Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 17

1601. The first surprisingly soulful day

```

Today

Is the first surprisingly soulful day

Of the rest of my life.

Tonight

Is the first astonishingly peaceful night

Of the rest of my life.

```

1602. The God-Hour

```

Before the God-Hour strikes

Opportunity is meaningless.

After the God-Hour strikes

Opportunity is useless.

Everything must be done

Exactly at the very moment

The God-Hour strikes.

```

1603. What soulful purity has done

```

What has soulful purity

Done for me?

It has richly helped me

To spread my oneness-love

Here, there and all-where.

Try to achieve it.

You, too, will succeed.

```

1604. In Heaven the souls are placed

```

In Heaven

The souls are placed

According to their self-giving,

Man-serving

And God-loving deeds

Performed here on earth. ```

1605. God's choice child

```

To remain always

God’s choice child,

Keep your heart’s door

Always wide open

And shut your mind’s door

Completely. ```

1606. Awake, arise!

```

Awake!

The beautiful and smiling Heaven

Is waiting for you.

It wants to give you

Its perfection-joy.

Arise!

The soulful and crying earth

Is waiting for you.

It desires

Your aspiration-heart.

```

1607. Far from your reach

```

O my mind,

How can I blame you

If you do not give me

The beauty and divinity of peace?

By now I should have realised

That peace is something

Far from your reach.

```

1608. A sorrowful heart

```

As night unfailingly gives us

The stars and the moon,

Even so,

A sorrowful heart eventually gives us

A peaceful satisfaction.

```

1609. One depression-moment

```

One depression-moment

Is a slow and long

Failure-day

Followed by

An unmistakable and uncompromising

Death. ```

1610. Because your heart is selfless

```

Because your vital is charmless,

Nobody is afraid of you.

Because your heart is selfless,

Everybody is fond of you. ```

1611. Why explain?

```

Explain?

Why explain?

Why do you have to take

The unnecessary trouble to explain?

The higher worlds

Do not need it.

This world and the lower worlds

Do not believe it. ```

1612. A rewarding and illumining experience

```

Self-pity is, indeed,

A wasted pity.

But self-concern is undoubtedly

A rewarding and illumining experience. ```

1613. They will do it for you

```

Do not blame yourself.

This world will do it for you,

Far beyond your imagination.

Do not admire yourself.

The higher worlds will do it for you,

Far beyond your expectation.

```

1614. Why disbelieve in God?

```

Why disbelieve in God?

Many are doing so.

You will be in the same boat as many others.

The boat will be overloaded.

Slowly, very slowly, it will sail.

Believe in God.

Very few are doing so.

You will have very few fellow passengers.

Yours will be a safe, smooth and speedy journey.

Plus, the goal is certain. ```

1615. Immediate confession

```

Immediate confession

Is the wide perfection-door

That shows us

Beauty’s satisfaction-peace. ```

1616. It makes no difference

```

As long as your heart remains

An ever-mounting aspiration-flame,

It makes no difference

What your weaknesses are. ```

1617. Transformation

```

The only way to utterly destroy

Your bitter foe

Is to make him a friend of yours.

My worst enemy: my doubting mind.

I have turned it into

A most faithful friend

By constantly feeding it

With my soulful heart. ```

1618. Who says that you have failed?

```

Who says that you have failed?

You have not blamed anybody.

Unless and until you have blamed somebody,

You are not a failure.

You cannot be a failure.

Never! ```

1619. There must be soulful hearts

```

As the planet sun is rising always

Somewhere in the world,

Even so, every day there must be soulful hearts

That love God only

Somewhere in the world.

```

1620. The last key

```

Keep trying!

It so often happens

That the last key opens the door.

Likewise, it is your last prayer

That may grant you salvation,

And your last meditation

That may grant you realisation.

```

1621. The magic touch

```

Proudly and foolishly

Everybody wants to perfect you.

Devotedly and soulfully

You try to liberate yourself.

To everybody’s wide surprise

Your liberation

Will have the magic touch

Of their perfect perfection. ```

1622. The birth of my importance

```

The birth

Of my disproportionate importance

Is the death

Of my Lord’s Compassion-Importance

In my life.

```

1623. Go beyond your life

```

Go beyond your life

Of teeming ideas;

You will see your ideal-eye.

Transcend your ideal-eye;

Behold, you will become

God’s Satisfaction-Heart. ```

1624. If you cling

```

If you fearfully

Cling to the body,

How can you cheerfully

Grow into the existence-reality

Of the soul?

```

1625. Remembrance

```

Remembrance is painful

When I see that in vain

My sweet Lord tried to change me.

Remembrance is delightful

When at long last

I have surrendered my orphan will

To God’s omnipotent Will.

```

1626. You call it self-command

```

You call it self-command,

I call it life’s perfection-plant.

