1. Sincerity

A human being
Does not know
What sincerity is.

A divine being
Does not know
Anything else save
   And
Except sincerity.

2. Intensity

Concentration
   Is
Intensity-power.

Meditation
   Is
Immensity-power.

Contemplation
   Is
Earth's,
   Heaven's
    And
      God's
Utility-power.

3. Love

Human love
Tells the world
What it can do for the world,
   Although
It does not do it.

Divine love
Tells the world
That it is crying to be accepted
As a real friend
By the world of suffering,
The world of misunderstanding
   And
The world of constant miseries,
   Frustrations, trials and tribulations.
Love divine
Is begging this world of ours
Only to be accepted
So that it may then serve the world.

4. Transcendence

The human in us
Ascends for success,
   Greater success
      And
         Greatest success.

The divine in us
Transcends for self-giving,
   More self-giving,
    And
      Most self-giving.

5. Willpower

Willpower
Is the light of the soul.
This light of the soul
Does not expose
The darkness of millennia
Which we embody.
On the contrary,
This light of the soul
Illumines the ignorance-night
That has captured us
And wants to strangle us.
This light frees us,
This light liberates us
From ignorance-night
And
Then illumines the ignorance-night
That had enveloped us.

6. Oneness

Oneness with the physical world
Teaches us
   How to divide,
   How to separate,
   How to limit
    And
   How to bind;
It teaches us
   How to destroy the thing
That we feel is real in us,
Which is love.

Oneness with the spiritual world
And spiritual life
Shows us
   How to give,
   How to serve,
   How to grow into
      And
   How to become a divine being,
   The Being Supreme
Who embodies the Love of the
   World Beyond.

7. Vastness

Vastness
Is
The expansion of purity
In the human being.
Vastness
Is
The song of oneness
In the life of the seeker.
It is
The life of oneness
With the world of love
In the life of a genuine seeker.

8. Light

Where is light?
Is it in the mind?
Yes, it is.
When will it come to the fore?
Nobody knows.
Only God knows.

Where is light?
Is it inside the heart?
Yes, it is.
When will it come to the fore?
Now, right now.
Not only does God know it,
But we all know it.

9. Purity

Purity
In the mind
Can save the world.
Purity
In the vital
Can build the world for God's use.
Purity
In the body
Can alone create a
Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Purity
In the heart
Is God-Perfection
In a human being.

10. Courage

With physical courage
We take pride
In breaking the world
In our own way.
With the courage of the spirit
We offer the world to God.
We place the world, our world,
At the Feet of God
So that He may guide and mould
The world, our world,
In His own Way.

11. Harmony

If you want to see
The world with your human eyes,
You can never see harmony.
If you want to see
The world with the eyes of the world,
You can never see harmony.
      But
If you want to see the world with God's Eye,
Then you will see
That this world
Is nothing but cosmic harmony.
How do you see through God's Eye?
You see only through constant self-giving
To the Source within you.

12. Delight

My yesterday's experience was:
   Receiving is all delight.
My today's experience is:
   Giving is all delight.
My tomorrow's experience will be:
   God-becoming in God's own Way
      Is all delight.

13. Compassion

Compassion
      Is God's Perfection
           In man
            And
Man's total, ultimate transformation
           In God.

14. Heart

A seeker's heart
Cares neither for success
Nor for failure.
A seeker's heart
Longs for the seeker's
Constant acceptance of God
And
God's constant
Unconditional experience
In and through the seeker's life.

15. Charity

Charity needs a beggar,
But who wants to play
The role of a beggar?
Nobody.

Oneness-necessity needs reality
And
Reality needs oneness-necessity.

Not charity,
But oneness-necessity
Is reality's divinity.
Oneness-necessity
Is what God wants from us.

16. Humility

Humility is not only
The swiftest speed to God-destination,
But something more.
Humility brings God-destination
Nearer to our starting point.

17. Victory

The hour of victory strikes within me
In my aspiring heart
Only when I offer the reality-second
To the hour of victory.
The reality-second
Which is flooded with aspiration-light
Has to be offered
To the hour of victory for its arrival.

18. Affection

Sweet
Is affection-plant.
Sweeter
Is love-tree.
Sweetest
Is oneness-fruit.

19. Speed

My aspiration-speed
Will carry me to God.
My dedication-speed
Will carry me to God.
My surrender-speed
Will not only bring God to me,
But it will make God work in and through me
In a God-illumined way.

