2901. A good thought

A good thought gently knocks
At your heart’s door
And enters with your full permission
To see your face of truth
And feel your heart of love.

2902. The most expensive thing

Wisdom-delight is the most
Expensive thing on earth.
But no matter how expensive it is,
Every peace-loving
And God-becoming human being
Must have it.

2903. The spiritual Master

The parents tell the children
What to do.
The schoolteacher tells the children
How to do it.
The spiritual Master
Does it for them.

2904. My image of life-perfection

I shall always maintain
My image of life-perfection
For the full Satisfaction
Of my Beloved Supreme.

2905. The destruction-game

When the mind becomes selfishness,
When the heart becomes loneliness,
When the life becomes fruitlessness,
These three friends together play
The destruction-game.

2906. Three uncompromising worlds

Uncompromising is the physical world.
More uncompromising is the vital world.
Most uncompromising is the mental world.
At every moment what I need
Is the indomitable stamina of my soul
To brave these three uncompromising worlds.

2907. A better citizen of the world

Each time I enjoy freedom
From the confines of my doubting mind,
I see a clearer guidance
And become a better citizen of the world.

2908. You are terribly alone

You are terribly alone,
Not because your busy mind has deserted you,
But because your heart’s purity-oneness
Is totally disappointed in you.

2909. The courage to tell the world

My Beloved Supreme,
Do give me the courage to tell the world
That my judgment-mind was absolutely wrong
And I am sincerely sorry.
My heart really means it.

2910. My compassionate Lord

Although I am quite often nervous,
Although quite often
I am about to faint with anxiety,
I still feel that my compassionate Lord
And my liberating Lord
Cannot and will not remain away from me
For a long time.

2911. Excruciating pangs

My Lord, my Lord,
My purity-flower fades away
Before it is fully blossomed.
Therefore, every day I am compelled
To experience excruciating pangs.

2912. A constantly peaceful mind

O my Lord, do tell me,
How can I ever be grateful enough?

“My child, you do not have to be grateful.
What I want from you
Is a constantly peaceful mind,
For that will give Me
An eternal Satisfaction-Sun.”

2913. The results of my impurity

Because I was not pure,
My heart was bruised yesterday.
Because I am not pure,
My life is battered today.
Because I shall not be pure,
I shall be forced to live
In annihilation-night tomorrow.

2914. Will You not come to me?

My Lord, when I had a series
Of serious crises,
You came to me with Your Power.

My Lord, when I had a series
Of serious problems,
You came to me with Your Guidance.

My Lord, what I have now
Is gratitude.
This time, will You not come to me
With Your Satisfaction-Smile?

2915. My tiny world and God's big World

When my tiny world,
My Lord, is in Your big World,
I feel extremely peaceful.
My Lord, what happens to You
When Your big World
Enters into my tiny world?
“My child, I feel then perfectly fruitful.”

2916. I am happy only twice

I am happy only twice:
Once when I place my loving heart
At the Feet of my Beloved Supreme,
Once when I command my fleeting thoughts
To obey His Will.

2917. I have not been dreaming

My Lord, You know how I have been suffering
Inwardly and outwardly.
“My child, I have not been dreaming.
I have been living
Inside your life-killing pain-reality.”

2918. What will happen?

My Beloved Supreme,
What will happen when I
Sincerely, soulfully and sleeplessly
Rely on You?

“My child, your teeming weaknesses
Will become My illumining Strength,
And your heartbreaking failures
Will become My Vision-fulfilling Triumphs.”

2919. What pains You most?

My Lord, what is the thing that I do
That pains You the most?
“My child, when you carry your fruitless past
Along with you
And tell the world at large
That for you there can be
No fruitful present.”

2920. Your complete Manifestation

To me, my aspiration
Is not everything.
To me, my dedication
Is not everything.
To me, my realisation
Is not everything.
To me, Your complete Manifestation
In perfect Perfection
Is everything.

2921. A time when You do not love me

My Lord, do You love me
Even when I kill time?
“Yes, My child, I love you.”
My Lord, is there any time
When You do not love me?
“Yes, My child, there is a time
When I do not love you.”
When, my Lord, when?
“When you think that you are not
A budding God.”

