:: LAUGHTER ::

LIFE: THE GREAT COSMIC JOKE

“The whole of life is a great cosmic joke. It is not a serious phenomenon -- take it seriously and you will go on missing it. It is understood only through laughter.

Have you not observed that man is the only animal who laughs? Aristotle says man is the rational animal. That may not be true -- because ants are very rational and bees are very rational. In fact, compared to ants, man looks almost irrational. And a computer is very rational -- compared to a computer, man is very irrational.

My definition of man is that man is the laughing animal. No computer laughs, no ant laughs, no bee laughs. If you come across a dog laughing you will be so scared! Or a buffalo suddenly laughs: you may have a heart attack. It is only man who can laugh, it is the highest peak of growth. And it is through laughter that you will reach to God -- because it is only through the highest that is in you that you can reach the ultimate. Laughter has to become the bridge.

Laugh your way to God. I don't say pray your way to God, I say laugh your way.to God. If you can laugh you will be able to love. If you can laugh you will be able to relax. Laughter relaxes like nothing else.”

The Revolution, # 10

LAUGHTER TIME WITH OSHO:

1. One day Mulla Nasruddin said to me, "My uncle lived in Italy for years. He died from wine, women and song."
I said to him, "Nasruddin, I had never thought that your uncle was so Omar Khayyamic. Tell me something more about your uncle. I am interested."
Mulla Nasruddin said, "Actually it is not as romantic as it sounds. And I will not hide the real thing from you. I will tell you the truth, Osho. He was singing this rude song under a married bird's window and her husband came out and brained him with a chianti bottle. He died of wine, women and song."

2. 'I am leaving home!' shouted Mahamud to his father, Mulla Nasrudin. 'I want wine, women, adventures!' His old man got up out of his chair.
'Don't try to stop me!' shouted Mahamud at him.
'Who is trying to stop you?' exclaimed old Mulla. 'I am coming with you.'

3. One day I asked Mulla Nasruddin, "Mulla, every day I see your servant taking two glasses of wine on a tray to your room. Since you are always alone, for whom is the second glass?"
Nasruddin replied, "Once I take a glass of wine I am no longer the same person. I become a different person altogether. Don't you think it is my duty to offer my hospitality to this other person?"

4. fter Paddy had jumped a red light and smashed into another car, he dashed over to the other vehicle to discover that the driver was a priest. "Good God, man," said the badly shaken priest, "you almost killed me!"
"I am really sorry for that," said Paddy, taking a bottle from his pocket. "Drink some of this whiskey for your nerves," offered Paddy.
The grateful priest gulped down some of the whiskey, and then started shouting again, "What do you think you were doing?" he asked. "I am lucky to be alive!"
"Oh, Father," said, Paddy, "I am sorry. You will feel a lot better after you have drunk some more of this."
The priest had a few more stiff shots and then asked, "Why don't you have a drink?"
"I don't drink, thank you Father," said Paddy. "I will just sit here and wait for the police."

5. Sharon was supporting Paddy at the altar at their wedding, when the priest announced that he would not perform the ceremony so long as Paddy was drunk.
"Take him away from here," he told Sharon, "and bring him back when he is sober."
But Father," wailed Sharon, "he won't come when he is sober."

6. Paddy and Sean are driving home to Dublin from an Irish wine-tasting festival and have tasted a little too much.
"Paddy, are we near the city yet?" asks Sean.
"Yes," says Paddy, "we must be. We are knocking down more people."
"Drive slower then," cries Sean.
"What do you mean, drive slower?" says Paddy. "You are driving!"

7. Hymie is a little drunk when he comes home. "Becky," he calls to his wife in the bedroom, "start nagging, or else I won't be able to find the bed!"