Live, Laugh, Love

His laughter was spontaneous, vibrant, joyful and infectious. He would catch his lower lip in his teeth as though this were the only way he could stop himself laughing too much. Were he not himself to limit it, one felt his merriment might shake the whole world.
_{Legacy of Love}

“Live, Laugh, Love.” This popular saying originated from a poem by Bessie Anderson Stanley titled “Success”, where she begins with, “He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much.” While most people have forgotten or are unaware of the origin of this famous quote, it remains so well liked that the Internet is filled with thousands of different variations and explanations of it.

Recently, I came across a particular variation of the quote that said, “Live every moment, laugh every day, love beyond words.” This seems like a good piece of advice for all of us.

Live every moment: As they say, “life is short.” We don’t know what tomorrow or even the next second will bring. Therefore, we should aim to live the Sant Mat way of life twenty-four hours a day. With the help of our simran, we should remember our main objective in life. We cannot be part-time satsangis. Baba Ji has often said that our meditation is not just two-and-a-half hours; we have to live in the atmosphere of meditation twenty-four hours a day. Similarly, in Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. II, Maharaj Charan Singh explains:

Every moment that we spend in his memory, in his love, in devotion and meditation, is accounted for and credited to us, and we get its benefits. So, whatever time we can give, we should try to give it. And this is not only the mechanical meditation of giving two hours and thirty minutes and then forgetting it the rest of the time. Our whole day, every day, should be lived in Sant Mat.

We must make a conscious effort to follow this path every moment while also remembering that we cannot change the past, and there is no guarantee of the future. Therefore, we must learn to live in the moment, every moment.

Laugh every day: Laughter is undoubtedly good for us. In fact, many studies have shown that laughter benefits our physical and mental health because it relaxes the body, boosts the immune system, releases endorphins, and protects the heart. This world is imperfect and each one of us has to deal with our own unique set of problems, but the Masters remind us that we shouldn’t lose our sense of humour. In Legacy of Love Maharaj Charan Singh says:

Except humans, nobody laughs. I don’t think you would have ever seen a bird laughing, or a dog laughing, or an animal laughing! They may smile, but you have not seen them laughing. This privilege is only given to humans. If we want to remain humans, humour has to be there just to relax.

All the Masters have a wonderful sense of humour. How many times has Baba Ji made us laugh? And how wonderful is it to see him laugh! So let us try to accept our circumstances and not take life too seriously because as we are often reminded, we’ll never get out of it alive!

Love beyond words: Many people have tried and continue to try to express what love is through the use of words. However, words are a poor expression of love, we have to experience love to know what it is. In Philosophy of the Masters, Vol. II, Maharaj Sawan Singh explains it so well when he says:

It is not easy to understand love because its true nature and greatness cannot be described in words. It is a pure and delicate feeling or emotion which can be experienced only by one who is in love. It is beyond the capacity of the tongue or the pen to describe it in any human language. Actually, love is another name for God. And just as it is not possible to reduce God’s greatness to mortal dimensions, so also is it not possible to describe adequately in any words known to man, the grandeur and sublimity of love.

In order to experience love for the Lord and his creation, we have to follow our Master’s instructions. That is why the Masters tell us that Sant Mat is not a path of words, but a path of action. It is with the action of meditation that we can experience this love.

So however we choose to live, laugh and love, we can look to our Master for guidance because he is the perfect example. Let us aim to be like him.

We have to forget; we have to forgive; we have to train our mind to take things easily, lightly, to laugh them away, ignore them. This is all training the mind.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}