901. THE REAL IN ME

Purity awakens the real in me:
  Oneness.
Humility strengthens the real in me:
  Perfection.
Gratitude enlightens the real in me:
  Satisfaction.

902. THE HEART-LAND

Now that I have
Become an explorer,
I shall explore
A new land:
  The heart-land.

903. YOUR RIGHT OF SELF-ENCOURAGEMENT

My Lord Supreme,
I need self-newness.
How can I have it?
  “My child,
You can have self-newness
Only by exercising your right
Of self-encouragement.”

904. THE DEFEAT OF MY LIFE

There is a defeat
That is more glorious
Than victory,
And that defeat
Is the defeat
Of my entire life
  By Truth.

905. SINCE YOU DO NOT PLAY

Since you do not play
The foul game
  Of blind negatives,
Yours will be the Consciousness-delight,
  Here, there and
    All-where.

906. SOMETHING EXISTS ABOVE

Something exists above
Our usual desire-life,
And that something
Is our aspiration-life.

Something exists far above
Our rare aspiration-life,
And that something
Is our realisation-goal.

907. WHAT I SHALL HAVE

Today what I have
Is a tiny aspiration-seed.
  Tomorrow what I shall have
Is a powerfully developed realisation-blossom.

908. MY ASPIRATION-HEART TELLS ME

My confusion-mind tells me
That life is nothing
But a dreadful nightmare.
  My aspiration-heart tells me
That life can be
A lovely dream.
  Why not let me give a chance
To my self-giving heart?

909. MY SOUL HAS ALREADY BECOME

My mind does not know
What it must know.
  My heart knows
What it must know:
The beauty of gratitude-flames.
  My soul not only knows
What it must know,
But it has already become
  Satisfaction-sun.

910. A GOD-SMILE

As a vigorous shake
Can awaken a sleeping man,
Even so, a God-Smile
Can inspire an unaspiring seeker.

911. THE HAPPY RESULT

Unreservedly strengthen the part of you
That wants God’s Love
Above everything else,
And soulfully see
  The happy result.

912. MY SUPREME REALISATION

Darkness is light:
This is my human realisation.

Light is for darkness:
This is my divine realisation.

Darkness is for light:
This is my supreme realisation.

913. HELPLESS AND SENSELESS

Lord, is it because
I am helpless
That I am senseless?
  Or is it because
I am senseless
That I am helpless?
  “No, no, you are helpless because
You do not cry,
  Cry for Light.
You are senseless because
You do not need Light.”

914. GOD SEES ME DIFFERENTLY

God sees me
In a totally different way
Than the way I see myself.
He sees me
As another God.

915. BECAUSE GOD LOVES ME MORE

Precisely because
God loves me infinitely more
Than I love myself,
God cannot afford to be
As careless with my life
  As I am.

916. IF WE CAN RAISE OURSELVES

On earth
If we can raise ourselves,
In Heaven
We shall rise
  With the cosmic gods.

917. MAN LOVES HIS CONFUSION-FOG

Alas, man loves
His confusion-fog
More than he loves
His sure capacity,
Which can easily illumine
His confusion-fog.

918. YOUR FOOLISH MIND

No wonder you have failed
In the battlefield of life!
You have failed because
Your foolish mind
Is full of frail opinions.

919. PAINS FOLLOW US

Pains, physical or otherwise,
Follow us into tomorrow
Because we do not cancel them today
  With our soul-power.

920. YOU MUST LISTEN

My Lord says to me:
“My child, since you cannot see
The things I can see,
You must needs listen to Me,
Although you fail to understand.”

921. WISDOM-LIGHT DAWNED ON ME

Wisdom-light dawned on me
The day I recommended the Truth
To my own little
  Receptivity-self.

922. THE ANSWER

Wait and see.
The temporary emptiness
Of not discovering
The answers of life
Cannot last,
For the Answer itself
Is blossoming
  Petal by petal
    For you.

923. SELF-GLORY

Self-glory:
What is it
  If not deceitful?

Self-discovery:
What is it
  If not fruitful?

924. IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE

If you have the sincere courage
To declare that you are
  Totally lost,
Then God has the unreserved Compassion
To show you the way
  To the Satisfaction-Goal.

