Fiji National University (FNU) academic Prashneel Goundar launched his third book titled Pursuing Divinity in Paradise this month. The book is a reflection on the two Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Launching the book, the Head of Language & Literature Department, Dr Mark Hewson at FNU’s College of Humanities and Education stated ‘Prashneel Goundar’s Pursuing Divinity in Paradise is an insightful and sincere reflection on the relevance of Hindu traditions to contemporary life. It is sure to appeal to readers looking to renew the moral and spiritual aspects of their lives’.
Goundar is a Lecturer in Language at FNU’s Natabua Campus in Lautoka. Pursuing Divinity in Paradise (2020) was published in Suva by Pacific Studies Press and is being sold at $20 a copy. Copies can be obtained by emailing the author directly on prgoundar@gmail.com .
As a former student of Swami Vivekananda College (SVC) in Nadi, Goundar stated that the school’s motto ‘Arise Awake and Stop Not till the Goal is Reached’ is what motivated him to continue working on his book despite some unfortunate events that transpired during the course of writing. This was his dream project that began in 2016 and finished in 2019. During the writing of this book he lost his grandmother, then in 2018, his mother was diagnosed with Bone Marrow Cancer and after fighting a long battle with it, she passed away in New Delhi, India this January at the age of 56. Thus, the book is dedicated to his mother.
Pursuing Divinity in Paradise was only possible due to the collective effort by a few colleagues who have worked closely with Goundar previously.
“The task editing and proofreading of the manuscript like all my previous writings were completed by dearest friend Lia Bogitini, Lecturer in the College of Engineering, Science and Technology at FNU. While additional editing was carried out by my colleague Ravnil Narayan, Lecturer at FNU’s Ba Campus. It is also important to mention two of my former students; Shiraz Ali, Bachelor of Education (Mathematics/Physics) who did the illustrations for each of the chapters and Avitesh Prasad, Bachelor of Science (Computing Science/Information Systems) for the book layout and design,” shared the author.
The foreword of the book was written by Minakshi Maharaj, a writer and academic. Maharaj who served as the former Head of School of Communications, Language & Literature at FNU congratulated Goundar and further stated “The holy books, especially the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Puranas, also contain, literally, hundreds of thousands of stories that illustrate right and wrong in specific life situations. In this book, the stories the writer has chosen are a small example of these. I would not be in error to say that this is perhaps the first book on human values, aimed at youths in the early teens. It might also be observed that this book may be the first that brings human values from a Hindu perspective to the national discourse in Fiji. I congratulate Prashneel Goundar on his perception and subsequent action, which has translated into this small but valuable book. Prashneel Goundar has done a great service to the community and to his many students by sharing these noble stories, which help build character and encourage good decision making. This is a great gyan daan, the gift of knowledge, and Prashneel earns much merit for writing such a valuable book at such a young age.”
Professor Subramani of the University of Fiji in the blurb of the book comments “We are living in a world of near-complete mayhem. The planet is deluged by dark thoughts of dystopia, and death of truth and meaning, encroachment of Infotech and Biotech revolutions, and digital dictatorships. Young people growing in this bedlam, more than ever, need to somehow find a clear vision of who they are, what the world is, and how they ought to live in it. In simple and clear language Prashneel Goundar tells his readers in this book Pursuing Divinity in Paradise (the irony isn’t lost to the reader) where that clarity may be found. They can be found in sacred texts in every home that many of us have ceased to read; Goundar’s aim is to re-engage young people, through these books, in now an epic task of thinking about virtues of truth, meaningful life, steadfastness, compassion, fortitude, and the value of reading sublime literature. The book is for us who are ‘Blinded with able eyes.’
On how the concept of the book was derived, Prashneel explains ‘This book was only made possible with the two epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata written by C. Rajagopalachari that was gifted to me by one of my gurus’ Minakshi Maharaj. I vigorously read the two books during this writing vocation and have made considerable references to C. Rajagopalachari’s work. This has been a personal quest to find lessons and derive meanings from the events that happened in Ramayana and Mahabharata. I took on this responsibility as I find that our society is constantly being exposed to immoral and unethical practices with fewer individuals engaged in seeking answers from religious texts. Rajagopalachari’s books were taken as a starting point with much research and reading carried out to put this book together. This book is in no way a substitute for any of the Hindu sacred texts. This has been solely written as a reflective exercise for the readers to make vital advancement in their spiritual life. As readers would discover that not all chapters or evidence from the epics have been highlighted in this book. The reason for this is that only events which were relevant to the modern era were selected to make the comparison authentic.’
Currently, Goundar is working on two collaborative research projects with international scholars and his fourth book that will be published in 2022.