The oldest way of Yoga Laughter - Part 2

Swami Sivananda who loved to laugh and keep things simple.

Yoga means experiencing union within yourself and with the world around you - with people, nature, animals. Now how can we get there? It needs a big piece of knowledge of self and self confidence, because only if I feel fully ok within myself can I open myself and connect with others, laugh about myself and the world. I don’t have to be right about anything, I can see the joke in life and in myself.

So here is a little story - though this might be not part of your culture, I know you can connect with the point of it and hope it brings a smile on your face.

The Three Swamis

Once upon a time there lived three swamis, the laughing Swamis. Day and night they did nothing but laugh. Wherever they went, they always laughed, incessantly and everywhere. They laughed through the villages, they laughed with the children. They were known everywhere as the laughing Swamis. The day came when one of them died and the people wanted to see what the two of them would do now. After all, you have to cry when someone dies. But the two laughed from the bottom of their hearts. They prepared a pile of wood to burn the body on according to Hindu tradition. They laughed and everyone else laughed too. There were no dramatic drums, no funeral processions. They laughed and laughed; they brought flowers and laughter and flowers and laughter. Finally they put the body on the pile of wood that was already starting to burn below.

This Swami had one last wish before his death: he did not want to be bathed as it was usual before the cremation and instead to be put on the fire in his robe. They respected his last will. He was put in the fire and suddenly you could hear: bang, bang, bang … and the fire sputtered around. He had small explosives, firecrackers, hidden in his robe. He didn't want people to be sad when he dies and when his body burns in the fire. Nobody should say, "Oh the old man is dead, we'll miss him." Instead, he wanted to make them laugh, so he hid the fireworks and everyone laughed from the bottom of their hearts.