2701. Today I am wise

Yesterday I was clever.
That is why
I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise.
That is why
I am changing myself.

2702. Concealing and revealing

You have all along
Been an expert
At concealing yourself from yourself.
From now on
Can you not be an expert
At revealing yourself to yourself?

2703. The miracle-reward

Behold the miracle-reward
Of conscience-light:
It receives love long before it gives;
It becomes even before it achieves.

2704. Two close friends

An imaginary happiness
And a struggling life
Are perfect strangers.
These two strangers
Must become two close friends
If they want to see
The face of light
And become
The heart of delight.

2705. You do not want to change

You want to change your life,
But you do not want to change
The process of your thinking.

2706. The fruit of satisfaction

If you do not sow
The seed of perfection,
How can you expect to reap
The fruit of satisfaction?

2707. An insincere mind

An insincere mind can be made
To look like a sincere mind,
But an insincere mind can never be made
To feel like a sincere mind.

2708. Divinely perfect realisation

Heavenly inspiration
Descends.
Earthly aspiration
Ascends.
Divinely perfect realisation
Neither descends nor ascends.
It just spreads its infinite fragrance
Over the length and breadth of the world.

2709. The inner problem

No, not even one outer problem
Can ever be solved permanently,
If the inner problem remains unsolved.
And what is that inner problem?
My lack of God-hunger.

2710. Give Him what you have

If you want concern from God,
Then give Him what you have:
Love.
If you want love from God,
Then give Him what you are supposed to be:
A gratitude-heart.

2711. Many are the ways

Many are the ways
To use simplicity, sincerity,
Purity and humility.
But there are only very few ways
To increase them
In our lifelong journey towards God.

2712. The human mind

The human mind is willing to
Profess a perfection-life
As long as it does not have to
Practise it.

2713. The examination of self-improvement

There is only one examination
That cannot and will not stop,
And that is the examination
Of self-improvement.

2714. The only time

The only time
An insincere seeker tells the truth
Is when he calls certain other seekers
A flood of insincerity
Or
A sea of impurity.

2715. No advantage

You do not love God.
Therefore, how can you have any advantage
Over those who
Cannot love God?

2716. To see God's Face

My longing for God knows that
To see God’s Face is really important.
But what is more important
Is to have always a burning cry
Deep within my heart
To see His Face.

2717. How and why

The body will continue
To remain idle and impure
As long as the vital
Is anxious and eager to teach it how
And supply it with reasons why.

2718. You examine first

O my life,
Since my mind does not want you
To examine it,
Why do you allow it
To examine you?
Allow yourself to be examined
Only when you are allowed
To examine first.

2719. Save me from both!

My Lord,
Is there no way
To ask my vital
To stop keeping up appearances?
My Lord,
Is there no way
To ask my mind
To keep down expenses?
I am dragged down
Either by appearance-power
Or by expense-power.
My Lord, save me from both!

2720. Never possible

A generous mind
And an ungenerous heart:
Is this ever possible?
Never!

A perfect life
And an imperfect soul:
Is this ever possible?
Never!

2721. Ideas that are not true

There are ideas
That are not true
Yet are responsible for manufacturing
A train of insecurities and anxieties.
Here are two perfect examples:
God does not want me;
God has no faith in me.

2722. Your own feeble faith

Any sacred book
Is ready to stand against
Your reasoning mind.
But your own feeble faith in yourself
Will not allow you to have faith
In a sacred book
To make your heart soulful
And your life fruitful.

2723. Almost impossible to stop

Easy to begin
But almost impossible to stop
The blows of the impurity-mind
And
The flow of the insecurity-life.

2724. I am happy twice

I am happy twice:
Once when my saviour-heart
Becomes the interpreter for
My stupid mind,
Once when my saviour-vision-eye
Stops me from looking at
My imperfection-vital.

2725. To see perfection in the mind

There is no way
To see perfection in the mind
Except by making it perfect.
To achieve that,
What one needs
Is a heart of enthusiasm
In one’s inner life
And an eye of indifference
To one’s outer life.

2726. Nobody can see

Nobody can see God
On his own terms.
Nobody can achieve world-transcendence
On his own terms.

2727. Choose both

Between the suspicious mind
And the inauspicious vital,
Choose neither.

Between the loving heart
And the serving life,
Choose both.

2728. The son of time

The son of time
Is the
Aspiration-mountain.

The daughter of time
Is the
Dedication-sea.

2729. O forgiveness-light from Above

O forgiveness-light from Above,
Now that you have entered
My crying and bleeding heart,
Do never leave me alone and lost.

