Darshana Unnikrishnan

“Despite the many occasions when its characters feel frustrated before the weight of circumstances, and despite blaming their feeling of impotence on daiva, 'fate', moral autonomy shines through in the epic. Because they have some freedom to choose they can be praised when they follow dharma or blamed when they follow adharma. At the moment of making a decision they become conscious of their freedom, and it is this perception of autonomy that gives them the ability to lead authentic moral lives.”
― Gurcharan Das, The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma

“Dharma is precisely this 'discipline of ordered existence', a 'belief system that restrains and gives coherence to desires.”
― Gurcharan Das

“By deceiving Drona, Yudhishthira corrupts his teacher's relationship with the world. So do we every time we lie - we corrupt the 'other' in the same way.”
― Gurcharan Das, The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma

“Anyone in pursuit of art is responding to a desire to make visible that which is not, to offer the unknown self to others.”
― Hettie Jones