1701. Because you are perfect

Because you are great,
My mind loves you.

Because you are good,
My heart loves you.

Because you are perfect,
Both man and God treasure you.

1702. Think and feel

Darkness is light:
This is what my mind thinks.
Light is delight:
This is what my heart feels.

1703. He wants to help you

He wants to help you.
That means he longs to feed
His expansion-heart
And reveal
His Satisfaction-God.

1704. Because he is God's representative

Because he is God’s representative
Here on earth,
He is as careful with everybody’s heart
As he is with his own.

1705. On earth, in Heaven

On earth
I try to be above myself.
In Heaven
I try to remain my perfection-self.

1706. Human life, divine life

The human life
Either rejects the truth
Or neglects the truth.

The divine life
Both reveals the truth
And fulfils the truth.

1707. He who argues

Secretly God has told me something:
He who argues
Prefers his boastful mind
To his peaceful heart.

1708. If you have the soulful capacity

If you have the soulful capacity
To see your mental fog,
Then you have also the powerful capacity
To dissolve it.

1709. See and know

The world clearly sees me
As a cheerful face.
I unmistakably know myself
As a sorrowful heart.

1710. An aspiration-life

A desire-life is
A delusion-mind.
An aspiration-life is
A perfection-heart.

1711. To know the mind of Truth

He who successfully pretends
To know the mind of Truth
Undoubtedly destroys
The heart of Truth.

1712. The brave decision

I have made the brave decision:
I shall sleep no more,
Since I am consciously awake
At long last.

1713. To employ a doubtful mind

To employ and enjoy
A doubtful mind
Is to destroy
A soulful heart
And
A peaceful life.

1714. I am happy

I am happy
That I do not have the capacity
To touch the head of the world.

I am happy
That I have the capacity
To touch the Feet of God.

1715. Replacement

Replace
“I have something to give cheerfully”
With
“I have something to become permanently”.

1716. Be not afraid

Be not afraid
Of destructive actions by others.
But be afraid
Of your own reaction to them.

1717. Accepted by Truth

You are accepted
By Truth.
That means you are liberated
By God.

1718. First love God

The only effective way
To love man
Is to first love God
Sleeplessly.

1719. The practical in me knows

The practical in me knows
What God has:
An iota of Justice-Light.

The spiritual in me knows
What God is:
An ocean of boundless Compassion-Reality.

1720. I shall only try

I shall not try
To purify my old life.
I shall only try
To certify my new life.

1721. You will definitely succeed in life

You will definitely succeed in life,
For your inner moon will not tolerate
Your outer deception-night.

1722. God's Vision-Reality

Patience-light
Is peace-delight.

Peace-delight
Is satisfaction-height.

Satisfaction-height
Is God’s Vision-Reality.

1723. True and abiding satisfaction

True and abiding satisfaction
Comes only from self-giving
And not from pleasure-hunting.
Never!

1724. The real in you

Be careful, be careful!
You must love only
The real in you
And not the usual in you.

The real in you
Is your aspiration-hunger;
The usual in you
Is your temptation-feast.

1725. An invisible power

Your heart’s gratitude-flames
Can and will create
An invisible power
Which will one day be visible
Even to your naked human eyes.

1726. Squander your insecurity-life

Do you want to know
What you should do
With your insecurity-life?
Just squander it here and there,
And give it away unreservedly.
Why?
The security-life is waiting
In front of your long-bolted heart-door,
Eager to live
Permanently with you.

1727. Your life's only aim

Your life’s only aim
Is to reveal
The beauty of your inner God
To the aspiration of your outer man.

1728. Your natural confidence

If you have lost your natural confidence,
I tell you, you can restore it today,
Nay, even now, at this very moment.
Just try it!
Give yourself a chance!

1729. Pairs

Anxiety-day and self-denial-night
Perfectly go together.
Self-denial-night and God-removal-day
Unfortunately go together.

1730. Each senseless thought

Each senseless thought
Is a godless life.
Each godless life
Is a deathless frustration.
Each deathless frustration
Is an endless destruction.

1731. What to do with God

If you do not know
What to do with yourself,
Then meditate on God.
If you cannot meditate,
Then pray to God.
If you cannot pray,
Then think of God.
Before long, you will come to know
What to do with God.

1732. Because you are great

Because you are great,
You will not tolerate deception-night.
Because you are good,
You will transform deception-night
Into the sincerity-light
That leads man
To perfection-delight.

1733. He secretly buys dream-seeds

Every night
He secretly buys dream-seeds.
Therefore, every day
He is openly reaping reality-fruits.

1734. Walk along a single path

Walk along a single path.
Contradiction cannot challenge you,
Frustration cannot follow you.
A single path has
The purity-beauty.
A single path is
The satisfaction-reality.

1735. Your vision-eye knows

Your vision-eye knows
What you are like.
Your realisation-heart feels
What others are like.

1736. Try to be absolutely spiritual

When you talk to others,
Be economical.
When others talk to you,
Be practical.
When you and God talk to each other,
Try to be absolutely spiritual.

1737. Compensation

The abundance of the heart-wealth
Will always compensate
For the stark poverty
Of the ignorance-mind.

