The Real Laughter

— Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you ever happened to meet God, do you know what you would tell him? “Oh, I have met you inside.” God dances in our life when our day dawns in laughter. The true prayer is laughing in the morning. Don’t just be laughing outside but from deep inside. The laughter comes from the center of our Being, from the core of our heart. True laughter is true prayer. When you laugh, the whole of nature laughs with you. It echoes and resounds and that is really the worth of life. When things go alright, anybody can laugh, but when everything falls apart, and then if you can laugh, that is evolution and growth. There is nothing in life that is worthier than your laughter. Never lose it for anything, whatsoever.

Sometimes you laugh just to avoid looking at yourself. But when you see and feel within yourself that life is so present every moment, so intense every moment and it is invincible every moment, then nothing can bother you. Then, laughter is very authentic. You might have observed babies of six months to one year old. When they laugh, their whole body, every cell in the body is laughing. That is enlightenment.

That laughter is innocent, pure, without inhibitions, without any strain.

Laughter opens us up, opens our hearts. And when we don’t feel up to that innocence, what do we do? You can attend to the seven layers of your own existence. First, the body - have had good rest, proper food and do some exercise. Then attend to the breath. Breath has its own rhythm. Every mood of the mind has a definite rhythm in the breath. By attending to the rhythm in the breath, the mind and body can be elevated. Then, look at the concepts and opinions that hover in the mind. Good, bad, right, wrong, should do, shouldn’t do, all these could bind you. Every thought is associated with some sensation, some feeling. Observe the sensation and feeling in the body. Observe the rhythm in the emotions - if you observe, you never make new mistakes. You have the same pattern of emotions but you hang it on different causes, different things, people, circumstances, situations. Attend to this rhythm of emotions. Observing thoughts as thoughts, emotions as emotions, opens us to our true self, the godliness within us. The very observation changes it. When you observe, all that is negative falls away. And the nature of positive emotions grows. If you observe when you are angry, the anger will fade away. And if you observe love, love grows.