Low buffoonery and mocking laughs reverted him to a baboon.: Even the flowers fainted at his cruel sneer.
About this ebook
Laughter is the physical manifestation of a sudden and excessive recognition of one’s own superiority.
What the orgasm of Laughter is to pleasure, that of Sobs is to pain.
As Laughter is the abrupt expansion of body and mind, so Sobbing is the sudden and spasmodic contraction of the same.
The ego-feeling takes shape as self-Complacence in Laughter, and as self-Pity in Sobbing.
Laughter is egoistic, always, but the young have a right, almost a duty, to be egoistic, otherwise they would not grow, and growing is always at the expense of someone else.
Human beings smile for joy and smile sadly; they weep in gladness and they weep in pain.
Loud laughter and talk should be shunned.
There are more grounds for sorrow than for laughter in our present world. The great teachers laugh seldom but smile often, in tenderness and sadness; sad to see another’s pain, tender to relieve it.
The violent physical laugh is the laugh of the coarse sense of moreness of the egocentric man, while the quiet, tender smile is the smile of the subtle sense of moreness of the unselfish man.
Mockery is the fume of little hearts, noble manners are the blossoms of the noble heart.
Golden silence is the only antidote to self-assertion.
Bhagavan Das’ annotations on Henri Bergson’s analysis of Laughter.
There is nothing benevolent in laughter, its purpose is to return evil for evil and to intimidate by humiliating.
Because laughter is self-assertive, conceited, presumptuous, and impertinent, even when it is merely playful, its fruit turns to ashes in the mouth of the philosopher who, being aware of the underlying egotism, is appalled by its pettiness and paltriness.
It doesn’t take long for the puffed up self-esteem to break out in laughter.
Let us pray to be spared from low buffoonery and mocking laughs.
Vex not thou the poet’s mind with thy shallow wit.
About the author
Dr. Bhagwan Dās was born at Varanasi on 12th January 1869. After a brilliant career as a student, he joined government service as a deputy collector. But he was too great a man to remain a relatively minor government official for long. Learning, more especially of religions and philosophy, was of absorbing interest to him. For a time he came under the influence of Dr. Annie Besant in collaboration with whom he founded the Central Hindu College. This institution developed in time into the Benares Hindu University. Later, he founded the Kashi Vidya Pith, a national university and was its head for a number of years.
He was not only a philosopher, but a prominent public figure as well. He was an esteemed member of the Central Legislative Assembly of undivided India. He presided at a number of social and political conferences. He was associated with the Hindustani Culture Society and was president of the National Committee on Communal Riots. As a fighter for national freedom, he courted imprisonment.
An erudite scholar in Sanskrit, he coined a large number of Hindi words. He wrote no less than 30 books, a number of them in Sanskrit and Hindi. A majority of his works concern philosophy and ancient Indian lore. He studied other religions, as also diverse subjects like psychology and socialism. He wrote books on these subjects as well. He was thus a many-sided personality with achievements to his credit in several fields. His pre-eminently distinguished position in the country was recognised when the highest national award of Bharat Ratna was conferred upon him. He passed away on 18th September 1958, rich in years and in honours.
Dr. Bhagwan Dās will be chiefly remembered as a thinker. He tried to bring the West nearer to the east and made the old intelligible in terms of the modern. He wrote:
. . . the thoughts, the ideals, the ways of human communities require exogamous alliances . . . for a new lease of richer life. Any honest exchange of commodities spiritual, as well as material, is profitable to both the parties concerned.
He was a great believer, in synthesis. To quote him again,
In essentials, in principles, in great things, unity; in non-essentials . . . liberty; in all things, charity; this should be our guiding star.
This great son of India is no more, but the ideas which he expounded live on. The Indian P & T Department is happy to issue a special postage stamp in memory of the great philosopher on the occasion of his birth centenary.
That was a tribute from the Indian Post.