2922. The real difference

My Lord, what is the real difference
Between my smallness and Your Greatness?
“My child, the difference is very simple:
Your smallness foolishly tries
To hide from Me.
My Greatness compassionately tries
To live inside you
Even when your anger-mind and frustration-vital
Ignore Me deliberately.”

2923. We must soulfully combine

We must soulfully combine our vision-heart
With our fruitful reality-life.
Then God will be able
Neither to keep His smiling Face
Away from us
Nor to keep our tearing and bleeding hearts
Away from Him.

2924. The capacity to become

My mind has the capacity
To become beautiful.
My heart has the capacity
To remain beautiful.
My soul is eternally beautiful.

2925. Open my eyes

My Lord Supreme,
Open my eyes
So that I can see Your Beauty.
Open my mind
So that I can appreciate Your Beauty.
Open my heart
So that I can surrender myself completely
To Your Beauty.

2926. My only needs

Awareness is the only thing
That my mind needs.
Soulfulness is the only thing
That my heart needs.
Oneness — my constant, sleepless,
Inseparable oneness with my Lord Supreme —
Is the only thing that I need.

2927. God has transcended Himself

Look forward,
Dive within,
Fly above.
Lo!
You have gone beyond yourself,
And God has transcended Himself
In and through you.

2928. Self-mastery and God-discovery

Self-mastery and God-discovery
Are the only two things
That each human being on earth
Must take seriously.
Everything else can be taken lightly.

2929. I followed you closely

O my vital,
I followed you closely.
At the end of your path
What I discovered was frustration.

O my mind,
I followed you closely.
At the end of your path
What I discovered was contradiction.

O my heart,
I followed you closely.
At the end of your path
What I discovered was illumination.

O my soul,
I followed you closely.
At the end of your path
What I discovered was perfection.
It was there that God blessed me
With His most powerful
Reality-Existence-Smile.

2930. Purify and intensify

If you can purify
The quantity of your mind,
You will be able to intensify
The quality of your heart
And satisfy the God-hunger inside you.

2931. A new boon

What you need is a new approach.
What you need is a new path.
What you need is a new goal.
Lo, right in front of you is God
With a new boon:
His Ecstasy’s transcendental Height.

2932. If you want God to crown you

Go beyond your thinking mind
If you want to succeed.
Listen to the illumining voice
Of your loving heart
If you want God to crown you.

2933. You are a fool

You are a fool if you think
That you will be able to save yourself.

You are a fool if you think
That your Master will be able to save you
Without your express consent.

2934. Only one way

There is only one way,
All-illumining and all-illumined,
And that way
Is the sincerity-determination-way.

2935. Look for perfection

Look for perfection in others.
Your very search will give you abundant joy.
Look for perfection inside your nature.
Your very search will awaken you
To love perfection evermore.

2936. Courage produces a great man

Courage produces a great man.
Love produces a good man.
Gratitude produces a perfect man.
Surrender produces a satisfied man.

2937. Two divine gifts

My Lord Supreme,
Out of Your boundless Bounty,
Yesterday You gave me a heart of duty
And today You have given me a heart of purity.
What will You give me tomorrow?
“My child, in the inner world
I shall give you a heart of gratitude.
In the outer world
I shall give you a life of plenitude.”

2938. Because He is my only Friend

Because He is my only Friend,
He is correcting my mind,
Perfecting my heart
And liberating my life.

2939. God will pay you every day

If you live in the mind,
Then every time you visit God’s Heart-Home
You have to pay God.

If you live in the heart,
Then God will pay you every day
For taking care of His Heart-Home.

2940. A man of wisdom-delight

If you are a man of knowledge-light,
You will know what the world has.
If you are a man of wisdom-delight,
You will know who God is
And where God is.

2941. Three teachers

My stupidity-mind
Learns from the outer world.
My simplicity-life
Learns from the inner world.
My purity-heart
Learns from God Himself.

