Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji – October 28, 2014 – Abu Dhabi
Jaya Guru Datta
Do you want to hear something serious, something sad or something funny? I have to say what will please the audience. Okay, I will say something humorous.
This was a conversation that took place between my grandfather and Jayalakshmi Mata. This was not included in the Life History.
I was a small child. I understood a little bit here and there. My grandfather was a communist, a very serious person. He never laughed. But he made others laugh. That was something extraordinary. He was a very strict person.
I will narrate a conversation that took place between mother Jayalakshmi and her father.
Jaya Lakshmi Mata would laugh at her father’s comments. I would ask her repeatedly to explain the conversation to me, because I would fail to see the humor in the conversation, since I did not fully understand the language.
“Jayalakshmi, the next door man got married. I saw. They are a very nice couple. I think the girl is a bit too tall for him. The boy is a little shorter.”
“Father! Why are you bothered? Why don’t you just go to sleep?”
“Jayalakshmi, what were they both talking about?”
“Don’t be concerned about them, dad. Just go to sleep.”
“How he was praising that girl!”
“Of course, it is natural.”
“Do you know how he praised her? I have heard his words.”
I don’t know if he was speaking the truth or not. But this was the way he made Jayalakshmi laugh before he went to bed. In his life he never laughed. But he made others laugh. As a small child, Swamiji was determined to somehow make this old man laugh. He refused to laugh no matter what anyone did.
“Jayalakshmi, I will tell you how loving and amicable a husband and wife should be. When he just got married, he said to his wife, showering compliments upon her, ‘You are an angel. You have come down from heaven. You are so beautiful, like a celestial dancer. You look so happy. Your nose is so beautiful. Your eyes and your ears are all so lovely. I feel like flying up to the sky this very minute to bring down the moon to place him as a Bindi on your forehead. I feel like jumping up to the sky to bring down the stars to make you a necklace with them. I feel like weaving a saree for you with all the beautiful clouds.”
You know how the wife responded? “There is not a drop of water in the well. Take a bucket and fetch some water from the pump at the bore well.”
Jayalakshmi would laugh. He would not laugh. He would only scold others. But frequently he commented, “No matter what, in any home if you observe, the dosa is full of holes.”
Swamiji as a boy never understood the meaning of that comment. How can a dosa have holes in it? He resolved to find out.
One day my grandmother served me a dosa. I wanted to count the holes in it, but in the eagerness of enjoying the hot delicious dosa, I ate it up without completing my count. My grandmother would refuse to give me a second dosa so that I could count the holes. On another day, when grandmother gave me a dosa I took the plate outside.
Grandfather was concerned. “Oh, this foolish boy is going to feed the dosa to the dogs. Watch what he is going to do.”
But I picked up a small thorn and began counting the holes in the dosa, one, two, . ..
Grandpa came and asked me what I was doing. I told him that since every day he comments about the holes in a dosa, I have decided to count how many holes a dosa has. He burst out laughing. I had never seen him laugh so much. To this day I remember how much he laughed. He was so amused that because he mentioned ‘holes’ I actually started counting them. He said, “No, enjoy your dosa. I never meant that you should start counting the holes in a dosa like this.”
Like that, the father and daughter used to have conversations. I used to tell grandpa then, as I tell everyone now, that one should laugh heartily to breathe in plenty of oxygen. I have said it then, and I say it now. Every night before going to sleep, one should laugh, or see a funny movie, or laugh out loud till the stomach bursts.
Then they will be free from diseases. Many people who think sad thoughts before going to bed or recollect all sad events will soon get heart problems and kidney problems. It is guaranteed. If you want, you do research. Before going to bed, one should not think sad thoughts, or recollect sad memories, or hear sad news.
I tell Prasad and others to convey to me any bad news only in the morning and not at night. What you hear in the early part of the day gets forgotten by bedtime. You then get good sleep. But if you listen to bad news at night, it spoils your sleep. Things will get resolved regardless, but your health suffers. Before telling the husband or boss, one should use caution not to give any bad news late in the day. We should also forget all sad things before sleeping.
My grandfather followed that rule, in spite of being such a serious man. He issued an order that any unfortunate news about anything that might have occurred, such as the death of an animal, or damage to a crop in his several acres of farm, should be conveyed to him only prior to 3 PM and not later than that. He had many workers working for him. They were all aware of this rule.
I follow that rule to this day. Many of my boys follow that rule. But some do not follow it. Before going to bed, they may seek my blessings after saying that everything is under control. But they should not give me any worrisome unresolved news at night. Otherwise, I will be anxious throughout the night and will spoil my sleep.
Therefore, it is good to have a good, hearty laugh at night before going to bed. Some good joke. Some laughter. You will then get good oxygen. Do you all agree? Even the boat has stopped.
Sri Guru Datta