5801. God's beating Heart

Unless I hear
God’s beating Heart
Inside my heart of aspiration,
How can I ever see
God’s loving and guiding Hands?

5802. He was totally wrong

He sees that he was totally wrong.
His Master’s compassion-eye
Does love him,
Plus need him.

5803. A gratitude-heart

If humanity really understood
The importance of a gratitude-heart,
Then humanity would walk much faster,
And much more safely,
Towards its destined goal.

5804. Whose stupid mind has told you?

Whose stupid mind has told you
That your Master, although near you,
Is far away?

Whose insecure heart has told you
That your Master, although he loves everyone,
Does not love you?

5805. His earnest and determined resolve

His earnest and determined resolve
Has blotted out
All his previous deplorable mistakes.

5806. You may withdraw

You may withdraw
To your secret cell,
But do not dare to expect
Any happiness whatsoever.

5807. A problem for yourself

You have become a problem for yourself
Because you do not care to know
The beauty and duty
Of God’s Vision-Self in you.

5808. Unless we feed our hopes

Unless we consciously and lovingly
Feed our hopes daily,
All our promises to Heaven and earth
Will remain unfulfilled.

5809. We gain everything

I declare resolutely
That we gain everything
By accepting God’s Vision-Reality in us
And lose nothing
By avoiding temptation-nets.

5810. The smile of silver dreams

I never need
The cry of ignorance-sleep,
But I do need
The smile of silver dreams.

5811. Treasure your spiritual energy

How to use the spiritual energy
You get from meditation?
Do not use it all immediately.
It is like your hard-earned
Earthly wealth.
If you treasure it and keep it safe,
You will be able to bring it forward
At God’s choice Hour,
To please God in His own Way.

5812. The inner biography

How many books have been written
About the spiritual Masters!
But the most important events in their lives
Are not to be found
In these accounts.
For them, the only true biography
Is the inner biography,
Where every hour of every day
Would fill countless pages.

5813. Japan's message of perfection

The West gets satisfaction
From large-scale things.
The nature of Japan
Is diametrically opposite.
It likes to create things
Tinier than the tiniest
And capture the Infinite Supreme
Inside finite man-made forms.
Therein lies Japan’s
Message of perfection.

5814. The Satisfaction of the Supreme

In America
Things are quite often massive.
In Japan
Things are quite often diminutive.
Both embody equally
The Satisfaction of the Supreme.

5815. The river may be crossed

The river may be crossed
Either in a vast steamship
Or in a tiny boat.
If we take many individual boats,
We may reach the shore sooner
Than if we wait for all the passengers
To fill a huge steamship.
With this approach
Japan has touched her goal.

5816. The Japanese nature

Outside: water,
Soothing and soft.
Inside: only
Determination-fire.
Such is
The Japanese nature.

5817. A very good combination

The Japanese nature
Is a very good combination.
The outer nature
Is like a lion resting.
The inner nature
Is like a lion roaring.
Both are extremely powerful.

5818. God's Hour will wait for no one

God’s choice Hour
Will wait for no one,
Not even for a fraction of a second.
No seeker may claim or preserve
God’s choice Hour
At his sweet will.
The seeker must ensure
That he is available
Whenever God’s Hour strikes,
At any time of day or night.

5819. Your real meditation

In your outer life
If you can feel
Consciously and soulfully happy
Even while doing
Ordinary, mundane things,
God will consider this
Your real meditation.

5820. Try to be really happy!

Wherever you are,
Whatever you are doing,
Try to be really happy!
Your psychic happiness
Will help you maintain
A pure and soulful consciousness.

5821. Happiness lies elsewhere

If you are enjoying yourself
In the excitement-world,
God will not consider it
As part of your meditation.
Soulful happiness,
Integral happiness,
Lies elsewhere.

5822. The golden bridge

The spiritual Master has come
For no other reason
Than to give
His spiritual children joy,
And they in turn have come
To give their Master joy.
It is meditation that serves
As the golden bridge between them.

5823. Obedience

Obedience is not humiliation.
Obedience is not submissiveness.
Obedience is one’s amazingly profitable union
With one’s own higher self.

5824. Unless my heart is grateful

Unless my heart is grateful,
How can my mind be faithful?
Unless my mind is faithful,
How can my life be fruitful?

