1. Sleep

Lord, is sleep death or rest?

“Son, sleep is death; sleep is rest.
Sleep is fulfilling rest
When angels visit you
    Or
You enter into the world
Of the illumining Beyond.
Sleep is death
When the vital world
    Of
Destruction-night
Threatens you and frightens you.
Sleep is death
When you fail to see
The flow of Eternity’s river
    In
Your consciousness-realm.”

2. Precious

Each thought is precious
    When we live in the world
    Of desire.

A precious thought blossoms
    In the Garden
    Of God’s gracious Light.

A precious will is born
    In the Heart
    Of God’s Intuition bright.

A precious surrender is born
    When God and man
    Barter their precious treasures:

    Man, his agelong ignorance-sea;
    God, His Infinity’s Peace and Bliss.

3. Cover

My sweet Lord,
Do You cover
    My falsehood-life,
    Impurity-breath
    And
    Bondage-night?

“My sweet daughter,
I cover them not;
Again, I expose them not.
I claim your possession-world
As my reality’s substance
And essence.
    Therefore
I own your little world
    And
I endeavour to change the face
Of your little world
To My Satisfaction-Light.”

4. Smile

Lord Supreme,
I smile to draw the attention
Of my little world around me.
But why do You smile?
What makes You smile?

“My daughter,
Nothing compels Me to smile.
Nothing compels Me to do anything.
But yet I do and act,
For I know I am not only the Doer
But also the action;
I am not only the Speaker
But also the speech.
If I fail to unite My creation-flower
With My Creator-seed,
Nothing can breathe on earth
Even for a fleeting second.
My child, I smile
Because inside the Heart of My Smile
Beauty’s day dawns;
Inside the Body of My Smile
Duty’s morn breaks.”

5. Grace

Lord Supreme,
Is there any difference
    Between
Your supernal Grace
    And
Reality’s face?

“My daughter sweet,
No difference at all.
I tell you a secret supreme:
The outer world,
My outer creation,
Pays no attention
To the omnipotent power of Grace.
But I depend, on earth,
On the descending flow
Of My own transcendental Grace.
My Grace is not only My preparation-seed
But My Perfection-Tree.”

6. Self-forgetfulness

My sweetest Lord Supreme,
Is self-forgetfulness
    A divine blessing
    Or
    An animal curse?

“Self-forgetfulness can never be
    A curse.
It can only be
    A sad experience
In a seeker’s ever-running and
    Transcending journey
    To the Beyond.
The self-forgetfulness of the puny “I”
Is a blessing supreme indeed,
As the self-remembrance of the giant “I”
Is an unparalleled blessing
On the seeker’s march along the path
    Of reality’s space.
Forget the sad and the saddening past;
Remember the illumining and the illumined present.
Accelerate the birth and the life-flow
    Of the fast-approaching future-noon.
Before the dawn of realisation-height,
Self-forgetfulness at times saves
The seeker’s inner sky
    And outer moon.
After the birth of realisation-height,
Self-forgetfulness in the heart
    Of a Master divine
Is the zenith of impossibility remote.”

7. God's first secret

Do you know
What God told me the other day?
I am telling you
In top secrecy.
If you breathe a word to God
I shall never tell you anything again.
Remember, be careful!
Needless to say,
God has shared with me
Millions of His sacred secrets.
Now I shall share with you
His first secret:
    At the end of your journey’s close
    Your epitaph will read
    ‘An unfulfilled tear of God’;
    My epitaph will read
    ‘A fulfilled smile of God.’
Remember, be careful!
If you breathe a word to God
I shall not share anything else with you;
    No, not even the precise hour
    of your God-realisation
    Which God told me
    Only this morning
    In top secrecy.

8. Trophies and smiles

I love the trophies
Of a world-conqueror.
They show me
What God the Beggar
Needs and gets.

I love the smiles
Of a world-lover.
They show me
What God the Emperor
Gives and is.

9. O child of the Sun-God

O child of the Sun-God,
Did you ask your Father
How much Wisdom-power
He has kept aside
    For you?
“I did ask my Father!
He said
He has not kept aside
Even a flame of Wisdom-power
    For me.
I shall have to deserve and acquire.”

O child of the Moon-Goddess,
Did you ask your Mother
How much Love-perfection
She has kept aside
    For you?
“I did ask my Mother!
She said
She has kept aside
Her Love-perfection-universe
    For me.
She is eagerly waiting
For me to claim it as my very own.”

10. Echo

Echo of my life:
    Give.

