya: An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata. Many of his books have been translated in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati and Marathi.

His TED talk is one of the most viewed talks with over a million views.

Devdutt was the Chief Belief Officer of Future Group and is now a sought-after public speaker and culture consultant for corporations and business leaders. He consults Reliance on matters related to culture and Star TV on various mythological serials.

Devdutt’s parents migrated from Odisha to Mumbai over 50 years ago. He was born and educated in Mumbai, and he lives in Mumbai. He is a Mumbaikar who speaks English, Hindi, Odiya and Marathi. He has two sisters, and two nephews.

Mythology Books	Fiction	Children Books
1.      Shiva – An Introduction 2.      Vishnu – An Introduction 3.      Devi – An Introduction 4.      Hanuman – An Introduction 5.      Lakshmi – An Introduction 6.      The Goddess Of India 7.      Man Who Was A Woman 8.      Indian Mythology 9.      Shiva to Shankara 10.    The Book of Ram 11.    Myth = Mithya (a handbook of Hindu Mythology) 12.    99 Thoughts on Ganesha 13.    Jaya (illustrated retelling of Mahabharata) 14.    Sita (illustrated retelling of Ramayana) 15.    7 Secrets of Hindu Calendar Art 16.    7 Secrets of Vishnu 17.    7 Secrets of Shiva 18.    7 Secrets of the Goddess 19.    Business Sutra 20.    Shikhandi and other tales they don’t tell us This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for   Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books.	1.  The Pregnant King	1.      Hanuman’s Ramayana 2.      Gauri and The Talking Cow 3.      Indra Finds Happiness 4.      An Identity Card for Krishna 5.      Saraswati’s Secret River 6.      Kama v/s Yama 7.      Shiva Plays Dumb Charades 8.      Devlok Omnibus

 

Book Details:    Book Review : God is a Gamer   Book – God is a Gamer Author – Ravi Subramanian Language: English,   Genre: Fiction/Thrille...

Book Details:  
Book Review : God is a Gamer 
Book – God is a Gamer
Author – Ravi Subramanian
Language: English,  
Genre: Fiction/Thriller
Publisher: Penguin, 
Year Published: 2014 September 
Binding: Paperback, 
Edition: First,
Pages: 324ISBN-13: 9780143421399 , ISBN-10: 0143421395 
Price – ₹ 299/-

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First time I have applied for the book review program through Blogadda, and when it got approved, I was happily excited to read it asap. Thank you Blogadda for sending me this nice book for review.

Well as soon as it got delivered to me, i picked this book to read, set on the virtual currency BITCOIN, I got into it totally and in one read I finished it. 
As a technocrat, I always love to know about all the modern inventions and discoveries and I was well acquainted with the word BITCOIN the virtual currency, so it was an interesting, engaging and captivating read overall, except for starting pages where story was moving very fast from different places and different characters, which may overwhelm you by the sheer volume of them.

This novel opens the door of a new dark world, very similar to our modern world, where we live completely under the influence of technology like gaming technology, mobiles apps, Banking, IT, social media and digital crime like hacking, phishing are very common, where you will find the details of dark side of banking systems, financial transactions, alternative currency, power games, love, lust and revenge.

It unfolds the life of Varun Rao, Gamer and entrepreneur, his father, Aditya Rao the owner of eTIOS, a banking BPO, Malvika (CEO of NYIB),Tanya, (Malvika’s daughter, co-founder of Bitcoin and Gillian’s lover), Nikki (Gillian’s wife, Gloria (Nikki’s daughter) and many more other characters like Swami, a finance minister, some illegal migrants, the FBI officials in the US and the Indian Police and the CBI.

Main idea of story begins at time when Senator Gillian Tan from Washington DC, an old pal of the President of the United States of America is assassinated, and FBI is handed over the case to find who the culprit is.

In the meantime, in Mumbai, phishing attack on NYIB’ s database is done and  large amount of its customers money is stolen. Then Malavika (CEO of NYIB), commits suicide.  Due to hovering news of her affair with Indian Finance Minister, he is obvious suspect for the same.

A series of NYIB’s ATMs in USA are looted. The blame falls on Aditya’s company eTIOS as they take care of all backend operations of NYIB.

These different crime lead The FBI team to India, where with the help of CBI, to find out who the mastermind is.  

Story gains momentum, many scenes evolve like love affair between Varun and Tanya, Swami killed by Truck, and much more. More twists come and mystery unfolds one after another, in Chapter 99 finally you get to know how the crime was plotted and who the actual Mastermind was and you will be overwhelmed to find out the final outcome of this murder mystery. For more detail, off course you have to read it and find it all by yourself. A too much detail may spoil your overall interest in the novel.

The author has done a good research and presented this book in form of pool of information and explained well the technical stuff like BITCOIN, and financial stuff in details and in a lucid and simple manner, even for a normal reader to understand well. 

Overall it is an excellent read and a complete entertainer, and author has tried hard to engage the reader, using different plots like politics, murder mystery, banking fraud and you will not find rest till you finish the book and I can say he has succeeded in his effort effectively so I would like to give 4/5 rating to this novel.

About The Author
Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, banker by profession and a very talent and promising author, has written five bestselling commercial novels—If God was a Banker (2007), Devil in Pinstripes (2009), The Incredible Banker (2011), The Bankster (2012) and Bankerupt (2013)—based on financial crime. His latest book God is a Gamer is also a very good and packed witha very fast paced story to read based upon financial crime and virtual money, in fact it is world's first Bitcoin thriller.

His debut novel, If God was a Banker, won the 2008 Golden Quill Readers’ Choice Award and, more recently, The Incredible Banker won the 2011 Economist-Crossword Book Award in the ‘Popular’ category. He won the Crossword book award for The BANKSTER in 2012.

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers.Participate now to get free books!