Cheerfulness
What is Cheerfulness?
Cheerfulness is the salt of the sadhana. It is a thousand times better than gloominess. - Sri Aurobindo
Humans are the only animals in the world who can smile using a facial expression. With Cheerfulness, a mother makes the home happy for her children; the nurse hastens the recovery of her patient; the master lightens the task of his servants; the workman inspires the goodwill of his comrades; the traveler helps his companions on their hard journey; the citizen fosters hope in the hearts of his countrymen. The Mother says it is a Great Force to be Cheerful.
The Mother’s Interaction with Surendra Nath Jauhar:
Once Mr Jauhar told the Mother in a fit of gloom, "I am very much disappointed, dejected, discouraged, demoralised, depressed, disheartened, pessimistic, unnerved, sad, worried and frustrated,"
She answered at once: "But in my Dictionary there are no such words... there are only words like happy, hopeful, cheerful, bright, buoyant, sparkling, merry, exultant and so on.
Why We Should Stay Cheerful? 1. When Divine is not at all sad, why should we? The Divine is not sad and to realise the Divine you must throw far from yourself all sadness and all sentimental weakness. - The Mother
2. To pass the tests/exams conducted by Physical Nature: Cheerfulness is one of the primary attributes to be used by man to overcome those challenges. Other additional qualities required are: endurance, plasticity, and fearlessness.
3. To overcome all sorts of physical illness and disorder: Cheerfulness is a perfect protection against all possible attacks of illness. Illness invades the etheric body or the nervous envelope if we do not stay cheerful.
How to Stay Cheerful?
1. Come closer to the Divine Mother: Practice of Nama Japa or Meditating on The Mother brings us closer to the Divine. We should shed all our burden of fear first and cultivate total frankness with the Mother inwardly and outwardly, and immediately the distance between us and Mother will vanish. Her Force will remove all our vital impulses, doubts, Wrong attachment, indifference, emptiness, dryness, moroseness etc.
2. Be a Child or like a Flower: Cheerfulness is a child’s native virtue, for children wear a daily beauty and buoyancy in their lives. The Mother recalls the story of the Amir of Khorasan who found sweet uses in his hours of adversity and could smile still - and even laugh at himself. Indeed, cheerfulness costs nothing, but is of immeasurable value in the commerce of the world: liveliness, serenity, good humour are never out of place.
3. Stay in the Happiness of the Psychic: The Mother says: It is that cheerfulness that we want to be always there in you. It is the happiness of the psychic that has found its way and, whatever difficulties come, is sure that it will be led forward and reach the goal. When a sadhak has that constantly, we know that he has got over the worst difficulty and that he is now firmly on the safe path.
4. Never fall for Vital Drama and Mental-Emotional Trap: Psychic love is always peaceful and joyous; it is the vital which dramatises and makes itself unhappy without any reason. We should avoid cheap jokes from Vital surface. We must develop the habit of admitting certain thoughts and rejecting others. Thoughts that are useful, that carry light and peacefulness and happiness, are naturally those that are worth accepting.
5. Immerse yourself in the nature and its beauty and feel the creation of Divine Love: The movement of love is not limited to human beings and it is perhaps less distorted in other worlds than in the human. Look at the flowers and trees. When the sun sets and all becomes silent, sit down for a moment and put yourself into communion with Nature: you will feel rising from the earth, from below the roots of the trees and mounting upward and coursing through their fibres up to the highest outstretching branches, the aspiration of an intense love and longing,—a longing for something that brings light and gives happiness, for the light that is gone and they wish to have back again.
6. Widen and Expand yourself in Divine Consciousness: Story About Lalita, a Sadhika’s interaction with The Mother: Once Lalita poured out her trivial irritations before the Mother, she but smiled and spoke soothingly, showing how easy it was to escape from one’s petty frustrations into the marvellous infinitudes of the Divine.
“Go to the sea beach, lie on the sand, look at the vast expanse of water in front of you and let your consciousness become as wide as the ocean Go to your terrace at night and gaze at the stars. Think of the infinity of space in which the stars are moving, each star a world by itself, and there are millions and millions of them, only a few of which we have seen with our telescopes. Imagine the marvels that are in time and space, which is only a tiny part of the manifestation of the Divine. He is so much more than all this. He whom we are here to realise, and with whom we have to unite in consciousness. You must have noticed the Milky Way in the sky. How many stars are there that we have seen? And how many years it has taken for their light to reach us? How many millions of them are there which most probably we shall never see, even with our latest inventions? Just think of all this and you will soon feel the absurdity of your small troubles. This wonderful world would flood us with its delight of existence, if only we could open our eyes and see!”
