Shattering misconceptions about happiness and related jargon

Acharya Prashant

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) What is that one fundamental thing for which we go about toiling all our lives -- sacrificing, negotiating, scheming, praying? Intuitively, one might answer -- happiness. But do we really know what happiness is?

Most of the existing literature paints a fuzzy picture of happiness, beautiful in words but lacking practicality. In "Ananda - Happiness Without Reason" (HarperCollins), Acharya Prashant, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad, shatters all misconceptions about happiness jargon like "loving unconditionally" and "living in the present".

He explains how what we commonly understand as happiness exists only in the backdrop of sadness, and what man is really looking for is not just happiness, but Ananda -- an unconditional joy free from both happiness and sadness. Discarding multiple myths that burden our consciousness, the book is drawn from scriptures like the Gita and the Upanishads, revealing the true meaning of Ananda.

"Be it a young student, a middle aged professional or a spiritual seeker, the constant thread which binds all of them is their constant pursuit of happiness. But the problem is that hardly anyone seems to know what happiness really is. This has created a fertile ground for various false notions about happiness to float around. This book will enable the reader to get rid of such false notions, and understand the real meaning of Joy or Ananda, as envisaged by Vedanta. The exceptional response received for the book in the first few days of pre-launch itself shows that people are already appreciating the message of Vedanta."

"Acharya Prashant is one of the foremost authorities on Vedanta, leading the way of millions of Indians towards our timeless Vedantic wisdom. However different our definitions of happiness be, every human being is chasing it in one way or the other. This book breaks all misconceptions about happiness and makes us think and reflect if what we're chasing is indeed true happiness or just a mirage," Sachin Sharma, Executive Editor at HarperCollins India, said.