2942. Courage means readiness

Courage means readiness.
Readiness means willingness.
Willingness means newness.
Newness means closeness.
Closeness means fulness.

2943. A poor man wants something

A poor man wants something.
A rich man wants many things.
A greedy man wants everything.
A wise man wants only the things
That God wants him to have.

2944. My life wants

My desire-life
Wants the wealth of Heaven.
My aspiration-life
Wants the beauty of Heaven.
My realisation-life
Wants the satisfaction of Heaven.
My perfection-life
Wants God to make of earth
Another Heaven.

2945. Do not whisper

You are whispering;
That means something has gone wrong.
But you have to know
That your whispering only increases
The curiosity-hunger in others.
Eventually you and they
Will die a barren death
In the world of curiosity-destruction.
Therefore, do not whisper.
Speak loudly.
Become a God-instrument
Divinely and proudly.

2946. If you believe in God

If you believe in God,
Then God will come and stand before you.
If you believe in yourself,
Then you will be able to come
And stand before God.
If you believe in yourself
And believe in God at the same time,
Then God does not have to stand before you
And you do not have to stand before God.
Both of you will only enjoy
God’s sleepless Oneness-Breath.

2947. Think of God

Think of God.
He will bless you with His Faith-plant.
Meditate on God.
He will bless you with His Perfection-tree.
Surrender your outer world
And your inner world to God.
He will feed you
With the same Satisfaction-Nectar
That He drinks every day.

2948. My Immortality's Reality-Shore

My Lord Supreme,
I do not know where You are,
I do not know who You are,
But I know for certain
That I am Your Eternity’s Dream-Boat
And You are my Immortality’s Reality-Shore.

2949. God's Capacity and Quality

Everything else in God
Is either God’s Quality or God’s Capacity.
But Love is at once
The Capacity and the Quality of God.

2950. My life can be satisfied

My aspiration-life can be satisfied
With well-wishers.
My dedication-life will be satisfied
Only with divine servers.

2951. Inside God

Now that I know
Death is outside God,
I am really happy.
What is inside God?
My Eternity’s selflessness
And
His Immortality’s Oneness.

2952. The supreme fulfiller

My body,
I have been helping you
For such a long time.
Nevertheless, you are an idler.

My vital,
I have been helping you
For such a long time.
Nevertheless, you are an aggressor.

My mind,
I have been helping you
For such a long time.
Nevertheless, you are a doubter.

My heart,
I have been helping you
Since this morning.
I clearly see that you are a born lover.

My soul,
I have just started serving you.
To my extreme joy I find
That you are the supreme fulfiller.

2953. Three kinds of love

I have three kinds of love:
My thoughtful love,
My soulful love and
My fruitful love.
My thoughtful love
Does everything.
My soulful love
Has everything.
My fruitful love
Is everything.

2954. My Beloved Krishna

The Cow-Light of my Beloved Krishna
Has illumined my earth-bound mind.
The Flute-Delight of my Beloved Krishna
Has immortalised my Heaven-free heart.

2955. If you have no courage

If you have no courage,
How can you see the face of Truth?
If you cannot see the face of Truth,
How can you feel the Love of God?

2956. Your best friend

Who is your best friend?
Not he who tells you
That he will give you everything
That he has and he is,
But he who has sown the aspiration-seed
Inside the very depths of your heart.

2957. Two inseparables

You can separate night from day,
You can separate milk from water,
But you cannot separate
God’s Compassion-Height
From His Justice-Light,
For they are His selfsame Vision-Reality.

2958. An insincere aspiration

An insincere aspiration
Brings false rewards
And true punishment.
Therefore, all seekers of the Absolute Supreme,
Beware of your insincere aspiration!

2959. Only one thing

We ask God to do many things,
But God asks us to do only one thing.
He asks us only to give up the things
That make our life miserable
And
Keep our life unfulfilled.

2960. Question yourself

There is only one person
Who hates to be questioned.
That person is an insincere man.
Therefore, do not waste your precious time
In questioning an insincere man.
Question yourself.
Question your own sincerity.
Deep inside your heart
You will be immediately and richly rewarded.

