Laughter is the best medicine - Subramanian A

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE What is laughter? What is comedy? What is humor and sense of humor? Is it a good medicine for our mind and body? Nobody can give a clear definition for all these except for the last question. W e all experience the emotion of enjoying a comedy scene or a humorous scene but we just can’t define it in concrete terms. My laughter and sense of humor can be d ifferent from yours. Again, I need not enjoy the same humor always in the same i ntensity. It could be contextual and to the degree of my mood. Again, the repeti tion of the same comedy scene or the same dialogue which had led me to laughter need not invoke in me the same depth of it now. After a few repetitions, I might feel very awkward about it. I might even reject it. So, the effects are very reflective. Thus, it becomes very difficult to define w hat laughter is, what makes a person laugh in a particular context or what const itutes behind the chemistry of sense of humor. When do we smile or laugh? Let us examine. When we are not sad or when our heart is light. A smile comes out of our heart when we have no pre-judgments of situa tions, pre-conclusions or any other prejudices. We see a baby and send our smile . We have no prejudices against that baby. We have no discrete thoughts. We do n ot judge the baby from any angle. We see our own reflection upon the face of the baby. So, we smile at the baby to the fullness of our heart. We enjoy the prese nce of the baby. So, our smile and laughter and sense of humor are a question of transparency of our heart at a given moment. When our mind remains within a context, we can’t real ly enjoy laughter or comedy or humor in its fullness. This is the truth. Only a free heart can enjoy laughter in a better way. Why should we laugh when our heart is free? As we can see, bliss or “Ananda” is the very nature of our spirit. Taithareeyopanishad clearly says this. So, when our m ind and heart become free from their level of prejudices, dual nature, the essen ce of the spirit begins to radiate. One stage of it laughter, another stage is v iewing life as a comedian, as a witness with enough sense of humor. The final st age is just the experience of bliss. These all depend on the tightness or lightn ess of mind. How do gestures, mannerisms, certain ideas, certain conflicts and events make yo u smile or laugh? There is no particular theory about this. There is the feeling of being a witness, an element of contradiction, unexpectedness, suddenness whe n looked upon from a higher angle, an abnormality from the expected normal level s within the event horizon that make you laugh. The degree of laughter could var y from a discrete smile to a chuckle, to a noisy clamorous laughter. Something h as touched your heart. Something has made your heart light. Life has spoken to y ou in a different way. Whereas the participants may take the situation in a seri ous way, you, as a witness, as a detached person have taken it in a lighter way. This is the key factor. When politicians are waging a verbal battle on a stage, you can go on laughing if you can perceive the scene as a detached person. You are not at all emotionally moved by the scene. A drama is going on – that is all. What is humor? We are all actors in the drama of life. While acting, we are emot ionally charged. We are bracketed. When we review our scenes as a witness or whe n we see the same drama as an ordinary spectator, we can easily feel the differe nce of the situation as an involver and a detached reviewer. This difference is the basis of humor. You may feel that the situation did not expect so much over reaction or under-reaction. And if you have a good sense of humor, you will righ tly get at the triviality of the situation. So, what is the sense of humor? It i

