A smile is one of the most ecstatic forms of expression. The corners of the mouth are turned upward. A smiling moon and the sun are depicted with captured mouths in children’s stories and cartoon. A sign of a smile, if turned downwards, then it is a gesture of anger and disappointment.
A smile is a sign of recognition, an indication of a persons feeling towards an animate or inanimate subject. It is universal and belongs to all mankind. Knowledge of a language, time, and place are irrelevant only from our senses. One or more, in our own lovely land, a smile among her people has been an inborn virtue, a contagious smile.
Adjusting a smile
Man can adjust a smile in accordance with the situation. One can listen to gossip and slanderous chatter with a subtle smile while judging the character of the narrator. There are a few persons who display permanent smiles.
This is graphically shown in the faces of some nationalities. A few keep on smiling whilst withholding their temper and tongue. A lingering smile between two in a bus, train, bus stop or on the pavement, may find themselves on the poruwa or altar. Come to think of it even our lovely pets show their smile with their eyes, wagging of the tail, caressing their bodies on our legs with shines and meows. The essence of a smile is shown in the eyes.
A babe knows most lovably the sign of a smile, smiles back. Of course, there is the smile of the diplomat. A disarming smile while his country is arming.
We cannot forget the lovely songs of yesteryear. Not king Coles That certain smile, There is a smile on your face Brother John in the film The singing nun, Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile, and when Irish eyes are smiling - The song writer of the latter had not heard of the Sri Lankan smile when it was composed.
Worth more than all
The enigmatic smile of Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa is for all time. Some say that the smile is that of a mother with child. Still, it is the most expensive ‘smile’ in the world.
Of all these smiles, the most serene, compassionate, loving and forgiving smile is depicted in all the aces of our beloved celestial teachers. We pray to them with tears of repentance, gratitude and despair. They listen to us with an ethereal smile.
A smile is not a laugh. A guffaw is also an expression of mirth. A bawdy joke, antics of animals or humans can make one to laugh with hands on ones hips, coughing, sprouting out saliva and with never ending haw, haws. Yes! Even the hyena can laugh. But they cannot smile.
A smile can bring out the best in human beings. The donor and the recipient, at a funeral of a middle class gentleman, mourned were amazed to see almost all those seeking alms by a famous temple paying their respects at the bier. When requested to partake of the ‘mala batha.’ We came here to pay our last respects to a person with a smiling face for the last time. That is the alms we came to received. He always smiled with us, bowed his head. How we loved that smile we waited for it, on his way to work. His smile was worth more than all the alms we receive.
A golden link
Then again, the funeral of the Head of a very immortal department representative of all political parties in their eulogies had said “we will never forget his genuine smile.” Of the same person, the sanitary worker/cleaner had said. “When Sir gets down from the car and wishes us with a smile, we forget all our troubles. It is as though the ‘whole world is smiling with us.
How true. A smile is a golden link that bind all mankind and also our gentle friends of the lower runs of the evolutionary ladder with a golden chain of recognition. It knows no distance. Truly, ‘smiles’ is the longest word in the English language. There is a mile between the two ‘Ss.’ It travels much more. Mahathma Gandhi said “Spare a second of your thoughts for a smile when alone or in company. It will erase the evil thoughts that cause man to shed tears’. The Gandhi said these words on January 27. He was assassinated on January 30. He left us with a smile, clutching a Holy Book uttering the name of Bhagavan.
It was late U. That, who as Secretary General of the United Nations said, “Quote, when you are born, you cry alone. All around you are in smiles. Let your Life be such, that when you die, all around you cry. Only you are serene is death with a smile on your face.”
Between the two five letter words that are a part of a Mortals life, namely birth and death, there is another beautiful five letter word that make them to converse with their own kind and the world taught by words and expressions by our Heavenly Teachers who spoke of peace with a ‘smile’.
Sripathy Jayamaha
www.dailynews.lk
