The caged bird
Is crying for freedom.The uncaged bird
Is striving for peace. ```Every day
I want my hope-life to goAt least one step farther
To help me reachMy ultimate destination.
```I am fated to stumble,
But I shall not allow myselfTo be doomed to sink.
```You can go on denying and denying
The existence of your soul,But there shall come a time
When you will realiseThat in your life
There is only one reality:The soul.
```Disobedience
Is neither thrillingNor fulfilling.
It is nothing other thanA wrong way of life.
```Each time I cherish
A doubt,I see the escalation
Of world-hostility. ```When I am in
My doubtful mind,Nothing motivates me;
Everything dominates me. ```How do I remove
My ego’s mask?Just by offering
My obedience-heartConstantly to my Lord Supreme.
```When I do not live
In my anxiety-world,What do I do?
I carry my lifeFrom foolishness to soulfulness.
```Each time I cherish
A good thought,I throw a powerful light
On everything that I see. ```Impurity and insecurity
Can and willCause any aspiring heart
To fail. ```Alas, a mind of darkness
And a life of ignoranceAre still very much with us.
```Keep on praying and meditating.
Your mind’s God-doubting thoughtsWill gradually fade away
Into nothingness. ```O Heaven,
Be not cruel to me.Do not tell me
All my faultsTo my face.
```Alas, I simply have no idea
How sweet will be the fruitsOf my patience and perseverance.
```Two things
I have to choose carefully:A mind of discrimination
And a life of dedication. ```When I quote my Lord
With joy, love and pride,My Lord sings
His Victory-Song for me. ```My heart’s obedience
Will rise again,Illumining my teeming
Darkness-mind. ```Each unconditionally surrendered soul
LivesOn God’s deathless Breath.
```God has sung many songs
In my life.Alas, I do not know when
He will sing His SongOf complete Satisfaction.
```God is saddened to discover
That every dayI am happily and proudly feeding
My God-questioning mind. ```God is gladdened to discover
That every dayMy heart is increasing its disgust
For God-disobedience. ```Each self-giving thought
Lives in the home ofThe God-fulfilling immortals.
```My hope is young.
My faith is strong.Therefore, I shall be able
To cover the longest distanceIn my spiritual life.
```Man’s life may be less than
One hundred fleeting years,But he can achieve
Unending good thingsFor God-fulfilment
On earth. ```When my soul-bird flies off
For good,I hope it flies
With tremendous happinessAnd fulness.
```My heart needs
Only the aspirationThat will never be tired
Of rising high, higher, highest. ```O my Lord,
Do give me a heartThat will never be tired
Of singingYour Eternity’s Victory-Songs.
```O my Lord,
Do give me a lifeThat will never be tired
Of expressingIts prayerful and soulful gratitude
To You. ```Each time I pray
I clearly feelThe supreme necessity
Of enhancing my God-need. ```However far I may stray
From God’s Light,I am sure God’s Compassion
And ForgivenessWill definitely bring me back
To His Feet. ```Why is my mind so ugly?
My mind is so uglyBecause it likes to bind and blind
Everything that it sees around it. ```To my extreme joy
My obedience-heartHas won all the medals
From God. ```O my doubting mind,
Be careful!I tell you,
Destruction is right in front of you! ```The Smile
Of God’s Compassion-EyeEscapes
My mind’s very limited grasp. ```There is no shame
In confusion.Confusion does have the capacity
To expediteThe arrival of illumination.
```O world,
I do not blame youFor not reading
My mind-book.But I do blame you
For not listening toMy heart-song.
```A seeker’s eyes
Become astonishingly brightWith the triumph
Of his God-Satisfaction. ```God tells me
That my ignorance-pleasure-lifeHas gone far enough —
Farther than He ever imagined! ```I am so happy
That my sleepless needFor God-Forgiveness
Has finally pleased God. ```At the end of my spiritual journey
I am sureNo life-riddle
Will remain unsolved. ```My mind wonders
If any seeker has noticedThat it is not meditating
Sincerely and soulfully. ```My Lord of Compassion
Listens intentlyTo hear my heart’s
Feeble cries. ```To bring down a higher truth
To earth,God does not hesitate
Even to contradict Himself. ```Alas, how is it
That I do not seeThat my desire-bound life
Has made God miserably unhappy? ```When I am sincere,
I do not blame GodFor being utterly displeased
With me. ```Alas, I can clearly see
That my Lord’s PatienceIs running short.
```God’s Compassion and Forgiveness
Are cheerfully payingMy life’s
God-Destination-plane fare. ```What do I see?
I see that my mindIs completely lost
In uselessness.What else do I see?
I see that my heartIs blossoming at every moment
In usefulness. ```Not only do we not value it,
But we simply do notWant to value it
When we achieve the thing we wantEasily.
```The little things,
More often than the big things,Are helping us considerably
Towards our perfection. ```The mind is so clever!
It tries to convince meThat my weakness
Is nothing other thanMy hidden strength.
```We make the fastest progress
When we make our mind cryFor God’s Compassion-flooded Heart.
```When a seeker succeeds
In his spiritual life,God magnifies and multiplies
His God-fulfilling achievements. ```I am so happy
That my mind believesWhat my heart imagines.
