Quotes by Devdutt Pattanaik

About Devdutt Pattanaik:

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik is an Indian physician turned leadership consultant, mythologist and author whose works focus largely on the areas of myth, mythology, and also management. He has written over 600 articles and 30 books on the relevance of sacred stories, symbols and rituals in modern times, including Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology, Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata, Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana, Business Sutra: An Indian Approach to Management, Shikhandi: And Other Tales they Don't Tell You.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

In India, the eldest has the most responsibility and the crown goes to him. The crown could go to a person with the most talent. But how could 'most talent' be determined? So Indian society settled on age.

Devdutt Pattanaik

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...

Devdutt Pattanaik

Nobody knows why we're alive; so we all create stories based on our imagination of the world; and as a community, we believe in the same story. In India, every person believes his/ her own mythosphere to be real. Indian thought is obsessed with subje...

Devdutt Pattanaik

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

Devdutt Pattanaik

In Greek mythology, the hero wants to be great, but the very concept does not exist in the Indian vocabulary. Yet it has become the global template. And it's a template that won't fit in India.

Devdutt Pattanaik

Mythology is a vast body of knowledge that has not been tapped.

Devdutt Pattanaik

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

Devdutt Pattanaik

I write on sacred stories, symbols and rituals of all cultures - European, American and Chinese - but my audiences, typically, like me to focus on India.

Devdutt Pattanaik

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

Devdutt Pattanaik

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

Devdutt Pattanaik

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 Eu...

Devdutt Pattanaik

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.

Devdutt Pattanaik

This imagined notion of who we are and how others are supposed to see us, is called aham. Aham constantly seek validation from external world. When that is not forthcoming it becomes insecure. Aham makes humans accumulate things; through things we ho...

Devdutt Pattanaik

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

Devdutt Pattanaik

We knot our imagination to fear to creat aham. Tapasya and yagna are two tools that can help us unknot the mind, outgrow fear and discover atma, our true self.

Devdutt Pattanaik

I have been doodling since childhood. I have a passion for illustrating but cannot paint or colour for that matter. I illustrate what I am trying to communicate through my writing. My images are like drawings in a science text book.

Devdutt Pattanaik

Author Bio

  • NameDevdutt Pattanaik
  • DescriptionIndian physician
  • BornDecember 11, 1970
  • CountryIndia
  • ProfessionAuthor