5825. Precious gifts

You value neither your aspiration-heart
Nor your dedication-life.
Perhaps you do not know that
Whether you value them or not,
Whether others value them or not,
Your Beloved Supreme will always value
His precious gifts to you
And hope that you will use them
Carefully, devotedly, soulfully
And sleeplessly.

5826. Your spiritual life is joy

You cannot expect abiding joy,
You cannot expect any kind of joy,
Unless you have unmistakably and soulfully
Accepted the fact that your spiritual life
Not only has the joy that you need
But also is joy,
Far, far beyond the need
Of your entire life here on earth.

5827. Time cannot touch him

Time the destroyer
Cannot touch him
Because he is already devotedly seated
At the Protection-Feet
Of his Beloved Supreme.

5828. I shall not accept defeat

My Supreme Lord,
I shall not accept any defeat,
Not because my ego-life
Cannot accept defeat,
But because Your transcendental Will
Does not want me ever to accept defeat on earth.
It is Your Will that You are executing
In and through me,
Your dauntless instrument.

5829. Many have come, many have left

Many have come
Into the Supreme’s Golden Boat;
Many have left.
Many have appeared
And many have disappeared.
Many are outwardly following the spiritual life,
But inwardly they are elsewhere,
Millions of miles away.
Again, some seekers are inwardly with God,
But outwardly they want to lead another life —
A life of lethargy, indulgence, disobedience,
Unconscious if not conscious self-deception,
Plus self-mockery.

5830. The spiritual life is arduous

The spiritual life is arduous.
But the sincere seekers,
Who will ultimately hold
The banners of divine Light
And supreme Delight,
Will forever and forever remain faithful
To their inner Captain.

5831. For the faithful ones

For the faithful ones
There is no defeat,
There can be no defeat.
For the unfaithful ones
There is no victory,
There can be no victory.

5832. A new game to play

My Beloved Supreme,
You want me to watch
The unfaithful seekers.
I am watching them.
You want me to wait for them.
I am waiting for them.
Again, it is You who have told me
That there shall come a time
When You will ask me to put an end
To my watching and waiting games.
Then You will give me a new game to play:
The game of justice-light.

5833. Very few will remain

When a spiritual Master
Plays the game of justice-light
At God’s express Command,
Very few seekers —
They can be counted on one’s fingertips —
Will remain in the Boat of the Supreme.

5834. Deliberate disobedience

No other weakness
Is as damaging and destructive
As deliberate disobedience.
Those who indulge
In deliberate disobedience
Already have one foot in their spiritual grave,
And the other foot
Is fast approaching.

5835. I shall soulfully do my duty

I shall soulfully do my duty:
I shall illumine my heart.
God will cheerfully do His Duty:
He will perfect my life.

5836. Each pure and flower-like thought

Each uncomely and undivine thought
Wanders restlessly inside my mind’s
Tiny, unlit cave.
Each pure and flower-like thought
Grows and glows inside my heart’s
Mightiest kingdom.

5837. Everything from God

The animal in me thinks
That it does not need
Anything from God.

The human in me thinks
That it needs
Only a few things from God.

The divine in me feels and knows
That it needs
Everything and everything from God,
Only from God.

5838. New year's resolution

The new year has commenced
Its momentous journey today.
From today on, during the entire year,
I shall not offer my volcano-ambition
To the world.
I shall offer the world
Only my moonlit heart’s flaming aspiration.

5839. The birth of the new year

My Lord Supreme,
May the birth of the new year
Herald Your supreme Victory
In and through Your obedient, self-giving
And satisfaction-loving children.

5840. Each new year

Each new year
The seeker comes to learn
How far away the mind is
From God’s Compassion
And how close the heart is
To God’s Satisfaction.

5841. My heart knows

My mind may not know
What others can or will
Do for me.
But my heart knows
What I should and must
Do for others.

5842. O anxiety-cruelty

No rhyme, no reason —
O anxiety-cruelty,
You torture me,
My simple mind
And even my pure heart.

5843. Eternal strangers

Argument and enlightenment
Purposely and eternally remain
Strangers to each other.

5844. Friends

Two totally dissatisfied friends:
Blindness and uselessness.
Two fully satisfied friends:
Openness and fulness.

5845. The burden of knowledge

To unburden
The burden of knowledge
Can never be
A simple and easy task.

