The Association of Happiness for All Mankind

AHAM (pronounce both “a’s” like the “a” in “father” or “star”, and accent the last syllable, “ham”), which in Sanskrit means the “self,” or the personal sense of “ I,” is also an acronym for the ASSOCIATION OF HAPPINESS FOR ALL MANKIND, a nonprofit spiritual education organization. AHAM recognizes and honors all religions, cultures and walks of life. “Spiritual” as we in AHAM use and mean the term is a sincere dedication to the realization and abidance in the true nature of one’s Self. The result of this realization is - with those who have carried this quest to its ultimate conclusion and completion - the nature of the true Self is pure existence, pure consciousness, and pure happiness, or bliss, which is the only true or real happiness untainted by sorrow. It is abiding in Peace, Freedom and Happiness not dependent on any person, place or thing in order to experience these.

AHAM's butterfly logo symbolizes...

AHAM's primary purpose and ongoing mission is the dissemination of Self-Inquiry, the Consciousness Transforming Process for realizing and abiding in the true Self, which is not different from conscious communion with Real God.

Also, a significant aspect of AHAM's teaching is to awaken, understand, evoke and consciously utilize your own inherent Power of Awareness. Learn to apply the Law of Conscious Assumption and the process of completion for finally completing all that's not finished in your life, that otherwise distracts your attention from the True Self, so that final realization and abidance in the true Self may at last be attained.

AHAM was founded in 1978, and thousands of people from all parts of the world and all walks of life have benefited from its extensive yet Simple, Easy, Light and Fun (SELF) programs. Each is based on the universal truth: that happiness is always, already man's natural state. Therefore, real happiness, being located in the Heart, or the core of the very Self, needs only to be appropriated; or assumed, by awakening the feeling that would be yours if it was already realized. This is easily accomplised by using Self-Inquiry, along with an effective combination of AHAM's other conscious processes.

Self-Inquiry, the subjective investigation into oneself, in the form of the question “Who Am I?”, was first introduced to the world by the illumined sage, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi. He lived in South India, on the eastern slope of the Holy Hill, Arunachala, until His passing in 1950. Arunachala has been known since ancient times as a place of spiritual importance. Sri Bhagavan attained the highest state of enlightenment as a mere boy of 16. By his grace and the use of Self-Inquiry there have been scores of His devotees who have also attained this highest spiritual state. One such enlightened devotee is Arunachala Ramana (Mr. Dee W. Trammell), the founder and spiritual director of AHAM, who was named after Sri Bhagavan by the yogi saint Swami (Baba) Muktananda in 1974. This was soon after Ramana's enlightenment. When they met, Baba readily recognized that Ramana was living in the true Self; or Mukta, the enlightened state of consciousness.

We have found it to be very beneficial, and for some people interested in Self-Inquiry, even necessary to first have the experience of your own Power of Awareness and how to effectively use this power to reach a state of completion in your life and affairs. We have found this to be essential before one is actually ready to focus his/her entire attention on the pure Self- Inquiry process of Sri Bhagavan Ramana, as He recommended. Otherwise, your mind’s patterns and tendencies strongly affect you, distracting you from steadily pursuing the Quest into the Self, or abiding in the pure Awareness of your true Being prior to the mind, once it is realized.

Therefore, after a number of years working with spiritual seekers and seeing the difficulty they were having staying with the pure, direct process of Self-Inquiry, Ramana made the conscious choice to move our Intensive Self-Inquiry Training (I SIT), which was formerly our entry-level program, back in our Conscious Curriculum. Now, the Power of Awareness Training (POA), which gives you comprehensive instructions in using your own inherent power for living free, clear and at peace in your regular, daily life is initially required. This is to allow everyone the opportunity to first clear or complete his or her major desires before “tackling” Self-Inquiry; which, as Sri Bhagavan himself often said, is for the more advanced spiritual seeker. In POA, you learn to awaken and use your own inherent creative Power of Awareness to complete what is needed, appropriate or suitable in your life. This frees you from the ordinary, daily pressures that usually accompany your work or professional career, relationship issues, health challenges, and your personal or family responsibilities and obligations.

The Power of Awareness Training is about learning to “live in the world, but not of the world.” This means being at last free from the usual question of “How do I fulfill my worldly obligations and responsibilities, and at the same time maintain a steady spiritual practice, without confusion or conflict between these two opposing goals.“ You soon learn that they are in fact not in conflict or opposition, when seen from the perspective of the true Self or pure Being.

For those living in easy telephone contact, we offer a FREE Introductory Seminar that introduces you to the Power of Awareness Training. You can take this 60 minute seminar in the privacy and comfort of your own home over our special telephone bridgeline. Some may even have a quick awakening to his or her inner power in this “experience” of the Power of Awareness Training, where during the free introductory seminar itself - you experience one or more of the simple, yet powerful completion processes taught in the actual training.

Since AHAM's founding, under the constant direction of its spiritual director, its board of advisors, its diligent staff and its many dedicated, unpaid volunteers, the presentation of this life-transforming process has been offered to several thousand people; with graduates of these programs living on five continents. They range in ages from 17 to 91, with a wide variety of backgrounds, vocations and professions.

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The Association of Happiness for All Mankind (AHAM)
4368 NC Hwy 134, Asheboro, North Carolina, 27205
Phone (336) 381-3988 • Fax (336) 381-3881
E-mail: ahamcntr@asheboro.com

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