1738. Love God

Love God,
And you will have nobody else to love.
Fear God,
And you will have nobody else to fear.

1739. The concert of manifestation-light

Get your aspiration-heart
In perfect tune with God
Before you begin the concert
Of your manifestation-light.

1740. When my Lord Supreme forgives me

When my Lord Supreme forgives me,
He removes my ignorance-night
And restores my perfection-delight.

1741. If you allow your mind

If you allow your mind
To deceive you,
If you allow your vital
To defile you,
Then your soul
Will not only punish you
But also disown you.

1742. The world soon forgets

The world soon forgets
How fast you ran,
But it always remembers
If you won the race.

1743. If you want to see your friends

Certain people may think of you,
But they need not be your friends.
Certain people may not think of you,
But they need not be your enemies.
If you want to see your friends,
Then either look above you
Or look within you.

1744. Left alone

If you live solely
For material fulfilment,
Then you will be left alone
In life’s journey.

1745. Your surrender-light

Your surrender-light
Is God’s Satisfaction-Delight.
Your surrender-delight
Is God’s own Perfection-Manifestation-Length
For earth.

1746. A supremely supernatural exchange

A purity-heart
In return for a purity-heart
Is quite natural.
But a purity-heart
In return for an impurity-mind
Is supremely supernatural.

1747. The sun of Grace

If you have the capacity
To create the clouds of trouble,
Then God has the capacity
To create the sun of Grace.
For whom, if not for you,
For you alone?

1748. Never substitute

Never substitute your prestige-height
For your love-delight,
Never!
Love-delight is unparalleled.
It has no second.

1749. Be careful of what you do!

Be careful of what you do!
Do not delay!
You will be denied,
You will be doomed.
In no time
You will lose all.

1750. Appearances

Because your life
Is not truly spiritual,
Your heart wants to appear pure,
Your mind wants to appear sure.

1751. Confession is no substitute

You are happy
That you have confessed your sins.
I am sorry
That confession is no substitute
For forsaking your sins.

1752. The solution of the mind

The solution of the mind
Is an organised way
Of not coming to any conclusion.

1753. Encounters with problems

The mind encounters a problem
Only to subsidise it.

The heart encounters a problem
Only to minimise it.

The soul encounters a problem
Either to totally diminish it
Or to completely illumine it.

1754. Look within, look above

Look ahead.
Lo, confusion-night.

Look back.
Lo, destruction-fight.

Look within.
Lo, illumination-delight.

Look above.
Lo, perfection-height.

1755. No God-touch

The mind knows only
How to think of the things
That should be done.
The heart knows only:
No God-touch,
Then nothing can be done.

1756. He jumped to conclusions

He dug for facts,
He jumped to conclusions:
God and Heaven are illusions,
Man and the world are frustrations.

1757. Complicated my life

Simple was my life.
It was I who complicated it.
How?
By creating uncomely circumstances
Within and without.

1758. Out of simplicity

The mind creates confusion-battle
Out of simplicity.
The heart creates illumination-victory
Out of simplicity.

1759. No room left

His mind is filled
With wisdom-light.
No room left
For conceit-night.

1760. Be pleased with yourself

Be pleased with yourself
Constantly.
God will grant you
His Blessing-Pride
Regularly.

1761. The prerogative of the heart

Thinking good thoughts
Is the privilege of the mind.
If it does not do it,
Then to threaten the mind
Is the prerogative of the heart.

1762. To keep awake

A non-seeker drinks coffee
To keep awake.
A seeker drinks consciousness-light
To keep awake.

1763. In his peaceful hours

In his restless hours
He meditates on God unconditionally.
In his peaceful hours
He meditates on himself,
The future God.

1764. The proof

My heart is the proof that
My mind is not at all happy.
My soul is the proof that
My heart is not at all secure.

1765. Satisfaction-building

Satisfaction-building
Can never be built
On a neglected or a rejected
Conscience-foundation.

1766. Something infinitely worse

To know what is divine and perfect
And not to do it because of fear
Or because of unwillingness,
Is not only something wrong,
But something infinitely worse.

1767. He lives with little

His life has everything
And his heart is everything
Because he always lives with little.

1768. To live in a simplicity-cave

Kings fail to equal him in happiness
Because he has the capacity
To live in a simplicity-cave.

1769. The clever mind

The clever mind is in favour of economy
When it has to do something for God.
But it changes its philosophy
When something involves its own property:
The body and vital.

1770. Out of practice

Poor mind,
You would lead a more disciplined life
If you were not so out of practice.
I fully understand you
And
I fully sympathise with you.

1771. A premature arrival

Constant anxiety,
Constant fear
And constant suspicion
Took him
Long before he was due to arrive
To the right place:
The cemetery.

1772. Painful and fruitful

What is the difference
Between a faithful heart
And a doubting mind?
A doubting mind
Is painful,
A faithful heart
Is fruitful.

1773. Right place, wrong time

My mind came to the right place
At the wrong time.
It came to hell ninety years later
Than it was supposed to have come.