Echo of Heaven:
    I don’t have it.
    Love?
I don’t have it.
    Perfection?
I don’t have it.

Echo of God:
    Son, what have you done
    With My Love?
    What have you done
    With My Perfection?
    Have you squandered everything
    Like an earthly fool?
No, Father, no!
    Where then is My boundless Love?
    Where then is My deathless Perfection?

11. O Lord, I trust

Lord, I trust Your sacred Heart.
It tells me
    I am all Yours.

Lord, I trust Your secret Breath.
It tells me
    You are all mine.

Lord, I trust Your open Soul.
It tells me
    I shall perform the things
    That You Yourself have failed
    To perform on earth:
    God-manifestation.

12. God's bounden duty

O my infant eyes,
Don’t worry!
God is nearing
Your vision-light.

O my orphan heart,
Don’t worry!
God the Father
    And
God the Mother
Are totally incomplete
Without you.
    Therefore
It is Their bounden duty
To blossom within you
    And
For you, for you alone.

13. My hymns

My mind-desert hymn:
    God is dry.
My mind needs Him, His dryness,
To be away from the world.

My heart-forest hymn:
    God is dense.
My heart needs Him, His density,
To be in the heart-life of the world
    And
The love-soul of the world.

14. When I left the body

My bugle grieved
When I left the body
For a future hope-life.
Do you believe it?
Well, I tell you,
God believes me totally,
And needless to say,
    Unmistakably.

My bugle smiled
When I left the body
For a future surrender-love.
Do you believe it?
Well, I tell you,
God believes me unreservedly,
And needless to say,
    Unmistakably.

15. O prophet

O prophet of my soul,
I assure you,
You shall be all victory
With your silence-life.

O prophet of my body,
I assure you,
You shall be all victory
With your sound-life.

O prophet of my Goal,
I assure you,
Your boat and my heart
Are destined to complete each other.

16. Accomplishment unparalleled

O my doubter-mind,
Since we need each other
So desperately
    And
Since we do not need God at all,
Let us do one thing:
Let us escape from God’s world
And create a world of our own.
Then we can challenge God
    And
His Believer-Heart.

O my doubter-mind,
Even if we lose
To God and His Believer-Heart,
No harm!
Together we shall remain independent
    Of our Lord Supreme.
Is this not the accomplishment
    Unparalleled
Since the birth of the Creator Himself?

17. Love's gift

When I became a voyager of Light
I gave my all to Love
And Love gave me
Its fountain of perpetual Peace
To feed God’s earth-reality
    And
Expand God’s Heaven-Dream.

18. O Liberty

O sweet Liberty,
I need your beauty’s heart.

    O brave Liberty,
I need your duty’s pride.

    O perfect Liberty,
I need your Immortality’s Life.

19. No time

I love and love;
No time to hate!

I build and build;
No time to break!

I promise and promise;
No time to withdraw!

I become and become;
No time to see!

I am and am;
No time to dream!

20. Two boons

Two boons of my aspiration-life
I give to the world:
My transformation-body
    And
My dedication-soul.

Two boons of my realisation-life
I give to the world:
My contemplation-flood
    And
My oneness-blood.

21. Two fools

I have two fools in me.
They separately pray:
Lord, I need Your Love;
Lord, I need Your Light.

My Lord says:
You fool, you need love?
Don’t you know that
You are My Heart’s only love?
You fool, you need light?
Don’t you know that
You are My Soul’s only light?

22. Called and chosen

Many were called.
    Therefore
My mind was called.

Two were called.
    Therefore
My vital and my body
    Were called.

Only one was called.
    Therefore
My body was called;
    Not only called,
    But chosen;
    Not only chosen,
    But supremely chosen.

23. In my pocket

In my silence-pocket
I keep my heart’s love-power.
    Therefore
I am happy,
I am fulfilled,
I am complete.

In my sound-pocket
I keep my life’s power-love.
    Therefore
I am complete,
I am fulfilled,
I am happy.

24. Two unanswered questions

I asked God
Two questions.
    Strangely enough,
He could not answer
    Even one.
My questions were:
    How and why
    Am I inferior to Him?
    How does He know
    That I cannot perfect Him?
My Lord of Compassion
Proved that He can be
The Lord of Silence, too.

25. In tomorrow's dawn

O ashes of yesterday,
I do not need you.
Just stay where you are
In your futility’s sleep.

O meshes of today,
I do not need you.
Just stay where you are
In your stupidity’s dream.

