Editor's preface to the first edition

Sri Chinmoy offered the poems in this book during Peace Concerts in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand from February to July 1989.

Note

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
26 February 1989.

1.

Peace is God's own
Progress-Perfection-Satisfaction
In man's birthless and deathless
God-hunger-life.

2.

Peace smilingly challenges
And immediately silences
My mind's doubt-thunder.

3.

Peace and nothing else
Can ever be humanity's
Perfection-dream-fulfilled
Happiness-reality.

4.

Peace is at once the safest
And the highest ascent
Of a truth-seeker and a God-lover.

5.

Peace is humanity's
Ignorance-liberated
And God-treasured
Eternal life and infinite breath.

Note

Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
5 March 1989

6.

Peace is my conscious
And constant obedience
To the Will of my Inner Pilot
Lord Beloved Supreme.

7.

My peace-heart blossoms
The moment it sees
My ego-mind's eclipse.

8.

My heart and I receive
Abundant peace
Only when my mind loses
Its elephant-heavy
Unwillingness-weight.

9.

My soulful love for my Lord Supreme
And
His bountiful Faith in me
Give me fruitful peace.

10.

When my Lord's descending
Compassion-Eye
And my ascending
Aspiration-heart meet,
I feel in the inmost recesses
Of my heart
Peace in infinite measure.

Note

Buchman Hall
New York City
7 March 1989

11.

The absence of peace
In your heart
Is the presence of my Lord's
Sorrowful sigh.

12.

My Lord Supreme,
How can I have peace of mind
Every morning before I enter into
The hustle and bustle of life?
"My child,
Every morning ask your heart
To count My Heavenly Blessings
Long before you allow your mind
To count your earthly bills.
My child,
This is the only way
You can have peace of mind
Early in the morning
And during the entire day."

Note

Buchman Hall
New York City
13 March 1989

13.

My life desperately needs peace.
Therefore, on the strength
Of my heart's aspiration-cries,
I must immediately silence
My mind's ego-thunder.

14.

Farewell, farewell,
My old expectation-friends.
I must have an absolutely new friend,
Detachment,
If I sincerely need peace
In the very depths of my heart.

15.

Reluctance, leave me alone,
Leave me alone!
Willingness, I am of you
And I am for you.
Let us pray together
To our Inner Pilot,
Let us together meditate
On our Inner Pilot
For peace,
Abundant peace, infinite peace.
He will grant us,
Out of His infinite Bounty,
At His choice Hour,
Peace, peace, peace
In infinite measure.

Note

Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
16 March 1989

16.

Only a heart of gratitude
And
A life of surrender
Can offer the seeker
Peace, abundant peace.

17.

Peace I feel
In the depths of my heart
The moment my dedication-life
Rings the oneness-bell.

18.

No resentment within,
No resentment without
If I want peace.
Enlightenment
In my heart of aspiration
And
In my life of dedication
Is what I eternally need.

19.

I can have abundant peace
Only when my heart,
My mind, my vital
And my body
Are loving, faithful
And self-giving
To one another.

Note

Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
27 March 1989

20.

Peace is my soulful heart's
Gratitude-bridge
To God's Homeland.

21.

Peace is my
Unconditionally surrendered life
To God's Compassion-Eye.

22.

Peace is my sleepless love
For God's Protection-Feet
And His Compassion-Eye.

23.

Peace I feel in abundant measure
In the inmost recesses of my heart
When I do not allow my mind-elephant
And my vital-tiger
To attack my heart-lamb.

24.

Peace I feel in infinite measure
Only when I give the key
To my Lord Supreme
To open my heart-door
At His sweet Will.

Note

University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
1 April 1989

25.

I get peace of mind
The moment I ask my mind
To stop running
And I ask my heart
To start singing.

26.

I receive peace
In abundant measure
When I take my mind
To fly with me
In my simplicity, sincerity,
Humility and purity-plane
In the Sky of God's Compassion,
Protection and Satisfaction.

27.

What I need is a life of peace.
And to have a life of peace,
What I need is a heart of bliss.
And to have a heart of bliss,
My entire being has to become
A mounting flame of aspiration.

Note

Kurhalle Oberlaa
Vienna, Austria
1 April 1989

28.

I can have peace
In abundant measure
Only from a non-stop surrender
To the Will
Of my Lord Beloved Supreme.

29.

The moment I pray to God
For peace,
He immediately promises me
A better world.

30.

Whenever I soulfully meditate
On world peace,
My Lord Supreme gives me
His blessingful surprise Visit.

31.

Peace is in my secret
And sacred pathway
To my supreme gratitude-destination.

Note

Friedrich Ebert Halle
Ludwigshafen, Germany
3 April 1989

32.

Peace I feel
In abundant measure
When my heart becomes
The rainbow-beauty
Of my soul.

33.

Peace I feel
In infinite measure
When my life becomes
The fragrance
Of my gratitude-heart.

34.

Every day,
Out of His infinite Bounty,
My Lord Supreme comes to visit
My heart-garden
With His Compassion-flooded Peace.

Note

University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Germany
4 April 1989

35.

My heart's gratitude-tears
And
My life's surrender-smiles
Have given me immense peace.

36.

I have peace of mind
Precisely because
I do not walk any more
Along the road of self-doubt.

37.

Expectation-extinction
Is the very beginning
Of the heart's satisfaction-peace.

