There are many kinds of laughter, from heartfelt to cynical to divinely inspiring. I never knew anyone who laughed so delightfully from spiritual consciousness as my Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda.
A passage from my new book, conversations with Yogananda, expresses this wonderful quality in him in such a way as to show that all laughter can be uplifting. “I used,” my Guru once said to us, “to laugh a lot when I was a boy, because of my inner joy in God.
The saints I met, most of whom were outwardly grave, welcomed my laughter as coming from God. ” “Bhaduri Mahasaya (the ‘levitating saint,’ as I’ve described him in my Autobiography), enjoyed my laughter for the same reason.
It upset a few of his disciples, however, to see me laugh in the presence of their ever-serious Master.
One time he said to me, ‘I understand, and appreciate, why you like to laugh, but as it disturbs some of those here, do you think, perhaps, you should be more serious for their sake?’ “‘I understand what you mean,’ I replied, ‘but can they not see that it springs from the joy I feel in God, and in your company?’ “He relented.
‘All right, laugh if you feel to. I will try to explain to them that it is from God. ’” Laughter is an expression, usually, of happiness. We should see to it, however, that it comes from within, and is not born of a merely outward sense of hilarity.
Joy that fills us with emotion can disturb our inner peace. Whenever we feel joyful for any reason, and inclined to laugh, we can nourish the soul-joy within us if we will use that joy as a reminder of our own bliss nature, within.
Turn inward every joy you feel in life. That is why most saints are grave, outwardly. Live more within yourself. See nothing as bringing happiness from without. The more you have of inner joy, the more delight you will find in everything. God’s nature is bliss. So also is yours, the more you have of Him. Live always, therefore, at your own center—in Him. Swami Kriyananda is a living disciple of Paramhamsa Yogananda. He is also the founder of Ananda Sangha with nine communities around the world
