The Home of Awakened Mankind

 

Buddha, the mightiest Height.
Kamakura, the sky of his feet.
Kamakura stole the Buddha
In the brooding hour of darkest Night.

India's Buddha Indian
Homeless.
Behold, here at Kamakura
The Homeless Soul triumphantly
Becomes
The Home of awakened mankind.

– Sri Chinmoy
Oct. 23rd 1969*

Published in My Salutation to Japan


To Kamakura

 

Kamakura!
You in the Buddha
Are his Reality's Face.
Kamakura!
You with the Buddha
Are his Divinity's Grace.
Kamakura!
Buddha's Life for you
Is the limitless consolation
Of the descending mankind.
Kamakura!
Your life for the Buddha
Is the boundless promise
Of the ascending mankind.

– Sri Chinmoy
Oct. 23rd 1969*

Published in My Salutation to Japan

* The date appears in Sri Chinmoy’s original handwritten manuscript, entitled ‘My Japanese Poems’, though it is omitted from the published book, My Salutation to Japan.

 

Thirty Poems in Tokyo

 

Sri Chinmoy writes thirty poems (71-100) while staying at the Tokyo Prince Hotel in Tokyo, Japan.

 

71. Why not take a chance!

Why not take a chance!
Be a climbing cry
Or
A running smile.
I assure you,
God is awaiting
Your great arrival
At the end of both roads.

72. Spread your cheerfulness

Spread your cheerfulness.
God’s Love you will feel
Infinitely more.

Deepen your soulfulness.
God’s Satisfaction you will feel
Infinitely more.

73. The message I have heard

This is the message I have heard
From the lips of rank fools:
Man can hide
If he wants to;
God cannot abide
Although He wants to.

74. A simple truth

A simple truth:
God is.

A brief message:
God loves me.

A deep realisation:
I am of God alone
And
I am for God alone.

75. A full harvest of peace

A full harvest of peace
I collected
The day I realised
That neither earth’s great hunger
Nor Heaven’s good feast
Desires my eager presence.

76. The road from heart to heart

The road from heart to heart
Has perfection-trees
With satisfaction-fruits
On either side.
I have all along seen it.

77. I live for you alone

I live for You alone,
My Lord of Compassion Supreme.
I live in You alone,
My Lord of Satisfaction Supreme.

78. A secret way

To reach God’s Height
I have discovered
A secret way:
I just touch the lowest man’s
Filthiest feet.

79. Who lives above me?

Who lives above me?
Certainly not my Beloved Supreme.

Who lives below me?
Certainly not my Beloved Supreme.

Who lives inside me?
Who else if not my Beloved Supreme!

80. Three are the false excuses

Three are the false excuses:
Sorry, I have no time.
Alas, I am not ready.
Surely God does not care for me;
Therefore, why should I...?

81. True sacrifice glows

True sacrifice glows.
True happiness flows.
True perfection grows.
True gratitude sows.

82. To speak with authority

Three times God will allow you
To speak with authority:
If you know the Truth,
If you have the Light,
If you are the Sea of Peace.

83. Heaven descends, earth ascends

Heaven descends
When I consciously
And soulfully serve.

Earth ascends
When I unreservedly
And unconditionally love.

84. Two secret wishes

Two
Are my secret wishes:
I shall show God
Man’s transformation-head,
I shall show man
God’s Compassion-Feet.

85. Only three strides ahead

Only one stride ahead:
God’s Compassion.

Only two strides ahead:
My transformation.

Only three strides ahead:
God’s Satisfaction-Smile
And
My gratitude-cry.

86. A dreamless night

A dreamless night
Grants an unpromising day.
A sleepless night
Grants a sickening day.

87. A wild sound-call

A wild sound-call from below
Frightens me,
My entire being.

A perfect silence-call from Above
Enlightens me,
My all.

88. My secret rehearsal

I took my failure-life
As my secret rehearsal.
I take my success-life
As my open and free performance.

89. The lesson supreme

I barter my aspiration-cry
With humanity’s indifference-sky.
Why am I such a fool?
Indeed, this is the lesson supreme
I have learnt in my Lord’s
Compassion-Forgiveness-Perfection-Satisfaction-School.

90. Freedom-Immortality

Selflessness means
Freedom-dream.
Closeness means
Freedom-reality.
Oneness means
Freedom-Immortality.

91. The symphony of mental clouds

The symphony of mental clouds
Always has the same message:
Human life is doomed
To dine with ignorance-night.

92. My God-Realisation

Everything in life grows,
Then goes;
But not my God-realisation.
It grows only to glow,
It glows only to grow,
And it never, never goes.

93. Not beyond possibility

Not beyond man’s possibility
Is God-realisation.
Not beyond earth’s possibility
Is earth-transformation.
Not beyond my possibility
Is my Himalayan self-transcendence.

94. My life is burning out

My life is burning out.
I see no boatman.
My life is burning out.
I see no boat.
My life is burning out.
I see no life-river.
Alas, alas!
Nowhere my three old, good friends
Are to be found.

95. My God-hunger

Material things age and ache.
Spiritual things grow and glow.
And my God-hunger
Is a birthless and deathless thing.

96. I do not interfere

I do not interfere in God’s Affairs.
Every day I let Him
Create a new world.
God does not interfere in my affairs
Either.
Every day He lets me
Destroy an old world.

97. An idle thought

An idle desire awakens
The ignorance-prince in me.
An idle thought destroys
My heart’s inner beauty-world
And
My life’s outer duty-world.

98. Therefore I love

Life is lovely.
Therefore I live.

Prayer is lovely.
Therefore I pray.

Creation is lovely.
Therefore I love.

99. Nothing is equal

Nothing is equal
To my God-need.
Nothing is equal
To my God-satisfaction.
My aspiration-world
Is sleeplessly crying
To enter into
My God-realisation-world.

100. Just for a second

O my narrow faith,
How long am I supposed to live
In your tiny hole?
I am suffocating, I am dying.
Leave me alone!
Just for a second
I wish to enjoy
The Universal Breath of my Beloved  Supreme.


Published in Ten Thousand Flower-Flames, part 1

 

It Is Only Through Inner Peace

It is only through inner peace
That we can have true outer freedom.

— Sri Chinmoy


Listen to Sri Chinmoy reciting
Recorded at PS86, New York


Published in Silence Calls Me