The authors of the 'U.S. Declaration of Independence' declared that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain rights, including Pursuit of Happiness. However, they gave no hints as to where this elusive happiness might be found. Over 3,000 years earlier in the serene atmosphere of the Himalayan ranges, the sages of Veda period drew the same conclusion and proceeded to investigate into the nature of happiness. They wanted to know where happiness was located and how to find it. In their careful observations they noted three Man's search for happiness is a universal tendency.- Everyone is searching for lasting happiness in a world of change.- Permanent happiness must be independent of a changing environment.Arriving at these conclusions, the sages turned their enquiry inward to discover a substratum of permanence on which the changing phenomena rose and fell. In the short essays in Pursuit of Happiness, Swami Chinmayananda lucidly communicates the conclusions drawn by these subjective scientists who realised their own divine nature and proposed a way of life so that others might follow on the inner journey to the true source of happiness.
Chinmayananda Saraswati, also known as Swami Chinmayananda and born Balakrishnan Menon, was an Indian spiritual leader and teacher who inspired the formation of Chinmaya Mission in 1953 to spread the message of Vedanta. The organization, which was founded by his disciples and led by him, has over 300 centres in India and internationally. He was a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati at Rishikesh, who founded the Divine Life Society. He was later advised by Sivananda to study under Tapovan Maharaj in Uttarkashi in the Himalayas.