4101. Today is my day

Today is my day,
Absolutely my day.
I shall use it carefully,
Untiringly and soulfully
To become the choicest instrument
Of my Beloved Supreme.

4102. Every day is the right day

Every day is the right day
For the right person,
And that person
Is the unconditional God-lover.

4103. Do not dislike your responsibilities

Difficulties have the capacity
To strengthen your mind.
Therefore, do not dislike your difficulties.

Responsibilities have the capacity
To enlighten your heart.
Therefore, do not dislike your responsibilities.

4104. A whisper of fear

If you really want to please God
In God’s own Way,
Then you must never have
A whisper of fear
Inside the breath of your faith.

4105. What is despair?

What is despair?
It is something that impairs
Your life-tree.
It is something that can never repair
Your life-boat.

4106. God's secret Means

If you do not know
How to employ the sacred means
To illumine your desire-life,
Then invoke God to employ His secret Means
To destroy your desire-life.

4107. My God is not as distant

My life is not as easy
As I think.
My God is not as distant
As I feel.

4108. My life

To realise God, my life
Is not a mere chance.
To realise God, my life
Is my Lord’s ignorance-piercing Lance.

4109. Just peacefully wait

Do not worry about
The limited and limiting mind.
Your love of the Beyond
Will definitely illumine your mind.
Just peacefully wait
And soulfully watch.

4110. God came down

I went up
To see God’s beautiful Feet.
God came down
To give me His bountiful Heart.

4111. The surest way to love God

For me,
The speediest way to love God
Is to wait for God’s choice Hour,
And the surest way to love God
Is to turn my life
Into a gratitude-flower.

4112. Without a prayerful heart

He who lives without
A prayerful heart and a soulful life
Unmistakably belongs
To the animal kingdom.

4113. The invisible forces

The visible world listens to us
Only when we reckon upon
The invisible forces.

4114. Your heart's perfect preparation

Your mind’s emptiness
Is your heart’s perfect preparation
To receive God unreservedly.

4115. Do you love me, my Lord?

Do You love me, my Lord,
No matter what I say
And no matter what I do against You?

“Tell Me first, My son,
Do you need Me
No matter how strict I am with you?”

4116. I have complete hope

I have confidence in this world.
This world will never desert me.
I have complete hope
In the transformation of my life
Through my Lord’s Compassion-Eye.
My life will not disappoint me.

4117. An abiding friendship

There can be no lasting friendship
Between my useless fears
And my shameless doubts,
Because both are bad.
There can easily be, nay,
There actually is an abiding friendship
Between my soulful faith
And my prayerful purity,
Because both are good.

4118. My inheritance

Heaven-delight is my inheritance
Because I love God for God’s sake.
Earth-ignorance is my inheritance
Because I love man,
For my sake and man’s sake.

4119. Supreme discoveries

My heart’s supreme discovery:
God is God’s sleepless
Compassion-Eye.

My life’s supreme discovery:
God is God’s breathless
Forgiveness-Smile.

4120. An energising vital

Do you need
A domineering person?
No!
Then why do you need
A domineering vital?
What you need is
An energising vital.

4121. You win both

When you show no interest whatsoever
In ego-competition,
You at once win
Both God’s Crown and God’s Throne.

4122. You are useful to God

You are great
Not because you are powerful.
You are great
Because you are useful to God
In a spiritual way.

4123. An excellent beginning

Self-examination
Is an excellent beginning
For God-realisation.

4124. Right decisions

Fast decisions in the spiritual life,
Who cannot make?
Right decisions in the spiritual life,
How many can make?

4125. Your soul can erase

Only when your dynamic vital
Challenges your emotional life
And is ready to accept the soul’s help,
Can your soul erase
Your most harmful past mistakes.

4126. My inner life needs liberation

My outer life needs protection
From myself.
My inner life needs liberation
From the nightmare of insincerity-insecurity.

4127. A doubting mind

A doubting mind
Is forced to live
In the prison of loneliness.

4128. The world will be in your hands

You do not have to try
To conquer the world.
The world will be immediately
In your hands
If you just stop finding fault with it.

