Hi, my name is Kundalata dasi and I live in New Delhi, India and lecture on our ancient Hindu scripture the Bhagavad-Gita and how it related to the modern world. This scripture is more than 5000 years old, but is still relevant as it was then. I recently came in touch with laughter yoga and it has changed my life for the better. Today, I would like to share with you a few words about laughter and how it is way to connect with the divine who is the basis of JOY.

As you might know laughter yoga was started by Dr. Kataria and his wife who live in India, who just stumbled upon this idea to laugh for no reason and for health. The health benefits are already well known by most people.

This laughter yoga is also called Hasya yoga in Sanskrit, hasya meaning laughter and yoga meaning union with God or the divine.

According to Vedic scriptures, we refer the supreme God as Lord Krishna is described to be the supreme energetic and He has several energies, the topmost being his Haladini shakti or the “bliss potency” Radha. This energy of the Lord gives pleasure even to the Lord and is His consort. The purest hasya that comes is not linked to anything or anyone but comes from within. Sometimes when we feel thankful for God’s presence in our life or that God is kind we feel this joy. Haladini Shakti is found more prevalent in children and young people.

Humor is the second meaning of hasya but is linked to particular situations. The favorite topic of discussion is something we call Maya – the illusory energy of the Lord, the temporary aspect of Life, the eternal play of opposites in life, the life of relativity and not the absolute. Laughter comes sometimes due to the futility of life that we experience, and how we attach ourselves to this illusory energy. We can also laugh our worries away. It takes the seriousness out of life. At least we should get serious, to not be so serious and LAUGH.
People who have some saintly qualities can make fun of themselves and can act as clowns as they are not attached to this body and don’t have the false ego.

Pure joy can be experienced by all when we connect to the divine energy Radha, the energy of BLISSSS. And how do we do that??

As children we did not need to practice laughing we just laughed for no apparent reason. As we grow older our conditioning prevents us from laughing un-inhibitedly. We forget to see the beauty in life and others.

Now religion comes for the Latin root word “religio” which means to reconnect. Reconnect to what?? Any religion that can teach us to reconnect to God and love God and serve God is the right religion for us. Reconnecting to the beauty, life, people and God will bring joy into our life.

The process of laughing, singing, dancing and playing, not just any laughing but laughing with the Lord, at the futility of Life and our attachments to it, not just any singing and dancing but singing and dancing the glories of the Lord, by chanting the holy names of the Lord. In the Hindu tradition we do that by chanting the sacred syllables OM and the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.Om is generally a mantra a guru gives his disciple, but the Hare Krishna mahamantra can be chanted by anyone. These mantras invoke the bliss potency Radha to appear in our heart and we feel eternally happy. When we chant HA RE we invoke the bliss potency Radha in our heart and when we chant KRISH NA then we invoke the supreme energetic Krishna in our heart. These energies are dormant in our heart. It’s just a matter of waking up the sleeping soul to reconnect with the super soul. When we do laughing yoga we say HO HO …which comes from the lower abdomen, and HA HA HA which comes from the heart, so we partially invoke the bliss potency as the syllables RE are missing. So we feel the bliss partially, but to eternally feel the bliss we have to go all the way HA RE HA RE. This is a transcendental sound vibration which is not from this world.Then nothing in life will trouble us, no amount of tribulations will trouble us as GOD will always appear to be kind no matter what happens. The JOY REMAINS.

This can be difficult for some but easy for those who can let go. After laughing for only a few minutes one feels in a meditative state as thoughts disappear and you come in the here and now.

Lord Krishna is considered the deity of Hasya. Another name for Him is Gopal and His childhood pranks make Him the greatest youngster, prankster, trickster and Gangster. He did that not just for fun but to destroy the ignorance of His devotees and told them not to be attached to forms and matter of this world but to be attached to the divine forms of Radha and Krishna.

Love is a companion of hasya. Where there is love there is laughter and where there is laughter there is love.When we love Krishna and His consort Radha in devotion it creates an everlasting joy. We can jump start it here and now while we are in this temporary body but we must strive to go back to the kingdom of God where we can be eternally happy and joyful. The soul, just like the super soul, GOD, is always SAT CIT ANANDA meaning eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss but due to our conditioning in this material world we forget our relationship with the Lord and feel incomplete. This laughter and chanting makes us feel complete again. Everyone wants to feel eternally joyful and peaceful. This is the only way to reconnect with God given by scriptures in this age of Kali.

The famous song ‘My Sweet Lord’ sung by George Harrison of the beetles fame, was sung for Lord Krishna, and it says I really want to see you Lord; I really want to be with you. It is possible to see the Lord, to be with Him, touch Him, play, sing, dance and laugh with Him eternally. That is yoga, Union with GOD. If we want to do yoga, then let’s go all the way.

So right now, go ahead fake the laughter and practice laughing, chanting, singing and dancing to the glories of the Lord, and soon you will be intoxicated with joy, you will connect to the higher self. Here, there are tears of miseries, there in the eternal kingdom of God its all tears of Laughter. There every step is a dance, every word is a song. There only laughing, playing, singing and dancing is going on endlessly. In that place there is no anxiety, its Vaikuntha, just pure bliss.

If you want to contact Kundalata Dasi email rasamandala108@gmail.com