Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time

By: Krishna Dharma

Narrated by: Sarvabhavana Das

Length: 45 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Said to be the world's longest poem, Mahabharata was originally composed in 100,000 Sanskrit verses by the ancient Indian sage Vyasa. Revered as a sacred text within Hinduism, it contains the great spiritual teaching Bhagavad-gita. Krishna Dharma has condensed the epic into a fast paced novel that fully retains the majestic mood of the original. A powerful and moving tale, it recounts the history of the five heroic Pandava brothers, sons of the Emperor Pandu. Cheated of their kingdom and sent into exile by their envious cousins, they set off on a fascinating journey during which we meet gods, sages, mystics and mighty warrior kings. Profound spiritual themes underlie the thrilling narrative, making it one of the world's most revered texts. Culminating in an apocalyptic war, Mahabharata is a masterpiece of suspense, intrigue, and illuminating wisdom.

©1999 Krishna Dharma (P)2015 Krishna Dharma

Narrator's constant mispronunciations ruined it...

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A different, preferably Indian, narrator

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

couldn't stick it out that long, though I really tried

How could the performance have been better?

Narration did not appear to be edited and/or directed at all. At points you can hear him breathing heavily, swallowing and even coughing. Sloppy work.

Any additional comments?

I think this version is far below Audible's typically high standards. I've n been listening to audio books for 20 years and this is by far the worst "professional" reading I've ever come across. Westerners in the U.S. doing a lazy and sloppy job with stories like these borders on cultural insult.

the narrator was monotonous and monotone

the narrator's voice was monotone and monotonous and I had to force myself to listen to the audio . sorry it was below par

Great Listen

What made the experience of listening to Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time the most enjoyable?

Heart felt reading. well translated. I have read/listened to many renditions -not having time to read a full translation. This and Jaya are my favorite so far.

What did you like best about this story?

Its comparative completeness.

What about Sarvabhavana Das’s performance did you like?

Very heartfelt, warm reading. However, if you have no patience with a homey read, this may not be for you. Can sometimes hear his chair squeak or can tell he has a cold. Chapter ten was obviously never edited and he has a cough that can be distracting.

Any additional comments?

Jaya is another rendition of the Mahabharata that I highly recommend. If you like to feel you are listening to a friend read, this is an excellent listen. I downloaded in parts and the end of part three and beginning of part four have three or four incomplete sentences. In such a long production, I felt the problems were small quirks. But I do hope if they go back and edit the production, Audible will offer us the edited version to replace this one.

Mispronunciation and artifacts

An otherwise fine performance is marred by numerous mispronunciations and audio artifacts. Production quality is not to the level I've come to expect from Audible.

Love the story, reader, not so much.

You can hear the reader swallow, breathe heavily, and make other gross mouth noises. Highly unprofessional, and the gross mouth noises do not show much respect to the text. This and the mispronunciations are distracting. This is nearly unlistenable.

Wow! Truly loved the book. Narrator could have done better.

Can’t imagine the amount of detail in the story. What an epic! No wonder its success is so widespread. I always wanted to read the Mahabharata, but never really got a chance. Once I began this book, I started becoming anxious every single day. I wished I could listen to this all the time.. I began looking forward to the next day’s commute just for this.

Only wished the narrator could have modulated his voice a bit better. But the story is so strong, it made the voice be overlooked.

Thanks for making it available. Truly cherished it!!

Good for someone new to Mahabharata

When you read Mahabharat you realize how small and limited Iliad and Odyssey are when compared with Mahabharat. For comparison sake, the whole of Iliad will be equivalent to the section of Mahabharat from Bheesma Vadh to Drona Vadh, which will be just 20th part of the full epic. Moreover the philosophical and moral aspects of life are very lacking in the Homeric epics when compared with Indian epics of Ramayan and Mahabharat.

