8901. A Series Of Daring Visions

A series of daring visions:
I shall love the world
The way my Lord Supreme
Loves the world.
I shall become as perfect
As my Lord Supreme
Wants me to be.
I shall never, never miss
My God-appointment-hour.

8902. The Spiritual Message Of Tennis

The spiritual message of tennis:
Love, serve
And finally surrender
To the Supreme in the winner.
The loser who cheerfully surrenders
To the Supreme in the winner
Becomes himself a real winner
In the inner world.

8903. My Heart Is Meant For Crying

My heart is meant for crying,
Crying for oneness, constant and inseparable,
With my Lord Supreme.

My soul is meant for smiling,
Smiling in oneness, constant and inseparable,
With my Lord Supreme.

8904. When My Soul Identifies

When my soul identifies
With my body, vital and mind,
It embraces suffering.
When my soul identifies
With its own highest Reality,
Easily it can remain
Far beyond the realm of sorrow.

8905. God's Monument Of Delight

If you can sincerely feel
That your mind is an instrument of God,
Then God will definitely turn your mind
Into His own Monument of Delight.

8906. Adversity May Hide

Adversity may hide
Possibility-buds,
But adversity can never hide
Inevitability-flowers.

8907. Be Wise And Accept

Although you do not care
To have anything from God,
God wants to give you His Kingdom.
Although God does not need
Anything from you,
He wants to give you His Throne.
Be wise and accept them
With a gratitude-heart.

8908. Establish Your Friendship

God is more than eager
To cancel your teeming weaknesses
If you are ready to cancel
Your friendship with fleeting faith
And establish your friendship
With abiding and soulfully childlike faith.

8909. A Life Of Unanswered Questions

Your life will remain
A life of unanswered questions
Because your heart does not keep alive
The Message of God’s Love.

8910. You Will Be Able To Escape

Sooner or later
You will be able to escape
Your mind’s stupidity-sea,
But your life will never
Be able to escape
God’s Compassion-Sun.

8911. Its Cynical Eye Of Distrust

Alas,
This world of ours
Takes enormous pride
In its cynical eye
Of dark distrust.

8912. Your Life Is Begging For Happiness

Your mind thinks
Nothing is worth believing.
Your heart feels
Nobody is worth loving.
No wonder your life
Is constantly begging for happiness
Here, there and everywhere.

8913. A Very Strange Life

His is a very strange life:
He soulfully keeps his heart
In the company of God,
While he deliberately keeps his mind
In the company of man.

8914. False Friends

It is good to have friends,
But be careful of those
Who try to lean very heavily on you
And sap every drop of your spiritual energy.
Are they friends?
No, they are just leading your soul
To a life of bankruptcy.

8915. Each Uttered Word

Each uttered word
Can be a revealing experience.
Each unuttered word
Can be a rewarding experience.

8916. My Soul Is Smiling Blissfully

My mind is crying pitifully
At the confusion-shore.
My heart is crying sleeplessly
At the frustration-shore.
My soul is smiling blissfully
At the perfection-shore.

8917. My Lord Is Postponing His Visit

Impurity,
Stop biting my mind!
Ingratitude,
Stop killing my heart!
Because of you two
My Lord is postponing His Visit.
Needless to say, I am miserable.

8918. Only The Chosen Few

Only the chosen few
Will not be subdued
By the ruthless torture
Of inhuman earth-life.

8919. Absolutely No Difference

There is absolutely no difference
Between his pleasure-life
And his unholy mind.

8920. You Are Now Fully Ready

You are now fully ready
To accept God’s Vision for your life,
Because you feel you have been tortured enough
By the agony of your long-lingering
Pleasure-life.

8921. The Corruption Of Your Mind

Do not allow your pure flower-heart
To inherit the shameless corruption
Of your blind and wild mind.

8922. A Conscious God-Manifesting Machine

His hands are concern-machines.
His eyes are compassion-machines.
His heart is an illumination-machine.
And he himself is a conscious
God-manifesting machine.

8923. If I Love God

If I love God,
Then what is wrong in expecting God
To help me?

If I love my ignorance,
Then how can I blame my ignorance
For embracing me?

8924. The Key To Your Success

Not your mind’s Himalayan excellence
But your heart’s sleepless surrender
Is the key to your inner and outer success.

