5601. The year of meditation

This entire year, 1983,
Has a very special significance.
This is the year of meditation.
I most sincerely urge you
To meditate, meditate, meditate!
Alone or with others,
At home or anywhere,
Whenever you are free
Meditate, meditate, meditate!

5602. The golden opportunity

As God’s choice Hour does not arrive
Every hour, every day, every week,
Every month or even every year,
Who knows, a year of this kind
May not appear again for a long time.
If you want to become God’s choice instrument,
Then avail yourself of the golden opportunity
That this year of meditation offers.

5603. Meditate, meditate, meditate!

Meditate, meditate, meditate!
Pay more attention to your meditation.
Spend more time in meditation.
Meditate soulfully, prayerfully and devotedly.

5604. If you do not meditate

If you do not meditate,
Then your heart will remain insecure
And your mind will remain impure.
With an impure mind
And an insecure heart
You will not be able to please
Your Beloved Supreme.

5605. Purity and security

Security, which is confidence,
You badly need.
Purity, which is inner assurance,
You badly need.
Both purity and security can and will come
Only from your meditation.

5606. Your Master's inner guidance

Whether you are meditating
In your Master’s physical presence
Or somewhere else is unimportant.
No matter where you are,
If you think of your Master
And meditate soulfully,
You are bound to get his inner guidance.
And this inner guidance,
Which is his inner oneness with you,
Will last forever and forever.

5607. Be regular, punctual and sincere

In your early morning meditation
Be regular, be punctual and be sincere.
If you do not meditate regularly and punctually,
The Supreme will forgive you,
Your Master will forgive you,
But you will never be able
To forgive yourself, never!
If you deceive yourself in your meditation,
There will eventually come a time
When you will spontaneously become
Absolutely sincere.
Then it is you who will not be able
To forgive yourself.

5608. My self-transcending horizon

My aspiration’s self-transcending horizon
Tells me what I can do for God.
My dedication’s all-loving service-hands
Tell me and show me
What God has already done for me.

5609. If you resist God's Compassion-Light

If you resist God’s Compassion-Light,
Then nothingness-night
Will haunt you at every moment
And destroy your hope-paradise.

5610. When God chooses

When you choose,
You choose a better life
For yourself.

When God chooses,
He chooses a supremely perfect life
For you.

5611. Two common sense experiences

Two common sense experiences:
I need God’s Heart of Compassion,
God loves my heart of aspiration.

5612. In disguise

Enthusiasm has determination inside it
In disguise.
Determination has peace inside it
In disguise.
Peace has perfection inside it
In disguise.

5613. Absolutely negligible

The difference between
Your mind’s impurity
And your heart’s insecurity
Is absolutely negligible.

The difference between
Your heart’s purity
And your life’s luminosity
Is absolutely negligible.

5614. Suffering is an inner thief

Suffering is an inner thief.
We must by all means try to catch it.
If we cannot,
Our life will remain a victim
To untold miseries.

5615. Immortality likes to grow

Beauty likes to touch
The feet of Divinity.
Divinity likes to feel
The heart of Immortality.
Immortality likes to grow
With God’s ever-transcending Vision-Eye.

5616. If man offers

If man offers
His service-hands
And his love-heart,
Then God grants him
His Compassion-Eye
And His Satisfaction-Crown.

5617. A completely new vision

A completely new vision:
My aspiration-flame,
No matter how weak and feeble,
Can never be doomed to a failure-life.
A life of success
Lovingly, cheerfully and proudly
Awaits my aspiration-life.

5618. Divinely inspired God-affirmations

As the human mind
Quite often enjoys
Turbulent self-contradictions,
Even so, the divine heart
Always enjoys
Divinely inspired God-affirmations.

5619. An indefinite delay

Your mind is eclipsed
By worldly thoughts.
Alas!
Therefore, your soul is forced to suffer
An indefinite delay.
Alas, alas!

5620. An ever-fresh luminosity

O my mind,
Instead of dying for
An ever-new curiosity,
Can you not long for
An ever-fresh luminosity?
Thus you will be able to please
The Real in you:
Your own Eternity’s blue bird,
Your soul.

5621. Unthinkable stupidity

Alas, your innocent heart
Has to perish
Because of your mind’s
Unthinkable stupidity:
Your mind has feasted
On poison-doubt.