2961. I want to go beyond myself

Why do I want to go beyond myself?
I want to go beyond myself for two reasons:
Because my present life is extremely painful,
And because my Lord Supreme assures me
That then my spiritual life
Will be extremely cheerful.

2962. My present life

What is my present life?
My present life is my desire-hunger.
What is my future life?
My future life is my aspiration-hunger
In the finite for the Infinite.

2963. Jump off the boat

If your mind is afraid
Of accepting the spiritual life,
Then think that you are in a sinking boat.
What would you do then?
You would jump off the boat
To reach the shore, the Golden Shore.

2964. Develop the capacity

If your doubting mind
Has the capacity to create problems
Both out of everything and out of nothing,
Then your heart should develop the capacity
To solve both imaginary problems
And real problems.

2965. God is exceptionally pleased

Your imaginary life tells you
That you can become exceptionally great.
Your real life tells you
Not only that you are exceptionally great
And exceptionally good,
But also that your heart’s sleepless cry
Has pleased God exceptionally.

2966. God is turning towards you

If you are really turning
Towards God’s Compassion-Sea,
Then God is also turning towards you
With His Satisfaction-Sun.

2967. A new game

You have all along been playing one game:
The game of insincerity and guilt.
Can you not now play a different game,
The game of insincerity and sincerity?
And after some time
Can you not start playing
An altogether new game?
This will be your last game:
The game of sincerity and surrender.

2968. God wants to be saved

Why do you want to save the world?
Does the world really want
To be saved by you?
No!
Why do you want to save yourself?
You want to save yourself
Because God Himself wants to be saved
In you and for you.

2969. Sincerity has the capacity

Sincerity has the capacity
To simplify your mind.
Sincerity has the capacity
To purify your heart.
Sincerity has the capacity
To glorify your life.
Sincerity has the capacity
To intensify your God-hunger.

2970. He will take care of everything

God asks us to love Him.
No matter how impure our mind is,
No matter how weak our heart is,
He will take care of everything
If we love Him.

2971. To make progress

Do you want to make progress?
If so, then take each problem
Not as a challenging
But as an encouraging friend of yours
Who is helping you to arrive
At your ultimate Destination.

2972. God's own Treasure

The vital calls it
A life of pleasure.
The mind calls it
A life of pressure.
God tells me
Not to call it by either name,
For He wants to have no connection
With my unaspiring vital and mind.
He wants me to call my life
A life of His own Treasure.

2973. Before your mind tells you

Every day, before your mind tells you
That it has something special
To give to the world,
Let your heart tell you
That it has something special
To receive from Heaven.

2974. Change your course

Change your course
At this very moment!
Soon you will see God’s Beauty
And God the Beauty
Instead of man’s ugliness
And man the ugliness.

2975. He who is divinely practical

He who is divinely practical
Will first put an end to his inner battle
Before he enters into his outer battle.

2976. God wants you to do that

Who wants you to admire
A fruitless dream-world?
Who wants you to remain
In a useless dream-world?
You must know by this time
That others want you to do that.
Who wants you to run
Into the ever-illumining
And ever-fulfilling reality-world?
God, without fail,
Wants you to do that.

2977. Who will save me?

Yesterday I called it
Self-accusation.
Today I am calling it
Self-injury.
Tomorrow I shall call it
Self-destruction.
Alas, who can and who will save me
If not my life-boat’s Beloved Boatman!

2978. What you want

What you want
Is a life of prosperity.
What your heart wants
Is a life of beauty.
What your God wants
Is a life of self-giving spontaneity.

2979. My unmistakable assurance

Since you know all your problems
Arise from your wrong thinking,
Why don’t you try
To remain beyond your mind?
Soulfully try.
You will immediately succeed.
This is my unmistakable assurance to you.

2980. You want only to rise

You tell me that you do not want
To fall any more.
You want to rise, only rise.
I tell you the secret of secrets:
This moment, cry like a child.
Next moment, smile like a child.
This is the way
You can rise and rise at every moment.