925. WHEN YOU ARE LIBERATED

When you are liberated
From the attraction-vital
And the repulsion-mind,
You will be able to enjoy
  A perfection-life
    And
  A satisfaction-heart.

926. MINE ARE THE EYES

Self-exploitation,
Mine are the eyes
  That dislike you.

Self-deception,
Mine is the heart
  That hates you.

927. LET ME FOLLOW MY HEART

O world,
I know not why
My heart does not want
To go the way you want to go.
Let me at least
Follow my heart
  For a while.

928. WHEN I PRAY TO THE FALSE GOD

When I pray
To the false god,
My praying is not enough.
I have to run towards him.
When I pray
To the real God,
He immediately runs towards me.

929. IF YOU LONG FOR PEACE

In your outer life
If you long for peace,
Then in your inner life
You must become energy-action.

930. BEYOND THE INNER BARRIERS

Are you aware
Of your inner barriers?
If so, fear not,
For your awareness itself
Will carry you beyond
All the inner barriers.

931. IF GOD AND TRUTH COMMUNICATE

If God and Truth can communicate
  In perfect silence,
Then what is wrong with me?
I must try and succeed
  In joining them.

932. COUNTERFEIT VICTORY

You must decide
Whether you want
  An uncompromising victory over falsehood
  Or the counterfeit version of victory:
  Truce.

933. REMAIN UNSEEN

Remain unseen,
Remain unapplauded.
Faster than the fastest
You alone, and nobody else,
  Will be able to run.

934. TWO ENEMIES HAVE LEFT ME

You are asking me,
Why am I so happy?
I am happy because
At long last
My two unparalleled enemies,
Submission-life and domination-vital,
  Have left me.

935. I AM NOT NEEDED

I am not needed
To say the right thing.
I am only required
To be the right thing.

936. YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF

I tell you,
You will hit and hurt yourself
If you fail to learn
How to bend.

937. DIVINITY FAILS TO HIDE

Divinity fails to hide
When generosity shines in the heart,
  Sincerity shines in the mind
    And
  Purity shines in the vital.

938. TRUTH IS PARALYSING

Truth is paralysing
Your insincerity-smile.
You are paralysing
The perfection-beauty of Truth.

939. OLD GOD, NEW GOD

The old God
Taught me how to fight
Against ignorance-night.

The new God
Is teaching me how to surrender
To His Vision-Light.

940. THOSE WHO ARE ALWAYS LATE

Those who are always late
Will never have
Teeming aspiration-flames
  To win the satisfaction-smile
Of the inner sun.

941. EACH HEART IS THE BEAUTY

Each heart is the beauty
Of a God-dreamer.
Each life is the delight
  Of a God-lover.

942. THREE TEAR-DROPS

The doubt-beast left me
The moment God discovered
  At His Feet
Three tear-drops
  Of my heart.

943. SPECIAL ATTENTION

Because I receive
Special attention from You,
My Lord,
Everybody is jealous of me.
  Because You bless me,
My Lord,
With Your special Love,
Everybody shuns my company.
  “My child, that is fine with Me.
I hope that is fine with you, too.”

944. AN EXCELLENT BOSS

Have you ever worked with God?
He is an excellent Boss.
He has taught me the secret
  Of creating freedom-delight.

945. MINE IS THE VISION-EYE

Mine is the vision-eye
That unlocks the door
  Leading to God-satisfaction in man
    And
  Man-perfection in God.

946. THE HABIT OF TRUSTING YOURSELF

You are in the habit
  Of trusting yourself,
But I wish to tell you
To trust the real nature in you,
  Which is God-Nature,
And not your usual self,
  Which is ignorance-hunger.

947. REAL CONFIDENCE

False confidence we get
From blind imitation.
  Real confidence we get
From self-cultivation,
Self-perfection,
God-Compassion
  And
God-Satisfaction.

948. A GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT

Always it is a great encouragement
To feel and realise
That the ultimate Truth
Can never, never tolerate
Human deception-night.

949. I SHALL DEPEND

I do not depend
And will never depend
On the supposed and borrowed courage
  Of others.
  I shall depend only on my
    Certainty-soul
      And
    Compassion-Immortality-God.

950. I SHALL RELAX

I shall relax,
  For relaxation is the only way
To watch my mind flow
  With its plenitude-resources.
I shall relax, and I shall always relax.