```I have come to realise
That My Lord has given meA heart
That remains always pure,To expedite
My God-manifestation-journey. ```Alas, I do not know
Why and howMy mind has taken control
Of nearly everythingIn my life.
```Alas, I do not know
Who will help me to kindleMy mind-candle.
```When the doubting mind speaks
Of God’s Compassion,It is nothing short of
A nightmare of nonsense. ```I shall please my Lord Supreme
With my heart’s solid certainty,And not with my mind’s
Weak confidence. ```Let us not stop.
Let us continue and continue.If we have an iota of peace,
Then we have to get more peace,Abundant peace, boundless peace.
This is our wayOf transcending and becoming,
Becoming and transcending. ```There shall come a time
When each individualWill pray and meditate soulfully
And unconditionallyTo become God’s choice instrument,
For that is the WillOf the Absolute Supreme.
```God will not be satisfied
With individual success or progress.He wants His entire creation
To be absolutely perfect.It is just a matter of time.
```God is all Compassion.
Justice itselfIs a form of Compassion,
To perfect our human natureAnd expedite our spiritual journey.
```We will never limit ourselves
If we can feelThat there is Somebody deep within us
To inspire us, to guide us,To mould us, to shape us
And to take usOn an endless journey
To an ever-transcending Reality. ```We think of ourselves
As ignorance incarnate,But God thinks of us
As another GodIn the process of blossoming,
And thus illumining and fulfillingHis cosmic Vision.
```When each human being becomes
A choice instrument of God,Then the world-oneness-home
Cannot and will not remainA far cry.
```Without the heart’s aspiration-cry
No seeker can run the fastestAlong the path of spirituality.
```I do not want to know
What they do in Heaven.I do not even want to know
What others do on earth.I just want to do the things
That will keep my Lord Supreme smiling. ```Our present world-experiences
Are disheartening and heartbreaking,But I do believe that our hope
Of world-transformationWill eventually be fulfilled.
```If there is a hell on earth,
Then I am absolutely sureThat that hell
Is our suspicion-mind. ```There was a time
When I happily allowed lethargyTo bind me.
But now I am so happyThat self-discipline is guiding
And illumining my life,And lethargy I have buried in Heaven.
```How long can injustice-night
Torture the God-loving seekers?The God-loving seekers
Will definitely be victoriousBefore long.
```We are starving
Our future hopesBy constantly thinking of
Our past failures. ```A heart of God-gratitude
And a life of God-surrenderWill always represent mankind
At its best. ```Self-offering
Is the hardest of all virtues.To practise this virtue
We desperately needGod’s unconditional Compassion-Eye.
```If I fail to discard my old thoughts,
How can I ever welcome and absorbMy new and illumining thoughts?
```The more sincerity we have
In our prayer-life,The sooner we will be able
Not only to opposeBut also to conquer
The ignorance-forcesBefore us and around us.
```Each undivine thought
Is an immediate dangerTo my heart’s peace
And my life’s safety. ```My heart’s hope
And my soul’s promiseAre pushed aside, alas,
By my mind’sConstant God-disobedience.
```No hope-candle-flame
Can ever dieIf we cherish our hope-flower-heart
Every day. ```God’s Home on earth is as beautiful
As His Home in Heaven.Therefore, we must not feed our stupidity
By crying for God’s Home in Heaven.His Home on earth definitely can give us
What we need: satisfaction. ```A heart of purity
And a mind of sincerityLovingly appreciate each other
To fulfil God on earth. ```When the mind chooses to live
In the Infinite,The heart feels
Infinity’s Delight. ```When the mind confesses
Its failures,That is the very beginning
Of the mind’s lofty progress. ```Do not try to discover
Others’ deficienciesIf you really want to expedite and increase
Your own efficiencies. ```As critics are ready-made,
Even so,God-lovers are God-made.
```I know I shall never fail
Because God’s Hope-MonumentIs still shining inside my heart.
```Alas, nothing else
Is as uncertain and unpredictableAs my peace of mind.
```O God-lover,
If you are genuine,There can be no justifiable way
For you to find fault with God. ```If we cherish the dry intellect
Of our mind,We shall never be able
To give joy or to receive joyFrom the world.
```If you have the courage
To die for God’s Cause gallantly,Then how is it
That you do not have the courageTo live for God on earth
Unconditionally? ```It is the weakness of the mind
That neglects God,Not the strength of the mind.
The strength of the mindAlways invites God
To fulfil Him in His own Way. ```In the outer world, the mind says
That it wants perfection.But in the inner world, the mind craves
Only satisfaction. ```Each wrong deed
Will definitely be accompaniedBy fear.
```Man is worse than an animal
When he greedily eatsAt jealousy-table.
```To please God in His own Way
Is to enjoy oneselfMost lovingly and most effectively.
```A sleeplessly self-giving heart
Has already travelledHalfway to Heaven.
```If I do not surrender
My mind’s greatnessTo my heart’s goodness,
How can I ever haveGod’s Fulness in my life?
```A day will come
When this world of oursWill be liberated from misunderstandings,
Limitations and weaknesses.It will be a happy, illumining
And fulfilling oneness-family. ```From:Sri Chinmoy,Twenty-Seven Thousand Aspiration-Plants, part 217, Agni Press, 1994
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/ap_217