2730. A radiant ray

Each sweet breath
Of a soulful song
Is a radiant ray
Of fruitful peace.

2731. The tree of eternal freedom

Your power of self-control
Is the tree of eternal freedom.
The host of life’s difficulties, helpless,
In silence surrenders
To your freedom-light.

2732. Each soulful hope

Each soulful hope
Embodies the moon’s silver feet.
Each fruitful promise
Embodies the sun’s golden eye.

2733. What my heart is

What my mind has
Is an endless and goalless seeking.
What my heart is
Is a touch of undying sadness.

2734. The dreaming eyes of time

The dreaming eyes of time
Have given me two beautiful things:
A divinity-heart
And
A prosperity-life.

2735. My vision-realities

I have seen the beautiful
Face of God.
I have touched the powerful
Feet of God.
I have breathed the merciful
Heart of God.
I can broadcast
These vision-realities of mine
Only to God-tuned souls.

2736. When the silence-night surrounds me

When the silence-night surrounds me,
I hear Heaven’s splendour-voice
And earth’s perfection-cry.

2737. How can you be happy?

How can you be happy
When what you have
Is only a sense of self-importance?

How can you be happy
When what you are
Is only two flaw-seeking eyes?

2738. The hyphen

I am not happy.
Do you know why?
Precisely because I am
The hyphen between
An indifferent eye
And
A non-committal eye.

2739. Beyond the reach of delight

O my mind,
Are you not ashamed of the fact
That you have allowed vast uncertainties
To surround you?
Do you not realise
That you will remain forever
Beyond the reach of delight?

2740. The light that never fails

If you have the courage
To free your mind
From teeming doubts,
The light that never fails
Shall befriend you
Before long.

2741. Not on speaking terms

I think it is always good
That my doubting mind and my loving heart
Do not remain, even for a minute,
On speaking terms.
For my mind may contaminate my heart,
And my heart may lose its
Precious purity
If they are ever on speaking terms.

2742. The firsthand experience of God

You can have
The firsthand experience of God
When your gratitude-heart
And your purity-breath
Together live
Inseparably.

2743. Our soulful tears

Our soulful tears
Have strength unimaginable,
Even inside the heart
Of our untold and imperishable weaknesses.

2744. Impossibility

Impossibility, like everything else,
Can be brought under control
If one has a brightness-heart
And a quietness-mind.

2745. The greatest victor

You are indeed a victor
If you have conquered the human life.
You are indeed a greater victor
If you have conquered the human mind.
You are indeed the greatest victor
If you have conquered the human heart.

2746. Unnecessary thoughts

Like each necessary thought,
Each unnecessary thought
Also has tremendous power.
Therefore, at every moment,
Endeavour to empty your mind
Of unnecessary thoughts.

2747. Perfect nonsense

Vanity calls it
Wisdom.
Arrogance calls it
Wisdom.
Jealousy calls it
Wisdom.
But I call it
Perfect nonsense.
And what is it?
My unwillingness to surrender
To the Reality-Light.

2748. The miracle of miracles

The miracle of miracles is this:
You can and you will
Conquer your enemies
Sooner than the soonest.
But you who have been
Your own true enemy
Will take thousands and thousands of years
To achieve the perfection needed.

2749. The express falsehood-train

Don’t pretend that you
Know the truth
Or insist that you
Embody the truth.
For, alas, truth does not want
To ride with you
In the express falsehood-train.

2750. To save myself

To save myself in the outer world
What I need is
Conscious and constant attention.

To save myself in the inner world
What I need is
Sleepless and faultless self-examination.

2751. Change your inner attitude

Change your inner attitude.
Collect all the gratitude-flowers
Of your heart.
A new world will open up before you
To help you face tomorrow’s night
And change the abysmal fate
Of the day after tomorrow.

2752. Implore and explore

Implore God’s Grace.
You will be happy.
Explore your heart’s silence-breath.
You will unmistakably discover
The blue soul-bird within you.

2753. God will do that for you

You do not have to prove to the world
What you are.
God will do that for you.
Just tell yourself that
You are of God’s Compassion
And
You are for God’s Satisfaction.

2754. Self-centredness or self-awareness

Self-centredness or self-awareness:
Make up your mind and choose!
Self-centredness can be taught
Even by a speck of dust.
Self-awareness can be taught
Only by God Himself.

2755. When you do not wake up

When you do not wake up,
You live in the heart
Of the dream-land.

When you do wake up,
You live inside
The life-transcendence-sky.

