6001. The same road

The Road that my Lord Himself
Walked once upon a time
Is now right before me.
Who else is so divinely fortunate?
Who else has this chance
To be supremely perfect?

6002. One deplorable thing

I most sincerely deplore
Only one thing:
My eternal Now
Still remains unexplored.

6003. The best answer

Many, many times in his life
Silence has proved
Not only to be
The only answer
But also to be
Absolutely the best answer.

6004. I am able to offer

For the betterment of this world,
I am able to offer only three things:
My soul’s promise,
My heart’s hope
And
My life’s service.

6005. Promise and pray

Promise!
Eventually you will succeed.
Pray!
Continuously you will proceed.

6006. Remind me, my Lord

Remind me, my Lord,
From time to time,
That You have taught me
How to love the world unconditionally.

6007. I need God's Love

Once I was blinded by ignorance,
But now I can see
That I desperately need God,
Especially His Love,
Only His Love.

6008. Because your mind is slow

Because your mind is slow
To forgive your past,
God is also slow
To grant your mind
The overwhelming delight
Of the future.

6009. I believe in everything except

Alas, I believe in everything
Except one thing:
My life’s unlimited potential.

6010. Helplessness is enveloping me

Helplessness is now
Enveloping my life
Because I have allowed hopelessness
To envelop my heart.

6011. Unfettered freedom-joy

Unfettered freedom-joy
Abides only in
Unconditional love.

6012. Take everything from God

God tells me,
“Take from Me whatever you want.
You do not have to bother the world
For anything.”

6013. Oversleeping in ignorance-night

You will never see
The Face of God
In this lifetime
At the rate you have been
Oversleeping
In ignorance-night.

6014. He sinks and sinks

His mind schemes,
His life screams,
His heart dreams,
And he sinks and sinks.

6015. Patience does it

Imagination tells him
What he can do.
Patience does it for him.

6016. Entertaining doubt-life

If you entertain your doubt-life,
How can your faith-life
Enlighten your heart?

6017. Magnify and minimise

You may magnify
Your troubles,
But nobody is going to minimise
Your stupidity.

6018. I know whose I am

True,
I do not know
Who I am,
But I do know
Whose I am.

6019. Two open secrets

Two secrets, but open ones:
God loves me infinitely more
Than He needs me.
I need God infinitely more
Than I love Him.

6020. A God-centred man

A self-centred man
Thinks and dreams of a happy life.
A God-centred man
Lives and radiates a happy life.

6021. God made my life

God made my life
To grow lovingly and slowly.
God made my heart
To glow brightly and steadily.

6022. Doomed to barrenness

You are doomed
To barrenness
Because your mind does not
Want newness
And your heart does not
Need oneness.

6023. A perfected individual

Only a perfected individual
Can dare to dream
Of a perfect humanity.

6024. A sincere need

My Lord,
I have a sincere need.
“My son,
I have an abundant supply.”

6025. My self-cultivation

What I call
My self-cultivation,
God calls that very thing
His own Self-Revelation.

6026. May my life-boat ply

May my life-boat ply between
My self-mastery
And
My God-discovery.

6027. Slow me down

Slow me down, my Lord;
I am restless.
Show me quickly, my Lord;
I am doubtless.

6028. When I open my eyes

When I open my eyes,
I see that I am
My fearful incapacity.

When I open my heart,
I see that I am
My Lord’s powerful Capacity.

6029. The individual

If aspiration does not begin
With the individual,
Then it does not begin.
The same is true for realisation,
And also for manifestation.

6030. Human life

An immature man
Dealing with mature problems:
This is precisely what human life is.

6031. Incomparable tragedy

“I do not need God.”
This tragedy in human life
Is incomparable.

6032. Ultimate goals

The ultimate in human goals
Is to reach the Himalayan heights.
The ultimate in divine goals
Is to become God’s choicest instrument.

6033. My confidence-height

What is God’s Compassion-Light
If not my own confidence-height
In the world of becoming and transcending
And transcending and becoming?

6034. My surroundings

The Peace, Light and Bliss of Heaven
Surround my heart openly.
The fear, doubt and frustration of earth
Surround my mind secretly.

6035. Forgive the past

The mind has to forgive the past
Before the heart
Can completely obliterate it.

6036. Counteraction and conversion

My Beloved Lord
Has counteracted my stupidity
And converted my impurity
Into purity.

6037. Between me and my past blunders

Between me and my past blunders
God the Compassion cries
And
God the Forgiveness smiles.