20. Divine Beloved

The human beloved
Is a one-day wonder,
And then it becomes boring
And is all gone.
It is an experience
Of frustration-night.
The Divine Beloved
Is He who grows in me,
Who makes me feel that
I am eternally of Him
And
I am eternally for Him.

21. Discrimination

Discrimination is
A power of illumination.
In the mental world,
Discrimination is the height achieved
By the aspiring divine in us.

22. Perfection

Human appreciation
Of perfection
Is a short-lived proclamation.
Divine appreciation
Of perfection
Is a continuous proclamation
Of perfection
   And
A continuous transcendence
Of perfection.

23. Peace

In the outer world
Peace is man-made
   Continuous compromise.

   In the inner world
Peace is God-Reality's
   Fulfilling Immortality.

24. Alertness

Alertness
Is the perfection
Of earth-bound reality.

   Alertness
Is the upward, forward
   And inward movement
      Of God-revealing Light,
      God-illumining Compassion
          And
      God-fulfilling Satisfaction.

25. Devotion

My devotion is sweet
   When I sit
At my Master's feet.

My devotion is sweeter
   When I devote myself
To my Master's
   Heaven-illumining vision.

My devotion is sweetest
   When I feel
I have nothing to show
To the world at large
Save my oneness,
Devoted oneness,
With my Inner Pilot,
My Beloved Supreme.

26. Victory

Human victory feeds
The human in us.
   Divine victory satisfies
The divine in us
In fulfilling oneness,
Universal oneness.

27. Compassion

The day I saw my Master's face
   I became the Supreme's
      All-embracing,
      All-liberating
         Compassion-Grace.

28. Concentration

Concentration tells me
What I can do.

Meditation tells me
What I can become.

Contemplation tells me
What I eternally am.

29. Heart

I started my journey
With a human heart.
On the way
My human heart
Became tired and wanted rest;
   Therefore
I allowed
My human heart
To rest.

Now I am continuing my journey
With a divine heart.
This heart not only
Will carry me
To my destined shore,
The Silence-Beauty of the Supreme,
But also will bring
My Beloved Supreme to me
For Him to use me
In His supernal way.

30. Surrender

I used my
Human surrender
To please mankind.
Mankind needed more,
   Demanded more.

   I used my
Divine surrender
To please God.
God immediately said,
   "Enough!
You have caught Me,
You have bought Me.
From now on
I am eternally yours."

31. Light

Where is light?
In the mind?
   Yes, in the mind
   Light there is,
   But difficult to discover.

Where is light?
In the heart?
   Yes, just enter
   And claim your old friend:
   Your own forgotten reality.

32. Purity

Purity is
Man's necessity.

   Purity is
God's expanding Reality.

   Purity is
Perfection's duty
In God's infinite, eternal
      And
Immortal Beauty.

33. Concern

Human concern
Is quite often
Our unconscious way
   Of self-imposition,
   Self-aggrandisement.

Divine concern
Is always
The song of Oneness-Reality,
   Oneness-Divinity,
   Oneness-Immortality.

34. Father

When I think
Of my father,
Infinity's vastness
Captures my heart.

When I think
Of my mother,
Immensity's sweetness
Enraptures my heart.

35. Soul

Each soul
Is at once
Earth's opportunity
      And
Heaven's opportunity.

Earth's opportunity fulfils itself
   In God's Manifestation-Light.
Heaven's opportunity fulfils itself
   In God's Silence-Height.

36. Oneness

Where is oneness?
On earth?
   Impossible!

Where is oneness?
In Heaven?
   Impossible!

Where is oneness?
   Oneness is there
   Where I see
   The Face of my Beloved
        And
   Where I become
The Grace of my Supreme.

37. Beauty

Human beauty
   Is not skin-deep.
Human beauty
   Is soul-deep.

Human beauty
   Is God's illumining
    And
   Fulfilling reality
In His cosmic Game on earth.

Human beauty
   Is not to be condemned,
   Is not to be looked down upon,
   Is not to be neglected.
Through human beauty,
Surrendering beauty
To the Absolute Supreme,
   The seeker in us
Expedites his Godward journey.

38. Truth

What is truth?
Truth is God's Love-Light.
   And what is God's Love-Light?
God's Love-Light
   Is the height of His constant
   Self-transcendence.
Truth is God's Vision-dawn.
Truth is God's Reality-noon.
Truth is God's Immortality-day.

39. Gratitude

Sweeter than the sweetest,
Greater than the greatest
Is man's gratitude-heart.

40. Patience

Patience
Is God's fulfilling
Length of time.

