Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my

In the radiant and compassionate words of Paramahansa Yogananda, the great teacher of divine love and inner realization, there shines a truth as eternal as the sunrise: “Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” This is not merely a prayer—it is a living philosophy, a call to embody joy as service and compassion as strength. In this single sentence lies the wisdom of the ages: that the purest act of healing is not done through grand gestures or eloquent words, but through the quiet light of one’s presence—the light that flows from a peaceful soul and touches other hearts without a single sound.

Paramahansa Yogananda, born in India in 1893 and later known throughout the world as the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, devoted his life to bridging East and West through spiritual understanding. His teachings combined the ancient philosophy of yoga with the universal message of divine love. When he spoke of letting the soul smile through the heart, he was describing the harmony between spirit, emotion, and expression. The soul is the source of divine joy; the heart is its vessel; and the eyes are its messengers. When these three are aligned, a person becomes a living lamp—radiating warmth, lifting the fallen, and bringing peace to those who suffer.

To Yogananda, the smile was not a trivial gesture, but a sacred current of divine energy. It was the visible form of inner bliss, the evidence that the soul was in tune with the infinite. In his teachings, he often reminded his students that a single smile, born of sincerity and love, could change the atmosphere around them. Just as the sun does not ask the flower to bloom but shines and lets it happen naturally, so too should we shine from within—quietly, steadily, and without expectation. To “scatter rich smiles in sad hearts” is to be an instrument of healing, to lift others not by force, but by presence.

Throughout history, there have been those whose very being carried this same radiance. Consider Mother Teresa, who walked the streets of Calcutta with nothing but her compassion and her gentle smile. Her face, lined with humility and love, became a mirror of the divine heart. People came to her not only for food or medicine, but for the comfort of her gaze. Like Yogananda’s teaching, her smile was the language of the soul, and it spoke directly to the weary and the forgotten. She understood that sometimes the smallest expression of love carries the greatest power to transform despair into faith.

Yogananda’s words also remind us that spiritual strength is not cold detachment, but warm connection. The enlightened person is not withdrawn from the world but fully present within it—seeing the pain of others, yet refusing to be consumed by it. Their joy is not selfish delight, but a selfless offering. The true saint, he taught, feels the sorrow of the world yet remains anchored in peace, so that they may share that peace with others. Thus, to smile from the soul is to resist the darkness not through denial, but through light—to say, “I see your pain, and still, I bring you hope.”

From this truth, there arises a timeless lesson: cultivate the smile of the soul within yourself. Begin not by pretending to be happy, but by quieting the mind, softening the heart, and remembering that joy is your birthright. When you speak, let kindness be your tone. When you look upon others, let compassion flow through your eyes. You may never know whose burden your smile has lightened, but in lifting another, you lift yourself. Every time you choose love over indifference, every time you share joy in the face of sadness, you participate in the ancient work of healing the world.

So, O listener, take Paramahansa Yogananda’s wisdom as a sacred practice: let your soul smile through your heart, and your heart through your eyes. Become a river of gentleness in a world of noise. Do not underestimate the quiet power of your light—for the smallest candle, in the darkest night, still holds the strength to guide a traveler home. And if you can bring even one sad heart to smile again, you have fulfilled a divine purpose: you have scattered heaven upon the earth.