Four Hundred Gratitude-Flower-Hearts

1.

```

Simplicity

is

God's Beauty. ```

2.

```

Sincerity

is

God's Wisdom. ```

3.

```

Purity

is

God's Smile. ```

4.

```

Humility

is

God's Song. ```

5.

```

Divinity

is

God's Silence-Sound. ```

6.

```

Immortality

is

God's Perfection-Height. ```

7.

```

Reality

is

God's Oneness-Delight. ```

8.

```

I do know

Who you are.

But will I ever

Know

Who I am? ```

9.

```

I see

The outer world

While smiling. ```

10.

```

I see

The inner world

While crying. ```

11.

```

Run,

You can easily

Shake hands

With

The fleeting time. ```

12.

```

Run,

You can easily

Challenge

The pride of

Frightening distance. ```

13.

```

At last

I have terminated

My long-standing

Friendship

With the thought-world. ```

14.

```

Peace of mind

Always

Succeeds. ```

15.

```

Love of God

Always

Proceeds. ```

16.

```

Regularity

In meditation

Comes from the seeker's

Determination.

```

17.

```

Punctuality

In meditation

Comes from the seeker's

Perfection.

```

18.

```

Duty's

Oneness-cry

Is

Beauty's

Fulness-Smile. ```

19.

```

God-hunger

Is the world's

Unparalleled victory. ```

20.

```

A stupid mind

And

A futile life

Can never live

Separately. ```

21.

```

You have the capacity

To reject.

That means

You are great.

```

22.

```

You have the capacity

To accept.

That means

You are good.

```

23.

```

You have the eagerness

To transform yourself.

That means

You are supremely wise.

```

24.

```

Who can escape

From hope-snares?

Indeed,

An impossible task.

```

25.

```

Gratitude-plant

Does not grow

On earth. ```

26.

```

Transformation-seed

Does not germinate

In Heaven. ```

27.

```

How can I blame

The good God

For my sad failure in life? ```

28.

```

How can I blame

The poor world

For my sad failure in life? ```

29.

```

Finally,

What is the use of blaming

The usual fool in me? ```

30.

```

I am dying to hope

Unreservedly

In the outer world. ```

31.

```

I am hoping to live

Unconditionally

In the inner world. ```

32.

```

My perfection is

Another name for

God's Transcendence

In me.

```

33.

```

My oneness is

Another name for

God's Satisfaction

In me.

```

34.

```

I love the outer world.

But I wish to have

More faith in its

Capacity.

```

35.

```

I love the inner world.

But I wish to have

A listening ear with more

Receptivity.

```

36.

```

My sound-life is my

Preparation-struggle.

```

37.

```

My silence-life is my

Satisfaction-smile.

```

38.

```

Greatness-God

I adore. ```

39.

```

Goodness-God

I love. ```

40.

```

Fulness-God

I need. ```

41.

```

My aspiration-heart

Is a great help

When I am in trouble.

```

42.

```

My dedication-life

Is a great help

In keeping me out of trouble.

```

43.

```

A great soul fights for

The decisive victory

In the battlefield of life.

```

44.

```

A good soul unreservedly surrenders

To the Cosmic Will

Of the Absolute Supreme.

```

45.

```

Darkness consciously

Frightens the human in us. ```

46.

```

Darkness unconsciously

Strengthens the divine in us. ```

47.

```

God hides His Face

Because He enjoys the Game:

Hide-and-seek.

```

48.

```

Man hides his face

Because he fails to ignore

The ruthless torture

Of strangling humiliation. ```

49.

```

My life is stationed

In between

My tearful heart

And

My cheerful soul.

```

50.

```

The poverty of a saint

Chastens and enlightens

My mind.

```

51.

```

The wealth of a multi-millionaire

Frightens and weakens

My life.

```

52.

```

God is eager to help you

Constantly.

Do not reject His Help

Carelessly, blindly

And

Deliberately. ```

53.

```

The outer man strikes.

The inner man gets

The benefit.

