Search after Happiness
Swami Ramakrishnananda
Ramamrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai-600004
E-mail: srkmath@vsnl.com
2006
iv + 195 pp
Rs.32/-
The book under review is a revised edition of two notable publications of Sri Ramakrishna Math, The Message of Eternal Wisdom and The Ancient Quest, bringing together the plenary wisdom of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. It contains fourteen lectures of the eminent swami delivered between 1893 and 1911, one of which lends its title to the book.
The search for happiness begins from birth. Strangely, a higher standard of living is accompanied by a steady erosion of peace and happiness. This is a global phenomenon.
The search for happiness should begin with the basics: What constitutes life, existence, death, body, mind and soul, maya, consciousness, and reality? Without this fundamental understanding, a search for happiness in the psychophysical plane becomes a futile ex, bringing together the plenary wisdom of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. It contains fourteen lectures of the eminent swami delivered between 1893 and 1911, one of which lends its title to the book.
The search for happiness begins from birth. Strangely, a higher standard of living is accompanied by a steady erosion of peace and happiness. This is a global phenomenon.
The search for happiness should begin with the basics: What constitutes life, existence, death, body, mind and soul, maya, consciousness, and reality? Without this fundamental understanding, a search for happiness in the psychophysical plane becomes a futile exercise. Swami Ranganathananda addresses all these issues; his convincing presentation of these concepts will infuse confidence in the distressed. He explains:
Our present life is ‘only a tiny chapter in a big volume whose beginning as well as end is the one eternal God’. We are only dwellers in the body and should quit it when it becomes uninhabitable. Wants number in the millions; one cannot satisfy all of them. The ‘flame of desire … increases with enjoyment’. If we have many wants, we are never happy. We need to realize that we are masters of and not slaves of desire. The self is not the body but exists everywhere in the body; it is also distinct from the emotions that bathe the body and mind. The ‘real man’ is infinite, without hunger, thirst, or desires. Religion is necessary ‘for the foolish as well as the wise’. Also, multiple religious faiths are necessary and inevitable.
The book covers topics like ‘Who am I’, ‘Mind and Maya’, ‘The Necessity of Religion’, and ‘Is a Belief in Transmigration Consistent with Reasoning’, and appropriately concludes with a focus on the divine life of Sri Ramakrishna and the ‘universal doctrine’ he unfolded. Despite an orthodox upbringing, Sri Ramakrishna was not a ‘religious aristocrat’. He demonstrated how orthodoxy must blend with liberalism and how Truth is not the monopoly of any person or nation.
The search for happiness is not an endless journey if the path unvei8led by the Great Master and presented by Swami Ramakrishnananda is adopted. This moderately priced book will be valuable to young and old. - P.S.Sundaram, Mumbai.
Courtesy: ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ [(Awakened India), (English monthly magazine from the Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata)], April 2008.
Grateful thanks to Mr.P.S.Sundaram, Mumbai for the excellent review and ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ for publishing it.
Swami Ramakrishnananda
Ramamrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai-600004
E-mail: srkmath@vsnl.com
2006
iv + 195 pp
Rs.32/-
The book under review is a revised edition of two notable publications of Sri Ramakrishna Math, The Message of Eternal Wisdom and The Ancient Quest, bringing together the plenary wisdom of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. It contains fourteen lectures of the eminent swami delivered between 1893 and 1911, one of which lends its title to the book.
The search for happiness begins from birth. Strangely, a higher standard of living is accompanied by a steady erosion of peace and happiness. This is a global phenomenon.
The search for happiness should begin with the basics: What constitutes life, existence, death, body, mind and soul, maya, consciousness, and reality? Without this fundamental understanding, a search for happiness in the psychophysical plane becomes a futile ex, bringing together the plenary wisdom of Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the foremost disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. It contains fourteen lectures of the eminent swami delivered between 1893 and 1911, one of which lends its title to the book.
The search for happiness begins from birth. Strangely, a higher standard of living is accompanied by a steady erosion of peace and happiness. This is a global phenomenon.
The search for happiness should begin with the basics: What constitutes life, existence, death, body, mind and soul, maya, consciousness, and reality? Without this fundamental understanding, a search for happiness in the psychophysical plane becomes a futile exercise. Swami Ranganathananda addresses all these issues; his convincing presentation of these concepts will infuse confidence in the distressed. He explains:
Our present life is ‘only a tiny chapter in a big volume whose beginning as well as end is the one eternal God’. We are only dwellers in the body and should quit it when it becomes uninhabitable. Wants number in the millions; one cannot satisfy all of them. The ‘flame of desire … increases with enjoyment’. If we have many wants, we are never happy. We need to realize that we are masters of and not slaves of desire. The self is not the body but exists everywhere in the body; it is also distinct from the emotions that bathe the body and mind. The ‘real man’ is infinite, without hunger, thirst, or desires. Religion is necessary ‘for the foolish as well as the wise’. Also, multiple religious faiths are necessary and inevitable.
The book covers topics like ‘Who am I’, ‘Mind and Maya’, ‘The Necessity of Religion’, and ‘Is a Belief in Transmigration Consistent with Reasoning’, and appropriately concludes with a focus on the divine life of Sri Ramakrishna and the ‘universal doctrine’ he unfolded. Despite an orthodox upbringing, Sri Ramakrishna was not a ‘religious aristocrat’. He demonstrated how orthodoxy must blend with liberalism and how Truth is not the monopoly of any person or nation.
The search for happiness is not an endless journey if the path unvei8led by the Great Master and presented by Swami Ramakrishnananda is adopted. This moderately priced book will be valuable to young and old. - P.S.Sundaram, Mumbai.
Courtesy: ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ [(Awakened India), (English monthly magazine from the Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata)], April 2008.
Grateful thanks to Mr.P.S.Sundaram, Mumbai for the excellent review and ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ for publishing it.
1 comment:
Keep rocking DAD!
These articles are very inspiring but hard to follow in our "so called" modern choatic age... Where values are replaced by valueables.
Anyway don stop untill you can transform and redeem a few souls...........
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