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).