8925. A Self-Giving River

Your vision-light will have
No reality-delight
Unless your life becomes
The constant flow
Of a self-giving river.

8926. Attraction And Aversion

Attraction unconsciously binds
The human in us.
Aversion consciously strengthens
The inhuman in us.

8927. A New Future

Anyone who will listen to his soul
Will see a new future
Blossoming in the heart
Of his tomorrow’s happiness.

8928. The Ignorance-Child

Rock the ignorance-child to sleep.
Otherwise,
This child will, without fail,
Destroy your love of God
And your oneness-joy with God.

8929. Completely Lost

The world is completely lost
Between your manifested stupidity
And your unmanifested divinity.

8930. The Secret Of Success

The secret of success
Is an outer commitment
And an inner enlightenment.

8931. A Man Of Integrity

If you want to be a man of integrity,
Then what you need
Is a heart of morning purity
And a life of evening simplicity.

8932. The Futility-Night Of Ignorance

Ego-boosting praise
And a self-defeating life
Will eventually be found living together
Inside the futility-night of ignorance.

8933. A Life Of Illumination-Day

I was what I was:
A mind of phantom-moment.
I am what I am:
A heart of aspiration-hour.
I shall be what I shall be:
A life of illumination-day.

8934. The Silence That Illumines

Mine is the silence
That hurts my Lord Supreme.
My Lord’s is the Silence
That illumines my life.

8935. Wrong Seeing

Wrong seeing
Is torturing the world.
Wrong thinking
Is ruling the world.

8936. Your Meditation-Passport

When the time arrives for you
To leave this life for another life,
If you wish to go
To a beautiful and soulful world,
Then you will need a valid passport,
And that passport is your meditation
Here on earth.

8937. You May Not Be Able To See Him

Do not take your Lord Supreme for granted.
When you go to the other world,
You may not be able to see Him
At your sweet will
If you have not sincerely tried to satisfy Him
During the years and years He offered you
Countless opportunities on earth.

8938. An Unfortunate Master

He was an unfortunate Master.
He had poor instruments.
But still he continued to serve his Beloved Supreme,
Only waiting for the day
When his fate would change
And he would have new and excellent instruments
To manifest the Vision
Of his Beloved Supreme.

8939. Your Wandering Thoughts

You are sitting at the feet
Of your Master,
But your wandering thoughts
Are taking you away from him
Farther than the farthest!

8940. To Invite Your Spiritual Death

How to invite your own spiritual death?
Make friends with
Self-satisfied complacency.

How to prove you are a real God-seeker?
Climb higher and dive deeper
To transcend your teeming weaknesses.

8941. Precious Chances

Many precious chances
Have passed away.
Alas, my heart is still without
A soulful cry
And my life is still without
A fruitful smile.

8942. Do Not Expect

Do not expect
Anything from Heaven.
Do not demand
Anything from earth.

8943. Heaven's Brightest Morning

Heaven’s brightest morning
Shines only on the minds
That live far away from
The doubt-country.

8944. Miracles Are Everywhere

Miracles are everywhere to be found
When I surrender my infinite desires
To my immortal aspirations.

8945. Late In Almost Everything

I was late in almost everything.
I did not mind.
I am late in almost everything.
I do not mind.
I shall be late in almost everything.
I shall not mind.
But I was not late,
I am not late
And I shall never be late
In one thing:
My awareness of
My Lord’s Compassion infinite
Since He began His Vision-Reality-Game
In and through my Heaven-free soul
And my earth-bound life.

8946. Be It Known

Be it known
To the whole world
That I am no longer
Desire’s friend.

8947. Do You Know?

Do you know
That you have deliberately enchained
Your soulful heart?
Perhaps not!

Do you know
That you have completely forgotten
Your fruitful soul?
Perhaps not!

8948. Become A Universal Light

I do not mind
If you want to become
A missionary,
As long as you first become
A universal light
And a transcendental delight.

8949. I Sincerely Feel Sorry

O my mind,
I most sincerely feel sorry
That you have been suffering
So much from yourself.

8950. The Illumining Beginning

The longing for perfection
Is the illumining beginning
Of God’s God-Satisfaction in man.

8951. Ask Truth

Ask Truth if you are correct.
Do not ask anybody,
Not even yourself,
If Truth is correct.