```

54.

```

God has challenged

Your ignorance-life

On your behalf.

Can you not for a

Fleeting minute

Think and feel

That He has done it

Unconditionally? ```

55.

```

My confusion-mind

Tearfully tells me

That my life has to proceed

From struggle to struggle. ```

56.

```

My aspiration-heart

Cheerfully tells me

That my life is proceeding

From strength to strength. ```

57.

```

Suffering is undoubtedly

An opportunity

To learn and unlearn.

```

58.

```

Why should I be angry with you

Since I know that I have the capacity

To love you

Always? ```

59.

```

How do I dare to be angry with you

Since I have no power

To protect you?

```

60.

```

What my soul's Heaven has

Is promise. ```

61.

```

What my heart's earth is

Is hope. ```

62.

```

Obedience is joy.

Joy is Heaven's

Property.

Joy is earth's

Prosperity.

```

63.

```

Believe, you will know.

Believe, you will grow.

Believe, you will become.

Indeed, you are NOW

God's chosen drum.

```

64.

```

Do you want to know

Why your faith is not

Inspiring you anymore?

Here is the answer:

Your faith is either dying

Or completely dead

In the inner world.

```

65.

```

Be affectionate and compassionate.

Remember only one thing:

Like you everybody

Is desperately fighting

Against Ignorance-Night

In the battlefield of life. ```

66. Forgiveness

My Lord's Name is Forgiveness. My name is hope.

To forgive the outer world I need peace. To forgive the inner world I need perfection.

Forgiveness is the seeker's immeasurable accomplishment in both the world of self-giving and the world of God-becoming.

Forgiveness is man's happiness-house. Forgiveness is God's Oneness-Home.

If you are deplorably weak, then you will sleeplessly remember, strongly harbour and ceaselessly suffer. If you are soulfully brave, then you will immediately forgive, completely forget and unimaginably prosper.

Forget the injustice-world. Forgiveness-joy will be all yours.

Cry for the world. Look, forgiveness-light is within your easy reach. Smile at the world. Look, forgiveness-delight is preceding you and following you.

Forgive the world. The world will sit at your compassion-feet. Forgive yourself. God will be dancing inside your meditation-heart.

67. Faithfulness

Faithfulness means, "I am unconditionally for God."

Faithfulness is man's divine soulfulness, which completely satisfies God.

Faithfulness is the inner fulness, which does not need any outer help.

Faithfulness is God-satisfaction in man and man-perfection in God.

Faithfulness is the sunlit path. It most amazingly expedites our Heavenward journey.

Because of faithfulness there can be no ultimate failure here on earth, there in Heaven. This is the discovery, the infallible discovery, made by faithful seekers and soulful God-lovers.

God does not fail anybody. This is the most outstanding discovery of a faithful truth-seeker.

Faithfulness is ruthlessly challenged by difficulty. Faithfulness is unreservedly supported by necessity.

Faithfulness always succeeds and proceeds.

Faithfulness shines in our heart's aspiration-cry. Faithfulness shines in our life's dedication-smile.

Today faithfulness is my victory's goal. Tomorrow faithfulness shall be my self-giving role in man's heart, which will grow into the very image of God.

68. Purity

A purity-heart is never empty.

A purity-heart does not worry. It does not hurry either. A purity-heart devotedly waits, soulfully watches and unmistakably acts.

Conviction's treasure-home: a purity-heart.

A purity-heart houses a very large amount of capacity. Therefore, it surmounts most of the difficulty-barriers in human life.

Purity is the life's achievement. Joy is the heart's commitment.

Purity's absence is the fast beginning of life's real bankruptcy.

Purity most rapidly increases in the seeker's inner obedience-life.

Rich in purity means rich in divinity. Rich in divinity means rich in perfection. Rich in perfection means rich in God-satisfaction.

A pure God-lover carries the crying earth up to Heaven in the morning and brings the smiling Heaven down to earth in the evening.

69. Time

Who has time? God. God has time to love me.

Who has time? I. I have time to perfect myself.

Time is the colleague of happiness and the fever of laziness.

The laziness in man usually hates the promptness of time. The divine in man sleeplessly loves the readiness, steadiness and promptness of time.