You call it life’s perfection-plant,

I call it God’s Satisfaction-Flower. ```

1627. My Lord's Compassion-Lamp

```

My sweet Lord’s Compassion-Lamp

Is within my crying heart.

My dear Lord’s Guidance-Light

Is within my searching eyes.

How can I fail

In the battlefield of life?

How can I?

```

1628. If you seek a perfection-life

```

If you seek a comfort-life

You will fail.

But if you seek a perfection-life

You will succeed.

Plus, a comfort-life

Will automatically be yours. ```

1629. Unreservedly change yourself

```

Unreservedly

Change yourself internally.

Unconditionally

Enjoy yourself delightfully —

Today, tomorrow and every day.

```

1630. The mind that enables you

```

The mind that enables you today

To see more vastness

Is great.

The heart that enables you today

To feel more oneness

Is good.

The soul that enables you today

To be more aspiring

Is excellent.

```

1631. A peace that lives for me

```

There is a joy

That powerfully thinks of me

Infinitely more

Than I think of myself.

There is a peace

That fruitfully lives for me

Infinitely more

Than I can live for myself. ```

1632. The real in me

```

The real in me

Rejects what I do not need:

Temptation-night.

The real in me

Grants what I truly need:

Perfection-light.

```

1633. When you do not know

```

When you do not know

What to do,

Do what you feel best.

When you do not know

What to feel,

Love God, only God,

Unreservedly —

If possible, unconditionally.

```

1634. Expectations

```

Since the mind itself

Is all confusion,

How can you expect the mind

To liberate you from confusion?

Since the heart itself

Is all aspiration,

You can quite reasonably and unmistakably

Expect aspiration from the heart. ```

1635. A more fruitful thing to do

```

Look back.

You will see that you have done

Absolutely the right thing

By looking forward.

Continue looking forward

Until the day you realise

That there is a more meaningful

And more fruitful

Thing to do,

And that is to dive deep within. ```

1636. How I wish to live

```

How I wish to live

Prayerfully and sleeplessly

In a green dream-boat

In a blue reality-sea. ```

1637. The only way

```

This world has nothing for you.

Suddenly, one day you will start going

Your own way.

Your way, too, will have nothing

For you.

Eventually you will start going God’s Way,

For that is the only way.

```

1638. An excellent spiritual Teacher

```

He is an excellent spiritual Teacher

Whose eyes are firmness

And whose heart is forgiveness.

```

1639. The Compassion-Eye of my Supreme

```

As teeming are my problems,

Equally streaming is the Compassion-Eye

Of my Beloved Supreme.

```

1640. All secrets of the world

```

The moment you know

Who you really are,

All secrets of the world

Will be an open book to you. ```

1641. A totally new life

```

What is realisation?

Realisation is something that gives us

A totally new life,

And not something that repairs

The old and useless life.

```

1642. Neither accuse nor excuse

```

Do not accuse yourself

Unnecessarily.

Do not excuse yourself

Rapidly.

If you accuse and excuse yourself

Continuously

You will be lowering the standard

Of the entire world,

Which is already so low.

```

1643. By virtue of my patience-light

```

By virtue of my patience-light

I know what I am truly like.

By virtue of my oneness-delight

I know what all human beings are like. ```

1644. His life is charmed

```

His mind is great

Because his mind is charmed

By Truth.

His heart is good

Because his heart is charmed

By Peace.

His life is perfect

Because his life is charmed

By God

And God alone. ```

1645. If you are firm

```

If you are firm with yourself,

God’s Justice-Light

Will richly reward you.

If you are not firm with your dear ones,

God’s Indulgence-Bounty

Will be all yours.

```

1646. A cheerful obedience

```

Go forward!

You do not need an inner assurance,

You do not need an outer confidence.

What you need is a cheerful obedience.

Go forward!

```

1647. Give God a chance

```

Are you tired of being who you are?

Are you?

Then give God, for the first time,

A chance to take care of you.

God can easily take care of you,

And He will definitely do it.

Just give Him a chance.

```

1648. You can transform

```

You can transform

The hurtful pressures of your life

Into delightful pleasures

Just by telling yourself

That the world around you

Can easily exist

And even prosper

Without you. ```

1649. Your choice

```

What you have is your voice.

What you are is your choice.

Your choice will lead you

Either to your destruction-night

Or to your satisfaction-sun.

```

1650. Always take one more step

```

Always take one more step

Than you intended to.

You can, without fail, do it.

Lo, you have done it. ```

1651. A natural and divine strength

```

Weakness

Is an unnatural and undivine strength

That separates man

From his natural and divine strength:

Perfection-love and oneness-satisfaction.

```

1652. Each dedication-day

```

Each dedication-day

Gains an invisible force.

Each invisible force

Is visible at God’s choice Hour:

Now.

