The Golden Boat, part 6

1. Sleep

```

Lord, is sleep death or rest?

“Son, sleep is death; sleep is rest.

Sleep is fulfilling rest

When angels visit you

Or

You enter into the world

Of the illumining Beyond.

Sleep is death

When the vital world

Of

Destruction-night

Threatens you and frightens you.

Sleep is death

When you fail to see

The flow of Eternity’s river

In

Your consciousness-realm.” ```

2. Precious

```

Each thought is precious

When we live in the world

Of desire.

A precious thought blossoms

In the Garden

Of God’s gracious Light.

A precious will is born

In the Heart

Of God’s Intuition bright.

A precious surrender is born

When God and man

Barter their precious treasures:

Man, his agelong ignorance-sea;

God, His Infinity’s Peace and Bliss. ```

3. Cover

```

My sweet Lord,

Do You cover

My falsehood-life,

Impurity-breath

And

Bondage-night?

“My sweet daughter,

I cover them not;

Again, I expose them not.

I claim your possession-world

As my reality’s substance

And essence.

Therefore

I own your little world

And

I endeavour to change the face

Of your little world

To My Satisfaction-Light.” ```

4. Smile

```

Lord Supreme,

I smile to draw the attention

Of my little world around me.

But why do You smile?

What makes You smile?

“My daughter,

Nothing compels Me to smile.

Nothing compels Me to do anything.

But yet I do and act,

For I know I am not only the Doer

But also the action;

I am not only the Speaker

But also the speech.

If I fail to unite My creation-flower

With My Creator-seed,

Nothing can breathe on earth

Even for a fleeting second.

My child, I smile

Because inside the Heart of My Smile

Beauty’s day dawns;

Inside the Body of My Smile

Duty’s morn breaks.”

```

5. Grace

```

Lord Supreme,

Is there any difference

Between

Your supernal Grace

And

Reality’s face?

“My daughter sweet,

No difference at all.

I tell you a secret supreme:

The outer world,

My outer creation,

Pays no attention

To the omnipotent power of Grace.

But I depend, on earth,

On the descending flow

Of My own transcendental Grace.

My Grace is not only My preparation-seed

But My Perfection-Tree.” ```

6. Self-forgetfulness

```

My sweetest Lord Supreme,

Is self-forgetfulness

A divine blessing

Or

An animal curse?

“Self-forgetfulness can never be

A curse.

It can only be

A sad experience

In a seeker’s ever-running and

Transcending journey

To the Beyond.

The self-forgetfulness of the puny “I”

Is a blessing supreme indeed,

As the self-remembrance of the giant “I”

Is an unparalleled blessing

On the seeker’s march along the path

Of reality’s space.

Forget the sad and the saddening past;

Remember the illumining and the illumined present.

Accelerate the birth and the life-flow

Of the fast-approaching future-noon.

Before the dawn of realisation-height,

Self-forgetfulness at times saves

The seeker’s inner sky

And outer moon.

After the birth of realisation-height,

Self-forgetfulness in the heart

Of a Master divine

Is the zenith of impossibility remote.”

```

7. God's first secret

```

Do you know

What God told me the other day?

I am telling you

In top secrecy.

If you breathe a word to God

I shall never tell you anything again.

Remember, be careful!

Needless to say,

God has shared with me

Millions of His sacred secrets.

Now I shall share with you

His first secret:

At the end of your journey’s close

Your epitaph will read

‘An unfulfilled tear of God’;

My epitaph will read

‘A fulfilled smile of God.’

Remember, be careful!

If you breathe a word to God

I shall not share anything else with you;

No, not even the precise hour

of your God-realisation

Which God told me

Only this morning

In top secrecy.

```

8. Trophies and smiles

```

I love the trophies

Of a world-conqueror.

They show me

What God the Beggar

Needs and gets.

I love the smiles

Of a world-lover.

They show me

What God the Emperor

Gives and is.

```

9. O child of the Sun-God

```

O child of the Sun-God,

Did you ask your Father

How much Wisdom-power

He has kept aside

For you?

“I did ask my Father!

He said

He has not kept aside

Even a flame of Wisdom-power

For me.

I shall have to deserve and acquire.”

O child of the Moon-Goddess,

Did you ask your Mother

How much Love-perfection

She has kept aside

For you?

“I did ask my Mother!

She said

She has kept aside

Her Love-perfection-universe

For me.

She is eagerly waiting

For me to claim it as my very own.” ```

10. Echo

```

Echo of my life:

Give.

