Q: But we need a reason to laugh. How can we simply decide to be humorous when we don't find anything humorous?

We always think that we need a comedian or a joke to make us laugh. When you start living in the present moment, your very

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existence will be beautiful and light. Your inhalation and exhalation of breath, the process of bread getting converted to blood in your body, the synchronous happenings of events in Existence; everything will be so beautiful. You will feel so much bliss and you will be ever smiling and laughing. Your whole being will exude laughter and bliss.

Laughing at a joke is alright, but when you fall in tune with Existence, you simply enjoy the big cosmic drama that is happening and you laugh at everything. Then there is no place for seriousness, no place for ego. You are no more solid. You are porous and playful. You develop a deep understanding of the Existential game and so you laugh.

You are able to see that everyone is only a player who has become so serious with their role, and you laugh at that. You laugh at how each one is deceiving the other when playing the game. You laugh at the thought that you are playing a game! When you are able to laugh, you have become the watcher, and when you have become the watcher, you are separate from the 'I' and 'mine' - the ego.

A small story:

Once there was a conference of Buddhist monks on the meaning of true spirituality. Each monk went onto the stage and gave a long speech. Finally, it was the turn of a Zen monk to speak. He went onto the stage and simply started laughing! He

laughed and laughed…from his being.

The laughter just rose from his belly. He started shaking uncontrollably with laughter.

His laughter was so infectious that soon all the others in the room started laughing, without even knowing why!

The laughter of all the monks produced a huge wave of positive energy in the room.

The monks reached a state of tremendous elevation.

Their thinking was shattered and their being was filled with bliss.

The Zen monk finally spoke, 'This is true spirituality.'

Laughter is the highest spiritual quality. It can lead you to enlightenment! Laughing is a great healing energy. If you laugh at your sickness, you will become healthy. Laughter is a beautiful way of connecting with the energy of Existence, which is pure healing energy.

In our meditation programs, we always include laughter and dance. They are the easiest ways to becoming a Buddha! Dance can make you simple and light. Dance, like laughter, is another easy and enjoyable meditation. When you can dance without a care, you become the dance itself. Energy will then gush from you.

You can dance without a care only if you are free from all your pseudo identities. As long as you think you are someone, you can't dance in joy. Dance is an outward expression of inner joy. And I am not talking about programmed dance where you know which step is going to come next. I am talking about letting go of your so-called identities and feeling the oneness with Existence and dancing with that joy.

The self-conscious ones are the egoistic ones. They are so bothered about what others will say about their dance and so they sit quietly. Again, they are guarding their ego and they are missing the joy of life like anything.

Once in a while at least, in your home, play some music and dance. Simply decide to let go. It can become an intense meditation that can take you beyond your mind and transform you in a way that words cannot. Be natural. Be original. The people who comment on your dance are simply missing out on the joy of dance. Don't bother about them. Just dissolve and become the dance itself. Laughter and dance are the easiest techniques to shed your ego and merge with Existence.

Q: When do we know that our ego is no more?

Simply put, when you no longer feel yourself as a separate entity, ego has dissolved. When you become enlightened, your ego has ripened and ruptured. When your ego drops, the resistance you posed earlier will disappear and Existence will simply flow through you.

Whether you know it or not, accept it or not, like it or not, Existence is trying to flow through you every minute, but you are so full of ego that you are unable to allow it. You miss the miracles of Existence because of your ego. You are unable to connect to Existence and so you continue to live in ego, ignorance and misery.

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You are so full of ego that you are living far away from your own being. There is so much of accumulated stuff inside you that you need to get rid of, the stuff that you have accumulated over many lives; not just this one life. There is no space for even yourself inside yourself! And because of this, you are operating from your periphery all the time instead of from your inner being.

When your ego dissolves, you cease to exist separately, and you simply merge with Existence! This is the state of enlightened masters. I often tell people, 'Destroy what you are not.' People look at me with shock. When I say this, what I mean is, you are your inner being. That being is now contaminated with all that it is not - the various active and passive forms of ego. These are what you need to destroy and that is what I mean when I say, 'Destroy what you are not and you have arrived!'

You are a part of Existence, and whatever causes you to think otherwise, is ego. A fish, whether it likes it or not, whether it accepts it or not, whether it believes it or not, is a part of the ocean. It has two choices. It either lives happily in the ocean, or fights with the ocean and still continues to live in it, making its life miserable.

If you flow with Existence, you will enjoy every moment of your life. You will become, sensitive, creative and fluid.

A small story:

A teacher took her students out for a picnic. They played games, ate their snack and enjoyed themselves. Suddenly, the teacher drew their attention to a beautiful rainbow that had formed in the sky. The children looked up at it with awe. The teacher watched them and said, 'Alright now, let us give a clap to the artist behind it!' The students were for a moment confused, but quickly understood and broke into applause!

Children need to be taught to appreciate the Existential beauty surrounding them or else they will lose the connection with Existence very quickly and become egoistic. They should not be allowed to become mechanical and egoistic. They should be brought up to be porous and sensitive.

When you can appreciate Existence, you have come closer to it. The whole of Existence is creativity. A creative person is closer to his heart than his mind. When you create, you are close to God. God is the creator, the created and the creation. When you create, you express your being, the quality of Existence. When you create, you are showing your love and appreciation towards Existence; you are adding a little more beauty to Existence.

When you are full of wonder for Existence, you can create. On the other hand, when you are full of ego, you cannot create; and even if you create, your creation will be a dead creation. It will be like a plastic rose, which looks perfect but lacks the fragrance and life. When an artist creates out of love, he can give a special quality to the creation. If he creates out of ego, the creation is dead in a way.

When you are not in tune with Existence, you will miss the fragrance of Existence. It is as if, when a beautiful fragrance surrounds you, you are closing your nose with stinking fingers. This is ego. When you experience the fragrance of Existence, you will start experiencing the synchronicity in it also.

You will be able to resonate with the whole of Existence. You will be able to see that every single leaf and twig are orchestrations of Existence or God. When you are in this state, whatever you seek, you will find, because you are moving in tune with Existence. Life then becomes a miracle! This is what we call the synchronicity of Existence.

And understand one thing: When you are resonating with Existence, you will not seek greedily. Simply, Existence will keep giving you what you need for the moment – even before you seek it. This is what I mean when I say, 'Whatever you seek, you will find.'

The problem is, we have distanced ourselves very much from Existence, from our source, which lies deep within us. So we need constant reminders about it. You can start shedding your ego by first admiring and appreciating the beauty surrounding you. That itself will start sowing the seed of transformation in you. It will cause you to understand that there is a life force mightier than your ego, which is conducting this universe.

The more you lose yourself to Existence, the more egoless you become. The more egoless you become, the more you lose yourself to Existence!