4129. Destination: nowhere

Time-wasting idlers
And cunning self-deceivers
Are sailing in the same boat.
Their destination: nowhere.

4130. The perfect beginning

Self-giving
Is the perfect beginning.
God-becoming
Is the perfect end.

4131. Let me do my duty

Let me do my duty
And let God do His Duty.
Let me discover
My fruitless nothingness,
And let God invent
My fruitful fulness.

4132. God will announce

If I renounce what I have —
My desire-life —
Then God will announce
What He has for me —
His Immortality-Life.

4133. No real happiness

There is no real happiness
Either in possession-life
Or in renunciation-life.
There is joy only in surrender-life.

4134. When your hope is God

O my body,
How can you be useless
When your hope is God?

O my vital,
How can you be hopeless
When your hope is God?

O my mind,
How can you be fruitless
When your hope is God?

O my heart,
How can you be helpless
When your hope is God?

4135. God will announce his Victory

What has happened to me?
I have become an utter failure.
What will happen through me?
God will announce His supreme Victory
Through me.

4136. Make your choice!

Make your choice!
Either cast aside
Your ignorance-night
Or shamelessly hide in it.

4137. When pride surpasses beauty

When the pride of a human being
Far surpasses
The beauty of his self-giving,
His life no longer remains a playground.
It becomes a battleground.

4138. Give to God's Eye

Give to God’s Eye
What God’s Eye wants from you:
Faithfulness.

God will give to your heart
What your heart wants from God:
Fruitfulness.

4139. Don't act like a fool

Be careful!
Don’t act like a fool.
God actually may grant you the useless thing
That you are asking Him for.
One never knows
What God will give
To a stark fool like you.

4140. Discipline, my discipline

Discipline, my discipline,
You must stay with me and for me
All my life.
Obedience, my most precious friend,
Never leave me, never!

4141. If you start with a purity-heart

If you start with a purity-heart,
You are bound to arrive
At the divinity-end.

4142. God's Whisper

God’s one inspiring and encouraging Whisper
Is enough for the awakened soul
To walk along Eternity’s Road
Soulfully, gratefully and unconditionally.

4143. Go to God as you are

O my mind,
Go to God as you are.
The more time you take
To prepare yourself,
The heavier the ignorance-load
You will have to carry.
Therefore, brook no delay.

4144. Self-transformation begins

Self-transformation begins
Only after God-invitation
Sincere and pure,
And never before.

4145. To feel secure

To feel secure
You have to reject
The destruction of your dividing mind
And accept
The creation of your unifying heart.

4146. The only solution

The only solution to your nervousness
Is found in your heart’s oneness-song,
And this oneness-song
Is immediately followed
By your life’s fulness-dance.

4147. When stark falsehood disappears

Do you want to know
When stark falsehood disappears?
It disappears only when
You make friends with Truth,
Converse with Truth
And correspond with Truth
At its own level.

4148. Your soul's pleasure-garden

You want to free yourself
From your daily pressures.
I am telling you the secret:
Every day try to spend some time
Inside your soul’s
Divinely redolent pleasure-garden.
Do not hesitate!
Your soul has already granted you
A free access
To its Immortality’s pleasure-garden.

4149. A cure for imperfection

The enlargement of your heart
Is a cure for fear.
The enlightenment of your mind
Is a cure for doubt.
The improvement of your life
Is a cure for imperfection.

4150. Please yourself divinely

Please yourself undivinely
And you will see a devouring tiger
Inside your vital-forest.

Please yourself divinely
And you will see a fast-running deer
Inside your heart-garden.

4151. Your soulful insight whispers

Your doubtful eyesight declares
There is no such thing as God
And there is no such person as God.
Your soulful insight whispers
There is only one thing on earth,
And that is God the ascending Cry,
And there is only one Person in Heaven,
And that is God the descending Smile.

4152. The art of self-giving

Unless and until
You have perfectly learnt
The art of self-giving,
You are bound to remain
An impractical and unfulfilled dreamer.

