The pursuit of happiness

The book,which deals with the real life story of Radhanath Swami,tells the story of a 19-year-old suburban Chicago teenager,who left his home and trekked across Europe and Asia in the quest for finding the inner essence of life. “I was distressed by the amount of superficiality of values that the society of the 1950’s and 60’s had. And when I was on a vacation in Europe I seriously began to question these frailties and about the true meaning of happiness,and I just felt that I had to come all the way across the globe to India to find my own spiritual self. I hitchhiked through Turkey,Afghanistan,and Pakistan and then came and stayed in the Himalayas. The book is a documentation of all my experiences that I have had,and endured during this time.”

Radhanath,says that there have been numerous experiences that have been life threatening and at the same time have given him an insight into the various facets of the human existence. “There was this one time when I was in Kandahar in Afghanistan sitting with my host on a rooftop,when a mongoose came and from nowhere burrowed into my long hair and went off to sleep there. While I requested my host to awaken the sleeping mongoose,I was advised otherwise. So in order to not disturb him from his sleep lest he rip my head off (that was the explanation given to me) I sat on the chair for a full 6 hours enduring the pain and discomfort. While this was a scary experience it prepared me for a lot more harsher realities in life that were awaiting a young American teenager,back then,’ he says.

As far as finding home is concerned Radhanath says that the whole essence of finding home is finding happiness within oneself. ‘That is what I call as home. If one can find happiness within oneself,and can learn to forgive and bring joys to someone else,he or she would have found both-home as well as God. That is what I want to share with everyone,how I found my way back home to myself,and how those who are reading it,can find it for themselves,and be at peace and happy,” he says.

(The book is available in English and Marathi for a price tag of Rs 395 for the English version and Rs 150 for the Marathi one)