Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time

By: Krishna Dharma

Narrated by: Sarvabhavana Das

Length: 45 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Said to be the world's longest poem, Mahabharata was originally composed in 100,000 Sanskrit verses by the ancient Indian sage Vyasa. Revered as a sacred text within Hinduism, it contains the great spiritual teaching Bhagavad-gita. Krishna Dharma has condensed the epic into a fast paced novel that fully retains the majestic mood of the original. A powerful and moving tale, it recounts the history of the five heroic Pandava brothers, sons of the Emperor Pandu. Cheated of their kingdom and sent into exile by their envious cousins, they set off on a fascinating journey during which we meet gods, sages, mystics and mighty warrior kings. Profound spiritual themes underlie the thrilling narrative, making it one of the world's most revered texts. Culminating in an apocalyptic war, Mahabharata is a masterpiece of suspense, intrigue, and illuminating wisdom.

©1999 Krishna Dharma (P)2015 Krishna Dharma

Good for someone new to Mahabharata

When you read Mahabharat you realize how small and limited Iliad and Odyssey are when compared with Mahabharat. For comparison sake, the whole of Iliad will be equivalent to the section of Mahabharat from Bheesma Vadh to Drona Vadh, which will be just 20th part of the full epic. Moreover the philosophical and moral aspects of life are very lacking in the Homeric epics when compared with Indian epics of Ramayan and Mahabharat.

In India it is said that Mahabharat encompasses all the aspects of human existence. It is a shame that this epic is relatively obscure once you move out of India. maybe it is their immense size because of which Indian epics are relatively unknown to outside people. Reading the actual text has its own pleasure, but you cannot expect people not from Indian origin to read 10 volumes of such ancient text. Krishna Dharma has done a great job in shrinking it down and making the text easy to read for modern casual audience, while at the same time preserving most of the details.

I noticed that he had to sacrifice on the depth of some characters, especially complex ones such as Bheesma and Karna, but considering that he had to compress this ginormous epic, I am not too upset. The other let down was his coverage of Gita, I was hoping that he will go in more details on the wonderful work known as the bhagvat gita, but he compressed that brilliant work into just one Chapter and that also mostly covered Krishna's Viraat Roopa rather than covering the Philosophical aspects.

Unfortunately audible does not have many options for Mahabharat, so I will give 5 stars, because at least the epic is there for you to listen to, it would have been worse if there was no version of this great text available to listen to. Mahabharat in my opinion is the best work on mythology ever produced, no other work can surpass it in terms of the characters, plot, imagination and ethics. Do not miss on this great work of fiction. maybe you will not find it as the best, but surely you will enjoy listening to this age old story.

Really long but a pretty good story.

This feels a lot like Homer though the scenarios are definitely more over the top. lt definitely sheds some light on how Hindus think and though the culture may have some different values the characters are very relatable and it expresses the culture practically. Bhima is definitely the highlight. A genuinely fun character. It's really long but it's hard to stay too bored for long since the story is excellent.

There are some minor editing issues with the recording. Sounds of the narrator stopping to take a breath or turn a page are sometimes left in but it doesn't ruin anything. The narrator has a good voice which is important on a 45 hour audio book.

Best book I've ever heard

This book was so good, it really blew my mind. I'm sorry its over - and after 45 hours of listening that's saying something. And this is just a quarter of the full book! The narrator did a great job. They needed to do better on cleaning up the audio from random noises and mouth noises. If you listen to this on a stereo with big bass speakers, it reduced the background noise so you can enjoy it better. This book is Krishna approved!

Must have book for all mankind!!!

First of all I prostrate to Sri Ved Vyas and all Indian Rishis for giving us this most valuable epic. I bow down to Sri Krishna Dharma for writing in English and I bow down to Sri Sarvabhavan Das for very nicely narrating this. Thank you so much!!

This is an AMAZING historical narration of events

This is an amazing historical narration of events which took place in ancient times. I recommend everyone to at least try and give some time to understanding this ancient Vedic spiritual epic. I enjoyed and learned immensely from the narration. Thank you Krishna Dharma and Sarvabhavana Das

How much I did not know 🙄

Born and raised in India into a Hindu Brahmin family knowing all the main characters of Mahabharata but nothing more other their names ! At the later years of life and of course that audibles made it possible to know the real story to the core 😊no other story in terms of complexities , duties , wars , tactics , respects to elders , polygamy, polyandry, all warriors killed on battle field going to haven, virgin births, immaculate conceptions after conceptions and the list really goes on ! All things destiny along with efforts !

SPIRIT

Nothing real can be threatened, nothing unreal exist. Here in lies the peace of God.

Great Listen

What made the experience of listening to Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time the most enjoyable?

Heart felt reading. well translated. I have read/listened to many renditions -not having time to read a full translation. This and Jaya are my favorite so far.

What did you like best about this story?

Its comparative completeness.

What about Sarvabhavana Das’s performance did you like?

Very heartfelt, warm reading. However, if you have no patience with a homey read, this may not be for you. Can sometimes hear his chair squeak or can tell he has a cold. Chapter ten was obviously never edited and he has a cough that can be distracting.

Any additional comments?

Jaya is another rendition of the Mahabharata that I highly recommend. If you like to feel you are listening to a friend read, this is an excellent listen. I downloaded in parts and the end of part three and beginning of part four have three or four incomplete sentences. In such a long production, I felt the problems were small quirks. But I do hope if they go back and edit the production, Audible will offer us the edited version to replace this one.

Incredible

I bought this audiobook three years ago, and I keep coming back to it again and again. I think I am on my fourth listen. It keeps registering at a deeper level. At almost 46 hours long, it is the audiobook that keeps on giving. The readers voice is very soothing and easy to listen to. The translation is beautiful and brings out the wisdom teachings without losing the fun and adventure of the story.

Fantastic read!

Tremendous tale of Gods and Kings. One could not ask for a more epic story.