I shall live in tomorrow’s dawn;
I shall live for tomorrow’s sun.

26. O heart of fire

O heart of fire,
    Do burn me
    For my purification white.

O heart of love,
    Do love me
    For my illumination bright.

O heart of light,
    Do immortalise me
    For my perfection height.

27. He dropped his mask

He dropped his mask and showed the world
    That he was another God.
He dropped his mask and showed the world
    That he was just a man.

As another God,
    He revealed his Infinity’s Power.
As just a man,
    He revealed the insignificance of
    The finite earthbound hour.

28. They shall tell me

A new cry shall tell me
    Where God is.
A new smile shall tell me
    Who God is.
A new surrender shall tell me
    How I can win God.
A new perfection shall tell me
    Why I am the future God.

29. My heart conceals and feels

My heart conceals
    The pangs of ages.
My heart conceals
    The failures of human races.
My heart conceals
    The indifference of God’s faces.
    But
My heart feels
    Only one thing:
    God’s Heaven-free
    And
    Sky-vast changes.

30. They long to consume

My heart’s hunger
    Longs to consume
    The perfume of my soul.

My soul’s hunger
    Longs to consume
    The Light of my Lord.

My Lord’s hunger
    Longs to consume
    The imperfection of my bosom’s pride.

31. I learn and unlearn

I have
God’s brain and man’s heart.
With God’s brain I learn
    The message of the infinite vastness.
With man’s heart I unlearn
    The age-long pangs of inconscience-night.

32. Eavesdropper

O eavesdropper,
My mind employs you
To know what
God says about me.

O eavesdropper,
My heart employs you
To know what
Death thinks of me.

O eavesdropper,
My soul employs you
To illumine the furious man in me
    And
To awaken the gracious God in me.

33. I need

To rend the veil of my life
    I need
The help of my naked vision-knife.

To immortalise the core of my life
    I need
Eternity’s patience-light
    And
Infinity’s immortal might.

34. His unmistakable answer

Is it his impatience
    That scolds
The disciples of his inner circle?
Who can answer?
    Not he, not he!
    Perhaps God.

Is it his sense of duty
    That scolds
The disciples of his inner circle?
Who can answer?
    Not he, not he!
    Perhaps God.

Is it his unconscious attachment
    That scolds
The disciples of his inner circle?
Who can answer?
    Not he, not he!
    Perhaps God.

Is it his supreme promise
    To the Absolute Supreme
That compels him to scold and perfect
The disciples of his inner circle?
Ah, at least he knows how to answer this question.
He needs no God to answer this question,
    For his very existence on earth
    Is his unmistakable answer.

35. Realisations

When I sleep
    Inside the Heart of my God,
I realise how kind and sweet
My God is.

When I sit
    At the Feet of my God,
I realise how powerful and fruitful
My God is.

When I stand
    On the Head of my God,
I realise how high and tall
My God is.

When I live
    Inside the Eye of my God,
I realise how perfect my God’s Vision is
    And
How complete my God’s Reality is.

36. Beauty-dream, beauty-flame

My soul feeds
On the blue dream of beauty.

    I feed
On the snow-flames of beauty.

    God’s Beauty-dream
Is His Silence-height.

    Earth’s beauty-flame
Is her surrender-light.

37. When I look

When I look up
Silence sweeps me
Like a snow-white wave.

When I look forward
Hungry gloom-fires sweep me
Like a red-hot wave.

When I look backward
I become one
With oblivion-promise.

When I look within
I see the game
Of my aspiration-height
And God’s Compassion-light.

38. Fulfilment-sun

My soul smiled and said,
“Lord, You are all for me.”

My heart cried and said,
“Lord, You are more than enough for me.”

My dream-boat
    In silence-light said,
“Lord, I need You as my eternal Companion.”

My reality-shore
    In perfection-dawn said,
“Lord, You are all-where, my Fulfilment-sun.”

39. Safety

Heart-cry is my body’s
    Only safe spot.

God-smile is my life’s
    Only safe shore.

Earth-sacrifice is my vital’s
    Only safe promise.

Heaven-oneness is my soul’s
    Only safe perfection.

40. Belief-roles

Earth’s green belief
Comes and sings
Like the evening sky.

Heaven’s blue belief
Appears to be devoured
By the giant hunger of earth-life.

Man’s red belief
Stabs his reality
Before its journey’s perfection-start.

God’s white belief
Birthless and deathless sports
In the core of man’s aspiration-flames.