2756. The beginning

Self-observation is the beginning
Of self-perfection.
Self-perfection is the beginning
Of God-Satisfaction.
God-Satisfaction is the beginning
Of God’s new Dream.

2757. The length of your trouble-world

You can easily avoid
Half the length
Of your trouble-world
By not telling
The rest of the world
What your heart wants
And what your mind does not want.

2758. I tell you secretly

You tell me openly
That you have the capacity
To build a faith-tower.
I tell you secretly
That you can also fix
The destruction-hour
Of all your teeming doubts.

2759. If your heart lives

If your heart lives
In the dream-land,
Someday, without fail,
Your eyes will reach
The perfection-reality-shore.

2760. The compromise-world

Be careful of the compromise-world.
Unconsciously, if not consciously,
It wants to destroy
Your originality-cry
And
Your immortality-smile.

2761. One of two things

God gave you
What He wanted to give:
His Compassion-Heart.

You can give God
One of two things:
Either your ingratitude-heart
Or your perfection-life.

2762. In the same boat

Your mind’s purity,
Your heart’s beauty
And your life’s immortality
Sail in the same boat
Towards God’s Satisfaction-Shore.

2763. Do you want to increase?

Do you want to increase
The perfection of your life?
If so, then increase
The perfection of your mind.

Do you want to increase
The perfection of your mind?
If so, then increase
The perfection of your heart.

Do you want to increase
The perfection of your heart?
If so, then increase
Your God-hunger
And multiply
Your love, devotion and surrender-worlds.

2764. Every atom

Every atom will find
A peaceful rest
And a fruitful life.
For God has already planned
To unveil Himself
In the beauty of
And through the duty of
Every atom.

2765. The zoo that you are living in

You do not have to be afraid
Of the animal-world around you.
The zoo that you are living in
Is enough for your total self-destruction.

2766. The unique capacity

If you are absolutely sure
That your mind has the extraordinary capacity
To injure others,
Then why are you reluctant to believe
That your heart has the unique capacity
To cure others?

2767. The fear of a jungle-mind

The fear of a jungle-mind
Always tries to prevent
The courage of a garden-heart
From believing that there is
A beauty-satisfaction-world.

2768. The real teacher

If your mind is really
Looking for God,
Then someday definitely
You will be blessed
With a real teacher
Who will not deceive you.
Do you know who
That real teacher will be?
That real teacher will be
Your own God-oneness-heart.

2769. Only one thing

Your mind does
Only one thing:
Every day it writes
Gratification-letters to itself.

Your heart does
Only one thing:
Every day it writes
A gratitude-letter to God.

2770. Inside the power of love

Do you know
What you will eventually see?
You will see
The invisible power of love.
Something more:
You will see
Inside the invisible power of love
The Hour of God
Which unites earth’s crying heart
And Heaven’s smiling soul.

2771. The world of realisation

The world of imagination
Is always beautiful.
The world of inspiration
Is always powerful.
The world of realisation
Is always bountiful.

2772. The satisfaction-sun

Think of the past,
Think of the present,
Think of the future.
Alas,
The thing that you are looking for
Is hiding.
You are looking for
The satisfaction-sun,
But this satisfaction-sun
Comes only after
The self-giving aspiration-dawn.

2773. Your own satisfaction

You want to change the world
To satisfy yourself.
What you want
Is nothing but satisfaction.
Such being the case,
Why don’t you change yourself?
Your own transformation,
I assure you,
Will never give you
A lesser satisfaction.
On the contrary,
Your transformation will give you
Not only the satisfaction
That you deserve
But also the infinite Satisfaction
That God eternally is.

2774. Defeat of my ego-power

This morning I was happy
Because my love-power
Defeated my ego-power.

This afternoon I was happy
Because my service-power
Defeated my ego-power.

This evening I was happy
Because my oneness-power
Defeated my ego-power.

2775. Truth-tellers

Truth-tellers are
The only ones
Who are not great actors.

Truth-lovers are
The only ones
Who are not idle dreamers.

2776. My deplorable weaknesses

God is never angry
With my deplorable weaknesses.
It is my deplorable weaknesses
That are always angry with God.

2777. One defeat I shall never accept

I am ready to accept defeats
In all spheres of life.
But one defeat I shall never,
Never accept,
And that is the defeat
Of my silver heart’s golden dream.

2778. The peace of silence-sky

If your searching mind can achieve
The daring concentration-power,
Then your heart can easily enjoy
The spreading peace of silence-sky.

