The Reluctant Family Man: Shiva in Everyday Life

by Nilima Chitgopekar

He's the destroyer of evil, the pervasive one in whom all things lie. He is brilliant, terrifying, wild and beneficent. He is both an ascetic and a householder, both a yogi and a guru. He encompasses the masculine and the feminine, the powerful and the graceful, the Tandava and the Laasya, the darkness and the light, the divine and the human.
What can we learn from this bundle of contradictions, this dreadlocked yogi? How does he manage the devotions and duties of father, husband and man of the house, and the demands and supplications of a clamorous cosmos?
In The Reluctant Family Man, Nilima Chitgopekar uses the life and personality of Shiva-his self-awareness, his marriage, his balance, his detachment, his contentment-to derive lessons that readers can practically apply to their own lives.With chapters broken down into distinct frames of analysis, she defines concepts of Shaivism and interprets their application in everyday life.

Genres: Hinduism

131 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2019

About the author

Nilima Chitgopekar is an associate professor in the department of history at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University. She has many books and several articles and essays on Hindu gods and other related matters. She has been the recipient of prestigious fellowships from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, the Charles Wallace India Trust and USIS, and has lectured widely in India and overseas.

Chitgopekar has also worked with the BBC and been featured in their documentaries and radio programmes. More recently, in her attempt to take Hindu mythology to a far larger audience, she has been involved in making several online films of her lectures, which have sold worldwide.

Reviews

[Surya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations were lovely. If you are someone new to hindu stories or new to self help books, then you might be awed by this book and would probably give 5 stars. Because I already know some hindu stories and read many spiritual books I did not find this as interesting as I thought it would be.

I would really love to read a book that chronologically narrates Shiva's life.

My biggest takeaway was that, the solution to every problem that we face comes to us when we are conscious and mindful.

[Subham Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good self-help book which uses mythology to relate and provide solutions to daily life problems. With good use of vocabulary and proper orderly explanation of the 6 concepts, namely, Ekagrata, Svabhava, Samrasa, Santulan, Vairagya and Purnatva, the book is certainly a captivating read.

[Tanushri Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is surely full of wisdom.....each word of this book directly touches you and acts as a mirror showing you or helping you to introspect yourself. We read many books ,listen to various podcasts where we are asked to do this exercise of introspection but this book shows you the path which we should follow for introspecting ourselves.I liked this very much.The writer has been so honest with all her words and phrases it's just amazing....this book is a mixture of self help and mythology....and I am loving this combination....

[Kabya Chamling Rai · Rating 4 out of 5]

The state of being faulty is a little definition of human beings. Some try to add a little bit of perfection to come up as a fine person and some are satisfied with the incompleteness or fault.

So this book tells us about those common emotions(i.e negative and positive) in everyday life. Teaching us to reflect on those emotions and making it work for us. Helping us to reach the point of balance where we are neither perfect nor imperfect.

It has six chapters. Each chapter explaining the different states of being. Chapters are as follows:
1. Ekagrata - One minded
2. Sabhava - Natural State of one's constitution
3. Samarasa - Equal Feeling
4. Santulan- Balance
5. Vairagya- Detachment
6. Purnatva- Full, Abundant.

[Baisakhi Vohra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one turns the pages of the book, one realizes how the incidents from mythology holds relevance in our life. The book is meticulously divided into various sections, and beautifully combines the realms from Shiva's life and personality with self help techniques. Personally, two aspects from the book have stayed with me -
1) How the author brings out the relationship of Shiva-Parvati and relates it to our relationships today.
2) The concept of 'Vairagya' and how should one implement it in one's life, at different levels.

[Kavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was very much contextual. Some chapters seemed kindling imagination and self reflection on contemporary life. Overall a good read on understanding the ancient life of gods and how much it is still relevant to this day

[Cain S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed review forthcoming in new art and culture magazine Middlebrowse.

[Aarshin Bhardwaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

good

[Raghav Raja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nama shivaya

Good one to know about shiva and his ascetic life . It's indeed rit he is the only god to have family in Hindu mythology

[Sanhi · Rating 2 out of 5]

more a self help book with references to Shiva. okay ready for those unfamiliar with Shiva.