You must always be happy. You must
associate with joyous and happy people and be adorned with divine morals.
Happiness has a direct influence in preserving our health while being upset
causes illness. The basis of eternal happiness is spirituality and divine
virtue, which is not followed by sorrow. But physical happiness is subject to a
thousand changes and vicissitudes.
Have you heard the story of the emperor
who looked into the mirror and became very sad and despondent? He said, `Oh!
What a healthy and vigorous body I had but how worn it has become now! What a
handsome face I had but how ugly it has become now! What graceful stature I had
but how bent my body has become with age!' Thus he spoke one by one of the
physical conditions of his youth and expressed his sadness at their loss. Such
is the end of the physical happiness. (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, New York, June 19,
1912; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)