In India it is said that Mahabharat encompasses all the aspects of human existence. It is a shame that this epic is relatively obscure once you move out of India. maybe it is their immense size because of which Indian epics are relatively unknown to outside people. Reading the actual text has its own pleasure, but you cannot expect people not from Indian origin to read 10 volumes of such ancient text. Krishna Dharma has done a great job in shrinking it down and making the text easy to read for modern casual audience, while at the same time preserving most of the details.

I noticed that he had to sacrifice on the depth of some characters, especially complex ones such as Bheesma and Karna, but considering that he had to compress this ginormous epic, I am not too upset. The other let down was his coverage of Gita, I was hoping that he will go in more details on the wonderful work known as the bhagvat gita, but he compressed that brilliant work into just one Chapter and that also mostly covered Krishna's Viraat Roopa rather than covering the Philosophical aspects.

Unfortunately audible does not have many options for Mahabharat, so I will give 5 stars, because at least the epic is there for you to listen to, it would have been worse if there was no version of this great text available to listen to. Mahabharat in my opinion is the best work on mythology ever produced, no other work can surpass it in terms of the characters, plot, imagination and ethics. Do not miss on this great work of fiction. maybe you will not find it as the best, but surely you will enjoy listening to this age old story.

A transcendent experience

I couldn't stop listening. the calm,soothing voice of the narrator suited the transcendental story . this was an amazing experience for me,hearing the story of Krishna and Arjuna,whom I am named after, and the other pandavas. a window into a time far superior to our own, where true virtue lived, and how our current age of Kali began. this is the best English translation of the Mahabharata, respectful and mindful of Lord Krishna as the supreme person, the true God. i recommend this to anyone.

Outstanding. Top-notch retelling. Thank you.

My knees went weak and literally buckled on me during the last five minutes. Phenomenal story.

By far the greatest story I’ve ever heard!

And I’m blown away that this is not a more popular story and it hasn’t been turned into a Hollywood movie.

Wish I could give it 10 stars

I just finished and I'm going back to the start to listen again.
It really is epic.
Thank you for this wonderful book.

An Epic, beautifully read

Where does Mahabharata: The Greatest Spiritual Epic of All Time rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the best audiobook I've ever listened to

Who was your favorite character and why?

Krishna is my favourite character, it's impossible not to fall in love with him

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Its impossible to choose a single scene as they all make up the story

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The best book in the world

Any additional comments?

A must read for everyone

Culturally fascinating and wonderfully gripping

A true epic beautifully translated. Whether religiously interested or looking for a top piece of literature, this will certainly fit any bill.

Transformational

Beautifully read. This story felt like it opened up my heart and soul. Intellectually, morally and spiritually challenging. Life in all is glory, love and pain.

Truly an epic

So many lessons can be learned from here if you are open to it. A superb book!

Unlike any other book.

It's hard to say how good a book this is, I come from a background of keeping my religious faith even though it's different from Hinduism I've learnt lessons from this book which I totally missed the importance of till I read it here. Moral injunction seem to be best placed in stories, though there are some miss givings like the practice of Sati and multiple husbands, the way important to duty faith and respect for your elderly hits home. That and 46 hours in to the book and your like its already over!?

Excellent

Definitely one of my most favourite book. I wish they come with audio version of Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Will be listening to Ramayan soon by the same author.

The best epic of all time! loved every minute!

I just loved loved it! I wanted to read this epic for a long time. .but listening was for more enjoyable. . kudos to the narrator for a such as excellent rendition. . I'm going to listen this beautiful epic over and over again!

Excellent narrative with good flow. Great epic bought to life by the reader. Fantastic insight in to the Indian history and phil

Excellent narrative with good flow. Great epic bought to life by the reader. Fantastic insight in to the Indian history and philosophy.
Vedic yoga threads are well discussed as well as metaphysical musings.

Wonderful!

I really enjoyed this audiobook and found it very easy to listen to. It's great to hear the background leading up to, and the speaking of, the Bhagavad Gita . I plan to listen to it again as it deserves more than one hearing.
Highly recommended.