8952. Meditate Now!

Meditate now,
At this very moment!
Who knows?
Your soul may not get
Another opportunity to inspire you
In this lifetime.

8953. God Loves To Live

God the Beauty
Loves to live
Inside my heart’s cry.

God the Power
Loves to live
Inside my life’s smile.

8954. Opportunity Asks

Opportunity enthusiastically
Asks me to run.
Ability cautiously
Asks me to crawl.

8955. The Same Mistake

Every day I make
The same stupid mistake:
I do not care to speak to God
Inwardly or outwardly,
Prayerfully or selflessly.

8956. Infinity's Eternal Truth

A brilliant mind
May know where the truth is,
But a pure heart
Unmistakably and lovingly
Embodies Infinity’s eternal Truth.

8957. A Few Speeches Undelivered

O my mind,
Can you not leave a few speeches
Undelivered here on earth?
I would be so happy;
The entire world would be so happy;
Perhaps, eventually, you too!

8958. No Substitute

As there is no substitute
For a gratitude-heart
In my inner life,
Even so, there is no substitute
For a surrender-mind
In my outer life.

8959. The Land Of Soulful Action

The human mind enjoys
Living in the land
Of perpetual preparation.

The divine heart enjoys
Living in the land
Of soulful action.

8960. Danger Will Meet You

You are swayed
By the winds of emotion.
Therefore, danger will meet you
In the morning,
Disaster
In the afternoon
And destruction
In the evening.

8961. See Divinity In Everything

If you sincerely want to make progress,
Try to see divinity in everything.
If you don’t want to make progress,
You need not see divinity in anything,
Not even inside
God’s own transcendental Perfection.

8962. My Purity's Love-River

I may not be succeeding,
But I am soulfully trying
To bathe all human beings
In my purity’s love-river.

8963. O World

O world, although I am in you,
Since I am not of you,
I am not for you.

Because I am of God,
I am not only with God
But also for God.

8964. Each Divine Thought

Each divine thought
Is a new window
Which a God-lover can open
Onto a realm of God’s
Self-Transcendence-Delight.

8965. Immortality's Satisfaction-Smile

His heart of consolation,
His soul of illumination
And his life of perfection
Have the stamp of Immortality’s
Brightest satisfaction-smile.

8966. Your Shameless Ingratitude

You say that you are all alone,
But I see within you and without you
God’s Compassion-Flood and Forgiveness-Sea.
Such being the case,
Are you not your shameless ingratitude?

8967. We Worship The Elusive Flame

Alas, we worship the elusive flame
Inside our mind
Instead of the illumination-sun
Inside our heart.

8968. Each Other's Company

A mind of wisdom-light
And a heart of vision-delight
Breathlessly enjoy
Each other’s company.

8969. The Abyss Of Lifeless Nothingness

Self-delusion
Is the root cause
Of your continued existence
In the abyss of lifeless nothingness.

8970. God Is Right Inside

God is away, far away
From my sound-prayer.
God is near, very near,
In fact, right inside,
My silence-meditation.

8971. The Footsteps Of Faith

My heart shall sleeplessly follow
The footsteps of faith
So that it can safely and swiftly reach
The Palace of my Lord Supreme.

8972. His Soul Knows Who He Is

His mind does not know who he is.
Yet it tries to describe him.
His heart does not know who he is.
Yet it tries to reveal him.
His soul knows who he is.
Therefore, his soul and his God
Are taking care of him
All the time.

8973. God Wants You To Be Sincere

Do not pretend
To be good.
God wants you to be sincere.
Your sincerity-drops
And God’s Satisfaction
Will, without fail, meet together.

8974. Looking For The Unknown

You are looking for the unknown.
Someday you are bound to meet with it.
Will you be happy then?
No, you will not!
You will be happy
Only when you meet with the Unknowable,
For that Unknowable Reality
Is your Beloved Supreme.

8975. A Life Of Surrender

A life of surrender is always needed
Either to please the soul of Heaven
Or to please the body of earth.

8976. Yours Is The Heart That Longs

You will be happy only when
Yours is the heart that longs
For the Transcendental Smile
And yours is the life that longs
For the Universal Cry.

8977. Promise, Promise

Promise, promise,
How beautiful you are,
How powerful you are!
Each time my soul comes down,
It brings you
With a higher and deeper inner conviction
To manifest my Lord Supreme.