5622. When the hour of death approaches

When the hour of death approaches,
With your heart’s aspiration-cry
You can secretly climb up
God’s hidden Tower of Immortality.

5623. The duty of a seeker's heart

The bounden duty of a seeker’s heart
Is not to allow
Teeming doubt-clouds
To eclipse his inner sun.

5624. A perfection-life

A perfection-life
We can never acquire
On our own.
But God the Compassion-Heart
Is more than ready
To acquire it for us.

5625. The glorious beginning

A self-giving heart
Marks the glorious beginning
Of a God-becoming soul.

5626. The transformation of ambition

What I need
Is not the extinction
Of ambition
But the fire-pure transformation
Of ambition
Into an astounding dedication.

5627. Not beyond the range

God-realisation is not beyond
The range of aspiration.
God-manifestation is not beyond
The range of dedication.

5628. A self-giving heart

A self-giving heart
Is a beautiful nest of security.
A self-doubting mind
Is a desolate cave of insecurity.

5629. My obedience means

My obedience means
My higher life is successfully operating
In and through my lower life.

My disobedience means
My higher life and my lower life
Are both in trouble.

5630. What is belief?

What is belief?
A flight into the realm of fulness.
What is disbelief?
A plunge into the abysmal abyss
Of useless nothingness.

5631. How can you hope to succeed?

How can you hope to succeed in life
When you are allowing
Your disappointed mind
To accompany you on your journey?

5632. One step forward

A searching mind is one step forward
Towards the aspiration-goal.
An aspiring heart is one step forward
Towards the realisation-goal.

5633. Gifts I need from Above

From Above
What my body needs
Is a compassion-gift.
What my vital needs
Is a salvation-gift.
What my mind needs
Is an illumination-gift.
What my heart needs
Is a liberation-gift.
What my life needs
Is a perfection-gift.

5634. A miracle-achievement

Surrender is a miracle-achievement.
This my mind knows.
Gratitude is a miracle-achievement.
This my heart knows.

5635. Faith helps my heart-flower

Faith helps my heart-flower blossom
Petal by petal in perfect perfection
So that it can respond
To my soul’s delight-call.

5636. The soul-birds come down

The soul-birds come down
Into the world-arena
To awaken the higher realities
That are fast asleep
Inside the earth’s ignorance-body.

5637. Yesterday Eternity came to me

Yesterday Eternity came to me
With its oneness-soul.
Today Infinity has come to me
With its oneness-role.
Tomorrow immortality will come to me
With its oneness-goal.

5638. A Heavenly silence-heart

I desired,
Yet not quite desired,
An earthly sound-mind.
I loved,
Yet not quite loved,
A Heavenly silence-heart.

5639. A stepping-stone

To take shelter inside
The fragrance-purity of your heart
Is to discover a stepping-stone
To God-realisation.

5640. Even a great mind

Even a great mind
Can be invaded
By chaotic confusion.
But a good heart
Is always embraced
By kaleidoscopic beauty.

5641. Immediately choose to serve

Do not wait!
If you really want God
To be always on your side,
Then immediately choose to serve.

5642. Your gratitude-companion

Not your solitude-companion
But your gratitude-companion
Can definitely and will immediately
Please God.

5643. Round my silver dreams

Round and round my silver dreams
Revolve my Lord’s Vision-Eye
And my Lord’s Compassion-Heart.

5644. The high road to Heaven

If you can have a free access
To patience-light,
Then you can run very fast
On the high road to Heaven.

5645. A heart-winning man

A universally
Heart-winning man
Is a breathlessly
Self-giving soul.

5646. He is weighed down

Outwardly and openly
He shows a face of joy,
But inwardly and secretly
He is weighed down
By his heart’s excruciating pangs.

5647. Souvenirs from my trip to Heaven

This time I have brought down to earth
Two souvenirs from my trip to Heaven:
A heart-awakening conch
And
A life-transforming flute.

5648. The free play of God's Heart

If you are preoccupied with yourself,
How can you watch
The life-transforming free play
Of God’s Heart?

5649. Miscellaneous thoughts

Your mind’s miscellaneous thoughts
Will never allow you to build
A monument that will withstand
Time’s giant frowns.