6038. My songs

Yesterday I sang the song
Of renunciation.
Today I am singing the song
Of co-operation.
Tomorrow I shall sing the song
Of perfection.
And the day after I shall sing the song
Of God’s complete Satisfaction.

6039. When I love God

When I soulfully and sleeplessly
Love God,
Everything loves me,
Even my ruthless past.

6040. If you dare to believe

You can achieve everything in life
If you can dare to believe
That your soul is having a continual adventure
In the heart of God’s
Evolving and transcending universe.

6041. A loving man

I have a heart of love.
Therefore,
I needs must be
A loving man.

6042. Responsible

A procrastination-mind is responsible
For a frustration-heart.
A frustration-heart is responsible
For a destruction-life.

6043. Unswerving as I climb

The bitterness of failure
And the sweetness of success
Shall find me unswerving
As I climb towards
My summit-goal.

6044. The capacity to determine

As my mind has the capacity
To determine my life,
Even so, my heart has the capacity
To determine my mind.

6045. He is so sad

He is so sad that his mind
Is running away from God.
He is so sad that his life
Is running away from his heart.

6046. Do give it again

My Lord Supreme,
You gave Realisation to Sri Krishna.
Do give it again — this time to me.

My Lord Supreme,
You gave Liberation to the Buddha.
Do give it again — this time to me.

My Lord Supreme,
You gave Salvation to the Christ.
Do give it again — this time to me.

6047. I belong to the God-Lover

I belong not to the God-preacher
Who says that he has.
I belong to the God-lover
Who knows that he is.

6048. My life belongs

My life belongs
To humanity’s hope.
My heart belongs
To divinity’s promise.

6049. Sunset and sunrise

Doubt and impurity are the sunset
Of a seeker’s life.
Faith and purity are the sunrise
Of a seeker’s heart.

6050. If the heart is receptive

How can the life
Be empty,
If the heart
Is receptive?

6051. A wise man knows

A wise man knows
What to tell,
How to tell
And
When to tell.
A clever man foolishly tells
More than he knows
Or less than what
He is supposed to tell.

6052. My heart was too slow

Because my heart was too slow
In loving God the creation,
God the Creator has withdrawn
His Beauty’s Hope and Purity’s Promise
From my heart.

6053. If your life is chained

If your life is chained
To earthly possessions,
How can you expect your heart
To be a Heavenly satisfaction?

6054. Stab your ignorance-pride

If you can stab the heart
Of your ignorance-pride,
Then your life will not meet
With any failure.

6055. Science tells me

Science tells me
What it can do for my life.
Spirituality tells me
What I can do for God’s Heart.

6056. If I am available

If I am available,
Then the Supreme is ready to send
The lovable cosmic gods
To play with me.

6057. A heart of beauty and purity

A heart of beauty
And a heart of purity
Can soulfully fall in love
With God’s ever-transcending Divinity.

6058. The lighthouse

The lighthouse of a self-giving life
Is a powerhouse of God’s
Perfection-Vision and Satisfaction-Reality.

6059. Awareness is ability

Awareness is ability.
Ability is advancement,
In secrecy supreme,
In the inner world.

6060. The Concern-Hand of the Beyond

The pendulum that swings
Between man’s tears and man’s smiles
Is always guided
By the Concern-Hand of the Beyond.

6061. The race of lions

His life may belong to
The race of timid cats,
But his heart definitely belongs to
The race of powerful lions.

6062. A lavish doubter

If you are a lavish doubter,
You will be compelled to become
A swimmer in life’s confusion-sea.

6063. Only a born dreamer

Only a born dreamer
Has the rightful confidence
To announce the transformation-message
Of human life.

6064. You do not dare

Your dry mind
Does not dare to cry.
Your timid heart
Does not dare to smile.
And you
Do not dare to become
The song of self-offering.

6065. Love is at once

Love is at once
Aspiration-plant
And
Perfection-tree.

6066. They would like to know

My heart would like to know
If God is pleased with it.
God would like to know
If my mind is pleased with Him.

6067. God blows His Victory-Horn

God blows His Victory-Horn
The moment He sees
A climbing cry
And
A spreading smile.

6068. Your self-aggrandisement-songs

If you continuously sing
Your self-aggrandisement-songs,
Then the world will force you
To enter your ready-made
Destruction-pyre.

6069. The mind enjoys

The mind enjoys
Fantasy’s might.
The heart enjoys
Ecstasy’s height.

6070. The essence of excellence

The perfect evolution
Of possibilities
Is the essence of excellence.

6071. A small suggestion

Just a small suggestion:
Do not allow your hope-joy
To act like a greedy fellow.

