Life’s humoring you every moment. So, refuse to take it so seriously!
Someone called me yesterday and wanted to know if I will be available to address members of an organization that he was heading. He wanted to know if my Fall Like A Rose Petal Talk would be a humorous one. He said the members of his organization may be looking forward to humor too in a keynote address. Now, people often imagine that a story like mine, of a bankruptcy, may be too “serious”. So, perhaps, his question was coming from that angle. I didn’t mind his question at all. I have come to realize that nothing ever is serious in Life. And, therefore, Life should never be taken seriously at all!
In fact, most people miss the point! Think about this. You came empty-handed. You will go empty-handed. If you will depart from here empty-handed, think of the futility of clinging on to anything in the hope of saving it – including your Life! You just can’t. Think of the futility of this Life – which, as Osho, the Master, says is a cosmic joke. Nothing that you acquire in your Life – your qualifications, your relationships, your money, your assets, can go with you. So, isn’t it all a joke? Then, why do we take ourselves and this Life that we have so seriously?
I like to see Life as a means of having fun with the unknown. In every moment, the unknown is manifesting itself. Just enjoy the uncertainty. Don’t analyze. Don’t try to make sense of Life. Simply be. Simply enjoy the journey of Life.
So, I replied to the gentleman’s query thus: “Sir, the Buddha has said, ‘when you know how perfect your Life is, you will look up at the sky and laugh’. I often look up at the sky and laugh! Because, despite the lack of material evidence of prosperity in my Life, I am soaked in abundance. I believe my Life is perfect as it is, the way it is. I laugh a lot!”
I am not sure you will share my perspective to Life here. But I find that, whether you are in the throes of a crisis like Vaani and I are, or whether you are in the middle of leading the Life that you believe you wanted and so you created it, either way, it is one big cosmic joke. You will go away with nothing. And nothing, including you, will survive Life, or will remain here. So, why not just laugh at it, and humor yourself? Surely, when Indeevar (1924~1977) wrote those famous lines in 1970 for ‘Safar’ (Kalyanji Anandji, Kishore Kumar, Asit Sen), he clearly did not mean “Zindagi ka ‘suffer’….” 🙂