| Imagine that you were a famous leader and the chair that you were sitting on suddenly breaks! Would you get upset and start yelling at whoever had brought the chair? Or would you stay quiet, be embarrassed, or would you burst out laughing? I’m sure that we would do anything else except laugh.
Once, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Mahant Swami, Viveksagar Swami and a few other sadhus, were in a town called Ukai. A devotee, Mr. Jethwa, had invited Swamishri to his house. He had prepared a beautiful seat for Swamishri. Bapa and the sadhus finally arrived. There were important things that needed to be discussed with Mahant Swami and Mr. Jethwa, so Swamishri asked Viveksagar Swami to wait outside. Bapa was sitting on the seat and since it took long, Mahant Swami also sat down with Bapa. A separate arrangement had been prepared for the murti of Shri Harikrishna Maharaj besides Bapa. Mr. Jethwa and Viveksagar Swami were old friends. They had both gone to the same engineering collage. Not seeing Viveksagar Swami, Mr. Jethwa asked where his old friend was. Swamishri then called Viveksagar Swami back into the room. Mahant Swami moved over to make space for him. As soon as Viveksagar Swami sat down, the entire seat fell back! Even Bapa fell backwards! Everybody was horrified to see this. However, Bapa burst out laughing! The seriousness of the fall had disappeared all because of Bapa’s laughter and his ability to take the situation lightly, even though it was very embarrassing.
Twenty years later, during a shibir outside Mumbai, Viveksagar Swami was talking about this incident. Bapa stopped his letter writing and showed everybody how he had fallen with his hands and feet in the air! This shows how Bapa took an embarrassing situation and turned it into a funny and memorable one.
What can we learn from this incident? We should try to make the best of every situation. So, the next time you’re in a situation where you feel like getting really, really mad, stop yourself! Perhaps laugh at yourself! Once you do this, you will feel much better. After you do that for a while, no matter what situation you may be in, you will always be happy! Try it! |
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