6072. As long as the stupid mind

As long as the stupid mind
Enjoys concealment,
The pure heart cannot acquire
Enlightenment.

6073. The faith of the mind

The faith of the mind
Starts its journey with uncertainty.
The faith of the heart
Speedily runs towards
Its destined goal.

6074. My fondness for God

As I cannot imagine
God’s Fondness for me,
Even so, my fondness for God
The world cannot imagine.

6075. To have or to be

Yesterday
I thought it was better
To have than to be.

Today
I feel it is better
To be than to have.

Tomorrow
I shall keep the same feeling
As today.

6076. No and yes

When I want God,
I shall immediately say “No”
To myself.
When God wants me,
I shall immediately say “Yes”
To Him.

6077. God's personal property

I am God’s personal property.
If you really need me,
Then ask God
And see what He says.

6078. A very special message

I have received a very special message:
“God not only lives inside
Your heart-room,
But also sleeplessly cares for you.”

6079. No miracles, please

I do not need miracles, please.
I do not even want
To see miracles, please.
I need and expect only
A crying heart and a smiling life.

6080. Unless

God has no time for me
Unless He is
The only Way for me.

6081. No misuse of faith

My faith is something
That God has created for me
To use inside humanity’s heart
Soulfully and carefully,
But never to use
Carelessly and extravagantly.

6082. Compassion-Bud and Satisfaction-Flower

I have to put
God’s Compassion-Bud
Inside my heart
If I want to see
God’s Satisfaction-Flower
Upon my face.

6083. Do not worry

My poor soul,
Do not worry.
I shall not fail you.
I shall not even disappoint you!

6084. Another name

My concentration is another name
For my fearlessness.
My fearlessness is another name
For my cheerfulness.
My cheerfulness is another name
For my Lord’s Closeness,
Fondness and Oneness.

6085. God's Promise and God's Hope

My soul belongs
To God’s descending Promise.
My body belongs
To God’s ascending Hope.

6086. The give-and-receive game

My Lord says to me:
“My child, I wish to play
The give-and-receive game.
Can you not give Me
Your ever-increasing fears
And ever-multiplying doubts
And receive from Me
My all-conquering Power
And all-illumining Light?”

6087. Loss and gain

My mind’s colossal loss
Will lead my life
To an amazing and permanent gain.

6088. My necessity-seeds and ecstasy-plants

My prayers and meditations
Are only my necessity-seeds
That will become my ecstasy-plants
In the near future.

6089. Blessing and obedience

God’s Blessing-Waves
And my obedience-drops
Always live together
In stupendous satisfaction-delight.

6090. Forgiveness-seeds and hope-seeds

God is sleeplessly planting
The seeds of forgiveness
Inside my heart,
And I am continuously planting
The seeds of hope
Inside His Heart.

6091. I shall always try to travel

I shall always try to travel
With a soulful heart
And a prayerful life.

6092. Where are we?

I am inside
My Lord’s Compassion-Book.
My Lord is inside
His own Vision-Look.

6093. Six words

Six words have changed
My entire life:
“God loves me.
God wants me.”

6094. Time took back

Utterly disappointed,
Time took back from him
Its supreme compassion-gift.

6095. No and never

I will take “no” for an answer
From earth.
I will take “no” for an answer
From Heaven.
I will take not only “no”
But also “never” for an answer
From God, only from God.

6096. I talk to God

I talk to God
About His Generosity.
God talks to me
About my receptivity.

6097. Keep your eyes inside your heart

If you can keep your eyes
Inside your heart,
Then God will unreservedly grant you
His own Beauty’s Heart.

6098. God-messengers

Am I an out-and-out idiot
That I shall send
God-messengers away
Empty-handed?

6099. An unconditional gift

Constant aspiration
Is not a thing one can achieve
On the strength of one’s own capacity.
It is an unconditional gift from Above.

6100. He will do everything

Am I doing all I can?
The human in me is telling me
That I am doing infinitely more
Than I can.
The divine in me is telling me
That I am doing as much
As I can.
The Supreme in me is telling me
That I have done nothing
And I can do nothing,
But that He has done
And will continue to do
Everything in and through me.

Editor's introduction to the first edition

This is the sixty-first 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 meditates with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, on 13 January 1983. Moved by the meditation, which took place in the private office of the Secretary-General, Mr Pérez de Cuéllar told Sri Chinmoy, “You concentrate on the truth and ideals which unite all mankind: the longing for peace, the need for compassion, the search for tolerance and understanding among men and women of all nations.”