Lalla-Naked-Song
Lalla lived in Kashmir in the 14th century, when many doctrinal streams were merging: Shaivism, sufism, Vedantic non-dualism, and other -isms, but Lalla is beyond religious categories, a living combination that cannot be described in those terms.
Lalla lived in Kashmir in the 14th century, when many doctrinal streams were merging: Shaivism, sufism, Vedantic non-dualism, and other -isms, but Lalla is beyond religious categories, a living combination that cannot be described in those terms.
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ut I drank it anyway,<br />
the wine of my own poetry.<br />
It gave me the daring to take hold<br />
of the darkness and tear it down<br />
and cut it into little pieces.<br />
* * *<br />
One who handles a sword well<br />
gets power. Someone generous<br />
and disciplined wins what<br />
the public religions offer.<br />
But knowledge of the deep self comes<br />
only from a teacher who is That.<br />
Everything we do mixes<br />
in the ground of the self.<br />
Slowly, slowly, I tended<br />
the bellows of my throat,<br />
and the light inside grew<br />
and filtered out through<br />
the dark, so that within<br />
even it, I saw the truth.<br />
* * *<br />
I am towing my boat on the ocean<br />
with a rope of untwisted yarn.<br />
Whatever I do is a waste,<br />
like water poured<br />
on unbaked clay plates.<br />
How will I ever make it home?<br />
Gently I weep for my mind,<br />
caught in its illusion of ownership.<br />
Mind, you're not who you think you are.<br />
You're dancing over a pit.
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