4153. I am always saved and fulfilled

I am always saved and fulfilled.
When I am an impurity-mind,
I eagerly want to capture the world.
My Lord’s descending “No” saves me.
When I am a purity-heart,
I breathlessly wish to treasure the world.
My Lord’s ascending “Yes” fulfils me.

4154. Predecessors

Wisdom-light precedes
Love-delight.
Love-delight precedes
Oneness-height.
Oneness-height precedes
Satisfaction-might.

4155. Your soul knows how to play

Your soul knows how to play
With God’s Smiles.
Your heart knows how to play
With man’s cries.
Now you should try
To know how to play
With your life’s perfection.

4156. I am not alone

I am not alone.
Humanity’s heart-breaking tears
Are within me.

I am not alone.
Divinity’s life-illumining smiles
Are for me.

4157. Companions

The ugliness of a doubting mind
And the fruitlessness of a losing life
Always go together.

4158. God's ever-prosperous Smile

If your mind thinks
That the unknown reality is dangerous,
And if your heart feels
That the unknowable reality is dangerous,
Then God’s ever-prosperous Smile
Will not bless you.

4159. Allow your heart to swim

Since you allow your mind
To roam in the fantasy-sky,
You must needs allow your heart
To swim in the ecstasy-sea.

4160. God's revealed Silence-Power

Hope should be synonymous
With patience.
Patience should be synonymous
With God’s choice Hour.
And God’s choice Hour
Is God’s revealed Silence-Power.

4161. Contradiction disappears

Contradiction appears
When my ignorance-mind
Thinks it knows more
Than it actually does.

Contradiction disappears
When my knowledge-heart
Feels that God is at once
The Speaker and the Listener.

4162. Misery knocks at your heart's door

Misery knocks at your heart’s door
Precisely because your mind-boat
Still enjoys staying at the trickery-shore.

4163. I tell the earth-bound life-train

I tell the earth-bound life-train
That earth is nothing
But destruction-battlefield.

I tell the Heaven-bound life-train
That Heaven is nothing
But perfection-satisfaction-garden.

4164. A silence-diploma

God will grant your mind a silence-diploma
Not when it stops thinking
Completely,
But when it starts thinking
The right thought
Correctly.

4165. Now that your mind is ready

Now that your mind is ready
To sleep in peacefulness,
God will grant you His Immortality’s
Powerful Oneness.

4166. Your outer name

Smash your mind-box,
Which contains ego-illusion.
Lo, perfection becomes your outer name
And satisfaction becomes your inner name.

4167. I feel sorry for you

O my mind,
I feel sorry for you
Not because your power is fading
But because for you
The God-Hour is still not nearing.

4168. A major miracle

It will be not a minor miracle
But a major miracle
If and when your mind stops sitting
On reason’s throne.

4169. Nothing is difficult

Nothing is difficult.
This is what you should think
Before you do anything.

Nothing is easy.
This is what you should feel
Before you say anything.

4170. A top secret

My mind has told me a top secret
From its personal experience:
Friction and frustration
Are immediate neighbours.

My heart has told me a top secret
From its personal experience:
Aspiration and satisfaction
Are immediate neighbours.

4171. What you do not want to give

Give what you do not want to give:
Your heart’s gratitude-flower.
Keep what you do not want to keep:
Your life’s humility-grass.

4172. A mountain-high aspiration

If your heart has
A mountain-high aspiration,
Then your life can easily be
A fountain-free dedication.

4173. A child's heart of innocence

To pierce the veil
Of ignorance-night,
You need either
A child’s heart of innocence
Or
A saint’s life of reverence.

4174. Fearless and indomitable you are

Fearless and indomitable you are
Not because you are physically strong,
Not because you are vitally strong,
Not because you are mentally strong,
But because you have firmly established
Your psychic oneness with the entire world.

4175. The life-stirring dance

When your mind becomes a musical note
And your heart becomes a soulful song,
You need only one thing more:
The life stirring dance
Of a new creation.

4176. The right place

How will you find yourself
If you are not looking
In the right place?
The right place is inside
The Heart of your Beloved Supreme.

4177. Your life's amazing victory

Your life’s amazing victory
You can announce
Only when you renounce
All the fruits of your desire-life.

