When I was meditating, I had a feeling of pure joy come up with uncontrollable laughter. Why did this happen?

Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

This could be an expression of the Ananda in Sat-Cit-Ananda. Ananda means bliss, but the idea is that Absolute Bliss is the ground of all emotions, whether it be intense sorrow or intense joy.

Another thing is when you’re in a space of clarity, we glimpse the “cosmic joke” perspective. Which is to see the humor in how many of us go about living our lives — thinking that we are bodies, egos, somebodies… That we are the physical and psychological traits we observe… Seeing through the illusion there are things to lose and things to gain… So then it’s funny because we ask ourselves, “what am I really striving for? Why do I fear? What is there to actually fear? What is up with this attachment business?” And it’s all just funny because at Jimi Hendrix put it, it’s all “castles made of sand.” Or as my guru-ji put it, “it’s all just fancy elbows.”

Here’s a story:

You’re rowing a boat on a misty morning. You can barely see 5 feet ahead of yourself. Suddenly, another small row boat bumps into yours. “Watch where you’re going, buddy!” You shout angrily. Just then, some of the mist dissipates to reveal there’s no one in the other boat. So the Universe is playing jokes like this all the time, silently giggling to itself, “Gotcha!” When you don’t get the joke, we don’t think it’s funny… But when you get the joke, you genuinely are able to laugh alongside the “Supreme Trickster.”