Austerity

A life of austerity can never be a guaranteed proximity to God's Door.

Beauty

A life of constant duty is a life of supernal beauty.

Confidence

Confidence is not in doing or becoming but in being.

Confusion

How far is confusion-night from Illumination-light?
It is as far as man’s doubting mind and man’s loving heart.

Consciousness

The role of consciousness is to deepen silence and expand sound.

Delight

Human surrender is slavery, perpetual slavery.
Divine surrender is delight, constant delight.

Destination

Love divine is the destination of the ever-transcending Beyond.

Destruction

The destruction of the vital is at times necessary for the purification of the heart and for the perfection of life.

Determination

A heart of determination is a son of God’s achievement-glorification.

Devotion

Attachment illumined, love intensified, devotion divinised: surrender immortalised.

Divine Journey

The divine journey never ends.
Each ending is the preparation for a greater and more fulfilling beginning.

Dream-glow

A man of expectation is a citizen of dream-glow land.
A man of perfection is a citizen of reality-land.

Earth-bound necessity

An unaspiring man is an earth-bound necessity.
An aspiring man is a Heaven-free Reality.

Enthusiasm

God's Dreamboat treasures a man of soaring enthusiasm.

Glory

Man’s human glory begins when his animal story ends.
His divine glory begins when his human story ends.
His supreme Glory has neither birth nor death.

Grace

Unconditional love is the connecting link between earth’s ascending face and Heaven’s descending Grace.

Heroism

Heroism lies not in self-fulfilment but in God-becoming.

Hospitality

Heaven’s hospitality, earth is apt to suspect.
Earth’s hospitality, Heaven is apt to reject.

Humility

Next to the surrender-boat, the humility-boat sails the fastest towards the Golden Shore.

Immensity

The immensity of man's heart is the Beauty of God’s Soul.

Inconscience

The transformation of inconscience is the transcendence of man's finite existence.

Intense Affection

Intense affection in the ordinary life may lead to disastrous attachment.
In the spiritual life, intense affection is the mother of immense Compassion.

Intuition

The eye of intuition challenges destruction-night and embraces perfection-light.

Joy

Joy alone has the capacity to shorten our way to God-realisation.

Light

The dance of light awakens the wings of life to soar into the Silence of the Absolute Supreme.

Love

God the Master becomes God the slave the moment we soulfully love Him.

Lustre

Lustre is the Perfection-Smile of God’s Transcendental Height.

Manifestation

How far is God’s perfect Manifestation?
As far as man's transformation and his unconditional surrender.

New life

A new life of man is the evolving soul of God.

Offering

An act of self-offering is one step more towards God-becoming.

Plenitude

When you become your heart’s gratitude, God becomes your life’s plenitude.

Poverty

The divine in us asks, “Where is poverty?”
The human in us answers, “Easily you will find it in the heart of my existence.”

Power

With power man wants to bind the world.
With power God wants to energise His creation.

Progress

The difference between man and God is this: man wants success while God wants progress.

Promise

Compassion is God’s fulfilled promise to man.
Surrender is man's lingering promise to God.

Prosperity

A moment of inner cry is a day of outer prosperity.

Purity and divinity

God stands between man’s fully-blossomed purity and Divinity’s fully-envisioned Reality.

Renunciation

Real renunciation is giving up one’s earth-bound necessity and accepting one’s Heaven-free Reality.

Rhythm

When God dances His Cosmic Dance, man's gratitude-sea can alone serve as His Cosmic Rhythm.

Sacrifice

The animal in us demands sacrifice from others.
The human in us expects sacrifice from others.
The divine in us cheerfully and unconditionally sacrifices.
The Supreme in us says: "There is no such thing as sacrifice.
Sacrifice is nothing but the conscious fulfilment of one's universal Oneness."

Serenity

When the serenity of the mind and the purity of the heart work together, nothing can stand against their immediate success.

Sincerity

Sincerity is next door to Divinity.

Sorrow

A life of sorrow is not a life of perdition, but a life of self-purification and God-glorification.

Speed

Silence not only has, but is the fastest speed.

Struggle

Human life is a constant struggle.
Divine life is a joyful gambol.

Surrender

Man does not know the meaning of real surrender; therefore he hesitates.
God knows the real meaning of surrender; therefore He acts and explicates.

Sympathy

Man shows sympathy.
God is Concern.

Transformation

There is no difference between human transformation and divine Perfection.

Uncertainty

A heart of uncertainty is a body of future failure.

Unity

Unity does not understand the complexity of multiplicity.
Multiplicity does not understand the simplicity of unity.

Vastness and spirituality

Our heart is Infinity’s Vastness.
Our soul is Eternity’s Oneness.

Victory

The victory of human love is confusing.
The victory of divine love is illumining.
The victory of supreme love is fulfilling.

Editor's note — Pantone numbers

Sri Chinmoy chose the specific colours reproduced in this book from a Pantone® Colourchart, assigning each a different spiritual quality.

Since this edition of the book is printed digitally, the colours may be slightly different from the original Pantone® colours, which were reproduced by an offset printing process in the first edition in 1974.

The colours are identified by their Pantone® number, which are listed below.

The interested reader may find an exact replica of the colour Sri Chinmoy intended to describe.

Austerity 486
Beauty 252
Confidence 362
Confusion 532
Consciousness 279
Delight warm red
Destination 305
Destruction 463
Determination 472
Devotion 583
Divine Journey 298
Dream-glow 332
Earth-bound necessity 456
Enthusiasm 375
Glory 231
Grace 529
Heroism 370
Hospitality 320
Humility 366
Immensity 327
Inconscience black
Intense affection 347
Intuition 101
Joy 163
Light 265
Love 395
Lustre purple
Manifestation 513
New Life 339
Offering 135
Plenitude 307
Poverty 474
Power 201
Progress 238
Promise 353
Prosperity yellow
Purity and Divinity white
Renunciation 151
Rhythm 109
Sacrifice 206
Serenity 157
Sincerity 123
Sorrow 428
Speed 300
Struggle 191
Surrender 223
Sympathy 244
Transformation 312
Uncertainty 431
Unity 287
Vastness and Spirituality 284
Victory 137