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Ananda: Happiness Without Reason
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 in practicality. In this book, Acharya Prashant shatters all misconceptions about happiness jargons 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 draws from scriptures like the Gita and the Upanishads, revealing the true meaning of Ananda.
If you have the courage to question your deep-rooted beliefs and enter an unfathomable territory beyond the duality of happiness and sadness, this book is for you.
Most of the existing literature paints a fuzzy picture of happiness, beautiful in words but lacking in practicality. In this book, Acharya Prashant shatters all misconceptions about happiness jargons 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 draws from scriptures like the Gita and the Upanishads, revealing the true meaning of Ananda.
If you have the courage to question your deep-rooted beliefs and enter an unfathomable territory beyond the duality of happiness and sadness, this book is for you.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2022
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94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 26, 2022
Ananda means sharpening the axe.
ध्यानमूलं गुरुर्मूर्ति, पूजामूलं गुरुर्पदम्।
मन्त्रमूलं गुरुर्वाक्यं, मोक्षमूलं गुरूर्कृपा॥
ध्यान का मूल, गुरु की मूर्ति है। पूजा का मूल, गुरु के चरण कमल हैं। मंत्र का मूल, गुरु के शब्द हैं। मोक्ष का मूल, गुरु की कृपा है। —(गुरुगीता, श्लोक ७६)
The form of the Guru is the basis of meditation. His lotus feet are the starting point of all worship. The words of the Guru are the essence of all mantras. His grace is the foundation of liberation.
His grace has laid the path of liberation for me in these three steps:-
1 Renunciation/Detachment – First and foremost, refrain from entering into new bondage. In the journey of understanding present conflicts, one must first stop pursuing new relationships and pleasures.
2 Self-inquiry – Allow our pains and problems some space. When we actively go through our conflicts, it creates divisions in us. These divisions equip us with the dots to connect.
We should go through the necessary conflict and let the division happen, so that when we connect the dots and get the clarity, our ego dissolves.
3 Intelligence – Once we have clarity, we must work towards breaking the chains. Either we are working towards breaking our chains or creating more bondage.
Once we go through these three phases, our lives do get simplified, and we can have glimpses of emptiness.
Final Outcome of Sharpening the Axe –
Excerpts from Mundaka Upanishad based chapter 26--
Once you know of your infinite nature, a certain royalty becomes available to you. Now you will live life in a regal way. Narrowness is no more. Now there is no more vulnerability to little things in life, no more identification with the small, the atomic and the trivial. There comes a great propensity to forget the routine, the usual, resulting in an unburdened mind. It is a mind not carrying the accumulated burden of tidbits, millions of tidbits of the past. Therefore, there is lightness. Therefore, there is a skyness.
The reward is freedom from a mediocre run-of-the-mill life.
Let us take an example of a camel – How does a camel survive in a desert ?
Possibility-driven (Ruthlessly Receptive to Opportunities) -- When food and water are scarce across the deserts, camels use their fat in their humps to provide vital nutrients.
The space to store fat in its hump facilitates consumption of enough resources for 2-3 weeks, even if it is not hungry and thirsty. It drastically increases the chances of its survival by being receptive to scarce resources 24 hours throughout the day. In this case, the camel operates in different dimensions.
Acharya ji suggests in same way, If you want to bring the mind to its end, to its closure, which can also be called its summit or sublimation, peak or fulfilment, then be ready for these three. Be ready for tapasya, penance or askesis, know Vedanta deeply, and be a ruthless renouncer. Ruthless like camel.
Passion-driven (Temporarily Responding to Hunger) – Animals other than camel can only consume food when they are hungry and drink water when they are thirsty. Once their stomach is full or their thirst is quenched temporarily, even if the food and water are available, it is of no use to them for that time. After that, they will get hungry again and thirsty again and then there will be a sudden urgency to respond. Maybe because of this, Steve Jobs said that – Stay hungry, Stay foolish – Steve Jobs
Acharya ji suggests that Just like other animals who just respond to their temporary hunger and thirst, What separates the good student from the bad when it comes to knowledge? Just one thing: Did you quit or not? The bad student is the one who quits. It might sound strange, but this is the only thing that matters in the final tally. You will arrive. Just don’t quit.
Why do you just want some temporary petty stuff and then quit? Why are you wasting yourself, begging for small-ticket items like happiness? You are so big. You must ask for something equally big. Why are you asking for little things? Not only are you asking for little things, when you do not get those things, you also behave as if you have lost something great.
The hunger Acharya ji is talking about is completely of a different nature than what Steve Jobs was suggesting. A worldly man rarely seeks it, and when his grace is available, we can only respond to it to the extent of our limited ability. Also, there is no guarantee that when we will be hungry again thirsty again and even if we will be, will his grace be available to us?