Note

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
13 May 1989

38.

Purify my heart,
O my Lord Supreme.
I need peace.
Advise my mind,
O my Lord Supreme.
I need peace.
Guide my life,
O my Lord Supreme.
I need peace.

39.

Liberate me,
O my Lord Supreme,
From my
Expectation-entanglement.
I need peace.

40.

Great men come and go.
Oh, where are the men of peace,
Where?
I need them; I need peace.

41.

In my hope-abundance-light,
I am all peace.
In my promise-abundance-delight,
I am all peace.

42.

Only a heart of constant gratitude
And
A life of unconditional surrender
To God's Will
Are the two true possessors
Of peace infinite.

Note

Stanford University
Palo Alto, California
22 May 1989

43.

I can have abundant peace
If I can ring
My heart's temple-bell
Every day
Without fail.

44.

I can have abundant peace
If I can sit
At my heart's temple-shrine
And pray and meditate
Every day.

45.

I need peace
In the inmost recesses of my heart.
Therefore,
I must say good-bye
To my age-old restlessness.

46.

I need peace
In the inmost recesses of my heart.
Therefore,
I must say good-bye
To my age-old insecurity.

Note

McGill University
Montreal, Canada
27 May 1989

47.

Peace is in
The surrender-smile
Of my gratitude-heart.

48.

Peace means
My conscious and constant
Willingness
To fly with God's Compassion-Eye
In His Infinity's Sky.

49.

The pure appearance
Of my heart's blossoming peace
Compels the sure disappearance
Of my mind's teeming doubts.

50.

I feel abundant peace
In the depths of my heart
When my mind loves
The oneness-songs
Of my wisdom-flooded soul.

Note

Chiles Auditorium
Portland, Oregon
12 June 1989

51.

If we want peace,
Then we must be fluent
In our soul's language.
What is our soul's language?
Oneness-light and fulness-delight.

52.

God blesses only
An unconditionally surrendered heart
With His Infinity's Peace.

53.

Expectation is everywhere,
In each and every individual.
But where is our aspiration?
Where is our dedication?
How can we have even an iota of peace
Without our heart's aspiration
And our life's dedication?

54.

Peace will be yours,
Peace will be his,
Peace will be mine,
Peace will be ours,
Our treasure supreme.
Let us offer our heart's
Love-candle-flame
All over the world.

55.

Instead of making ourselves famous,
Let us make
Our Lord Beloved Supreme famous
Here on earth
With our heart's mounting cry
And
With our life's dedication-smile.
Then ours will be peace eternal,
Infinite and immortal.

Note

State Sports Centre
Sydney, Australia
5 July 1989

56.

Peace is in
The purity-life
Of my ceaseless prayer.

57.

Peace is in
The fragrance-heart
Of my sleepless meditation.

58.

Peace is in
The fragrance-delight
Of my soul's birthless
And deathless dream.

59.

We can have boundless peace
Only when we are fully awakened
From the slumber of millennia.

60.

I feel peace infinite
When I climb up and reach
The highest height
Of my faith-mountain
And when I dive deep and reach
The deepest depth
Of my gratitude-sea.

Note

Logan Campbell Centre
Auckland, New Zealand
7 July 1989

61.

I must be brave
To silence my mind,
If I want to have peace
In the depths of my heart.

62.

It is I who have to come out
Of my mind's self-created
Melancholy-night,
If I want to have peace of mind.

63.

I can have peace
In abundant measure
If I can sleeplessly maintain
My heart's aspiration
And observe my Lord's Footsteps
Inside the depths
Of my heart's constant cry.

64.

Every morning,
At the end of my soulful meditation,
I receive peace from my heart's
Soulful rainbow-faith.

65.

If my God-longing is sleepless
And sincere, absolutely sincere,
Then my Lord's blessingful Peace
Can never remain a far cry.

Note

University of Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
8 July 1989

66.

Not on the strength of austerity,
But by virtue of aspiration,
I can and I shall have peace.

67.

Peace is always available
In the fragrance
Of my sleeplessly aspiring heart.

68.

If I stop walking
Along the road
Of my dry desert-mind,
Then I am bound to get peace,
Abundant peace.

69.

I must convince my mind
That God loves me unconditionally
No matter what I do,
No matter what I say,
No matter who I am.
He is moulding me and shaping me
In His own Way.
His unconditional Love, Compassion
And Blessings
I must try to feel
At every moment of my life
If I truly want to have peace
In the depths of my heart
Daily and sleeplessly.

70.

If I want to succeed
In my outer life,
Then I must nourish hope
At every moment.
It is only with hope
That I can embark on my journey
In my outer life.
Then there shall come a time
When my outer life
Will be flooded with peace.

71.

If I want to proceed
In my inner life,
Then I need confidence
At every moment.
It is by virtue of my confidence,
Divine confidence,
That I shall be able to make progress
In my inner life,
And this progress is all peace,
Peace.

Note

Arie Crown Theatre
Chicago, Illinois
20 July 1989

72

A heart of oneness-peace
Is always beyond the reach
Of a doubting mind.

73.

Let me not try to perfect the world.
I shall have peace of mind
Immediately.

74.

God's Wisdom-Sun-Peace
Will claim me as its own,
Very own,
The moment I disown
My ignorance-mind-sound.

75.

To become a servant
Of surrender-light
Is to become a master
Of peace-delight.