```

1653. My confidence

```

My confidence

Is not only

My life-transforming decision

But also

My God-loving satisfaction.

```

1654. My needs

```

What my searching mind needs

Is a clear map.

What my crying heart needs

Is a safe journey.

What my self-giving life needs

Is a golden shore. ```

1655. Inseparably one

```

Doubt-poison and your unreal self

Are inseparably one.

Faith-nectar and your real nature

Are inseparably and eternally one. ```

1656. If you can conquer

```

If you can conquer

Discouraging doubts and haunting fears,

Then yours will be a life

Of blossoming joy

And

Fulfilling satisfaction. ```

1657. Your own terms

```

He can never be a real Master

If he accepts you as his disciple

On your own terms.

```

1658. Self-betrayal

```

What is anxiety

If not self-betrayal?

What is self-betrayal

If not my Supreme Lord’s

Total disappointment in me?

```

1659. Conquer and revive

```

Conquer your nervousness

Through your awareness.

Revive your awareness

Through your fruitful soulfulness. ```

1660. Obscurity and futility

```

You fool,

Do not take your life’s shameless obscurity

As your mind’s peerless profundity!

Obscurity and futility are one,

An inseparable reality.

```

1661. Two lines to Heaven

```

The soulful meditation-line to Heaven

Is never busy

Because

Very few seekers can afford

To use that line.

The wild frustration-line to Heaven

Is always busy

Because

Everybody easily can afford

To use that line.

```

1662. Capacities

```

Yesterday I had the capacity

To see the face of truth.

Today I have the capacity

To feel the core of truth.

Tomorrow I shall have the capacity

To become the breath of truth. ```

1663. The whispering voice within

```

Admit your weaknesses!

Decide to obey

The whispering Voice within.

Everything will be all right.

Perfection will be your new name.

```

1664. I shall obey You

```

I shall obey You.

That means You have given me

The capacity to obey You.

I have the capacity to obey You.

That means You are always

Within me and for me.

```

1665. Forgetfulness-slumber

```

What has replaced

My sweet remembrance of God’s Love?

Alas, alas,

My heart’s total forgetfulness-slumber. ```

1666. If you are a seeker

```

If you are a seeker,

Then you will eventually know

Where God is.

If you are a believer,

Then you will unmistakably know

Who the real God is.

```

1667. A totally lost warrior

```

You are a hero-warrior

In the inner life.

This is what I have found.

How is it that

In the outer life

You are a totally lost warrior? ```

1668. A most beautiful toy

```

Gratitude,

What is it?

Man’s most beautiful heart-made toy

For God to play with. ```

1669. Three old things

```

You need your

Three old things back:

Your simplicity-life,

Your purity-mind,

Your sincerity-heart.

```

1670. My tasks divine

```

My tasks divine are urgent:

I need a new God

To give me another chance.

I need a new seeker

To inspire my aspiration-heart.

```

1671. Because your heart believes

```

Because your heart believes

In a higher ground

God has cheerfully granted your life

A joyful sound. ```

1672. Two God-fulfilling friends

```

Self-control and satisfaction-goal

Are not only immediate neighbours

But also

Two God-fulfilling friends. ```

1673. Satisfaction wants immortality

```

Ignorance in man

Wants superiority.

Knowledge in man

Wants equality.

Wisdom in man

Wants liberty.

Satisfaction in man

Wants immortality. ```

1674. Crimes

```

Stupidity is a minor crime.

Insecurity is a serious crime.

Impurity is a dangerous crime.

```

1675. Heart-sermons

```

Your lip-sermons

Are for your mind

To appreciate.

Your heart-sermons

Are for God

To love.

```

1676. A new idol

```

How can you have

Improvement-satisfaction

When you have been copying

Your clever mind

For such a long time?

Have a new idol.

Call it the fountain-heart

Of your wisdom-art. ```

1677. Time's secret gift

```

If you can soulfully appreciate time

For granting you ceaseless opportunities,

Then time will give you in secret

An unimaginable gift:

Capacity-flood.

```

1678. The beginning

```

Experience is the beginning

Of knowledge-dawn.

Knowledge-dawn is the beginning

Of wisdom-moon.

Wisdom-moon is the beginning

Of satisfaction-sun. ```

1679. An unconscious suicide

```

Do not accept failure!

If you accept failure

You are lowering yourself

In your own estimation.

An act like that

Is an unconscious suicide. ```

1680. A fault ignominious

```

No other fault of yours

Can be as detestable and ignominious

As that of your mind

Loaded with others’

Precarious faults.

```

1681. I am surprised to see

```

I am surprised to see

That my vital is afraid of others.

I am astonished to see

That my mind is afraid of my life.

I am shocked to see

That my heart is afraid of God. ```

1682. I imitate

```

I imitate.

I want my mind to imitate.