Echo of Heaven:

I don’t have it.

Love?

I don’t have it.

Perfection?

I don’t have it.

Echo of God:

Son, what have you done

With My Love?

What have you done

With My Perfection?

Have you squandered everything

Like an earthly fool?

No, Father, no!

Where then is My boundless Love?

Where then is My deathless Perfection? ```

11. O Lord, I trust

```

Lord, I trust Your sacred Heart.

It tells me

I am all Yours.

Lord, I trust Your secret Breath.

It tells me

You are all mine.

Lord, I trust Your open Soul.

It tells me

I shall perform the things

That You Yourself have failed

To perform on earth:

God-manifestation. ```

12. God's bounden duty

```

O my infant eyes,

Don’t worry!

God is nearing

Your vision-light.

O my orphan heart,

Don’t worry!

God the Father

And

God the Mother

Are totally incomplete

Without you.

Therefore

It is Their bounden duty

To blossom within you

And

For you, for you alone. ```

13. My hymns

```

My mind-desert hymn:

God is dry.

My mind needs Him, His dryness,

To be away from the world.

My heart-forest hymn:

God is dense.

My heart needs Him, His density,

To be in the heart-life of the world

And

The love-soul of the world. ```

14. When I left the body

```

My bugle grieved

When I left the body

For a future hope-life.

Do you believe it?

Well, I tell you,

God believes me totally,

And needless to say,

Unmistakably.

My bugle smiled

When I left the body

For a future surrender-love.

Do you believe it?

Well, I tell you,

God believes me unreservedly,

And needless to say,

Unmistakably. ```

15. O prophet

```

O prophet of my soul,

I assure you,

You shall be all victory

With your silence-life.

O prophet of my body,

I assure you,

You shall be all victory

With your sound-life.

O prophet of my Goal,

I assure you,

Your boat and my heart

Are destined to complete each other. ```

16. Accomplishment unparalleled

```

O my doubter-mind,

Since we need each other

So desperately

And

Since we do not need God at all,

Let us do one thing:

Let us escape from God’s world

And create a world of our own.

Then we can challenge God

And

His Believer-Heart.

O my doubter-mind,

Even if we lose

To God and His Believer-Heart,

No harm!

Together we shall remain independent

Of our Lord Supreme.

Is this not the accomplishment

Unparalleled

Since the birth of the Creator Himself?

```

17. Love's gift

```

When I became a voyager of Light

I gave my all to Love

And Love gave me

Its fountain of perpetual Peace

To feed God’s earth-reality

And

Expand God’s Heaven-Dream.

```

18. O Liberty

```

O sweet Liberty,

I need your beauty’s heart.

O brave Liberty,

I need your duty’s pride.

O perfect Liberty,

I need your Immortality’s Life. ```

19. No time

```

I love and love;

No time to hate!

I build and build;

No time to break!

I promise and promise;

No time to withdraw!

I become and become;

No time to see!

I am and am;

No time to dream! ```

20. Two boons

```

Two boons of my aspiration-life

I give to the world:

My transformation-body

And

My dedication-soul.

Two boons of my realisation-life

I give to the world:

My contemplation-flood

And

My oneness-blood.

```

21. Two fools

```

I have two fools in me.

They separately pray:

Lord, I need Your Love;

Lord, I need Your Light.

My Lord says:

You fool, you need love?

Don’t you know that

You are My Heart’s only love?

You fool, you need light?

Don’t you know that

You are My Soul’s only light?

```

22. Called and chosen

```

Many were called.

Therefore

My mind was called.

Two were called.

Therefore

My vital and my body

Were called.

Only one was called.

Therefore

My body was called;

Not only called,

But chosen;

Not only chosen,

But supremely chosen.

```

23. In my pocket

```

In my silence-pocket

I keep my heart’s love-power.

Therefore

I am happy,

I am fulfilled,

I am complete.

In my sound-pocket

I keep my life’s power-love.

Therefore

I am complete,

I am fulfilled,

I am happy. ```

24. Two unanswered questions

```

I asked God

Two questions.

Strangely enough,

He could not answer

Even one.

My questions were:

How and why

Am I inferior to Him?

How does He know

That I cannot perfect Him?

My Lord of Compassion

Proved that He can be

The Lord of Silence, too.

```

25. In tomorrow's dawn

```

O ashes of yesterday,

I do not need you.

Just stay where you are

In your futility’s sleep.

O meshes of today,

I do not need you.

Just stay where you are

In your stupidity’s dream.

I shall live in tomorrow’s dawn;

I shall live for tomorrow’s sun. ```

26. O heart of fire

```

O heart of fire,

Do burn me

For my purification white.

