Shyam: An Illustrated Retelling of the Bhagavata

by Devdutt Pattanaik

‘From the earth, I learned tolerance; from the wind, how movement creates breath; from fire, that the ashes of all things look the same; from water, about refreshment; from the sea, the restraint of its shorelines; from the sun, the cyclical nature of things; from the moon, the shifting moods of life; from the swan that was caught by the fowler and separated from its mate, that relationships can end for no fault of ours; from the kite that is attacked by larger eagles for the meat on its talons, the power of letting go; from the beehive attacked by the bear, the danger of hoarding; from the butterfly that collects honey without hurting the flower, the wise way to satisfy hunger; from the wandering snake, the importance of never resting; from the python, waiting for opportunities to come our way; from the moth drawn to fire, the male elephant that loses control of his senses when sexually aroused by the smell of the female, the deer trapped by the hunter’s music, the fish caught by worms hanging from the fisherman’s bait, how our sense organs—eyes, nose, ears, mouth—entrap us in the world of suffering; from the baby that cries when hungry and gurgles when happy, how emotions are temporary and bound by need; from the clinking bangles on the cook’s hand, how isolation is better than company if one seeks silence; from the damsel whose happiness needed the appreciation of lovers, the power of autonomy; from the arrowsmith who failed to notice the king, the power of concentratio...