Patience
Is man's Eternity's
   Necessity,
   Reality,
   Divinity
    And
   Inevitability.

Patience
Is man's harbinger
Of perfect Perfection.

41. Love

I love God
   Because
I feel that with God's Love
I can create within me
      A new world — a world of beauty,
      A new consciousness,
      A new Kingdom of Heaven.

God loves me
   Precisely because
Without me
He feels He is
      Hopeless,
      Fruitless,
      Useless.
Without me
His existence has no meaning;
   Therefore
God loves me —
The seeker in me,
The lover in me.

42. Silence

God's Silence-Light
   Created me.
My silence-light
   Annoys the world,
   Confuses the world,
   Puzzles the world.

God's Silence-Height
   Immortalises me.
My silence-height
   Is the conscious imperfection,
   Constant imperfection,
      Of my non-acceptance of God's
         All-encompassing,
            All-embracing
               Reality on earth,
               Reality in Heaven.

43. Humour

Do you know
How God dares to live
Eternally?
   He dares to live eternally
Just because He knows
The supreme secret:
   The secret-life of humour.

If God on earth
      And
God in Heaven
Failed to enjoy
The life-breath of humour,
By this time,
God would have greatly suffered.
   The human in God
Would have died long ago
From earth's mental sickness.
   The divine in God
Would have given up
His divinity in Heaven
Because of Heaven's conscious indifference
   To earth's excruciating pangs.

God will live eternally
Just because
He enjoys snow-white humour.
In snow-white humour
   He shakes off His earthly headaches
      And
      His Heavenly frustrations.

44. Existence

My earth-existence
Makes me feel
What I can do
Both for mankind
   And
For Heaven.

My God-existence
Tells me what Heaven and earth
Have already done for me.
      Heaven has inspired me
   To run to the farthest Beyond.
      Earth has energised me
   To become my ancient God-Reality.

45. Joy

He is a fool
Who thinks
   That he can make
Others happy.

He is a greater fool
Who thinks
   That others can make
Him happy.

He is the greatest fool
Who feels
   That his earth-life
Is for his own joy
   And not for the Joy
Of his Beloved Supreme.

46. Consciousness

Earth-consciousness
Slowly and steadily
Ascends
To the highest Truth.

Heaven-consciousness
Soulfully and speedily
Descends
To cure the malady
Of human life:
The imperfection of ignorance-night.

47. Receptivity

Acceptance
Is our first receptivity
In our aspiration-life.

   Rejection
Is our second receptivity
In our aspiration-life.

   Surrendered oneness to reality's height
Is our third receptivity
In our aspiration-life.

   What do we accept?
We accept God-Light in all.
   What do we reject?
We reject our
Conscious influence-night
      In others' lives.

   What do we surrender?
We surrender our ignorance-pride
To God's Compassion-Sea.

48. Bliss

A child is blissful
When he hears
   A thunderous noise
      Or
When he himself creates
   A thunderous noise.

An old man is blissful
When the desire-life drops
   From his earthly existence.

A seeker is blissful
Only when he knows
That God has made him
His devoted and surrendered smile.

49. Delight

Delight
Is the expansion
Of Divinity's light in us.

Delight
Is the conscious flow
Of Immortality's life-energy.

Delight
Is
Immortality's song,
Immortality's dance,
      And
The aspiration-flame
Of humanity's perfection
      And
   Satisfaction
In God.

50. Closeness

On earth,
Closeness is nothing
   But physical proximity.

In Heaven,
Closeness is nothing
   But the soul's oneness,
   Conscious oneness.

In God,
Closeness is nothing
   But the song of His Self-amorous,
   Self-fulfilling Immortality.

Human closeness is
Our conscious self-giving of the "I"
   Which tells us that God is for others
      Or
   That God cannot be achieved.
      But
   God is forever and forever
For the seeker,
Who is an instrument of His.
   If the seeker
Feels that God is eternally
For the seeker,
   Only for the seeker,
Closeness on earth
Will not remain a far cry,
But will become the living breath
   Of consciousness-reality
      In the seeker's aspiration-life.

Editor's preface to the first edition

During a meditation at the United Nations on 4 April 1975, Sri Chinmoy invited members of the United Nations Meditation Group to give him spiritual words (poem 1 to 22).

Four days later, during a meeting in Queens on 8 April 1975, Sri Chinmoy again invited spiritual words, this time from his disciples (poem 23 to 50).

As each word was offered, he spontaneously created a poem based on that word.