My failure-life is not the fault of my lack of time. My failure-life is the fault of my mind's lack of awareness, my heart's lack of wakefulness and my life's lack of soulfulness.

Every day time sings for me only one song — the same song — "pull and push." Time inspires me to pull Heaven down gently and push earth up powerfully.

While doing a little thing I smile at time. While doing a great thing I cry for time. While doing the right thing I love the unconditional arrival of time.

The heart of time embodies ceaseless industry. The eye of time reveals soundless eloquence.

Time touches the God-lover in me to inspire my slow body, my weak vital, my unconscious mind and my uncertain heart all at once.

70. Pride

Some people are overqualified. Therefore, God cannot appoint them.

Pride can befriend only those who are short in their inner heights and inner depths.

A man of pride is an "I" specialist. A man of humility is an "I" perfectionist.

Preference and indifference are the obverse and reverse of the pride-coin.

You are admiring yourself to such an extent that you have made it clear that you do not need even God's Admiration.

You are full of yourself. Poor God sincerely tells the whole world that His Heart is too small for you.

Your excessive love of yourself destroys you not only beyond your realisation but also far beyond your imagination.

Your body is proud of its simplicity. Your vital is proud of its vitality. Your mind is proud of its majesty. Your heart is proud of its humility. Your soul is proud of its luminosity. And finally, your God is proud of His unity in multiplicity.

71. Humility

A humility-man is a God-satisfying life.

God forgot my name because I was disproportionately proud. God gave me not only His Name but also His God-capacities because I was sincerely humble.

A humble seeker-soul accepts both God's Compassion-Height and Justice-Light equally, happily, soulfully and unconditionally.

Humility-foundation holds the realisation-palace.

Excessive humility is impressive unreality and compulsive insincerity.

When you pray to God for humility, God grants you humility plus His own Appreciation-Heart.

Pride left him hurriedly and helplessly the day he realised God.

Humility has been living permanently with him and in him since the day he came to know that what he has is a tiny ant-capacity.

Because of my sincere incapacity, humility and its closest friend, divinity, have become my intimate friends.

72. Generosity

My generosity is not self-aggrandisement. My generosity is my Lord's God-contentment.

My generosity is not an unavoidable responsibility. My generosity is an invaluable opportunity.

Generosity is the willing heart's capacity which conquers the unwilling mind's incapacity.

Generosity is at once man's loving promise to God and God's saving promise to man.

Generosity smilingly consumes selfishness-fire.

Only a generous heart does not rob or exploit the poverty-stricken humanity.

Some people trust God because they think that God can and will eventually grant them salvation. But they are not generous in trusting God with their wallets and pocketbooks, for they think that God may distribute the contents of their wallets and pocketbooks lavishly and unscrupulously!

Generosity is from the descending God, for the ascending man.

Generosity comes from the present God-Tree to the future God-Leaves.

A generous soul gives to mankind what he has and gets from God what He Himself is.

Generosity increases human capacity, strengthens divine Unity and satisfies the supreme Reality.

73. Worship

Worship is God-reaching aspiration within, God-manifesting devotion without.

The human in us secretly expects the worship of patronage-fulness. The divine in us sincerely waits for the right moment to expect fellowship-oneness.

Worship man. Imperfection-frustration will chase you. Worship God. Opposition-destruction will surrender to you.

We worship. Unconsciously we worship fear-torture. Consciously we worship courage-rapture.

We worship. Unconsciously we worship jealousy-seed. Consciously we worship friendliness-fruit.

We worship. Unconsciously we worship doubt-kingdom. Consciously we worship faith-freedom.

We worship. Unconsciously we worship ignorance-night around us. Consciously we worship wisdom-light within us.

74. I love you

```

I love you

Because

Your life is Eternity's

Compassion-flow.

