Happiness is our true nature, our essential being. The transient
happiness that we seem to derive from external experiences actually
arises only from within ourself, and is experienced by us due to
the temporary calming of our mind that occurs whenever any of our
desires are fulfilled. So long as our mind is extroverted,
attending to anything other than our own essential self-conscious
being, we can never experience perfect, permanent and unqualified
happiness. To experience true and eternal happiness, we must attain
the experience of true self-knowledge - that is, absolutely clear
consciousness of our own essential being, 'I am'. Such is the truth
revealed by Bhagavan Sri Ramana.
The philosophy of Sri Ramana derives solely from his experience of
true, absolute, non-dual self-knowledge, an experience that
transcends all thought, both rational and irrational. However,
since we imagine the existence of duality, multiplicity and
relativity, we seem to lack the non-dual and absolute knowledge of
our own essential self-conscious being that Sri Ramana experienced
as his natural state. Therefore he presented his philosophy to us
in terms of a rational and logical analysis of our present
experience of ourself as a finite individual consciousness, in
order to enable us to be firmly convinced of the absolute reality
that underlies and supports this finite consciousness that we now
mistake to be ourself.
However, the spiritual teachings of Sri Ramana are not only a
rational philosophy, but are also a precise science and art. He
intended his philosophy to serve only as the theoretical foundation
upon which we should practise the empirical science of
self-investigation ("atma-vicara"), which is the art of keenly
self-attentive and therefore perfectly thought-free being.
This book, "Happiness and the Art of Being," is an in-depth
exploration of both the philosophy and the practice of the
spiritual teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana. Though it is intended
primarily to be an introduction to his teachings, it is not a brief
one, because in a clear and simple manner it provides a very
detailed and deep insight into their core. Therefore though it has
been written with the intention that it should be easily understood
even by readers who have no previous acquaintance with any form of
spiritual philosophy, it should also be useful to readers who
already have a good understanding of his teachings.
Like the aim of his teachings, the aim of this book is to prompt
each one of us to think more deeply about the reality of all that
we as a seemingly limited individual consciousness experience and
know, to help us to understand that the only absolute reality in
our entire experience of duality and relativity is our fundamental
consciousness of our own essential being, 'I am', and thereby to
reinforce our love and effort to attend keenly and exclusively to
this essential self-consciousness 'I am' in order to discover its
true nature.
The author of this book, Michael James, spent more than eight years
studying the original Tamil writings of Sri Ramana and of his
foremost disciple, Sri Muruganar, in minute detail under the clear
guidance of another close disciple, Sri Sadhu Om.Therefore the
central focus of this book is on the teachings of Sri Ramana as
expressed in his own original writings, and hence it contains
accurate and carefully worded translations by the author of the
whole of Sri Ramana's prose treatise"Nan Yar?"(Who am I?) and of
most of the verses of his philosophical poems such as"Upadesa
Undiyar," "Ulladu Narpadu," "Ekatma Pancakam,"
"Anma-Viddai"and"Upadesa Tanippakkal."
This second print edition is a slightly revised version of the
first print edition, and contains a detailed glossary.
For more information about Sri Ramana and his teachings, please
visit the author's website: happinessofbeing.com.
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