Reddit reviews Mahabharata

Get the Mahabharata by C. Rajagopalachari.

Best option for people wanting to read Mahabharata in simple English.

Same for Ramayana.

> Globally, standards of living are perhaps the highest hey have ever been. This is the most peaceful epoch in recorded history.

Standard of living doesn't enter into it. In fact the more material possessions one has the harder it is to accumulate good karma. Remember the ideal Hindu priest has no worldly possessions, surviving only by begging for alms. That is the last step before Moksha.

>

That is simplified to the point of being wrong. Karma is not something that is good or bad, it is related to your actions in this life and past lives. The best resource is of course going to a Hindu temple and finding a guru. But if you want to start somewhere more fun then try reading this: https://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-C-Rajagopalachari/dp/8172763689/ref=sr_1_3

Or you could google. Keep in mind that Hinduism is incredibly old and there are hundreds of millions of Hindus. In ancient times when the religion was formed there was not a ton of easy contact between different states or even different cities. In other words, there are as many different kinds of Hindus as Christians or Muslims put together. Whatever you find in one version is probably disagreed with in another version.

My initiation to both Ramayana & mahabharata was via C Rajagopalachari's version. An excellent starting point imo - you can always read more thorough versions in the next stage

http://www.amazon.in/Mahabharata-C-Rajagopalachari/dp/8172763689

Here, OP.

http://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-Over-Million-Copies-Sold/dp/8172763689/

This is a straight up translation though, so you might want to see a pdf version before you buy, seeing as it can be slightly different than modern reading tastes.

The only one I've read is C Rajagopalchari's (https://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-C-Rajagopalachari/dp/8172763689) translation; it read like a novel, when I was in high school. I liked it.

I want to take up reading again (after doing only work related reading for the last 6 years or so). Will look up Mr Menon's rendering.

As you are interested in Oriental religions,


There is a man known as F. X. Clooney. Known to Indologists and scholars of Hindu philosophy as an essayist on Mimamsa and Visistadvaita Vedanta,he is known to Catholic theologians and other Christian believers and theologians as someone who works in comparative theology.

I have not read his comparative theology stuff though,he is pretty solid when he was on Mimamsa.

Saying that,

• Hindu Wisdom for God's Children.
  
• His hiding place is darkness. would be the cherry on the pie
  
• A brief introductory translation of the Mahabharata by Rajagopalachari is good(I recieved that at my school)
  
  For parts Buddhism, you may be interested in Christianity Looks East: Comparing the Spiritualities of John of the Cross and Buddhaghosa.

I can offer recommendations for the Mahabharata:

• A very common interpretation people start out with is C.Rajaji's version
  
• A recent version titled Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik is very good with lots of notes about differences in the regional versions.
  
• My favorite version is one titled Parva. Originally written in Kannada by SL Bhyrappa it doesn't have any divinity or magic in it. I believe this is out of print and hard to find.
  
  
  The best part about the Mahabharat is checking out all the different interpretations - regional ones, and ones written from different points of view.