What is the thing

That we are going to imitate?

The thing we are going to imitate

Is the fragrance-rose

Of my purity-heart.

```

1683. Ruin

```

Yesterday’s two fearful eyes

And today’s one doubtful mind

Have totally ruined

My tomorrow’s fruitful God-realisation. ```

1684. See and reveal

```

The pessimist sees

Futility in everything.

The optimist sees

Utility in everything.

The seeker-artist reveals

Divinity through everything. ```

1685. Opportunity is a dream

```

Opportunity is a dream,

A sweet dream,

Which is always eager to awaken

The heart-flower

Of life’s experience-reality.

```

1686. If you have

```

If you have a grateful life,

Then you are undoubtedly

Greater than the greatest.

If you have a prayerful breath,

Then you are undoubtedly

Purer than the purest.

If you have a soulful heart,

Then you are undoubtedly

Better than the best.

```

1687. Everybody wants to know

```

Nobody wants to know

Who you are.

Nobody wants to know

What you are.

But everybody wants to know

If you have something nice

To say about them,

If you are really eager

To know all about them.

```

1688. Expect and deserve

```

The mind’s measureless poverty

Constantly expects.

The heart’s measureless wealth

Unmistakably deserves. ```

1689. If you live a surrender-life

```

If you live a hope-life,

Then your hope is nothing

Other than weakness.

If you live a surrender-life,

Then your surrender is nothing

Short of strength.

```

1690. Invited and welcomed

```

Do you think that ignorance-force

Has no pride of its own?

Do you think that it knocks

At your life’s door uninvited?

I tell you, the undivine forces

Will never darken your heart

Unless and until you have

Either consciously or unconsciously

Invited and welcomed them.

```

1691. Inspiration is the capacity

```

Inspiration is the capacity

That always runs fast.

Aspiration is the capacity

That always flies high.

Realisation is the capacity

That always dives deep.

Perfection is the capacity

That always triumphantly succeeds.

Satisfaction is the capacity

That always sleeplessly proceeds. ```

1692. An unforgotten dream

```

An unforgotten dream:

I love God’s Compassion-Eye.

An unforgettable reality:

I love God’s Justice-Hand. ```

1693. Our respective roles

```

God and I have played

Our respective roles.

I have deepened my faith

In Him.

He has completely comforted

My heart. ```

1694. You are on your own

```

True, you are on your own,

But you are not alone.

God’s Compassion-Eye

And Forgiveness-Heart

Can never disown you,

Never! ```

1695. Your daily life

```

Your daily life is peopled with

Seekers and non-seekers,

God-doubters and God-believers.

Your eye of concern

Encompasses them

And your heart of love

Teaches them.

```

1696. I must know everything

```

I must know everything

About myself,

So that I can satisfactorily hasten

My success-life.

I must know at least an iota

About God,

So that I can unerringly hasten

My progress-life. ```

1697. Only one thing

```

The Supreme wants to sprout

Only one thing

Within your heart:

A constant Divinity-Smile. ```

1698. Do not criticise yourself

```

If you want to judge yourself,

Do judge.

To judge is to evaluate correctly

What you have and what you are.

But do not criticise yourself.

If you criticise yourself,

Then you are weakening

Your present aspiration-heart

And ruining

Your future manifestation-life. ```

1699. Intention and capacity

```

Hope has no real intention

Of deceiving us.

Again, it has no adequate capacity

To please us. ```

1700. You are great because

```

You are great because

Your mind makes

The right decisions.

You are good because

Your heart executes them

At the right time.

```

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the seventeenth volume in a series of ten thousand “flaming flower-poems” which Sri Chinmoy is placing devotedly, unreservedly and unconditionally at the Compassion-Feet of God, our Beloved Supreme. They stand as a supreme offering from the unfolding beauty of his flower-heart and the flaming heights of his realisation-sun. Indeed, a treasure-tower which will at once be claimed by humanity’s self-ascending cry and Divinity’s God-descending Smile.

Editor's note to cover photo

At their first meeting on 16 July 1976, United Nations Secretary-General Waldheim presented Sri Chinmoy with a silver medallion in appreciation of his work as spiritual leader of the Meditation Group at the United Nations. The two met again on 7 March 1977, when Sri Chinmoy presented the Secretary-General with a copy of a book he had written about U Thant, and on 24 October 1978, when Sri Chinmoy presented him with his newest book, A Soulful Tribute to the Secretary-General: The Pilot Supreme of the United Nations — a tribute to Waldheim.

Editor's note

Some poems in this first edition were later selected by the author for a special collection of 207 Flower-Flames (FFP). The author also chose to revise some of his original poems for this anthology:

FF-1661: FFP 79 (revised version).

FF-1699: FFP 80 (revised version).

From:Sri Chinmoy,Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 17, Agni Press, 1981
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ff_17