My heart came to the right place
At the wrong time.
It came to Heaven ninety-nine years later
Than the scheduled time.

My soul came to the right place
At the right time.
It came to God
At God’s choice Hour.

1774. The compassion-feet of death

Before he develops an ingratitude-heart
The seeker should be kicked away
By the compassion-feet of death.

1775. Make everybody soulfully happy

If you want to make everybody
Soulfully happy,
Then tell your enemies
All about your weaknesses,
But never tell your friends a word,
For along with you, they will suffer
From your teeming weaknesses.

1776. Everybody laughs at my incapacities

Everybody laughs at my incapacities.
Since I cannot laugh at anybody,
Let me at least laugh at something:
My own suffering.

1777. If you know me

If you think of me,
Then you are great.
If you love me,
Then you are good.
If you know me,
Then you are perfect.

1778. Not free, not free

America may be the land of the free,
But not
Tearful anxiety-free,
And not
Hurtful dissatisfaction-free.

1779. Patience

Patience is the best
Shock-absorber.
Patience is the highest
Peace-discoverer.
Patience is the greatest
Perfection-believer.

1780. Don't eat too much

Don’t eat too much.
You will hamper your outer success
And your inner progress.

Don’t stop eating altogether.
Before long you will be devoured
By your own animal hunger:
Anger.

1781. Confession is the beginning

Confession is the beginning
Of perfection.
Perfection is the blossoming
Of satisfaction.
Satisfaction is the roaring
Of man’s oneness with God.

1782. The only miracle worth performing

If you have not realised God,
Then come to me.
I shall share with you
My aspiration-heart.

If you have realised God,
Then also come to me
And tell me compassionately
How you have done it:
The only miracle worth performing.

1783. You do not have to offer

You may not have the strength
To stop suffering from coming in,
But you do not have to offer
Your heart’s throne
For suffering to sit upon.

1784. The next best thing

If you cannot
Pray and meditate soulfully
Every day,
Then do the next best thing:
Try to feel that your spiritual death
Is fast approaching.

1785. Three incomparable things

Three
Are the incomparable things
In human life:
A mind of certitude,
A heart of gratitude
And
A life of beatitude.

1786. I shall serve my superiors

I shall not envy my superiors.
I shall not emulate my superiors.
But I shall definitely serve them,
For they deserve my service.

1787. Two medicines

My body is all tension,
My vital, all frustration,
My mind, all suspicion,
My heart, all hesitation.
Although I have four serious ailments,
Two medicines can cure them all:
My receptivity-hunger
And
God’s Compassion-Feast.

1788. Only three winners

There are only three winners:
The one who
Competes with himself,
The one who
Crosses the finish line first
And the one who
Finishes the race.

1789. I shall xerox only three things

I shall xerox only three things:
Yesterday’s
Aspiration-heart,
Today’s
Dedication-life,
Tomorrow’s
Perfection-smile.

1790. If you want only attraction

If you want only attraction
From the world,
You will see that, in the end,
Your own little vision
Will turn to finite ashes
And your poor little manifestation
Will not only starve,
But will meet with
Despicably capable Death.

1791. Feed your heart

Feed your heart
As much as you want to.
It will grow strong, stronger, strongest
And never become fat.

Feed your mind
As long as you want to.
For it is already
A ruthless monster.

1792. Be careful of the frustration-seed

Be careful of the frustration-seed;
It may produce a rebellion-tree.
Be careful of the rebellion-tree;
It may produce a destruction-fruit.

1793. If you cannot proceed further

If you cannot proceed further,
Try, at least, to recall your glorious past,
And spend all your life-energy
In living once again that past.

1794. Peace is an inspiring faith

Peace is an inspiring
Faith in God.
Bliss is a blossoming
Love for God.
Satisfaction is a perfecting
Oneness with God.

1795. Sources

Greatness comes from humility.
Goodness comes from sincerity.
Oneness comes from purity.
Fulness comes from divinity.

1796. To make comparisons

To make comparisons with others
Day in and day out
Is a waste of precious time.
To make comparisons
With one’s previous capacity
Consciously and continuously
Is the lengthening Smile of God.

1797. A prayerful life

A prayerful life
Unifies the heart.
A soulful meditation
Illumines the life.
A fruitful gratitude
Liberates the man.

1798. I need three things desperately

I need three things desperately:
An ancient heart,
A modern arm
And an ultra-modern eye.

1799. Perfection blossoms in obedience

Perfection
Blossoms in obedience.
Obedience
Glows in cheerfulness.
Cheerfulness
Is fulfilled in oneness.
Oneness is at once
A birthless smile
And
A deathless dance.

1800. He is truly happy

He is truly happy
Because his yearning-power
And his achieving-tower
Are unmistakably equal.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the eighteenth 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

Rudiger von Wechmar, President of the Thirty-fifth Session of the United Nations General Assembly, receives the second annual Human Rights Award from Sri Chinmoy on behalf of Sri Chinmoy Meditation at the United Nations on 9 January 1981. Von Wechmar had previously joined Sri Chinmoy and members of the meditation group in honouring the late Olympic and human rights champion Jesse Owens in April 1980.