8978. A Child Of God

My mind is a sleeping
Child of God.
My heart is a crying
Child of God.
My soul is a self-giving
Child of God.
And I am a dreaming
Child of God.

8979. Shoplifting In The Ignorance-Store

You think you are very wise,
But you are not.
You are just a clever man.
What you have learnt is nothing
But how to shoplift in the ignorance-store.

8980. Live In Today's Joy

God does not want you
To relearn yesterday’s sorrow.
He just wants you
To learn and live in
Today’s joy.

8981. Only One Answer

There are countless questions
About God,
But only one answer:
God is His own Eternity’s
Satisfaction-distribution.

8982. The Less The Human Mind Knows

The less the human mind knows
About ignorance-night,
The better.

The more the divine heart knows
About God’s Vision-Eye,
The better.

8983. If You Hide Your Aspiration-Cry

If you hide your aspiration-cry
From your own heart,
Then who is going to look for it?
Nobody!
No, not even God,
The Compassionate One.

8984. There Is Nothing Wrong With You

There is nothing wrong with you.
What you need is only
A little more soulful effort
To satisfy your Eternity’s Inner Pilot.

8985. My Tearful Failure-Cry

Why do you ask me to repeat
My frustration-life, O earth?
Do you get malicious pleasure
In my tearful failure-cry,
Or is it all due
To your brutal indifference?

8986. My Heart Is Suffering

My heart is suffering
From chronic pain,
Not because my mind
Does not love God,
Not because my mind
Does not need God,
But because my Lord Supreme
Has tried in vain, time and again,
To illumine and immortalise my mind.

8987. You Are Abandoning God

You are abandoning God
In order to make friends
With doubt’s insecurity-cry.
Ask your soul if you are doing
The right thing.
Ask your soul if there is any way
It can awaken you.

8988. Your Unconsidered Action

Your unconsidered action
Is a well-preserved complacency
That will meet in the end
With the wildest destruction-frown.

8989. I Am My Mind's Sound-Fear

I am my mind’s sound-fear.
I am my heart’s silence-tear.
I am my life’s helpless beggar.
Yet I long to be a faithful instrument
Of my Lord Supreme.

8990. Another Heart

My Lord must give His world
Another heart,
So that this new heart can capture
His Aspiration-Vision
And His Perfection-Manifestation.

8991. If You Sing Heedlessly

O God-seeker,
If you sing heedlessly
The glory of the world’s desire-life,
Then you are painting disaster
And nothing else
In your Heaven-forsaking and earth-bound life.

8992. One Fragile Hour

If a seeker can remain
Inside his aspiration-heart
For one fragile hour,
He can stem the flood
Of all his yesterday’s sorrows.

8993. Your Soul's Unmeasured Flames

If you can treasure
Your soul’s unmeasured flames,
God will definitely ask you
To become a choice instrument
In His Vision-Reality-Manifestation-Game.

8994. A Heart Flooded With Peace

A self-giving seeker
Has a heart flooded with peace,
And this heart can easily outlive
The world’s inner war
And outer destruction.

8995. Do Not Listen To Your Mind!

Do not listen to your mind!
If you listen to your mind,
You will not see the Golden Boat
That plies between your soul-shore
And your God-Shore.

8996. His Only Rival

There was a time
When adversity
Was his heart’s only rival.
Now prosperity
Is his life’s only rival.
In the future he himself
Will be his only rival.
Himself he will transcend
Not in his own way,
But in God’s Way.

8997. The Song Of Newness

When my heart sings
The song of newness,
My life becomes
The dance of fulness.

8998. There Is No Difference

There is no difference
Between today’s desire
And tomorrow’s shame.

There is no difference
Between today’s aspiration-cry
And tomorrow’s realisation-smile.

8999. Chained To Mortal Fame

If you allow yourself
To be chained to mortal fame,
How can you play with God
His immortal Game?

9000. Surrender Your Common Sense

Surrender your common sense:
That you are only a human being.
Surrender your earthly goal:
Name and fame.
Receive immediately what God has for you:
His Eternity’s Immortality-Crown.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the ninetieth 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 soulfully dedicates this book to his beloved brother Mantu, whose picture appears on the cover. The photograph of the poet has been superimposed alongside it.