The Bhagwad Gita has been explained, translated, interpreted, illustrated and discussed in many ways and in many talks and books and for various audience groups. Chetan Dalal’s book, Gita for Professionals, is a happy addition to that list, presented this time as a “manual” for daily living, as the author puts it.
The author, Chetan Dalal, is a Chartered Accountant who is a certified fraud investigator and runs a consultancy that offers Investigation Audit & Forensic Accounting services, a role in which he routinely unearths cases of fraud and wrongdoing by various positions in business.
The Kurkushetra war symbolizes the state of the human mind… The entire Gita focuses on the war between the good and evil forces within the mind. It is important to note that physical victory was possible only when Arjuna won the eternal conquest in his mind”
The 140 page hard bound book has been published by the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society and is priced at an enticing Rs.75.
True to its “manual” presentation, the book offers an introduction to the subject, carries an Appendix explaining the summary of the Mahabharata and “technical aspects” of the Gita, and ties it all up with the working lives of professionals, in particular Chartered Accountants.
The Appendix and the chapter-by-chapter introduction therein makes it a book that can be used even by a novice, someone who has heard nothing or little about the great epic and the framework in which the Gita was delivered.
But the real target audience is the Chartered Accountant, and Chetan Dalal goes straight to the point to begin with an overview of the activities of a Chartered Accountant and the challenges faced by CAs at various stages in the career.
As a fraud investigator, Dalal has worked on several cases of corporate fraud and would know just how much CAs need to be on their guard, not only to watch out for violations and report them but also to maintain the highest of professional standards and ethics.
A learner learns only when he is humble. So also to become a good professional, or for that matter a good artist, or sportsman, or to excel in anything, one has to become a good human being and one can become a good human being only when one becomes humble.”
The book, however, is not mere advice or dry application of the Gita. It’s filled with parables that enliven the work, and make it readable for all age groups so that this can form a good place to start, explore and begin to navigate the timeless lessons that lie embedded within the Song Celestial.
Jagdish Rattanani