2981. Do you want to be happy?

Do you want to be happy?
If so, then conquer yourself.
Do you want to be happier?
If so, then do not even think
Of conquering others.
Do you want to be
The happiest person on earth?
If so, then pray to God soulfully
And meditate on God calmly
To conquer you
And each and every one
In His entire creation
At His choice Hour.

2982. God has something to tell me

When I am inside my mind,
I shall tell you
That I have nothing to say.

When I am inside my heart,
I shall tell you
That God has something to tell me,
And I shall be more than happy
To share it with you.

2983. My successful day begins

My successful day begins
When I feel that I can give God
What I have:
My surrender-life.

My successful life begins
When I feel that I can give God
What I am:
My gratitude-heart.

2984. My experience

My animal experience
Destroys the world
And then enjoys it.

My human experience
Repairs the world
And then enjoys it.

My divine experience
Prepares the world
And then enjoys it.

2985. I can never stop

The outer run intimidates my body.
The inner run liberates my body.
The outer run tells me
When to start and when to stop.
The inner run tells me
Once I start I can never stop.

2986. My life's dedication-smile

My heart’s aspiration-cry
Helps me reach the boundless sky.
My life’s dedication-smile
Helps me dine with the shadowless moon.

2987. Simplicity is the preparation-seed

Simplicity is the preparation-seed
That gives birth to a perfection-tree
At the destined hour.

2988. What can be more heartbreaking?

What is more inspiring and encouraging
Than to see the Boatman in His Boat
Ready to sail you across your life-river?
What can be more heartbreaking
Than missing the Boat?

2989. The Kingdom of Heaven

The Kingdom of Heaven
Is not for a darkened mind.
The Kingdom of Heaven
Is not for a trembling heart.
The Kingdom of Heaven
Is not for an unloving life.
The Kingdom of Heaven
Is only for the God-dreaming
And God-pleasing soul.

2990. If you pray to God

If you pray to God,
Then God will come to you as
God the Quality and God the Quantity.
If you meditate on God,
Then He will teach you
How to become His inseparable friend
So that you can enjoy, like Him,
The ever-illumining, ever-fulfilling
And ever-transcending Vision-Reality.

2991. Quite often I see a stranger

Quite often I see a stranger
Inside my mind.
That stranger is an unknown thought.
I can grasp it, make friends with it,
And ultimately use it in my own way.

2992. A false life

A false life fights only against
Another false life.
A false life either consciously or unconsciously
Surrenders to the real life.

2993. Your extraordinary love-power

If somebody asks you for your kindness,
Do you know what you give
To that person actually?
You give him
Your extraordinary love-power.

2994. I shall never forget

I shall someday forget
What I have not done for myself.
But I shall never forget
What I have not done for God
And His Eternity’s chosen children.

2995. Peace you get

Peace you get
Only by helping others
To become peaceful.

Bliss you get
Only by helping others
To become soulful.

2996. Now that you are not praying

Now that you are not praying to God
And not meditating on God,
In which way can you claim to be better
Than a God-denying culprit-atheist?

2997. What you have lost

What you have lost
Will not make your life miserable.
What you do not accept
To change your life
Will make your heart miserable.

2998. Gratitude

Gratitude carries the message of Immortality
And enters into God’s Heart
To see God’s universal Satisfaction-Smile.

2999. Why do we fail?

Why do we fail?
Not because we do not have
Enough capacity to reach the destination,
But because we reached, by mistake,
A wrong destination
And took it for the right one
And stayed with that one
Quite complacently.

3000. Just do one thing selflessly

Just do one thing
Correctly and selflessly every day.
Then you are bound to see and feel
That God will do everything for you
Not only sleeplessly
But also unconditionally.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the thirtieth 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

India’s Foreign Minister Narasimha Rao pays his respects to Sri Chinmoy at a meditation the Master was conducting at the United Nations on 3 October 1980. Addressing the group, the Foreign Minister said that “in many respects the work I am doing and the work which you, Sri Chinmoy, are doing are supplementary and complementary.” Then he added, “I wish you greater and greatest triumph in this sacred task which you are doing here.”