The Bright Side of Life

The following incidents – one from a tour in India and another overseas – are reproduced from Legacy of Love and provide an insight into Maharaj Charan Singh’s jovial disposition.

Maharaj Ji always had a way of looking on the bright side of life, no matter what the circumstances. Rajasthan is a hot desert state, and on one occasion some of his group had chosen to sleep on the roof terrace because of the heat. During the night, a dust storm blew up and their mosquito nets collapsed around them, causing everyone to shift beds and bedding back indoors. One person, however, unperturbed by all the commotion, slept on through the night in a tangle of bamboo poles and mosquito netting. This brought about a conversation the following morning during which Maharaj Ji commented that “a man truly at peace with himself could sleep on the edge of a sword.” Someone complained that as a result of the disturbed sleep he felt “miserable.” Maharaj Ji laughed and said he shouldn’t feel miserable: the morning air was pleasant and they’d passed a good night. “I slept sound,” was another comment, “to the sound of mosquitoes,” to which Maharaj Ji responded with a mischievous smile: “My sound was much better.”

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[Maharaj Ji’s] laugher 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.

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“Next morning, walking down some high, steep, stone staircase of one of the buildings at the pyramids, Master was sighted by a group of about fifty Mexican children, early teenagers and younger, and all brightly dressed. The very same instant they all let out an uninhibited whoop of joy and raced across the eighty yards or so to completely engulf the Master at the foot of the stairs. He joined them in their joy, laughing as much as they, caught up in the innocence, catching them up in his soaring, carefree laughter.”