ध्यानमूलं गुरुर्मूर्ति, पूजामूलं गुरुर्पदम्।
मन्त्रमूलं गुरुर्वाक्यं, मोक्षमूलं गुरूर्कृपा॥
ध्यान का मूल, गुरु की मूर्ति है। पूजा का मूल, गुरु के चरण कमल हैं। मंत्र का मूल, गुरु के शब्द हैं। मोक्ष का मूल, गुरु की कृपा है। —(गुरुगीता, श्लोक ७६)
The form of the Guru is the basis of meditation. His lotus feet are the starting point of all worship. The words of the Guru are the essence of all mantras. His grace is the foundation of liberation.
His grace has laid the path of liberation for me in these three steps:-
1 Renunciation/Detachment – First and foremost, refrain from entering into new bondage. In the journey of understanding present conflicts, one must first stop pursuing new relationships and pleasures.
2 Self-inquiry – Allow our pains and problems some space. When we actively go through our conflicts, it creates divisions in us. These divisions equip us with the dots to connect.
We should go through the necessary conflict and let the division happen, so that when we connect the dots and get the clarity, our ego dissolves.
3 Intelligence – Once we have clarity, we must work towards breaking the chains. Either we are working towards breaking our chains or creating more bondage.
Once we go through these three phases, our lives do get simplified, and we can have glimpses of emptiness.
Final Outcome of Sharpening the Axe –
Excerpts from Mundaka Upanishad based chapter 26--
Once you know of your infinite nature, a certain royalty becomes available to you. Now you will live life in a regal way. Narrowness is no more. Now there is no more vulnerability to little things in life, no more identification with the small, the atomic and the trivial. There comes a great propensity to forget the routine, the usual, resulting in an unburdened mind. It is a mind not carrying the accumulated burden of tidbits, millions of tidbits of the past. Therefore, there is lightness. Therefore, there is a skyness.
The reward is freedom from a mediocre run-of-the-mill life.
Let us take an example of a camel – How does a camel survive in a desert ?
Possibility-driven (Ruthlessly Receptive to Opportunities) -- When food and water are scarce across the deserts, camels use their fat in their humps to provide vital nutrients.
The space to store fat in its hump facilitates consumption of enough resources for 2-3 weeks, even if it is not hungry and thirsty. It drastically increases the chances of its survival by being receptive to scarce resources 24 hours throughout the day. In this case, the camel operates in different dimensions.
Acharya ji suggests in same way, If you want to bring the mind to its end, to its closure, which can also be called its summit or sublimation, peak or fulfilment, then be ready for these three. Be ready for tapasya, penance or askesis, know Vedanta deeply, and be a ruthless renouncer. Ruthless like camel.
Passion-driven (Temporarily Responding to Hunger) – Animals other than camel can only consume food when they are hungry and drink water when they are thirsty. Once their stomach is full or their thirst is quenched temporarily, even if the food and water are available, it is of no use to them for that time. After that, they will get hungry again and thirsty again and then there will be a sudden urgency to respond. Maybe because of this, Steve Jobs said that – Stay hungry, Stay foolish – Steve Jobs
Acharya ji suggests that Just like other animals who just respond to their temporary hunger and thirst, What separates the good student from the bad when it comes to knowledge? Just one thing: Did you quit or not? The bad student is the one who quits. It might sound strange, but this is the only thing that matters in the final tally. You will arrive. Just don’t quit.
Why do you just want some temporary petty stuff and then quit? Why are you wasting yourself, begging for small-ticket items like happiness? You are so big. You must ask for something equally big. Why are you asking for little things? Not only are you asking for little things, when you do not get those things, you also behave as if you have lost something great.
The hunger Acharya ji is talking about is completely of a different nature than what Steve Jobs was suggesting. A worldly man rarely seeks it, and when his grace is available, we can only respond to it to the extent of our limited ability. Also, there is no guarantee that when we will be hungry again thirsty again and even if we will be, will his grace be available to us?
January 17, 2024
He is a good writer, but I feel somewhere while proceeding to convince us of the way to achieve Happiness, he has partly lost his track.
02-did-not-finish
October 22, 2025DNF at 15%
for someone worried about the environment, it's not so comforting to see an AI-generated paragraph in their books. here's the text for anyone who wants to decide for themselves if it's AI or not:
All the things that we associate with pleasure, with pain, with hurt, are all concepts that we have been indoctrinated into. Remove these concepts, and then show me where is pleasure and where is pain. When you remove them, there is just life—simple, total and joyful.
the questions were short and easy to follow and the responses were long as expected, but they often felt vague. for this problem, i'll blame myself for not doing enough homework on acharya prashant before picking this up.
for someone worried about the environment, it's not so comforting to see an AI-generated paragraph in their books. here's the text for anyone who wants to decide for themselves if it's AI or not:
All the things that we associate with pleasure, with pain, with hurt, are all concepts that we have been indoctrinated into. Remove these concepts, and then show me where is pleasure and where is pain. When you remove them, there is just life—simple, total and joyful.
the questions were short and easy to follow and the responses were long as expected, but they often felt vague. for this problem, i'll blame myself for not doing enough homework on acharya prashant before picking this up.
October 21, 2025
One of the best book ever I read. Which talks to the root of the problem.
September 2, 2024
Exceptional book
A must read
A must read
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews