Happiness and Beyond: The Jain Way and Other Perspectives

The book, Happiness and Beyond: the Jain Way and Other Perspectives discusses various perspectives about happiness, unhappiness, popular myths, relationship between religion and happiness, role of positive psychologists before delving deeper into Buddhism and the cardinal principles of Jainism, such as anekantavāda (multi- sidedness), ahimsā (non-violence) and aparigraha (non-possessiveness), without being dogmatic about them. It traces happiness in deeper relation with ecology since all living beings, including plants and animals, are inter-connected. Social, economic and environmental wellbeing define gross global happiness. This book is meant for an average educated reader worldwide seeking happiness as one of the most cherished goals. It makes a novel attempt to explain not only the link between virtue ethics and happiness but it also makes the reader look beyond happiness. Though the pursuit of happiness can be beautiful, it should never become an obsession. One should find it in the journey and certainly not in the destination. Despite focusing on Buddhism, Jainism and positive psychologists, this book avoids being preachy, hasty or a quick-fix. Rather, it takes the reader on an interesting, jerky and untrodden terrain.

About the Author:

DR ASHA GUPTA, a gold medalist and National Merit Scholarship holder, has been a Director at the Directorate of Hindi Medium Implementation and Principal at Bharati College, University of Delhi, India. She has also been the Convener of International Political Science Association's Research Committee on Welfare State and Welfare Societies and Military's Role in Democratization. A recipient of the Indo-Shastri Canadian Fellowship, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Fellowship, Norwegian Fellowship, alumni of Salzburg Seminar, UGG Career Award in Humanities, UGC Major Research Grant, for a postdoctoral project on Vocationalization and Privatization of Higher Education, Dr Gupta has published 15 books and more than 90 research papers. Her books include Socialism in Theory and Practice: Narendra Deva's Contribution, Changing Perspectives of the Welfare State, Beyond Privatization: A Global Perspective, Higher Education in the 21st Century: Looking Beyond University, Uchatar Shiksha Ke Badalte Aayam, Tulnatmak Shashan Aur Rajniti, Samajwadi Chintan, etc. She has participated at various national and international conferences. Reading, writing and traveling have been her main passions in life.