951. I SHALL NOT HIDE FROM TRUTH

I shall not hide from Truth,
For I know Truth loves me.
Truth loves me
  Only to perfect me.
Truth loves me
  Only to fulfil the Real in me,
And the Real in me is God-Vision,
  And nothing else.

952. PRISON OF MISUNDERSTANDING

Each human being is doomed to stay
  In a prison of misunderstanding.
Alas, when will the day dawn
When misunderstanding will be replaced
By heart-understanding
  And soul-fulfilling
    Summit-oneness?

953. YOUR GOAL

There are many things on the road
  That fight and frighten you,
But remember,
  Those things are all totally false.
Ignore them mercilessly
  And
March forward!
Fly upward and dive inward
  Speedily and sleeplessly.
Your Goal: The Truth Ultimate.

954. WHEN I UNDERSTAND YOU AND HIM

When I understand you and him,
  I understand the entire universe.
When I understand the entire universe,
  I become a conscious, sleepless
  And self-giving representative
  Of my Beloved Supreme.

955. AN INNER TASK

I know, I know
Why I have been given an inner task
To perform.
An inner task I have been given
Because it is more than possible
For me to succeed and proceed:
  Succeed to please myself
    And
  Proceed to please
    My Eternity’s Lord Supreme.

956. TODAY AND TOMORROW

What you are today
  May be a concealed frustration,
But tomorrow you will definitely be
  A revealed satisfaction.

957. WHOM SHALL MY SOUL BELIEVE?

Whom shall my soul believe?
  Not him who tells the world
That I am useless,
  Not him who tells the world
That I can try to aspire,
  But him who tells the world
That I am not only aspiring
  But succeeding.

958. THE FLOWER OF A REALITY

The fragrance of a dream
  Has a short-lived breath.
The flower of a reality
  Forever lasts.

959. THE SCIENCE OF POISON-DOUBT

The science of poison-doubt
Has at last discovered
That God is not strong
  And
Man is not weak.

960. A ZONE OF INDIFFERENCE

Your very life
Is a zone of indifference.
Nothing ever grows within you.
Nothing!
  Never!

961. NO RECOMMENDATION

The beauty of the rose
Needs no recommendation.
  The fragrance of my gratitude-heart
Needs no recommendation either.

962. MY HUMAN LIFE KNOWS

My animal life did not know
How to ascend or descend.
  But my human life knows
How to ascend and descend.
It can go higher than the height
  Of the cosmic gods.
It can descend below
  My animal life.

963. TIME BRIDGES

Time bridges
  The purity of my heart’s cry
    And
  The beauty of my life’s smile.

964. THE KEY

The key to the world
Is wisdom-light.
  The key to wisdom-light
Is surrender-delight.

965. WHERE IS THE STRENGTH?

Where is the paint
To improve
  The beauty of a flower?
Where is the strength
To increase
  The love of my heart?

966. THE ROOT OF PROSPERITY

The root of poverty
Is in the immediate fear
Of myself.
  The root of prosperity
Is in the constant love
Of God.

967. THE GIFT OF GIFTS

Peace is the gift of gifts
That God bestowed
Upon
His choice children.

968. TIME SILENCES THE ANIMAL IN ME

Time silences the animal in me.
Time enlightens the human in me.
Time quickens the divine in me.

969. A MASTER KEY

A gratitude-heart
Is a master key.
It can open
Any heart.

970. TIME AWAKENS

Time silences
The duty of life.
  Time awakens
The beauty of death.

971. NEVER FOR SALE

The aspiration-cry
Can never be borrowed.
  The gratitude-smile
Is never for sale.

972. IF YOUR HEART DOES NOT KNOW

If your heart does not know
How to cry,
How do you expect
Your life to smile?

973. TWO NEIGHBOURS

The mind’s impurity
And the heart’s purity
Are two neighbours.
But each is afraid
Of losing its identity.
Therefore,
They never meet.

974. I SHALL OUTLAST

The sublime days of the perfect past
Are crowding fast.
I shall, therefore, outlast
The chain of my present miseries.

975. A REALITY OF LOVE

Because you live
On a limitless scale
  Of vastness,
Your life is a stupendous
  Reality of love.

976. THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES

The mystery of mysteries
Is why anyone flatters the desire-life.
  The mystery of mysteries
Is why anyone ridicules the aspiration-life.

977. TO INCREASE FAITH

Be on the right track,
So that you can increase faith
Not only in yourself
  But also in others.

978. THE ROOTS OF YOUR DOUBTS

Be on the right track,
So that you can destroy
The roots of your doubts
  And those of others.

979. THE UNBELIEVABLE

You want to believe
The unbelievable:
That your mind is pure.
You want to make me believe
The unbelievable:
That my heart is poor.

980. YOU ARE A ROGUE

You are a rogue.
You want ready-made
  God-realisation.
You are a fool.
You want ready-made
  God-manifestation.

981. CHOICE, NOT CHANCE

It is choice, not chance,
That tells me
  Where to go,
  How to go,
  Why to go
  And, finally,
    Whom to realise.

982. HE WHO COMPROMISES

He who compromises
Deliberately forgets to remember
What he cried for
  Previously.

983. THE FORCED DUTY

My Lord tells me:
“My son,
If you know the Truth,
Then never compromise.
Compromise is the forced duty
Of mutual weakness.”

984. MY VICTORY, MY DEFEAT

My victory comes only when
God sanctions it.
  My defeat comes only when
I admit it.

985. NOBODY CAN DEFEAT YOU

Nobody can perfect you
Except God.
Nobody can defeat you
Except your own
  Stupid willingness.

986. EACH DIFFICULTY

Each difficulty
Is a hard examination:
So says my truth-fearing mind.
  Each difficulty
Is an increased strength:
So says my God-loving heart.

987. YOU ARE LOST

You are lost
When you believe your doubts.
  You are dead
When you doubt your beliefs.

988. MY DOUBTS HAVE DIED

In the morning
I feed my faith-flames.
  In the evening
I see something quite astonishing:
All my doubts have died
  Out of starvation.

989. A DIRECT GIFT

Education we can buy.
Satisfaction we cannot,
For satisfaction is
A direct gift from God.

990. MY ENTHUSIASM

My enthusiasm needs
No imagination-flight,
For it is always
A rich harvest.

991. THE THICK FOREST OF SOLITUDE

With his tears of repentance,
His mind has entered
  Into the thick forest of solitude.
Before long he and his life
Will swim in the sea
  Of satisfaction-ecstasy.

992. VISITOR

Stay in the lap of pleasure, you fool!
God may not come to see you,
But somebody definitely
Will come to visit you
Without a whisper.
Do you know who?
Your own destruction-tiger.

993. THE INEVITABILITY

For months I have not prayed
  To God.
I have totally forgotten
  God’s Love-Compassion-Forgiveness.
Within and without
  I see the omnipotence of oblivion.
And now I am the inevitability
  Of stark disappointment.

994. WHAT I HAVE BECOME

What I see
  Is a disturbing sunset.
What I feel
  Is a trembling hope.
What I have become
  Is a heart-piercing cry.

995. A TRAIN OF SADNESS

My Lord, do protect me
From my friends
  Who are urging me
To follow the crowds.
They are unconsciously forcing me
  Into a train of sadness.

996. A FOUNTAIN OF GOD-THOUGHT

A fountain of God-thought
  Tells me that mine is not
  A weak and mortal birth.

997. I AM HELPLESS AS EVER

When will You return,
  My Beloved Supreme?
My heart-cave is all empty.
I am helpless as ever
  In my throes.

998. THE GREAT AUTHORITY

My wild thoughts were chasing me
  Like beasts in the dense forest.
But now at last I have renounced
  The great authority
    Of my own life.

999. THE DAYS OF MY SLAVERY

Yesterday I was a slave
  Of my own power.
Today I am a slave
  Of my own doubt.
The days of my slavery
  Will tomorrow be over.
I shall become the master-friend
  Of my life.

1000. MY HEART'S CHALLENGING LIFE

The achievement
Of my heart’s challenging life
Is an aspiring flame,
  An illumining lamp
    And
  A fulfilling sun
Every day.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the tenth 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

Ted Corbitt, who has run over 200 marathons and is considered the father of long-distance running in the U.S., participated in the opening ceremonies for the 1978 New York City Marathon. Here he is shown with Sri Chinmoy, who opened the event with a silent meditation.