O heart of love,

Do love me

For my illumination bright.

O heart of light,

Do immortalise me

For my perfection height.

```

27. He dropped his mask

```

He dropped his mask and showed the world

That he was another God.

He dropped his mask and showed the world

That he was just a man.

As another God,

He revealed his Infinity’s Power.

As just a man,

He revealed the insignificance of

The finite earthbound hour.

```

28. They shall tell me

```

A new cry shall tell me

Where God is.

A new smile shall tell me

Who God is.

A new surrender shall tell me

How I can win God.

A new perfection shall tell me

Why I am the future God. ```

29. My heart conceals and feels

```

My heart conceals

The pangs of ages.

My heart conceals

The failures of human races.

My heart conceals

The indifference of God’s faces.

But

My heart feels

Only one thing:

God’s Heaven-free

And

Sky-vast changes. ```

30. They long to consume

```

My heart’s hunger

Longs to consume

The perfume of my soul.

My soul’s hunger

Longs to consume

The Light of my Lord.

My Lord’s hunger

Longs to consume

The imperfection of my bosom’s pride.

```

31. I learn and unlearn

```

I have

God’s brain and man’s heart.

With God’s brain I learn

The message of the infinite vastness.

With man’s heart I unlearn

The age-long pangs of inconscience-night. ```

32. Eavesdropper

```

O eavesdropper,

My mind employs you

To know what

God says about me.

O eavesdropper,

My heart employs you

To know what

Death thinks of me.

O eavesdropper,

My soul employs you

To illumine the furious man in me

And

To awaken the gracious God in me.

```

33. I need

```

To rend the veil of my life

I need

The help of my naked vision-knife.

To immortalise the core of my life

I need

Eternity’s patience-light

And

Infinity’s immortal might.

```

34. His unmistakable answer

```

Is it his impatience

That scolds

The disciples of his inner circle?

Who can answer?

Not he, not he!

Perhaps God.

Is it his sense of duty

That scolds

The disciples of his inner circle?

Who can answer?

Not he, not he!

Perhaps God.

Is it his unconscious attachment

That scolds

The disciples of his inner circle?

Who can answer?

Not he, not he!

Perhaps God.

Is it his supreme promise

To the Absolute Supreme

That compels him to scold and perfect

The disciples of his inner circle?

Ah, at least he knows how to answer this question.

He needs no God to answer this question,

For his very existence on earth

Is his unmistakable answer. ```

35. Realisations

```

When I sleep

Inside the Heart of my God,

I realise how kind and sweet

My God is.

When I sit

At the Feet of my God,

I realise how powerful and fruitful

My God is.

When I stand

On the Head of my God,

I realise how high and tall

My God is.

When I live

Inside the Eye of my God,

I realise how perfect my God’s Vision is

And

How complete my God’s Reality is.

```

36. Beauty-dream, beauty-flame

```

My soul feeds

On the blue dream of beauty.

I feed

On the snow-flames of beauty.

God’s Beauty-dream

Is His Silence-height.

Earth’s beauty-flame

Is her surrender-light. ```

37. When I look

```

When I look up

Silence sweeps me

Like a snow-white wave.

When I look forward

Hungry gloom-fires sweep me

Like a red-hot wave.

When I look backward

I become one

With oblivion-promise.

When I look within

I see the game

Of my aspiration-height

And God’s Compassion-light. ```

38. Fulfilment-sun

```

My soul smiled and said,

“Lord, You are all for me.”

My heart cried and said,

“Lord, You are more than enough for me.”

My dream-boat

In silence-light said,

“Lord, I need You as my eternal Companion.”

My reality-shore

In perfection-dawn said,

“Lord, You are all-where, my Fulfilment-sun.”

```

39. Safety

```

Heart-cry is my body’s

Only safe spot.

God-smile is my life’s

Only safe shore.

Earth-sacrifice is my vital’s

Only safe promise.

Heaven-oneness is my soul’s

Only safe perfection. ```

40. Belief-roles

```

Earth’s green belief

Comes and sings

Like the evening sky.

Heaven’s blue belief

Appears to be devoured

By the giant hunger of earth-life.

Man’s red belief

Stabs his reality

Before its journey’s perfection-start.

God’s white belief

Birthless and deathless sports

In the core of man’s aspiration-flames.

