A new hilarious twist was added to the timeworn April Fool's Day this year as Osho World Foundation declared 1st April as Mulla Nasrudin Day in honour of this laughing mystic.

But who is this Mulla Nasrudin? Replies, Osho, "Born in Iran, Nasrudin is a Sufi mystic, a little crazy, but always tremendously wise. "To be Mulla Nasrudin means two things: Be foolish in your wisdom and be wise in your foolishness. It is a very great contradiction. Be wise in your foolishness and be foolish in your wisdom. You should be aware of the fact that Mulla Nasrudin is a Sufi device. It is to make you clear that life is wise in its foolishness. And when you try to be wise you become a fool. The greatest wise people are like fools. And the greatest foolish people are those who pretend that they are wise. If you have to choose, choose the fool and you will become wise. Don't choose to pretend wisdom, otherwise you will become a fool."

Explains Osho, "Mulla Nasrudin is a simple man with utter purity -- every act in his life is full of wisdom, but on the surface looks a little crazy. He belongs to the same category as Bodhidharma, as Mahakashyap. But he is a little more eccentric than any of them. Who has recognized Mulla Nasrudin? Very few people. Who has recognized Mahakashyap suddenly laughing? Only Gautama Buddha. Ten thousand monks were present but nobody could understand this eccentric behavior. But it was arising out of the empty heart, from a clarity of vision. Only another man of the same clarity can understand it."

Osho concludes, "Buddha's message in short is: Be a light unto yourself. And mine? Be a joke unto yourself! Being a joke unto yourself, you will be a bliss for everyone."

Well-known humourous poet Surendra Sharma led a jam-packed Osho World Galleria in Ansal Plaza into a laughter safari for more than an hour. The chuckles turned into full-throated laughter and then into uncontrollable guffaws as he related tantalizing jokes about the perils of matrimony. The event stared off by Osho setting the stage with Mulla jokes in his inimitable style. Later, a noted TV Producer-Director Col. Raj Kapoor a.k.a. Swami Raj Bharti also contributed some choice anecdotes to keep the laughing momentum.