41. Only two things

Heaven likes only two things:
    A child’s dream-blue eyes
    And
    His flower-white heart.

A child likes only two things:
    Earth-mother’s concern-height
    And
    Heaven-father’s Compassion-light.

God needs only two things:
    The Dream-boat of His Silence-sky
    And
    The Reality-shore of His Freedom-sound.

42. The smile of destruction-sea

Consciously I returned
To the confines of human blood
Only to be ridiculed and belittled.

Unconsciously I returned
To God’s Freedom-height
Only to be enthroned and crowned.

Soulfully hard I tried
To feed earth’s hungry abyss.
Alas, I was assailed by world-suspicion-god
And thrown into the smile of destruction-sea.

43. Six messages

My imagination tells me
That my God is far, very far.

    My inspiration tells me
That although my God is very far,
I shall be able to reach Him
Someday, somewhere, somehow.

    My aspiration tells me
That I shall ascend one step
And God will descend ninety-nine steps,
And then we shall be together
And become one.

    My realisation tells me
That I do not ascend and God does not descend.
He just comes out of my dream-reality
    And
I just come out of His Reality-dream.

    My revelation tells me
That God and I together reveal
Eternity’s cry,
    Infinity’s smile
    And
    Immortality’s light.

    My manifestation tells me
That we manifest only two things on earth:
The promised land
    And
A perfect life.

44. Four reasons

My soul wanders.
My heart wonders.
My mind flounders.
My vital squanders.
My body wavers.
    Why?
    Because
My animal life I have not yet conquered,
My human life I have not yet transformed.
My life divine I have not yet manifested
    And
My life supreme I have not yet glimpsed.

45. Human heart and divine heart

A sacred heart
Is God’s inspiration.
    A secret heart
Is man’s imagination.
    A crying heart
Is man s illumination.
    A self-giving heart
Is God’s realisation.
    A surrendered human heart
Reaches God’s transcendental Heights.
    A perfect and manifested heart
Is the pride of God’s Reality-dream.
    A surrendered divine heart
Is the smile of the Absolute Supreme.

46. The mind's comrades

The mind plays with its comrades
    Fear, doubt and anxiety.
While playing,
    Fear dies
    Only to become supremacy-strength.
While playing,
    Doubt dies
    Only to become totality-sun.
While playing,
    Anxiety breaks
    Only to become confidence-mountain.

47. Guest and host

Man is a wonderful guest!
He brings with him
    Nothing
When he goes to God.
He feels that since God
Has everything and is everything
He needs no gift from a poor mortal.

God is a wonderful host!
He carries with Him
    All that He has and all that He is
When He comes to man.
For He knows
That He houses within Himself
Eternity’s infinite wealth.
He knows that man is helpless, if not hopeless;
    Hopeless, if not effortless;
    Effortless, if not loveless;
    Loveless, if not Godless.

48. Two roads

No one walks along this road.
God once tried, but He failed
    Because
This road is
Man’s frustration-road: destruction.

Man once walked along this road,
But failed
    Because
This road is
God’s perfection-road: satisfaction.
Someday, perhaps man and God
Will together walk along this road
When
Man offers to God his surrendered cry
    And
God offers to man His unmanifested Smile.

49. My life-play

When the day of my life-play dawned
I blamed God,
For my day was empty
Of infinite Light.
When the evening of my life-play ended
I blamed myself,
For I had not tried to ascend achievement’s height
and I had not transcended my reality’s Goal.

50. Becoming happy

Lord, why am I suffering so much?
“You are suffering
    Because you are a sleeping body.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?
“You are suffering
    Because you are a demanding vital.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?
“You are suffering
    Because you are a doubting mind.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?
“You are suffering
    Because you are an unaspiring heart.”

Lord, why am I suffering so much?
“You are suffering
    Because you are an unillumining soul.”

Lord, is there any way I can be happy?
“Yes, you can.
    Just tell your body
    That its boss is your dynamic vital.
    Just tell your vital
    That its boss is your searching mind.
    Just tell your mind
    That its boss is your surrendering heart.
    Just tell your heart
    That its boss is your fulfilling soul.
    Just tell your soul
    That its boss is your
    Dream-transforming
    And
    Reality-immortalising God.”

Editor's preface to the first edition

The first eight poems in this book are the last in a series of 208 poems that Sri Chinmoy wrote on 2 February 1974. The first 200, written in the 22-hour period between 12:01 a.m. and 10:01 p.m., were printed as Parts 2 through 5.