5846. Bitterness yields to sweetness

Bitterness yields to sweetness
Only when oneness
Is discovered and manifested.

5847. Nothing can collapse in life

Nothing can collapse in life
If the faith-foundation
Remains unshakably firm.

5848. The beginning of danger

Self-deception
Is the beginning of danger
In the mind
And the beginning of destruction
In the heart.

5849. A sleeping frustration-doom

A complaint
Quite often
Unconsciously arouses
A sleeping frustration-doom.

5850. The corruption of the mind

The corruption of the vital
Puzzles the mind.
The corruption of the mind
Starves the heart.

5851. Desire-life

Desire-life
Withers our flower-heart,
Weakens our searching mind
And imprisons our earth-life.

5852. When my consciousness descends

When my consciousness descends,
I starve the divine in me,
Resume my old friendship
With the human in me
And am once more tempted
To dance with the animal in me.

5853. Emptiness

In the ordinary life
Emptiness is nothing short of barrenness.
In the spiritual life
Emptiness marks the glorious beginning
Of an unprecedented fulness.

5854. The blows of insufficiency

You will not and cannot
Suffer from the blows
Of insufficiency
If you learn how to smile
Soulfully and unreservedly.

5855. Bewildering images

Misfortune dogs your steps
Because you enjoy
The bewildering images
Of life’s illusions.

5856. My surrender-life

My surrender-life
Is a secret plan
Of God the Compassion.

My gratitude-heart
Is a sacred place
Of God the Perfection.

5857. If you really want to be happy

If you really want to be happy,
Then discard once and for all
Your connection with
Your impure vital
And
Your obscure mind.

5858. God's bliss-bestowing hands

The moment his vision-eye
Reached Heaven,
He saw God’s Bliss-bestowing Hands
All ready.

5859. I love my heart

I hate my mind
Because it knows
Only how to preach.

I love my heart
Because it knows
Only how to persuade.

5860. O lovers of the past

O lovers of the past,
Leave aside
Your ancient mistakes!
Live in the happiness-heart
Of the Eternal Now!

5861. Only the chosen few

Only the chosen few
Can escape life’s false realities
And live in Eternity’s
Golden Day.

5862. Before you love the inner world

You may use
Your suspicious mind
Before you love the outer world,
But you must use
Your believing heart
Before you love the inner world.

5863. Today you are afraid

Today you are afraid
To do the right thing.
Tomorrow God will think
A million times
Before He will grant you
Another chance to do the right thing.

5864. In your own way

If you want to be happy
In your own way,
God will not mind.
He will just tell you:
“My child,
I shall not criticise you.
But I can’t assure you
That I shall be at all happy
In My own Way.”

5865. A big decision

Today you are facing
A big decision:
Whether you will continue surrendering
To the ignorance-night around you
Or whether you will start surrendering
Right from today
To the wisdom-light within you.

5866. A whisper from stillness

What do I see
Inside the creation?
Perfect restlessness.
What do I see
Inside that restlessness?
A perfect whisper
From perfect stillness.

5867. Only Eternity can reveal

Only Eternity can reveal
What man has.
Only Immortality can manifest
What man is.

5868. How can I misunderstand?

If I see purity
Inside your heart,
How can I misunderstand
The sincerity inside your mind?

5869. I shall definitely learn

I may not learn anything
From what you are saying,
But I shall definitely learn
Something truly important
By observing what you do.

5870. You can have perfect peace

You can have perfect peace
Only when you can halt
Your mind’s journey
At God’s Forgiveness-Feet.

5871. The self-satisfaction-game

The entire world
Is expert at playing
The self-satisfaction-game.
But it pretends
That playing this game
Is beneath its dignity.

5872. Thoughts a seeker can cherish

“God is all Love.”
“I am all for Him.”
These are the thoughts
A seeker can cherish.
All other thoughts
He should consider as
Sheer distractions.

5873. Beauty does not have to explain

Beauty does not have to explain
Its existence in the outer world.

Purity does not have to explain
Its existence in the inner world.

Divinity does not have to explain
Its existence in God’s universe.

5874. Those who are ready to struggle

Those who are ready to struggle
While aspiring
Are bound to find
Permanent happiness.

