NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Happiness and Enlightenment must probably be the two most misunderstood words in the spiritual lexicon. Happiness is routinely mistaken for pleasure in the moment and Enlightenment for a state of permanent bliss, insulated from all pleasure and pain.

Then again, pursuit of happiness is mistaken for pursuit of pleasure, and that happening called Enlightenment is actually considered worthy of pursuit.

There are those, and there are a great many of them, who believe that the distance to enlightenment is inversely proportional to the pain you inflict upon yourself. These are the ones who “indulge” in austerities.

And there are those who are convinced that if they can snuff out desire, the reward would be enlightenment; not realising that that itself is a desire. Moreover, the arising of a thought – desire – is a biological reaction over which the ego has no control. The problem is not the arising of desire, but the pursuit of desire.

And then there are those who think that the path to Enlightenment is through the annihilation of the ego; and that ego spends an entire lifetime trying to snuff itself out. Who is it that is supposed to have an ego? The whole point is to understand what precisely is the ego who wants enlightenment as a means to happiness.

All this would be vaguely comic if it were not so tragic.

What Pursue Happiness And Get Enlightened does is turn the whole subject of enlightenment or Self-realization on its head by demonstrating that pursuing enlightenment leads to frustration whereas pursuing “happiness” makes enlightenment happen.

Rameshji, using a patient, step-by-step approach, based on his own personal experience, simplifies the quest for true happiness. He walks you through the evidence till you can conclude for yourself that happiness is your very nature and a sincere pursuit of that true happiness actually leads you to a state of sukha-shanti, happiness through peace of mind – which is precisely what you expected enlightenment to give you! As simple as that. No need for austerities, no need to insulate yourself from day to day life, no jostling with the ego, no giving up and no doing.

In fact, while reading Rameshji’s conversations with spiritual seekers published here, it suddenly hits you that the key lies in understanding that the real problem is the sense of personal doership.

Unless you are crystallised into set concepts, you will find this book as refreshing as it is fascinating. For once, your intellect will back your intuition in saying: “Yes, I know this is true.”

Yogesh Sharma
Mumbai, July 2008