s an attitude towards life. Life is a series of situations that are finally broken to an individual experien ce and judgment. When we look at the situations as not different from us, when w e look at them with a sense of emotion and attachment to them, we also get caugh t and find that the situation stands before us as an Everest. We try to judge an d solve the situation by standing within it and this will not give us an apt sol ution. Any solution as given out by our emotion and attachment will bear a limit ation. We would become more than being serious to the level of a frenzied state. It would be like a mad person trying to assess the world. But when we try to stand out of the situation and weigh it against the odds, we have a more clear vision of it. We can find better and easy solutions. We would immediately find the trivial nature of the situation and would laugh at the thou ght of previously assessing the situation as big as Mount Everest. These differe nces in the assessment of the same situation at two or more moods make you smile or laugh. The ability to feel a given situation at a gross level and at a subli me level to make out the difference that people are travelling in a bullock cart while they can easily afford an aero plane is what is called humor. You can ins tantly feel that people are dragging a simple situation into a war like situatio n by their rage of emotion, by their mental involvement. Actually we are laughin g at the foolishness of the world; at the ignorance of the world; at the thought of the world not being able to see life from lighter angles for a better living when better living is easily possible had everyone of us put in a little more e ffort. So, humor comes from a detached level of mind, from a free mind. See the differe nce between Arjuna and Lord Krishna standing in the battle field. The situation is the same for both of them. But see how differently they react to the same sit uation! Arjuna is emotional and attached and so he could not find a proper solut ion. But Lord Krishna is above all bondage, mental slavery and emotions and so h e could feel the triviality of the situation and offer excellent solutions. Lord Krishna keeps the mystic smile throughout. He is quite unperturbed. Krishna is an illustrious example for an apt humorist. He sees the triviality in a complex situation. Even while he lost his own race he keeps that mystic smile very open. This also should be our angle. A good humorist sees all the world is nothing bu t a stage. We have a variety of smile, laughter and comedy. A baby’s innocent smile, open smi le, discrete smile, mystic smile, giggle, chuckle, moderate laughter, noisy laug hter, action comedy, comedy in gestures, comedy in the dialogue delivery, mimick ing style – the list is endless. It can be seen that the individual nature is the deciding factor behind this variety. Why should I enjoy action comedy better tha n an intellectual humor? What is chemistry behind a mystic smile and laughter be hind a cheap comedy? There could be one or more reasons for such differences. Fo r somebody the contours of movements – gestures – body language - can be directly ap pealing than anything else. For somebody else, unexpectedness in a sequence of a ction can be the source of laughter more than anything else. Of all these, the sadistic smile is all the more dangerous. In an action comedy scene we can see our comedians landing into various troubles. It could easily le ad them to a hospital bed but we laugh seeing the sequence. Can we ever feel com edy in a scene where a man falls from a slippery edge or when a coconut or jackf ruit falls on somebody’s head? This need not be sadism as well because we are all sure that nothing is going to happen to these actors in that scene. We know that these actors are our familiar comedians whose job in that sequence is to make t he audience, viewers laugh and not to make them weep or cry. This pre-judgment i s there at the back of our head and so we enjoy the scene. Due to this pre-judgm ent, we get mentally detached from the scene and watch the sequence just as a ch ain of events, a chain of facts landing nobody into trouble.

Nevertheless such scenes mark a difference with intellectual humor where life is viewed from a higher angle and answering the call of life like Lord Krishna fro m the very battlefield of life. We all have laughter within us but do not know h ow and when to laugh. My context and your context can be different. Our mental r eactions can be different. Body level, psychic level and intellectual level prod uce different levels of humor. If you find laughter in the slang, then, you are at the body level only. If you are really humorous, of viewing life beyond emoti ons and sentiments, then, you are at the level of spirit. It you are after intel lectual humor, then, you are more at the mental, language level, wishing to toss with words and ideas. Whatever be the grounds for laughter, to be able to laugh is a gift indeed. It r eleases the mental pressure. Why should we wear a serious face and be brooding o ver? Why should we live in frustration for no reason? The problem with most of u s is our haunting past, our brooding nature. We often get stuck to this level. O nly a detached viewer and reviewer can get past this level. Those who have achie ved this level can whole heartedly laugh. They have a keen sense of humor about them. This is the keynote behind laughter. Only those who are mentally free can laugh better. This is the truth. Laughter is the best medicine. No doubt about it. It relaxes our muscles and eas es out our tension. Man should know how to reduce his tension. ‘Prasanna Vadanam D hyayeth, Sarva Vigna Upasanthaye” is one Mantra - ‘Meditate on the blooming, fresh, happy face of Lord Vishnu. All troubles will vanish. Laughter temporarily detaches the mind from everything else. It is actually this detachment that releases the mental tension. The highest grade of detachment is that of a monk – Sarva sanga parithyagi – and his laughter could be a mystic smile as that of Shakespeare when he said – The entire world is a stage. Today we have Laughter Clubs. They call it laughter therapy. That is good. Among a gathering they induce laughter and the induction current is carried on. But l et us not limit laughter to certain patterns or techniques or to a drill. Laught er should be taken as a way of life, as a view of life. The flexibility of mind should be maintained. This is most important. Society has a role to play in the promotion of laughter amongst most of us. Begi nning from our parents, everybody has a role to play. We are taught that life is full of care where laughter has no place. In the eyes of the world, laughter me ans taking life without any seriousness. The world has its own measuring scales for this. The basic problem is that we are anxious and afraid of our past, prese nt and especially of future. In the mental struggle for survival, we not only fo rget to laugh but make the world less bright by asking it to refrain from laught er. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Footnote:- This is taken from my Writer’s Diary- Book No . Serial No 2830 Dated 03 /05/2003 -04/05/2003