The Wisdom of Smiling

Wisdom Teachings
Eternal Wisdom

As souls, we are connected to our bodies through the pulsating principle of life - to the physical body, the subtle body and the causal body, in which the seeds of all our motives are stored. Thus the life principle exists on the physical level, the subtle level and also on the causal level, and it comes down from beyond, from pure being. ‘Everything is life’ is an occult statement. As living beings, we are in life. Life is within us, and life is also around us.

How does life function within us? When the activity of life and the activity of consciousness are in harmony with each other, life flourishes and consciousness moves at a higher speed. If the life principle within us is weak, it pulls down the consciousness principle. And vice versa, a weak consciousness also pulls life down. If we are very serious, tense and irritable and are in a bad mood towards those around us, then we are also depressing the life energy. The positive in our thoughts lifts our life energies upwards. Joy is the unfolding of inner consciousness. It has a radiant power and spreads magnetic vibrations. When we carry joy in our hearts, it brings a smile to our faces. For this reason, all those who have unfolded as consciousness have a natural smile.

In the Agni Yoga scriptures, Master Morya often talks about joy, because joy is a special wisdom. Being joyful and cheerful is an important quality for everyone to make progress. On the path of light, also called the path of discipleship or the yoga path, this is even more true. The seers of all times say that we are to have a smiling face at all times, even at work. No matter where we are and what we are doing, we can do it with love, a smile and joy. These create within and around us a magnetic field. Then others will want to work with us. We can do everything with joy, including meditation. Knowledgeable people meditate with a smile on their face and their eyebrows are not furrowed. If we have a serious face with our eyebrows drawn together, everything contracts. When we smile, the energies expand. Smiling is important, it releases radiant energy.

However, there are differences in smiling. Smiles can be sensitive, but they can also be different, even cruel. There is a smile combined with a corresponding sound that hints at something rough and coarse within us. An excessively loud laugh is a burst of energy and shows that there is something unbalanced in us. It can even be mean and indicate something diabolical in us. It is not recommended to laugh out loud. The more tender we are, the gentler and softer our smile will be. A gentle smile does not consume energy. We are advised by the wise to be very gentle when we smile and in everything we do, from morning to night.

We may not immediately succeed in putting a contented attitude into practice and keeping a cheerful face at all times. It creates tension when we put on a cheerful face without our inner energies matching it. If we force a smiling face, we are tense. The other person who sees our expression may realise that something is wrong. Only a pure mind gives a cheerful facial expression. A pure mind is created through inner purity by following the rules of the yoga path. Inner purity gives us a friendly inner attitude, which is called “santosha” in Sanskrit. It means joyfulness or a cheerful face. The inner state of santosha enables us to penetrate deeply into the science of light. Santosha is the basis for learning any occult science.

Smiling is not a mechanical expansion of the facial skin. The expansion of the skin is the result of the smile and not the smile itself. Just as a microphone and technical equipment are not enough to broadcast a radio programme, but a person is needed, a smile requires a person and not lips. When we speak with a smile on our face, it makes us healthy and gives health to others. A genuine smile is one of the best remedies. Our presence, our conversation and our smile can be tools of healing. When we cheer others up, healing energy flows through us to them.

We can meditate for a while every day that healing magnetism is sent to us from the sun and its healing energy enters us through our eyes and brow centre. Then the energy descends to our heart in the form of affection, sympathy and love. In this way, the energy rays begin to heal the people around us. Through our smiles, kind looks or humorous remarks, we become a channel to automatically heal people around us. By making others happy through our conversation, it brightens them up and healing energy flows to them.

When we smile, there is an automatic expansion of the etheric body. If we smile often, if it comes from the heart and we feel no boundary between us and the person in front of us, and if we can increase the number of people with whom we have no boundary, then such a smile also expands the etheric fields of other people. The expansion caused by smiling automatically makes people healthy. Smiling evokes an instinctive response. When we smile at others, they automatically smile back.

This is the nature of life. We should stop for a moment, think about it and understand it. The basic teaching is to carry out our activities with a smile and an attitude of cheerfulness - relaxed, with humour and yet attentive. When we learn to smile, it is an indication of a calm mind. In this way, we move through the day in a meditative attitude. All those who have realised and understood the soul have a smile on their face. Only when we are joyful and cheerful can we uplift our surroundings and thus ourselves.

A cheerful person is always full of humour, they have spirit and wit. This spirit and wit are common to all wise people. A wise person often makes a joke and uplifts the listener through jokes. Laughing about oneself is wisdom. The best comedian is someone who makes jokes about himself, not about others. True humour is when we can laugh about ourselves. Making jokes about others has nothing to do with humour and can cause problems. But if we make a joke about ourselves, we and the others have fun and nobody complains about it. Conveying joy absorbs even the suffering of others through smiles.

Many people feel heavy in their lives or are suffering themselves and find it difficult to smile. Some also cannot smile back when someone smiles at them. They also cannot allow jokes. Some even feel disturbed or offended when they see a smiling face because they think they are being laughed at. This is a disease. Without a smile, life is not worth living. There are many spiritual people who do not believe in smiling. But smiling is a very special wisdom. Being serious does not help; even the divine remains at a distance when we are so serious. If we perform exercises of discipleship without cheerfulness, they do not convey the very essence and joy of life and are worthless.

There are people who suffer from an illness for many years and yet remain smiling. There are people who even smile while they are dying. Socrates smiled in this way when death came to him in slow steps. It's a great example. Can we smile like this? Krishna lived for 126 years and was always very cheerful while doing tremendous work. His smile and his look inspired people and neutralised their personality. Krishna smiled when the arrow hit his foot and he was in great pain because he knew that the hour had come and he was looking at the angel of death. The angel also felt happy to see the smiling one. Rama is also said to have been very cheerful.

Wisdom comes from cheerful, joyous people. The smiling Buddha is another representation of Lord Maitreya; they are not two different beings. Lord Maitreya is very cheerful. Master CVV himself was very merry, cheerful and joyous, and so were Masters MN, EK and KPK. Master CVV found it helpful to bring in the merry spirit from higher circles - from the cosmic, solar and planetary levels. In general, the members of the Hierarchy are all very cheerful, merry people. When they meet, they make jokes and are not at all serious. Cheerfulness and gaiety are very important.

One meditation exercise is to meditate on the smiling face of a deity or to visualise a smiling image of the teacher or master within. It should be something divine. We can also contemplate on our own smiling face, because when we smile, there is light in it. Cheerfulness is a manifestation of light, and the divine light falls on the inward-turning mind. In this way, the seriousness and heaviness of life slowly recede from us and we find joy within ourselves. If we do not smile, then the light is switched off. A smile brings light into every face. When we take a light or the Master or an image of God as the object of our contemplation, we contemplate it as ourselves. We feel God as I AM. THAT exists as I AM.

/Sources used: K.P. Kumar: The Teachings of Sanat Kumara. Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India (www.aquariusbookhouse.com)