2779. His special Favour

O pro-peace humanity,
O anti-war humanity,
My morning prayer
And my evening prayer
I dedicate to you,
And I beg of God
To grant you every day
His special Favour.

2780. God's amazing intimacy

If you have developed
A sense of astonishing immediacy
In your God-hunger,
Then God’s amazing intimacy
Cannot remain a far cry.

2781. The thorn-crown of depression

Even the possessors of great minds,
Let alone the common run,
Are forced to wear
The thorn-crown of wild depression.

2782. A silence-dawn invites me

In the morning
A silence-dawn
Invites me.

In the evening
A shoreless shore
Invites me.

At night
The waves of light and delight
From the ever-transcending Beyond
Invite me.

2783. The tasteless loaf of idleness

His heart’s hopes
And
His mind’s promises
Are sleeplessly alive.
Therefore, his is the life
That will never be forced to taste
The tasteless loaf
Of blind and dark idleness.

2784. An ingratitude-heart

A traitor’s arms
Are exceptionally powerful,
But they sadly fail to equal
An ingratitude-heart.

2785. A special world of God's

Each temple
Is a special world of God’s.
Every day
In the morning,
At noon and in the evening
It broadcasts all the news,
But only about God.

2786. A new thought

A new thought
Has saved his mind.
A new faith
Has saved his heart.
A new love
Has saved his life.
A new God
Has saved his soul.

2787. Do not hope to escape

Do not hope to escape,
For do you not know?
We are all living,
With no exception,
In an age of
Maddening self-doubts.

2788. Taste and renounce

They say
Taste the world and then renounce it.
I say
You cannot do that.
Your taste of the world
Will never end,
And your renunciation of the world
Will never begin.

2789. Each pure thought

Each selfish thought
Is a wild elephant.
Each pure thought
Is a trumpeting elephant
Announcing the victory
Of your perfection-life.

2790. Each divine thought

Each undivine thought
Is a heavy burden
For the entire day.

Each divine thought
Is a speedy run
Towards a perfection-goal.

2791. I thought I was perfect

I thought I was perfect,
O my soul.
But now that I am following you
I clearly see that I was
Millions of miles away from perfection.
Now a hope-dawn you have granted me
To reach the perfection-day,
For I am following you
Sleeplessly and unconditionally.

2792. The smile of life ever-lasting

You know that your heart
Is fixed on things fleeting.
How can you expect and
How do you expect
To gain the Smile of the Life
Ever-lasting and ever-transcending?

2793. The keys of wisdom-delight

If you want to live on earth
As a wise man,
Then keep with you
The keys of knowledge-light.

If you want to live on earth
As a perfect man,
Then keep with you
The keys of wisdom-delight.

2794. What I need from you

What I need from you
Is your heart’s amazing faith.
What I don’t need from you
Is your mind’s arid philosophy.

2795. The transcendental cure

Ignorance-mire is
The universal sickness of humanity.
When our heart starts singing
A new song,
The song of aspiration-cry,
Then the universal sickness
Will be transformed into
The transcendental cure.

2796. If you pray to lose yourself

If you pray to lose yourself
In aspiration-reality,
Which is your only true self,
Then each thought of yours
Will paint a new
And bright world for you.

2797. My definition of joy

My definition of joy is this:
Darkness and its friend impurity
Are nowhere to be found
In either
My world of aspiration-cry
Or
My world of dedication-smile.

2798. When we share

Sincerity is pure
When we share.
Humility is bright
When we share.
Purity is perfect
When we share.

2799. When hope is gone

Even when hope is totally gone,
Don’t give up
Mounting on the wings of prayer.
For the Grace from Above
May grant you a new chance
Wherein will abide
A new assurance.

2800. The path of the soul

The path of the mind
And the path of the heart
Are two contradictory paths.
The path of the heart
And the path of the soul
Are two complementary paths.
But I tell you one thing:
If you want to run
Always the fastest,
Then run along
The path of the soul,
For the soul is always of God
And always for God,
For God alone.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the twenty-eighth 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

Foreign Minister Illueca of Panama presents Sri Chinmoy with his country’s highest decoration, the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa in the rank of Great Cross, on 20 August 1981. The occasion was the fiftieth birthday salute to Sri Chinmoy held in the Church Centre of the United Nations. On making the award, Illueca declared, “All of us here have tears and smiles of joy in our hearts in paying a tribute of gratitude to Sri Chinmoy on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday. Sri Chinmoy is a guiding light that leads to the way of oneness and to the supreme Oneness itself. Through his teachings he has given us Heaven-vision and earth-reality.”