5650. My foolish prayers

God overheard
My foolish prayers.
As a result,
His Heart is extremely sad.

5651. My soul sings

To unfold the heart-flower
Of my life,
Every day my soul sings
A sun-song to my Beloved Supreme.

5652. The Lord of my dreams

You are already the Lord
Of my illumination-dreams.
Do also be the Lord
Of my oblivion-sleep.

5653. A faithful companion of God

To be a most faithful
Companion of God,
What I need is a tiny gratitude-plant
Inside my heart.

5654. God will love me infinitely more

God loves me,
And He tells me that
He will love me infinitely more
If I attempt for Him
Any so-called impossible task.

5655. Do not ask for too little

Do not ask for too little.
When you do that,
God’s Heart of Magnanimity
Is embarrassed.

5656. Your light-forsaken life

A lingering thought
In a poverty-stricken mind:
This is what your light-forsaken,
Deplorable and doomed life is.

5657. Exulting in Ecstasy

I dearly love
The abode of the ancient sages,
For there they are always exulting
In Ecstasy supreme.

5658. You are heartlessly indifferent

Is it possible for you to be loved
By God powerfully,
When you are so heartlessly indifferent
To His creation-child?

5659. God's Forgiveness-Depth

If you meditate on
God’s Forgiveness-Depth,
Then you are repaying
God’s Compassion-Height.

5660. You will remain unnoticed

You will remain unnoticed
Both by Heaven and by earth
If you do not show your heart’s
Flaming and glowing compassion-touch.

5661. My inner world

The more my outer world
Consciously needs perfection,
The sooner my inner world
Shall grant its prayer.

5662. My heart's peerless friend

You have not forgotten me
Even at the end
Of your life’s long dream.
Therefore, you are my heart’s
Peerless friend.

5663. A confessed failure

His mind is now a confessed failure
Because it allowed itself
To be possessed by an irresistible desire
To command others.

5664. No necessity

If necessity demands,
You can speak well of yourself.
But there is no necessity
For you to speak ill of others.

5665. The best prayer

“My Lord,
Do show me the way.”
This is a good prayer.

“My Lord,
Do be my Guide.”
This is a better prayer.

“My Lord,
Do manifest Yourself in Your own Way
Through any heart You choose.”
This is by far the best prayer.

5666. New discoveries

My mind’s new discovery:
God loves my mind.
My heart’s new discovery:
God is for my heart.
My life’s new discovery:
I shall unmistakably please God
From this very moment.

5667. My heart's inner revolution

My mind’s outer resolution
Shall make my body
A fit instrument of God.

My heart’s inner revolution
Shall make my life
A perfect instrument of God.

5668. From now on

From now on I shall keep
The suspicion-snake behind me,
The faithfulness-dog beside me,
The promise-deer before me.

5669. Humanity's dream

Humanity’s dream
Is perfect perfection.
Divinity’s dream
Is supreme satisfaction.
The Dream of the Supreme
Is to make each human being
A conscious and living God.

5670. Disobedient people will always fail

Disobedient people God created.
So what can the Master do?
But this much the Master knows:
Disobedient people will always fail.

5671. Is the Master such a fool?

If disciples cannot meet
With their Master’s simplest request,
Is the Master such a fool
To believe that these unfortunate disciples
Will ever please him?

5672. The easiest thing

You may feel that something
Is the easiest thing,
But the easiest can be the most difficult.
For when you consider something to be easy,
That is the time
The hostile forces attack you
And make you feel how weak you are.
You say that you can do it,
But the world will see and God will see
That you cannot!

5673. Four forbidden words

Four words your Master
Does not want to hear
When he has asked you to do something:
“I did not know!”
If you always say you did not know,
Then you will remain ignorant
Throughout Eternity.

5674. A good disciple

If you are a good disciple,
You will always try to please your Master.
If you are satisfied
With being a bad disciple,
Then just stay in his boat,
Sleeping all the time,
Snoring all the time.
But remember,
A good disciple will behave
In a totally different way.

5675. Three goals in life

I have only three goals in life:
I shall continuously fight
Against ignorance-night.
I shall cheerfully unlearn the lessons
That my earth-bound mind has taught me.
I shall, without fail,
Manifest my Lord Supreme
When the supreme Hour strikes.

