|
The core content of this website, which focuses on the philosophy, science and art of true self-knowledge, particularly as taught by Bhagavan Sri Ramana, is arranged into three main sections:
Translations
Books
Articles
Links to all the pages on this site are given in the Site Map, of which the following is a high-level summary:
If you would like to search for any word or phrase on this website or elsewhere on the internet, you may use the following form:
|
|
| Home
> Books > Happiness and the Art of Being |
|
|
|
Happiness and the Art of Being
- Introduction
- The Contents of Happiness and the Art of Being
- Printed Versions of Happiness and the Art of Being
- E-Book Version for Free Download
- Spanish Translation
Introduction
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 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 practice the empirical science of self-investigation, 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 a layman's 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 the core of his teachings. 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 the teachings that Sri Ramana has given us, 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, and since the passing away of Sri Sadhu Om in 1985 he has continued to study and practise the spiritual path revealed by Sri Ramana.
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 Panchakam, Anma-Viddai and Upadesa Tanippakkal.
The Contents of Happiness and the Art of Being
The contents of Happiness and the Art of Being include an introduction and the following ten chapters:
- What is Happiness?
- Who am I?
- The Nature of Our Mind
- The Nature of Reality
- What is True Knowledge?
- True Knowledge and False Knowledge
- The Illusion of Time and Space
- The Science of Consciousness
- Self-Investigation and Self-Surrender
- The Practice of the Art of Being
Printed Versions of Happiness and the Art of Being
After I posted the first e-book edition of Happiness and the Art of Being on this website in December 2006, I received very postitive feedback about it from many people, some of whom had previously had little understanding of the richness and profundity of Sri Ramana's teachings, and others of whom had been studying and practising his teachings for many years, but nevertheless found many fresh and valuable insights expressed in this book.
Many people also expressed their eagerness to have a printed copy of it, so I carefully revised the entire book and added more explanations about various important aspects of Sri Ramana's teachings, after which the final version was published in October 2007 both in Canada and in India.
|
Canadian Publication (by Trafford Publishing)
Happiness and the Art of Being is published in Canada by Trafford Publishing, and can be purchased direct from the publisher, either online, by e-mail or by phone. If you wish to purchase it from the publisher online, you can do so by clicking on the following link:
Happiness and the Art of Being
Trafford publication
Alternatively, if you prefer to order it by e-mail or by phone, you can do so by sending an e-mail addressed either to orders@trafford.com or to orders.uk@trafford.com, or by calling any of the following numbers:
|
In USA & Canada, please call toll-free: 1-888-232-4444 (9am-5pm PST)
In Europe, please call: +44 (0) 1865 722 113 (9am-5pm GMT)
From all other countries, please call: +1-250-383-6864 (9am-5pm PST)
Happiness and the Art of Being [ISBN: 978-1-4251-2465-6] is also available worldwide through all the major online and offline book distribution channels. The following are links to a few of the many webpages from which it can be purchased:
A comparison of prices for this book in the US is available at All Bookstores: compare prices for Happiness and the Art of Being, and a comparison of prices for it in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and many other parts of the world is available at BookFinder4u: compare prices for Happiness and the Art of Being.
If you prefer to purchase Happiness and the Art of Being from a local bookshop, most bookshops will be able to order it for you, particularly if you quote the ISBN number, which in the 10-digit format is 1-4251-2465-8 and in the 13-digit format is 978-1-4251-2465-6.
The contents of this book can be searched on Google Book Search: Happiness and the Art of Being or Google Book Search UK: Happiness and the Art of Being.
|
Indian Publication (by Arul Books)
In India Happiness and the Art of Being is published for local distribution by Arul Books, whose contact details are as follows:
Arul Books
118 First N Block, 19 Main, 4 Cross
Rajajinagar
Bangalore 560 010
Telephone: +91 (0) 998 000 9583
E-mail: vasukis@gmail.com
|
Copies are also available for purchase at the following locations:
- Sri Ramanasramam Book Stall
Tiruvannamalai 606 603
Telephone: +91 (0) 4175 237 292
E-mail: ashram@sriramanamaharshi.org
Website: www.sriramanamaharshi.org
- Sri Arunachalaramana Nilayam
Sri Ramana Nagar
Tiruvannamalai 606 603
- Vedanta Book House
6th Main, Chamrajpet
Bangalore 560 018
Telephone: +91 (0) 80 2650 7590
- Sapna Book House
11, 3rd Main Road
Gandhinagar
Bangalore 560 009
Telephone: +91 (0) 80 4011 4455
E-mail: customercare@sapnaonline.com
Website: www.sapnaonline.com
Copies of the Indian publication can also be bought online through the Sapna Online website by clicking on the following link:
Happiness and the Art of Being – Arul Books publication
E-Book Version for Free Download
Besides being available as a printed book, Happiness and the Art of Being is also available here for free download as a PDF e-book. In order to download this PDF version, you can either left-click on the following link to open it in your web browser, after which you can save a copy, or you can right-click on this link and select 'Save Target As…' from the pop-up menu:
Happiness and the Art of Being – e-book
This version of the e-book is its third edition, which I posted here on 23rd August 2007, and which is an exact copy of the printed publications. In this edition I incorporated in various places a total of about 48 pages of additional explanations, which were not in the first two e-book editions, and I also added a detailed index. For a detailed list of the major additions and modifications that I incorporated in this third edition, please refer to Third e-book edition of Happiness and the Art of Being.
For archival purposes, copies of the first e-book edition, which I posted here in December 2006, and the enlarged second e-book edition, which I posted here in March 2007, are both available here, and can be accessed by clicking on the following two links:
Happiness and the Art of Being – first e-book edition
Happiness and the Art of Being – second e-book edition
As I did in the third e-book edition, in the second e-book edition I included many additional explanations and translations of more passages from the original Tamil writings of Sri Ramana, which were not in the first e-book edition. For a detailed list of the major additions and modifications that I incorporated in the second e-book edition, please refer to New enlarged e-book edition of Happiness and the Art of Being.
Spanish Translation
Happiness and the Art of Being has been translated into Spanish, and this translation is now available on the AtivarnAshram website as a PDF e-book, which can be opened by clicking on the following link:
La Felicidad y el Arte de Ser:
Introducción a la filosofía y la práctica de las enseñanzas espirituales de
Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Some selected passages from this Spanish translation can also be accessed through links on the Michael James page of the AtivarnAshram website.
|
|
|
|
|
|