5875. I am absolutely correct

I may be wrong
When I say he is fooling himself,
But I am absolutely correct
When I feel I am fooling myself.

5876. Man's goodness talks to God

Inside the cave of the mind
Man’s greatness talks to the world.
Inside the palace of the heart
Man’s goodness talks to God.

5877. The mind does not see darkness

The mind does not see darkness
Even when darkness has engulfed
Its entire existence.

The heart feels delight
Even when delight
Is in the heart of someone else.

5878. My Lord Supreme says to me

My Lord Supreme says to me:
“My child,
I love you, good or bad.
Just do not consciously enjoy
Any more
Your ignorance-sleep.”

5879. You are seeing the sunrise

You are seeing the sunrise
Inside your aspiration-heart.
Who knows,
In a few days
God may appear before you —
Perhaps today!

5880. Self-glory

Self-glory
I choose for myself.
Self-discovery
God chooses for me.

5881. Some special advice

Do you want
To change the world?
If so, then come to me
For some special advice.

Are you trying
To change yourself?
If so, then I am immediately
Coming to you
For some special advice.

5882. An awakened heart

An unawakened mind thinks
That it can do everything.
An awakened heart feels and knows
That only God does everything
In and through it.

5883. A strange experience

What a strange experience!
You are afraid of the light
That is trying to illumine you,
But you are not afraid of the darkness
That is devouring you.

5884. A false spiritual Teacher

Only a false spiritual Teacher
Thinks and feels
That he alone is perfect,
And that the rest
Of the spiritual Teachers
Are all false.

5885. You have the audacity

You lack the courage to say
What you want to say,
Yet you have the audacity
To criticise others,
Even when they say
Absolutely the right thing.

5886. Imagination has power

Imagination has power.
Imagination is power.
Therefore, be sure to have
A good and elevating imagination.

5887. When I want to change

When I want to change
My outer life,
God uses His Vision-Eye
To smile at me.


When I want to change
My inner life,
God uses His Reality-Heart
To embrace me.

5888. He saw into my heart

In a fraction of a second
He saw into my heart
And told me that I shall become
A perfect Truth-seeker
And
A perfect God-lover.

5889. A song of Eternity

My present life
Of hopeful promise
Is a song of Eternity.

5890. My searching mind

To my heart’s extreme joy,
My searching mind no longer
Accepts the false as true.

5891. In his heart he secretly insists

In public he openly says
That he knows nothing.
In his heart he secretly insists
That he knows everything.

5892. To rise above ourselves

To rise above ourselves
Means to go far above
Our stupidity-head
And sit at the Compassion-Feet
Of our Beloved Supreme.

5893. To achieve an illumination-heart

Do not keep inside you
The confusion-mind
If you want to achieve
An illumination-heart.

5894. A pure heart feels

An impure mind thinks
That there can be
No pure heart.

A pure heart feels
That everything is pure,
Including the mind.

5895. Not a single soulful smile

You cannot even give
A single soulful smile.
Yet you tell the whole world
Not only what to do
But also how to do it.

5896. Your emptiness

Be not afraid of your emptiness.
Your emptiness is preparing itself
To receive God’s Fulness
From God Himself.

5897. You think you have escaped

You think you have escaped
From ignorance-slavery.
Can you not ask God
If you are correct?

5898. Each undivine thought

Each undivine, unaspiring
And ugly thought of yours
Pinches others for a minute
And then comes back to you
To box your nose for an hour.

5899. My mind's simplicity

My mind’s simplicity
Helps me pray sincerely.
My heart’s sincerity
Helps me meditate soulfully.

5900. Are you only Mine?

My Beloved Supreme lovingly
And compassionately whispers,
“My child, are you Mine,
Are you only Mine,
Or are you for ignorance-night as well?”
The human in me tells my Lord Supreme,
“O Lord, give me some time
To think it over and decide.”
The divine in me immediately responds,
“My Beloved Supreme, I am for You,
Only for You.
Throughout Your own Eternity
I shall be for You, for You alone.
Do mould me, shape me and guide me
To fulfil Yourself in and through me
In Your own Way.”

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the fifty-ninth 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 thanks Mr C.G. Maina, Kenya’s Ambassador to the United Nations, for his participation in the Meditation Group’s fourth observance of International Thanksgiving at United Nations Headquarters on 20 November 1978.