← Drops from the Ocean

PREFACE

Every human being seeks happiness, and seeks it repeatedly too. This is because what we really seek is happiness that is unlimited and permanent. This begs the obvious question: Why do we seek happiness? Why don’t we instead, seek sorrow or suffering? The answer is both profound and simple. We seek happiness because it is our natural state. Just as we seek to get rid of illness and return to our natural, healthy state, so do we seek to get rid of suffering and return to our natural, happy state.

But, how do we go about it? Most of us seek unlimited happiness with a conditioned, and therefore, limited mind. We seek permanent happiness from the world and its objects, the very essence of which is impermanence. Finally, and tragically, we seek it in a future that forever eludes us like the receding horizon.

It follows, as surely as night follows day, that we can never, ever, find eternal happiness with our limited mind, in an impermanent world, and in a non–existent future. But then, how else can we find our way to the summit of the mountain of eternal joy?

Commonsense tells us that whenever we attempt the ascent of an unknown mountain, it is only wise to rely on experienced guides and detailed maps. The guides in our case are the Self-realised sages. Our maps are their teachings. This is so, because sages are the only ones who have explored spiritual heights. They are also, the only ones who have conquered the peak of eternal happiness.

So what do the sages have to tell us? The practical wisdom of the sages, and the precious insights mined from intimate contacts with them, is precisely what Sri Ganesan reveals, in this profound book, Drops from the Ocean.

N. S. Venkataraman Nochur, Palakkad September 1, 2005