5676. Our journey's course

We can fulfil
Our journey’s course
Only if we can regulate
Our thought-life
And emancipate
Our action-life.

5677. An adamantine determination

If your mind is charged
With an adamantine determination,
Then your heart is bound to enjoy
A satisfaction-feast.

5678. Your life of perfection

If your mind can be
Brutally sincere
To your heart,
And if your heart can be
Sleeplessly sincere
To your soul,
Then your life of perfection
Can never, never remain a far cry.

5679. God's transcendental Pride

If you live in the desire-world,
Then God’s transcendental Pride
Will never be able to claim you
As its own, very own.

5680. The heart's perfecting life

If the mind can derive satisfaction
From its promising life,
Then the heart can derive satisfaction
From its perfecting life.

5681. Longing for a satisfaction-life

O bewildered humanity,
You are longing for a satisfaction-life.
You can fulfil your longing
Only by crying for the capacity
To unreservedly listen
To your heart’s inner dictates.

5682. The currents of your desires

If you want to see
The complete exhaustion and extinction
Of your sorrows,
Then control the turbulent currents
Of your teeming desires.

5683. The lesson of perfection

Tranquillity will inundate your mind
If your mind gets a new lesson:
The lesson of breathless perfection.

5684. A lover of all that breathes

If you are a lover
Of all that breathes in God’s creation,
Then God the supreme Lover
Will not only crown you
But also place you
On His transcendental Throne.

5685. Your mind is pierced

Each time an uncomely thought
Invades your mind,
Feel that your mind is totally pierced
By a venom-arrow.

5686. The miracle-net

A beginner may be caught
In the tenacious miracle-net.
But a well-advanced seeker must escape
The miracle-net
To run always the fastest
In his heart of aspiration
And his life of dedication.

5687. A soulful and aesthetic silence

A seeker does not need
A monastic silence.
He does not need
An ascetic silence.
What he needs
Is a soulful and aesthetic silence
To dive deep within
And reach the deepest depth
Of an all-embracing reality.

5688. God has fed your aspiration-life

Secretly, cheerfully and unconditionally
God has fed your aspiration-life.
Will you not offer Him
One soulful smile
From your life’s perfection-satisfaction?

5689. The tears of a new creation

Your long and eager expectation-night
Will now be transformed
Into satisfaction-day
Because your heart is flooded
With the fresh tears
Of a new creation.

5690. Transform your lower self

If you try to desert your lower self,
You will not succeed.
When the opportunity arises,
Your lower self
Will bite you very hard.
So do not try to desert your lower self;
Only try to transform your lower self.
Once your lower self is transformed,
Light and delight will be
Your life-long friends.

5691. God the Beauty will come to you

If your outer steps lead you
To your inner shrine,
God the Beauty will come to you
With a never-dying
And ever-illumining sweetness.

5692. The duty of your gratitude-heart

Since God’s Forgiveness-Heart
Has not allowed God to defend Himself,
It is the bounden duty of your gratitude-heart
To defend God.

5693. There is always a choice

There is always a choice
Between what your desire-life
Wants you to be
And what God’s Compassion-Eye
Wants you to be.

5694. Returning to your stone-life

If you do not care for
A purer heart and a better life,
It is as good as returning
To your stone-life.

5695. A very simple question

God has asked a very simple question:
Do you want to be like Him?
He is eagerly waiting
For your open-hearted answer.

5696. Your powerful unwillingness

What indefinitely delays
Your God-realisation?
Not your feeble incapacity
But your powerful unwillingness.

5697. When God smiles

When God smiles,
Even the doubting mind
Totally forgets
That it has the capacity to doubt.

5698. The voice that says you can

If you are seeking something
Beyond your present capacity,
Do not listen to the dictates
Of the false voice that says you cannot.
Listen only to the dictates
Of the voice that says
You can and you shall.

5699. The promise-maker

The promise-maker
Has a great mind.
The promise-fulfiller
Is a good heart.

5700. Each prayerful day

Each prayerful day
Of my heart
Is a blessingful and fruitful Smile
Of my Beloved Supreme.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the fifty-seventh 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

Sri Chinmoy welcomes United Nations Ambassador Ralph L. Harry of Australia to a programme in honour of Australia’s Foundation Day on 27 January 1978.

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-5655: FFP 157 (revised version).