I love you

Because

Your heart is Infinity's

Perfection-glow. ```

75. Ambition-determination-realisation

```

Ambition

Is usually shadowless.

Determination

Is amazingly faultless.

Realisation

Is eternally priceless. ```

76. They say and I say

```

They say: the morning is

Beautiful.

I say: your blossoming

Eyes are infinitely

More beautiful.

They say: the evening is

Beautiful.

I say: your falling

Tears are infinitely

More beautiful.

```

77. I am not afraid

```

I am not afraid of

The blackness of darkness.

I am not afraid of

The blindness of darkness.

But

I am afraid of

The emptiness of darkness.

```

78. Yesterday-today-tomorrow

```

Yesterday

Man's need was an iota of

Faith.

Today

Man's need is a small

Challenge.

Tomorrow

Man's need will be

An acknowledged

Victory. ```

79. When

```

When slowly

And soulfully

Sincerity shines

Within,

Quickly and powerfully

Beauty shines

Without.

```

80. Justice-sun and compassion-sea

```

My Lord Supreme

Granted me

What I anticipated:

His Justice-Sun.

My Lord Supreme

Shall grant me

What I am hoping for:

His Compassion-Sea. ```

Twelve prayers for 1979

81.

```

My Lord Supreme, You blessed me with an inspiration-bird in the month of January. I am now offering You my gratitude-heart.

```

82.

```

My Lord Supreme, in the month of February You blessed me with a flame of aspiration in the depth of my heart.

```

83.

```

My Lord Supreme, in March You taught me how to be faithful, cheerful and soulful in my life of dedication.

```

84.

```

My Lord Supreme, in April You took away from me my impurity-breath and my insecurity-life.

```

85.

```

My Lord Supreme, in May I placed at Your Feet my entire ingratitude-world.

```

86.

```

My Lord Supreme, out of Your infinite Compassion, in June You said to me: "My son, failure is not your name. Your name is constant attempt."

```

87.

```

My Lord Supreme, in July You forced me to stop drinking doubt-poison and You helped me drink faith-nectar.

```

88.

```

My Lord Supreme, in August You illumined me by saying that I must not miss any opportunity, either in the inner world or in the outer world.

You said to me, "To miss an opportunity, My child, is to be farther than the farthest from Me."

```

89.

```

My Lord Supreme, if I have an iota of gratitude, then I place it at Your Compassion-Feet, for it is You who saved me from the utterly destructive month of September.

```

90.

```

My Lord Supreme, in October You gave me the capacity to love You sincerely, to devote myself to You unreservedly and to surrender my life to You constantly.

```

91.

```

My Lord Supreme, in November You said, "Don't think, My child. I shall think for you. Don't fight, My child. I shall fight for you. Only try to love Me more in your sleepless hours and in your sleeping hours."

```

92.

```

My Lord Supreme, today is the first of December. Today You are blessing me with a unique message: "My child, each second in your life of aspiration and dedication is as precious as Heaven's descending Blessing and as precious as earth's ascending cry."

```

Editor's preface

For each of the books he has written since coming to the West in 1964, Sri Chinmoy identifies himself with his larger self and offers a gratitude-flower-heart to his Beloved Supreme, who is all the time creating in and through him. At the same time, these books form a garland of light which the Supreme Himself grants humanity in total satisfaction for its soulful acceptance of His divine Self-offering. In this, Sri Chinmoy’s four hundredth book, the gratitude-flower-heart of humanity and the satisfaction-fruit-soul of Divinity become one. Thus, these inspiring aphorisms, energising essays, enlightening poems and fulfilling prayers stand as the Transcendental God’s immortal Gift to the Universal God: man. In return, the aspiring man’s gratitude-blossoms stand as a most significant gift to humanity’s perennial Source: God.

From:Sri Chinmoy,Four Hundred Gratitude-Flower-Hearts, Agni Press, 1979
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/fhg