Devdutt Pattanaik Quotes

“Mythology is a subjective truth. Every culture imagines life a certain way.”

“Medical training taught me the art of breaking down the complex maze of stories, symbols and rituals into clear systems. You could say that it helped me figure out the anatomy and physiology of mythology and its relevance in a society more incisively. How is it that no society can, or does, exist without them?”

“If you don't have imagination, you stop being human; animals don't have imagination; Alzheimer's is the death of imagination.”

“For centuries, pilgrims have travelled to Ayodhya identifying it as a birthplace of Ram. But the exact location is a subject of dispute and political turmoil. Ever since colonial times, Hinduism has felt under siege, forced to explain itself using European templates, make itself more tangible, more structured, more homogenous, more historical, more geographical, less psychological, less emotional, to render itself as valid as the major religions of the world like Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The fallout of this pressure is the need to locate matters of faith in a particular spot. What used to be once a matter of faith becomes a territorial war zone where courts have to intervene”

“Neither death nor wisdom has a full stop. There are only commas-no destinations, only waiting rooms.”

“Every human creates his own imagined version of the world, and of himself. Every human is therefore Brahma, creator of his own aham.Aham Brahmasmi, I am Brahma. Tat tvam asi, so are you.”

“that which deludes you to be unhappy can be overpowered by another delusion that causes greater unhappiness”

“.. The point of human life is to travel from ignorance to wisdom. In ignorance there is fear. In wisdom there peace and tranquillity.”

“Animal fight to defend their bodies. Humans curse to defend their imagination of themselves.”

“Sometimes, you can see more than me, but you pretend to know less so that I don’t feel intimidated by you. I do the same for you. We do not feel superior when the other is vulnerable; or inferior when we feel helpless. This is what sustains our relationship.”