```

41. Only two things

```

Heaven likes only two things:

A child’s dream-blue eyes

And

His flower-white heart.

A child likes only two things:

Earth-mother’s concern-height

And

Heaven-father’s Compassion-light.

God needs only two things:

The Dream-boat of His Silence-sky

And

The Reality-shore of His Freedom-sound. ```

42. The smile of destruction-sea

```

Consciously I returned

To the confines of human blood

Only to be ridiculed and belittled.

Unconsciously I returned

To God’s Freedom-height

Only to be enthroned and crowned.

Soulfully hard I tried

To feed earth’s hungry abyss.

Alas, I was assailed by world-suspicion-god

And thrown into the smile of destruction-sea. ```

43. Six messages

```

My imagination tells me

That my God is far, very far.

My inspiration tells me

That although my God is very far,

I shall be able to reach Him

Someday, somewhere, somehow.

My aspiration tells me

That I shall ascend one step

And God will descend ninety-nine steps,

And then we shall be together

And become one.

My realisation tells me

That I do not ascend and God does not descend.

He just comes out of my dream-reality

And

I just come out of His Reality-dream.

My revelation tells me

That God and I together reveal

Eternity’s cry,

Infinity’s smile

And

Immortality’s light.

My manifestation tells me

That we manifest only two things on earth:

The promised land

And

A perfect life.

```

44. Four reasons

```

My soul wanders.

My heart wonders.

My mind flounders.

My vital squanders.

My body wavers.

Why?

Because

My animal life I have not yet conquered,

My human life I have not yet transformed.

My life divine I have not yet manifested

And

My life supreme I have not yet glimpsed. ```

45. Human heart and divine heart

```

A sacred heart

Is God’s inspiration.

A secret heart

Is man’s imagination.

A crying heart

Is man s illumination.

A self-giving heart

Is God’s realisation.

A surrendered human heart

Reaches God’s transcendental Heights.

A perfect and manifested heart

Is the pride of God’s Reality-dream.

A surrendered divine heart

Is the smile of the Absolute Supreme. ```

46. The mind's comrades

```

The mind plays with its comrades

Fear, doubt and anxiety.

While playing,

Fear dies

Only to become supremacy-strength.

While playing,

Doubt dies

Only to become totality-sun.

While playing,

Anxiety breaks

Only to become confidence-mountain.

```

47. Guest and host

```

Man is a wonderful guest!

He brings with him

Nothing

When he goes to God.

He feels that since God

Has everything and is everything

He needs no gift from a poor mortal.

God is a wonderful host!

He carries with Him

All that He has and all that He is

When He comes to man.

For He knows

That He houses within Himself

Eternity’s infinite wealth.

He knows that man is helpless, if not hopeless;

Hopeless, if not effortless;

Effortless, if not loveless;

Loveless, if not Godless.

```

48. Two roads

```

No one walks along this road.

God once tried, but He failed

Because

This road is

Man’s frustration-road: destruction.

Man once walked along this road,

But failed

Because

This road is

God’s perfection-road: satisfaction.

Someday, perhaps man and God

Will together walk along this road

When

Man offers to God his surrendered cry

And

God offers to man His unmanifested Smile.

```

49. My life-play

```

When the day of my life-play dawned

I blamed God,

For my day was empty

Of infinite Light.

When the evening of my life-play ended

I blamed myself,

For I had not tried to ascend achievement’s height

and I had not transcended my reality’s Goal. ```

50. Becoming happy

```

Lord, why am I suffering so much?

“You are suffering

Because you are a sleeping body.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?

“You are suffering

Because you are a demanding vital.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?

“You are suffering

Because you are a doubting mind.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?

“You are suffering

Because you are an unaspiring heart.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?

“You are suffering

Because you are an unillumining soul.”

Lord, is there any way I can be happy?

“Yes, you can.

Just tell your body

That its boss is your dynamic vital.

Just tell your vital

That its boss is your searching mind.

Just tell your mind

That its boss is your surrendering heart.

Just tell your heart

That its boss is your fulfilling soul.

Just tell your soul

That its boss is your

Dream-transforming

And

Reality-immortalising God.”

```

Editor's preface to the first edition

The first eight poems in this book are the last in a series of 208 poems that Sri Chinmoy wrote on 2 February 1974. The first 200, written in the 22-hour period between 12:01 a.m. and 10:01 p.m., were printed as Parts 2 through 5.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The Golden Boat, part 6, Vishma Press, 1974
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/gb_6