4178. God's Consciousness-Coin

God’s perfect Vision-Light
And God’s amazing Aspiration-Height
Must go together.
They are the obverse and reverse
Of God’s Consciousness-Coin.

4179. Faith and life-energy

Faith and the increase of life-energy
Must go together
If a seeker wants to succeed triumphantly
In his outer life
And proceed untiringly
In his inner life.

4180. Controversy

Controversy is nothing short of
Life’s secret supremacy
Over those who long for
Oneness-delight.

4181. Allow your mind

How long do you want
To keep your mind inside a tiny cave
Of powerful fears and hurtful doubts?
How long?
Allow your mind to enjoy freedom-light,
At least for a fleeting second.

4182. A pure thought feels and knows

An impure thought thinks
That there is no such thing
As a pure thought.
A pure thought feels and knows
That there is and can be no other thought
Save pure thought.

4183. I am offering

My Lord,
I am offering You my thankful praise
For granting me the capacity
To run in the outer world daily.

My Lord,
I am offering You my soulful praise
For granting me the capacity
To run in the inner world speedily.

My Lord,
I am offering You my grateful praise
For granting me the capacity
To please You in the inner world
And in the outer world satisfactorily.

4184. Your new inner self

Your new inner self will not hesitate
To interrogate and investigate
Your doubting mind.

Your new inner self will not hesitate
To elevate and emancipate
Your aspiring heart.

4185. My desire and God's desire

In this lifetime
I shall fulfil only the desires
Of two persons:
I shall
Love God unconditionally,
I shall
Let God fulfil Himself through me unreservedly.

4186. Do not blame your false teacher

Do not blame your false teacher.
Nobody compelled you to be
One of his faithful followers.
It is you who wanted to be
One of his sleepless followers.

4187. When God comes to visit me

When God comes to visit me
I tell Him what I do not have.
When I go to visit God
He tells me there is nothing
Which I do not have
Or cannot have from Him
For the asking.

4188. When I go to visit God

When God comes to visit me,
I proudly tell Him the things
I have accomplished for Him.
When I go to visit God,
He tells me He has accomplished
Only one thing for me:
He has created a Compassion-Ocean for me.

4189. From tomorrow on

From tomorrow on
My morning meditation
Will be as beautiful as the dawn,
My midday meditation,
As powerful as the sun
And my evening meditation,
As peaceful as the sky.

4190. The outer forces

The easier for you to find
The outer forces,
The more difficult for you
To free yourself from those forces.

4191. Your madness-pride

Your madness-pride
Was your first enemy.
Your darkness-ingratitude
Is your last enemy.

4192. To see God's Transcendental Smile

If you want to see
God’s Transcendental Smile,
Then every day
Your heart’s aspiration-cry
Must be monumental.

4193. How can you be happy?

How can you be happy
When your heart longs for one thing
And your mind expects something
Totally different?

4194. A measureless treasure

A spotless heart
Is a measureless treasure
Always within your easy reach.

4195. The connecting link

God’s Heart of Delight
Is the connecting link
Between my humility-mind
And my purity-life.

4196. Ready with only one thing

God is ready with many things:
Love, Compassion, Light and Delight.
You are expected to be ready
With only one thing:
Your gratitude-heart.

4197. Choose the right candidate

There are many candidates
In front of you.
Just choose one —
The right One.
You know whom I mean: God.
Name Him and claim Him
As your own, very own.

4198. If your heart has soulfulness

If your mind has cheerfulness,
Then success is at your feet.
If your heart has soulfulness,
Then progress is inside your eyes.

4199. The perfection-seed will germinate

Deep within us
Is the seed of perfect Perfection.
We must wait for God’s choice Hour.
At that time the perfection-seed
Will definitely germinate.

4200. Surrender, my surrender

Surrender, my surrender,
You must stay with me all my life.
Gratitude, my gratitude,
You must stay inside me all my life.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the forty-second 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

Sri Chinmoy greets Ambassador Niaz Naik of Pakistan at a programme hosted by the Meditation Group at the United Nations, paying tribute to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr on the fifty-first anniversary of his birth on 15 December 1980.